After seeing reporting on the Norwegian bombing, I refuse to believe Fox News is a legitimate news outlet. Before bothering to investigate, Fox News labeled the tragedy as the work of Islamic terrorists, particularly Al-Qaeda. This is a testament to the prevalence of Islamophobia within the Republican party and its propaganda outlets. The idea that Muslims are behind every tragedy in the world is an idea that Fox News is not shy about spreading.
But the terrorist wasn’t a Muslim or an al-Qaeda sympathizer. He was the farthest from an Arab- Muslim terrorist: a white Nordic Christian with blonde hair and blue eyes. The man, Anders Behring Breivik, had no previous record of terrorist acts. He was simply a socialist sympathizer. Breivik killed close to 100 people. The killings were a result of a shooting at a youth camp in Utoya, Norway and a bomb detonation in nearby Oslo. The man, Anders Behring Breivik, had no previous record of terrorist acts. However, he was a socialist sympathizer.
Ironically, the motive behind the attacks was to make a statement against the supposed “Islamization” of the Scandinavian country. Breivik vehemently opposed Muslim immigration into the nearly ethnically homogeneous Norway. Muslims only make up two percent of the Norwegian population.
My anger does not lie in Breivik’s anti-Islamist act, but rather in the display of prejudice shown by the media. When the story first broke out, instead of attempting to console the people who lost loved ones, Fox News placed the blame on Islamic fundamentalists instead of attempting to uncover facts and do true reporting.