Blogger Who Inspired Norwegian Terrorist Returns To Writing
Three months after Anders Behring Breivik unleashed a horror upon Norway in the name of anti-Muslim rage, killing 77 people in an attack intended to draw attention to the threat of Islam, the blogger-muse he regarded as Europe’s “most talented right wing essay[ist]” has re-emerged from a self-imposed hiatus.
On Monday, the American website Gates of Vienna, under the boastful headline, “Fjordman Lives On,” touted a Norwegian newspaper’s publication of the blogger’s latest work, which attacks the media in Europe for its alleged complicity in allowing Islam to spread unchecked. In a brief introduction, Fjordman wrote that Breivik’s terrorism will not dissuade him from attacking Islam.
“After the terrorist attacks of July 22nd I was exhausted,” he wrote. “I seriously contemplated giving up my career as a writer. However, after the situation has calmed down a bit and I could think things through, I have decided to continue with undiminished force. Right from the beginning I have been saying that terrorists, whether they come in the shape of Islamic Jihadists or Anders Behring Breivik, should not be allowed to decide what a free society can or cannot discuss, and I meant that.”
Inspired in part by Fjordman, Breivik predicted the onset of a war that would kill or injure more than a million people as he and his small group of warriors seized “political and military control of Western European countries and implement[ed] a cultural conservative political agenda.” In preparation for this conflict, the manuscript laid out plans for the formation of a Christian army, known as the Knights Templar, to wage “guerrilla warfare against the Multiculturalist Alliance through a constant campaign of shock attacks.”
Fjordman wasn’t the only one to influence Breivik. Also cited in Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto were Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, co-founders of the group Stop Islamization of America. In the aftermath of the massacre, Spencer, who Breivik quoted extensively, denied any responsibility for the murders. “If I was indeed an inspiration for his work, I feel the way the Beatles must have felt when they learned that Charles Manson had committed murder after being inspired by messages he thought he heard in their song lyrics.”
The venue for Fjordman’s rebirth is just as interesting as his return. The website is popular among white supremacists and occasionally published Fjordman before Breivik’s massacre. The site claims to be the portal for “a new phase in a very old war,” and draws its name from the Ottoman Empire’s sack of cities across 16th century Europe.
The site is run by a couple living in Virginia, Edward May and his wife, who edits the blog under the pseudonym “Dymphna,” according to Islamophobia Today, which tracks anti-Muslim rhetoric and crime. And one thing is clear about the way Fjordman was treated on the website when he reared his head—he was not regarded as a pariah but rather as a celebrity.
“Just as we did several weeks ago,” Gates of Vienna boasted, “we aim to overcome the stifling censorship imposed by the Norwegian media by spreading this essay as widely as possible.”
