Murderer Anders Breivik Quotes Conservatives--And Muslims, Christians...And Sitting Bull Too

The Left Distorts Breivik's Mental World

by Daniel Pipes
July 22, 2012
Cross-posted from National Review Online

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2012/07/left-distorts-breivik

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.)

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).

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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