Update

I must apologize for the delay in posting. This has happened to me before, as those of you who are regulars know. Too many things converged on me these past three days. First, it has been a furnace on the East Coast, the heat reaching well above 100º Fahrenheit, and this always slows me down. Second, I have been preparing for a short trip out of town that I must make tomorrow (Sunday). So I will try to get back to the grindstone on Monday, if I can rest up from Sunday's activities.

I have not followed the news from France, but will catch up as best I can. I did of course hear about the massacre in Norway, and my heart goes out to all those who lost loved ones and who were terrorized. It is everybody's worst nightmare come true, it is something that stalks all of us in our daily lives, and we must always be cautious of what the news reports say about these killings. So often, the news media are delighted to be able to blame "Christians" and "conservatives". But this type of killing is anti-Christian and as far from conservatism as one can get. The fact that the alleged killer may have been born a Christian or belonged to "conservative" associations or groups does not mean that his inner life was guided by Christian ethics or conservative values. My first thought was that his actions resembled those of Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City killer.

Many will say that the same applies to Muslims, that when Muslims kill innocent people they are not acting in accordance with Islamic law. However, this point is arguable, for the Koran exhorts Muslims to kill the infidel.

We must look at this killer and try to explain his actions in ways the media never will. According to Bruno Gollnisch of the Front National, there are indications at Facebook that he was a member of a Masonic lodge. Another article by Eric Martin at Nouvelles de France has similar information.

For those who prefer an English-language site, see Lawrence Auster's home page. There is more there than I can absorb. This article describes the shock and amazement of his readers as they try to understand what happened. Apparently, these killings and the killer himself Anders Brievik, are not conforming to any recognizable pattern, since Brievik seemed to be a conservative concerned about Islam, and a reader of Gates of Vienna and Jihad Watch. The readers emphasize that this a fatal blow to the anti-Islamic cause, since Brievik will be considered as a typical anti-Islamist. One reader sums it up:

I'm stunned and almost speechless. I'm also still deeply suspicious of the appearances. Should the appearance stand, then, as you say, it is a stunning defeat for the West.

You must read also this article on the killer's "manifesto".

So we have another one of those sudden apocalyptic events, a bolt out of the blue, that characterize the age we live in. This is very hard on the nerves, and we feel the earth quake beneath us. These are dangerous times. We cannot rely on reason or on humane feelings. People are more and more detached from the context in which they were born. They are setting themselves up as Messiahs, avenging angels, warriors of ancient times reincarnated. They read, they absorb what they read, they are fashioned by what they read and they attempt to turn their fantasies into reality, without any humane thoughts for their victims. An age of monsters, of nine-days-wonders, who flash across the sky and disappear leaving death and destruction behind, as well as moral and political confusion.