In Human Events this morning I discuss the Leftist and Islamic supremacist exploitation of the mass murders in Norway:
[…] And yet he is a mass murderer. Accordingly, the blame game has begun in earnest. The New York Times warned that “opposition to Muslim immigrants, globalization, the power of the European Union and the drive toward multiculturalism has proven a potent political force and, in a few cases, a spur to violence.” The leftist English blog Harry”s Place expressed the general line of the mainstream media when it intoned: “The more this paranoid ideology grows, the more the danger increases that there will be other Breiviks. It is time the people who have relentlessly promoted notions of “˜Islamisation” and impending cultural doom take a long hard look at exactly what they are doing, and exactly where this is likely to go.” The implication is clear: If you resist the increasingly aggressive expansion of Islam in Europe, more children will be murdered.
The logic here is absurd, albeit oft-used on the Left. Just as the deranged Jared Loughner “s shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was initially blamed on Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin , so now the Left is using Breivik to try to discredit and silence the entire anti-jihad movement, as if this psychopath’s murders prove that his political proclivities are lethal in themselves. This would be like saying that no one can question Western policies vis-Ã -vis the Islamic world, for to do so would make one responsible for the 17,000 deadly jihad attacks that Muslims have committed worldwide since 9/11. It would be like saying that the Beatles were responsible for the Charles Manson murders because he thought he heard exhortations to kill in their songs, or that Jodie Foster was responsible for the shooting of Ronald Reagan because in John Hinckley”s befogged mind he thought it would impress her.
The intent of this campaign is clear. The scholars, politicians and activists who have spoken out about the threat to human rights and constitutional principles that jihad and Islamization pose have never advocated any kind of violence or illegal activity. By tarring them with the murders of Anders Breivik, the enemies of freedom hope to quash all resistance to the advance of Islamic supremacism in the West. It is ironic that the Left is so energetically pursuing this campaign, given that as soon as they get the chance, the Islamic supremacists for whom Leftists are carrying water will extinguish the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, equality of rights for women, and numerous other rights and freedoms that enlightened multiculturalists take for granted now. But by then it will be too late, as they will have silenced the only people who were sounding a warning.