Terrorism isn’t just a Muslim thing

What do you think of when you hear the word terrorism? Answers to this question will vary, but it would appear the media would like you to think of Muslims.

On Friday, July 22, a car bomb was detonated in Olso, the capital of Norway, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens more. 

A little less than an hour and a half later and 20 miles west, a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on teenagers who were attending a youth camp on the island of Utoeya.

Police said in a USA Today article around ten had been killed in the shooting. However, that number changed to about 80 people over night.

Terror is the first effect these attacks caused. The second effect was the race to find out who was responsible. In this time of confusion, answers are thrown out whether they have adequate backing or not.

Correlations become causation, and facts are twisted to support the hypothesis of whoever is telling the public to turn their hate toward.

The New York Times ran headlines Friday stating “Powerful explosions hit Olso; Jihadis claim responsibility.”

Other publications also followed, and some articles were based entirely on the assumption that the perpetrator was Muslim. People contributed to this whether they had credentials or not.

In an interview by Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post, Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute said “as the attack in Oslo reminds us, there are plenty of Al Qaeda allies still operating.”

Schmitt really had no basis for his assertion. But, he does have bias to this topic, as he is described in the article as a critic of the proposed defense cuts and withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

But an event like this can’t be based off the best guess of experts forever.

Answers finally started to come when the gunman was detained by police on the island without resistance.

As it turns out, he wasn’t Muslim. He was actually a Norwegian right-wing Christian fundamentalist named Anders Behring Breivik. In fact, he even had a history of anti-Muslim activity on the Internet.

Despite the contrary developments, The New York Times continued to bring Al Qaeda into the attacks by saying other groups learn from Al Qaeda.

Just because they weren’t directly involved doesn’t mean the group couldn’t still have violent influence, does it?

Basically what they’re saying is: Al Qaeda is guilty for every terrorist attack ever.
If that type of logic were true, we would be blaming dead rockstars such as Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix for Amy Winehouse’s death.

Initial reports such as these are dangerous because of the influence they have over the public.

Unfortunately, it only takes one publication to mistake a hypothesis for proof, and then it’s like someone is yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theater.

­— agreiner@indiana.edu