I have been very scarce, again, and I will continue to be for at least a couple of weeks. In addition to cyclical work commitments that take up all my thinking and writing energy, my daughters have recently had some serious and complicated medical issues. We’re all fine, but it’s been enough to shunt this blog well down my priorities. Thanks again to Pablo for keeping things ticking over.
The anniversary of the Norway massacre has passed, and I wanted to write something about it; particularly about how the trial has shaped discourses of nationalism and extremism there and elsewhere.
I haven’t, but DeepRed has probably done better than I could on his own blog, Kumara Republic. I highly recommend you read it here: Rise of the neo-crusaders. His post covers some of the ways the extreme right has reconfigured itself in recent decades, and some of the ways in which its members attempt to distance themselves from, while not really distancing themselves from, Anders Behring Breivik and his actions. A good read.
L
Darn. Another must-read blog to add to favourites.
Thanks Lew, kia kaha son, thoughts and karakia with your priorities.
Lew – thanks heaps for the blog roll and the linking.
If there’s any group of people more dangerous than card-carrying extremists, it’d have to be extremists who propagate themselves as moderates.
Neo-Nazis, al-Qaedans, Crips, the Mongrel Mob and what have you – they’ve lost much of their shock value by way of over-exposure, and try so hard to look the part – neo-Nazis especially – that they sometimes come across as unintentionally funny.
By contrast, I find ‘respectable’ extremism and ‘scientific’ bigotry a whole lot scarier, since it’s filtered through big-lie spin and ‘research’. And people often don’t realise they’ve been had until the house of cards comes crashing down – Hackgate, Tottenham, the Wall Street bailouts, Anders Breivik… you name it.
All the best to your family Lew. I know what it’s like to go through this.