Terrorism’s Right Hand

Terror in Norway: Opinions, Jul. 28

by Andreas Mölzer, FPÖ Member of Parliament: 

"The Norway tragedy is an act of insanity. Anybody trying to cash in on this event politically should be ashamed. Now the FPÖ has to listen to the Left accusing it of providing the ideological breeding ground for such madness. Why is it our fault if this mass murderer refers to Islamic fundamentalism? It would be equally untenable to say the SPÖ lays the ground for such tragedies by supporting mass immigration and tolerance for Islamic fundamentalism.

However, I do see merit in the idea of reducing the level of aggression in political debate. A brutalized language creates an aggressive atmosphere. But the Left and the Right have to disarm simultaneously. We want that to happen. Does anybody think I enjoy being called a Nazi all the time?"

Gerhard Botz, historian:  

"The FPÖ recognizes that hate-preachers help prepare the terrorist attacks of Islamic fundamentalists. So why should the reverse not also be true?"

 

One simply has to move on to business as usual, Jul. 25

by Michael Fleischhacker

"Any attempt to point at the sources of a psychopath’s confused fantasies in order to discredit one’s political opponents is tantamount to exploiting the victims. This has begun with the publication of [Anders Breivik’s] 1500-page "manifesto" [which reveals] the hubs tapped by the 32-year-old’s sick personality for material to satisfy his uncontrolled power fantasies. […]

Whoever scans Breivik’s "manifesto" won’t read much that one couldn’t find in online postings to everyday politics, internationally.  […] Among those who let their hair down in those postings, are many who lead honourable, civil lives in the real world. One should trust that violent excesses, like the ones in Oslo and Utøya, lead to a degree of self-reflection.

To denounce people who are struggling to cope with the social changes wrought by immigration and cultural globalization as inciters to terrorism doesn’t solve the problem. One can only move on to business as usual. And the first priority of that business should be to ask how debates about the chances and risks inherent in our new social realities can be transferred from the aggressive anonymity of the virtual world back into political discourse."

 

Myths from Oslo,  Jul. 26 

by Hans Rauscher

"When [a killer] has commented extensively on politics - by announcing the "saving of Europe from cultural Marxism and islamization"; by rote-reciting the classical canon of right-wing extremists, Christian fundamentalists, and EU-haters; by obsessively lecturing on the Ottoman Siege of Vienna of 1683; by referring to Europe’s "anti-foreigner parties", incl. the FPÖ […] - then one may infer

that this man has also been influenced by the agitation of anti-immigration parties and

media.

No, one may not. At least not according to the Editor in Chief of Die Presse [see above]. […] So, to trace the killer’s ideological roots is a no-no for the conservative Presse. Its Editor would rather coolly "move on to business as usual" – so that Strache, Wilders and Co. aren’t held to account?"