The Oslo Syndrome
What happens when people start to believe that depending upon the cause, terrorism might be okay?Here's an interview done by Australian television with Adrian Pracon, a survivor of the Utoya Island attack, and the country secretary of Norway's Labor party. The key part is around the 11:00 mark, but if you miss it, don't worry, because I've reproduced a summary of it below.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: My Right Word).
Among the wounded was Adrian Pracon, who was shot in the left shoulder as the gunman opened fire.And this is what the Norwegians don't get. Nazis aren't just figures in movies. And in Gaza, it's not the IDF that randomly shoots civilians. It's their friends the 'Palestinians,' and you can't just talk to them. As Richard Landes notes:
Speaking to ABC News 24 from hospital, he said the scene on the island was like a "Nazi movie" and described how he felt the heat from the barrel of the gunman's weapon.
"He was armed with a gun and he was shooting people at close range and starting to shoot at us. He stood first 10 metres from me and shooting at people in the water," he said.
"He had an M16, it did look like a machine gun. When I saw him from the side yelling that he was about to kill us, he looked like he was taken from a Nazi movie or something.
"He started shooting at these people, so I laid down and acted as if I was dead. He stood maybe two metres away from me. I could hear him breathing. I could feel the heat of the machine gun.
"He was very near. I heard a big boom and for a second I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. But I didn't think I was shot because it felt like something just hit me and peeled off. But it turned out I was shot pretty badly.
"He tried everyone, he kicked them to see if they were alive, or he just shot them.
"From what I saw he had one thing on his mind.
"Many of these bodies are laying in the water and drifting around the island.
"The shooting started at 5:00pm. The meeting we had was just half an hour sooner, so when the shooting started, from 5:00pm it was maybe two hours before we saw police, before they were circling with the helicopter and they had the situation under control.
Mr Pracon said he jumped into the water to swim for safety but turned around when he saw that the opposite shore was around 700 metres away.
"I swam back because I saw it was impossible for me to swim over. I'm very glad I did.
"Some of my friends tried to stop him by talking to him. Many people thought that it was a test ... comparing it to how it is to live in Gaza. So many people went to him and tried to talk to him, but they were shot immediately."
These poor youth were operating on (at least) two major misconceptions: 1) that Israelis are like Nazis, and 2) that talking is enough to change a monster. Putting the two together led them to make a fatal error in reasoning. It’s as if they were operating on a radical leftist holodeck… but they weren’t.Barry Rubin refers to this as the Oslo Syndrome.
The Oslo Syndrome encompasses all of these things but goes a step further, for the most dangerous things you can do about terrorism is to make it appear politically successful and hence a great thing to do. For terrorism is not an ideology or a movement but merely a tactic: to murder noncombatants systematically and deliberately for political ends.Read the whole thing. If you support or justify terrorism, it eventually comes back to bite you. Sadly, the Norwegians still don't get it.
If you do this, will others, including the victims, be so terrorized as to give you whatever you want? Will they ignore the moral implications and support you nonetheless? Can you successfully make the argument that you are so oppressed as to justify terrorism, as the ambassador of Norway implied is true against Israel after the killings in the summer camp? Is it possible to engage in terrorism yet convince much of the world that your victims are the real terrorists?
And if you can answer any of these questions with a “yes” then terrorism may be for you. Of course, not every worldview or movement would use it but for those who do it is a very practical issue whether using terrorism is likely to result in being reviled and killed yourself or being celebrated internationally and receiving large amounts of money.
The Oslo Syndrome can be defined the opposite of the Stockholm Syndrome. Instead of being a target of terrorism and then changing views to support the terrorists’ side, it means—individually, as part of a movement, or as an entire country—supporting the terrorists’ side then being victims of terrorism.
...
Yasir Arafat spent decades as a terrorist, was applauded at the UN—after a speech in which he threatened more murder—then spent decades more as a terrorist, afterward becoming a virtual head of state and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Why should others not dream that the road to victory is paved with the corpses of deliberately murdered civilians?
If terrorist murders by Hamas and Islamists did not stop well-intentioned future leaders of Norway from enthusiastically considering them heroic underdogs, a local evil man could think his act of terrorism would gain sympathy and change Europe’s politics. After all, it has already changed the Middle East and even been sanctified by Western media, intellectuals, and governments.
When Norway’s ambassador to Israel distinguishes between “bad” terrorism in Norway and “understandable” terrorism against Israelis that opens the door to a man in Norway who thinks his country is “occupied” by leftists and Muslims?
