The Maelstrom of Madness

Reading through the news today (Monday), I came across an article [link] from CBS about the "terrorist" in Norway. I noticed a few days ago that the media quickly jumped on the "terrorist" label, something they shied away from in the Ft. Hood shooting. Which, sadly, adds some substance to the rantings of Mr Breivik.

One of the worries of some people is that fighting against Islamic terrorism (and acknowledging it as such) is that naming it and fighting it will just create more terrorists. If that is so then will labeling Breivik just create more Right Wing terrorists?

Like most madmen (see Ted Kaczynski [link]), there are bits and pieces of truth in Breivik's "manifesto."[link] Madness is rarely total, I think. It is usually a distortion of the reality surrounding the madman. There is enough substance to the madman's delusions to provide a kind of foundation.

Let me provide a sample:

"Multi-culturalism (cultural Marxism/political correctness), as you might know, is the root cause of the ongoing Islamisation of Europe which has resulted in the ongoing Islamic colonisation of Europe through demographic warfare (facilitated by our own leaders)."

He sees the changing religious face of Europe and the increase in the Muslim population, ties these together with Radical Islam and his (and many others') frustration with the media's and certain political parties' downplaying both and sees a sinister plot to destroy what he clings to (an idealized view of his world, the one he grew up in, or thinks he did).

Kaczynski did something similar, only from the Left. But I suspect you will only see and hear comparisons of Breivik with Timothy McVeigh [link]. Quite understandable. Of course, that will only reinforce the beliefs of Breivik and those who agree with him.

There are times when I, myself, feel like the world is caught up in a whirlpool that is gaining strength and will someday be a maelstrom (a Scandinavian term, oddly enough) into which we will all be dragged. And it will be mostly the madmen who do the dragging.

And isn't it always?

Update: "Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik has caused potential embarrassment for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin" [link]