let the propoganda begin

It doesn't take long, does it? When a nut shot a woman who is in the US Congress a few months ago, voices of sympathy were followed closely by those who were more than willing to use the event for their own political ends.

And after what happened in Norway just a few days ago, those same voices are not long in trying to use that event for their own ends.

Norway's 9/11

The early reports are disturbing. They violate the familiar us-them dichotomies we (think we) know how to live with - christian/muslim, democratic/marxist, us/them, sane/crazy.

Umm...really? You mean, I can't say that the man in Norway was a nut? That, by his actions, he has made himself on of "them", as in those who think that killing innocent people is the way to get his way?

The fact is, we know very little yet about this incident, and this man.

But speaking of nuts, take a quick gander of this.

Christian Jihad? Why We Should Worry About Right-Wing Terror Attacks Like Norway's in the US

My family was part of the far right/violent right's rise in the 1970s and 80s when we helped create the "pro-life" movement come into existence that in the end spawned the killers of abortion providers. These killers were literally doing what we'd called for.

Funny, I don't recall this man's father, Francis Schaeffer, ever telling people to kill abortion providers. Perhaps someone can show me where he ever said that?

The terror unleashed on Norway - and the terror now unleashed by the Tea Party through Congress as it holds our economy hostage to extremist "economic" theories that want to destroy our ability to function -- is the sort of white, Christian; far right terror America can expect more of.

Call this the ultimate "Tea Party" type "answer" to secularism, modernity, and above all our hated government. Call this the Christian Brotherhood. From far right congress people, to far right gun-toting terror in Norway and here at home, our own Western version of the Taliban is on the rise.

Foreigners, visitors from another planet and Americans living in a bubble of reasonable or educated people might not know this but the reality is that the debt ceiling confrontation is by, for and the result of America's evangelical Christian control of the Republican Party.

Yeah, he isn't trying to play on people's fears at all, is he? Not to mention that his claims seem rather harsher than the reality.

There are two responses, I think, that would be wise here.

1. Sympathy and compassion for the people of Norway, particularly those who were either victims of the attacks and survived, or were family and friends to those who were, but also for the people in the nation as a whole, because all were to some degree victims.

2. A bit of restraint in regards to the blame game (hear that, Mr. Schaeffer). We know very little about this guy, and far too much speculation is running around, which is fueling hate speech like Schaeffer's.