In this sense, the most important thing about the terrorist in Norway is not that he is right-wing or anti-Islam, The most important thing is that he believed terrorism would work on behalf of his cause. After all, if he had held all of the same beliefs but didn’t think murder was a good tactic, nobody would be dead from his actions.
Labels: Gaza, Nazis, Oslo bombing, Oslo syndrome, Utoya massacre
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:02 AM
10 Comments:
Well, I think it is beyond not getting it... I think these Norwegians think there is a difference because:
1) the don't want their own kids mowed down by anybody, and,
2) they can understand the Palestinians mowing down (or blowing up or slicing up) Israelis (including children like theirs) because they have wanted it done for centuries.
No matter how a lot of the Euros try to portray themselves as progressive, they are very sick at the cold spot for the Jews in their middle. They really are just following the Jews who escaped last time down there to Israel and subcontracting to the Palestinians and other neighbors to finish the job.
Just as the trapped Chilean miners were invited to Israel following their ordeal, so should the recovering wounded in Norway be invited.
Sunlight,
Norwegians don't think too differently than any other EU country. Case in point, Angela Merkel may be Pro Israel, but her populace (Germany) does not share her view.
Europe is anti occupation, not anti Israel. If it's anti Israel (as Norway appears to be) it's because of the occupaton.
Shy Guy
I hope you're defending your white supremaci...eerr sorry I meant far right Zionst buddies, (what's the difference?) Bat Yeor, Spencer, Geller, Fjordman, now that they need all the help they can get, what with deleting evidence of emails from Norway, and Muslim hatred being put under the spotlight..
I was struck by how close yours and your idealogical brother Brievik's thinking is, who shares your ideals. Aside from his love of Spencer, Geller, Bat Yeor, Far right Zionism, anti Islam and Muslim hatred, liberals, and leftists, Brieviek even shares your views about "stupid jews" as being cannon fodder in the way of your ideals. though he calls them "cultural marxists"
Fancy that! You finally found your perfect partners :)
Something puzzles me though, and that is the Knight's Templar Crusaders that Brieviek models himself on and which he sees himself defending. Is it a Freudian slip or just ignorance? Doesn't Brieviek know that Salah al Din Al Ayoubi, wiped the floor clean with The Crusaders? Methinks that is something he couldn't pick up from Bat Yeor, Pam Geller, or Robert Spencer, because they are such history revisers! See how fatal lying can be, he can't see he's following a losers path
As if any Crusade against Islam would succeed, ever! ;)
The Norway Shooter’s Zionist Streak
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/25/norway-shooter-anders-breivik-s-zionism-in-line-with-pro-israel-european-right.html
Anders Breivik’s embrace of Israel is the latest sign of a shift among reactionaries in Europe—with fascism and Zionism going hand in hand, fueled by Islamophobia, says Michelle Goldberg.
'Norway attack suspect had anti-Muslim, pro-Israel views'
By BEN HARTMAN
07/24/2011
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=230762
1,500 page manifesto credited to Breivik, accused of killing spree, lays out worldview including extreme screed of Islamophobia, far-right Zionism.
Report: Norwegian Murderer an Ardent Supporter of Israel
A document published by Norway murderer Anders Behring Breivik revealed his support for Israel and his hatred of Islam.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/146038
Anders Behring Breivik, who committed the massacre in Norway on Friday in which over 90 people were murdered, spoke out in the past against Islam and said that he is a strong supporter of Israel, Channel 2 News reported on Sunday.
According to the report, in an English document he published on the Internet before the massacre, Breivik called himself a strong supporter of Zionism, praised Theodor Herzl the founder of Zionism, and attacked the European political establishment because he saw it as being anti-Israel.
Breivik commended Israel for not giving most of the Muslims who live under its control civil rights, as opposed to the various European countries. He also praised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for including the Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas parties in his coalition.
Breivik also quoted a series of Israeli professors such as Itamar Rabinovich and Eyal Zisser in the document. He also specifically mentioned Arutz Sheva and the leftist Haaretz newspaper.
“It’s time to end the stupid support for the Palestinians and begin to support our cultural cousins – Israel,” Channel 2 quoted Breivik as having written in the document.
Shy Guy
Sorry, I meant to say "Zionist Crusader" not "Crusader".
P.S
A Zionist Crusader alliance against Islam, will suffer the most humiliating defeat in history. Even worse than the Crusades on their own, centuries ago. The word defeat not exist in Islam's dictionary!
Chayma,
Stop your B.S. The Norwegian "camp" had joint exercises with Fatah for the past 15 years. The day before the shooting, this very "camp" was having a boycott Israel day, as well as support for the pro-Hamas "flotilla."
