Immediately after Anders Behring Breivik committed his terrorist atrocity in Norway a year ago today, killing 77, the Center for American Progress, a $38 million-a-year liberal think tank, rushed out (under its ThinkProgress imprint) a graphic that helpfully pointed out how often Breivik had cited 11 of what it called “right-wing pundits and organizations” in his manifesto, 2083 — A European Declaration of Independence.
CAP’s research, which was much cited and had vast influence on the reporting of Breivik’s mental formation, would lead one to believe that Breivik’s sources of information came exclusively from those “right-wing pundits and organizations.” Not so. Although I noted a year ago the essential deceit of this characterization, the full picture became apparent only later, thanks to a complete concordance created by Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism of the over 1,600 personal names in 2083.
IPT’s research establishes that, yes, Breivik certainly did mention conservatives, but he also mentioned about as many liberals and leftists, not to speak of Christians and Muslims, historical figures, and writers. With IPT’s authorization, I am posting the 84 names mentioned ten or more times in 2083. (The discrepancy between CAP’s and IPT’s numbers results from their differing methodologies.)
#more#IPT’s list of 84 top mentions includes a very wide range of figures.
- Leftist thinkers: Karl Marx (27 times), Theodor Adorno (26), György Lukács/George Lukacs (26), Herbert Marcuse (24), Antonio Gramsci (23), Thomas Hylland Eriksen (21), Colin Barker (20), and Friedrich Nietzsche (10).
- Leftist politicians: Tony Blair (20 times), Barack Obama (19), Andrew Neather (15), Javier Solana (12), Romano Prodi (12), and Gordon Brown (11).
- Muslims: Anwar Shaaban (48 times), Islam’s prophet Muhammad (36), Osama bin Laden (29), Yasir Arafat (19), Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid (15), Abu Talal al-Qasimy (13), Ahmad Abu Laban (12), Ibn Khaldun (12), Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (11), Hasan al-Banna (11), and Sayyid Qutb (11).
- Christian figures: Jesus Christ (63 times), Pope Urban II (13), Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir (12), Michael the Syrian (11), and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (10).
- Random historical figures: Charles Martel (53 times), Hitler (50), Winston Churchill (23), Duke Odo of Aquitaine (21), John III Sobieski (19), Thomas Jefferson (18), Napoleon Bonaparte (17), Sitting Bull (14), and Benjamin Disraeli (10).
- Writers: Aristotle (25 times), Ivo Andrić (20), William Shakespeare (20), Plato (16), Salman Rushdie (16), George Orwell (12), Wilhelm Reich (12), and Sigmund Freud (11).
#more#Comments:
(1) I count 13 critics of Islam or Islamism and 11 Muslims among the 84 top names mentioned by Breivik. Pretty much a draw, no?
(2) As for Breivik agreeing with those critics: hardly. As I showed last July, he intentionally sought to damage and delegitimize anyone who rejects his violent ways.
(3) The Center for American Progress distorted Breivik’s mind by listing only conservatives — hardly a shock given CAP’s history of shoddy work.
(4) Concerning all those progressive eminentoes: after Max Blumenthal recently lambasted me in The Nation, a leftist magazine, for being mentioned by Breivik, I wrote a letter to its editors: “Were the Nation to boycott this posse of Marxists, leftists, and their protégés, its pages would stand quite empty.”
(5) I am the 9th most commonly mentioned person, bizarrely finding myself right after Islam’s prophet Muhammad, tied with Dutch politician Geert Wilders & Osama bin Laden, immediately ahead of Karl Marx.
Name Tally Bat Ye’or 71 Fjordman 63 Jesus Christ 63 Robert Spencer 54 Charles Martel 53 Shaykh Anwar Shaaban 48 Adolf Hitler 50 Mohammed 36 Daniel Pipes 29 Geert Wilders 29 Osama Bin Laden 29 Karl Marx 27 György Lukács (or George Lukacs) 26 Theodor Adorno 26 Aristotle 25 Herbert Marcuse 24 Andrew Bostom 23 Antonio Gramsci 23 Winston Churchill 23 Bruce Bawer 22 Jean-Louis Bruguière 22 Serge Trifkovic 22 Speros Vryonis, Jr. 22 Duke Odo of Aquitaine (Eudes the Great) 21 Thomas Hylland Eriksen 21 Colin Barker 20 Ivo Andric 20 Jean-Francois Ricard 20 Tony Blair 20 William Shakespeare 20 Barack Obama 19 Ibn Warraq 19 John III Sobieski 19 Theo van Gogh 19 Yasser Arafat 19 Hugh Fitzgerald 18 Thomas Jefferson 18 Napoleon Bonaparte 17 A.E. Vacalopoulos 16 Angela Merkel 16 Ayaan Hirsi Ali 16 Plato 16 Salman Rushdie 16 Walid Shoebat 16 Andrew Neather 15 José Manuel Barroso 15 Pim Fortuyn 15 Sultan Abdul Hamid 15 George W. Bush 14 Saga 14 Sitting Bull 14 Valéry Giscard d’Estaing 14 Ali Sina 13 Axel 13 Erich Fromm 13 Mike Tyldesley 13 Nasrallah Sfeir 12 Nicholas Sarkozy 13 Ole Jørgen Anfindsen 13 V.I. Lenin 5 Abu Laban 12 Camille Chamoun 12 George Orwell 12 Javier Solana 12 Pope Urban II 13 Romano Prodi 12 Wilhelm Reich 12 Al-Ghazali 11 Carl I. Hagen 11 Hasan Al-Banna 11 Henryk Broder 11 Ibn Khaldun 12 Jean Monnet 11 Michael the Syrian 11 Sayyid Qutb 11 Sigmund Freud 11 Thomas Madden 11 Abu Talal al-Qasimy 13 Benjamin Disraeli 10 Edward Grant 18 F.A. Hayek 10 Friedrich Nietzsche 10 Gordon Brown 11 Roger Scruton 10 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux 10
(July 22, 2012)
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