Originally Posted by captaincaptain

Glenn Beck, what a class act.

Glenn Beck hits 'new low'; compares Norway victims to Hitler Youth - latimes.com

Originally Posted by tore

What happened is so awful people can't really get their heads around it. This person dressed up as a police officer, asked teenagers to group up and then opened fire on them with an automatic rifle, killing dozens. He then proceeded to hunting down the ones who got away, calling for them to come out of hiding only to shoot them and even killing kids in the water who were trying to swim away from the island where it happened. It shocks and scares me that people exist here that are capable of committing such atrocities. The murderer is a politically motivated racist who says his enemy is social democracy and particularly the labour party which he's blamed for "mass importing" muslims to Norway which is why he decided to target members of the labour party youth. He wanted to use the ensuing trial as a stage to promote his ideology.

The aftermath of what happened has been wonderful and honestly quite moving. I've yet to see any cries for vengeance. Instead of focusing on how to punish this man, people seem more focused on helping and supporting eachother. Even if the tragedy has caused tremendous sorrow, it has also roused great compassion, love and care for one another in a way that warms my heart. Both the people and the politicians here have dealt with it in a most dignified way and no doubt the reaction to what was done will be more democracy and greater political participation against that kind of extremist ideology.

Still, all is not well. There is one thing that shames me and that is that just after the bombing before there were any explanations, a lot of people assumed that it was extremist muslims who were behind it. Sensationalist media, also international media, no doubt played a role in this. In the first hours after the tragedy, there were quite a few muslims who feared for their and their children's future in Norway and there were people who threw racist and offensive comments after immigrants after the explosion. I hope the people who did this have taken some time to reflect on that now and hopefully the tragedy will help bring us all closer together, regardless of religion, cultural background or the colour of our skin.