The Norwegian government has previously expressed outrage that Obama hired Rahm Emanuel for his Chief of Staff...because he was Jewish.
Sorry, but this is simply openly antisemitic, to support the destruction and delegitimization of the one Jewish state on earth. It's not just "against the occupation." What about Turkey (occupying Kurdistan), or China (occupying Tibet)? What about Iran (brutally suppressing its own people), or Saudi Arabia (that won't even let its women drive)?
The list goes on.
If the Norwegians so cared about "human rights" they would focus their energies where human rights is most being suppressed. Hint: it ain't in Israel. Their double standard is the hallmark of antisemitism.
And one last thing: while I believe the camp was an openly antisemitic/terror sympathizing camp, I still do not believe violence is justified against it. I mourn the loss of life. I also recognize that my mourning is a one-way mourning. I see that the Norweigan government does not mourn when Israelis are killed by terrorists, which they believe is only the product of the "occupation" (even though terrorism began in 1929 - well before any "occupation" or even state of Israel existed).
It's sad. I recognize the humanity of Norwegians, but they don't reciprocate and recognize the humanity in me and my people.
"And this is what the Norwegians don't get. Nazis aren't just figures in movies." Bad example. Norway was occupied by the Nazis during WW2.
Muslima Chayma whines again! Whah! Whah! Whah! "White supremist Shy Guy"! Whah! Whah! Whah!
Stupid, arrogant Muslima bitch, whore to the prophet of verbal excrement and primitive barbarity named Mohamed.
What color are Muslimas, stupid?
But I will tell you what color Islam is: dark and gruesome and barbarian. Stuff that color up your fat Muslima backside.
From the dungpile of your satanic verses:
"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans..."
- QUR'AN, AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD)
Shy Guy
"White supremist Shy Guy"! “
I didn’t accuse of being a white supremacist. That’s perhaps the only thing you don’t share with him, but nevertheless, everything else Brievik believes are your beliefs too. Including your contempt for your own. David Yerushalmi however, is a white supremacist, so not everyone on your side can be said to be free from racism. He is Pamela Gellers lawyer, a Hasidic Jew, and a white supremacist. Making headlines these days.
Why did you pounce on that and not the rest of what I said? Just as you said Rabin “should rot in hell”, and made excuses for Yygal Amir, so Brieviek has the same contempt for his own people. No need to come back and say you havn’t killed, because I’m not sure if that is because you havn’t the means and opportunity to kill your stupid Jews as he did. He sounds like your idealogical twin. It leads one to question, if had the means and opportunity, would you?
Stupid, arrogant Muslima bitch, whore to the prophet of verbal excrement and primitive barbarity named Mohamed.
You mean you’re not a whore to your Prophet? As for Barbarity
Genocide by the humble
http://samsonblinded.org/blog/genocide-by-the-humble.htm
Still, the Torah calls Moses “the humblest man.” Could a humble man preside over genocide? The answer is a definite yes. Moses’ humility was his entire submission to divine will. A tremendous erosion of the concept took place afterward: Jewish humility came to mean submission to people, even down to enemies and oppressors. Whatever his own views, Moses entirely accepted God’s definition of morality. Divine decrees set the standard of morality, and anything God told him to do was moral by definition. Even genocide was moral when perpetrated on divine orders. Modern Jews should not shrink from the explicit commandment to cleanse the land God gave us of its hostile inhabitants.
The point is, Europe and the USA is not Israel. If Bat Yeor, Spencer, Geller and the rest of your crowd cannot expect to extend their battles into the rest of the world and inspire the killing of cultural marxists who allow the spread of Islam, Israel will face the military wrath of Nato.
"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans..."
- QUR'AN, AL-MAEDA (THE TABLE, THE TABLE SPREAD)
What is your point? Are you telling me that I should expect it to be so? In that case, quote in context, and remind me what the fate of those Jews and Pagans was.
Their fate as the enemies of Islam, was clearly spelled out too and it came to pass. They suffered, were killed and the women and children were taken as slaves. Just as the Jews of that day and the Qureysh pagans decided to take on Islam and failed, so will any modern day “alliance” of Zionists, Crusaders, whatever.
Let me finish what your quotings from the Quran, in full context this time :)
سورة التوبة Surah At Tawbah (The Repentance)
9:32 They want to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it.
9:33 It is He who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allah dislike it.
What? No reply Shy Brievek? :)
Tch Tch,
Coward!
Impotent!
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