Shocker: Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik is a racist and a misogynist, and his shooting rampage was inspired by his hatred of women, Muslims, and brown people. He uses a lot of the same tropes as Men’s Rights activists. He was encouraged by anti-Islam bloggers in the United States who routinely warn of the “Islamicization” of the West, including Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.
It is unfair to say that websites like Spencer’s caused the violence in Norway. But I think this quote is pretty right-on:
Marc Sageman, a former C.I.A. officer and a consultant on terrorism, said it would be unfair to attribute Mr. Breivik’s violence to the writers who helped shape his world view. But at the same time, he said the counterjihad writers do argue that the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam “is the infrastructure from which Al Qaeda emerged. Well, they and their writings are the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged.”
“This rhetoric,” he added, “is not cost-free.”
Some further reading:
Missing: The ‘Right’ Babies
Norway Killer’s Hatred of Women