Blaming imagined tormentors for violence, in Oslo and in Istanbul

By Ron Kampeas · July 25, 2011

The liberal blogo/Twitterspheres have, legitimately, been making mincemeat of a meme emerging from sectors of the right wing that Anders Behring Breivik, the alleged author of the Oslo massacre, is a bad, bad, man — but, gosh, he might have a point about multiculturalism.

Here, specifically, is Max Blumenthal on Twitter, deriding, with considerable justification, a Jerusalem Post editorial that made that argument:

Echoing Breivik, Jerusalem Post’s editors denounce Norwegian gov’s commitment to multiculturalism via @DidiRemez

And here, specifically, is Andrew Sullivan, ripping apart Bruce Bawer of Pajamas Media:

In fact, this “madman” was, by Bruce’s own judgment, “both highly intelligent and very well read in European history and the history of modern ideas.” It is precisely this blind spot by the anti-Islamist right that made me and others get off the train. They have every right to point out supine government capitulation to restrictions on free speech, and the worst forms of Islamist violence and rhetoric. I second every one of them. Where they went over the top was in the demonization of an entire religion, and in fomenting the Steynian specter that Muslim aliens were bent on destroying Christian Europe by demographic numbers, and that all this was aided and abetted by every European leader in a multicultural, left-wing conspiracy to destroy Christendom.

So what’s with my “specificallys.”

Here’s Max Blumenthal, on July 17, interviewing Turkish Jews about their predicament in Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey:

Turkish Jews experienced unprecedented levels of anxiety during Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip in 2008 and ‘09 and after Israel’s killing of 9 passengers on the Mavi Marmara in 2010. After the Mavi Marmara incident, the Turkish Chief Rabbi issued a statement mildly condemning the Israeli raid. My interviewees told me that despite Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s declaration that “looking upon hatred at the Jews is…unacceptable,” (which they considered helpful) extremists scapegoated local Jews. Though the reactionary mood has dissipated, the trauma of shrinking from public view for several days was an experience my interviewees have not forgotten.

Neither of my interview subjects objected to my opinion that Zionism imperils Jews around the world, and especially outside the West. Indeed, their testimonies were proof of the crisis Israel has created in Jewish diaspora life. At the same time they displayed a complete lack of interest in engaging with the situation, either by examining the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, understanding the occupation, or developing a clear position on the issue. While Israel’s actions — and the reactionary tendencies of radical elements inside Turkey — undermine their sense of security, the Jewish state remains a distant abstraction that has only the most fleeting connection to their identity. And the Palestinians do not even merit a second thought.

And here’s Andrew Sullivan today, quoting same Blumenthal interview:

Israel doesn’t seem to be helping them out much. Max Blumenthal interviews two young Turkish Jews.

Blumenthal, at least, has the excuse of writing his twaddle five days before Oslo. Sullivan, on the other hand, is somehow capable of balancing two ideas completely inconsistent with one another within a few blog posts.

As one might have guessed, I’m sympathetic to the notion that bad people who set out to harm innocents need excuses less than they need pretexts. In Norway or in Istanbul, extremists are going to seek out their hated targets whatever the state of multiculturalism or the actions of Israel.

But OK, let’s entertain for a moment the notion that the ideas that supposedly drive extremists into their rages bear a responsibility for the violence that ensues.

If they do in Istanbul, they do in Oslo. Positing anything else is rank hypocrisy.

via Blaming imagined tormentors for violence, in Oslo and in Istanbul | Capital J | JTA – Jewish & Israel News.