I watch the video uploaded by Anders Breivik and could not resist but feel sad for him and also the people of Norway.
As the world goes towards internationalization, inevitably there would be a few people or groups of people that are radically conservative or perhaps even reactionary. This people will oppose any notions on internationalization and attempt to stop it through radical means such as bombing, massacres and so on. However, I believe that internationalization is one of the most important in today's society. With problems faced by mankind being more and more globalised (such as global warming, etc.), there is a need for people of different races, religions, and even languages to unite and solve these global problems together. It is necessary that we, as human beings, stop thinking about our differences and start thinking about something we share - we share the same problems. And we need to solve them together.
I think one of the important factors causing the shootings, other than the concept of internationalization, would be the similarly radical Islam groups. Anders Breivik probably witnessed how violent the Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda were and feared an attack launched on Norway.
Another one would probably be being stereotypical of Muslims. He saw how the terrorist groups in the Middle East constantly threatened Israel and linked it back to his own country, Norway. He found out that there has been a sharp rising trend in the number of Muslims in Norway and, based on the stereotype that all Muslims are jihadists and radical, concluded that the Muslims were plotting to overtake Norway and destroy Christianity in Europe, just like what they had attempted to do in Israel.
Last but not least, I feel that he is paranoid. He suspected that the European Union was another move by the Muslims to invade Europe.
Yeah, i agree that racial stereotyping is still very evident in today's society, although one cannot ignore that we have progressed much from the past. In more local context, naive Singaporeans tend to see Malay and Indian people to be uneducated, and even dangerous. This is just disgusting. Seeing people fear other people, or people segregating one another is a very real but sad fact. This stereotype is brought about from the generations of people with their personal experiences and accounts, however what is true in the past might not be necessarily true in the future. Well, i would say that only through time and mutual understanding, tolerance and acceptance would this stereotyping be truly gone.
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