By Johannes Grødem, Wikimedia Commons
I was working away yesterday when I got news that an explosion had rocked government buildings in Oslo, Norway. Later evidence pointed to it being a bomb, that a far-right Norwegian may be responsible, and that the same Norwegian is accused of a mass shooting at a summer camp soon afterward.
The first thing I noticed is that a mere 10 minutes after the bombing, I was seeing photos sent through Twitter from eyewitnesses on the scene. Putting the loss of the tragedy aside for a moment, it’s an amazing world we live in now where most everyone carries a camera and anyone can break news. It’s become my habit to turn to Twitter, Twitpic, and other direct-from-eyewitness sources whenever a big story is breaking. Nearly every one of these breaking news photos on Twitpic has comments from a media company or wire service, asking permission to run the photo. It’s obvious I’m not the only one who goes straight to these sources.
The other thing I noticed was the curious debate among newscasters as to whether this “bombing was the work of terrorists.” What idiot in their right mind would even question this? Any bombing is a terrorist act! How could it not be?
Or did the media mean international terrorists? Or a phrase that seems to be treated as redundant in the media: Islamic terrorists?
The Norwegian suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, has quickly been drawing parallels with Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. Like McVeigh, Breivik is a home-grown, domestic terrorist. Also like McVeigh, Breivik is a right-wing, Christian fundamentalist. So, do we now label them Christian terrorists?
Or … is a terrorist a terrorist, no matter what their views or cause?
To me, it doesn’t matter where you come from or what your cause is. It doesn’t matter if you act alone or with the support of a large, shadowy organization. If you bomb somebody, it’s terrorism. Period. It requires no nuance.