The Norway Massacre: Islamophobia Again Spills Blood

     I've spent the last week visiting my family and childhood home in Haines, Alaska.
     As such, I haven't made it a priority to post on the Norway massacre, a detail for which I apologize, though my feelings on the matter should come as no surprise to my readers.
     People often ask me what inspired me to write a novel on Islamophobia. My answer is brief: Islamophobia is, I feel, the most unacknowledged bigotry of our era.
     I by no means intend to downplay the severity of sexism, or racism toward America's black population, or of xenophobia toward our immigrants, but insofar as I've witnessed ignorance and hatred toward Muslims penetrate even those circles of individuals who oppose the preceding triad of idiocy, I feel the message of my book is one that very much needs to be heard.
    By now, most should be aware that when Anders Behring Breivik put his finger on the trigger, Islamophobia, as articulated on a global scale, was a tremendous part of what inspired him. His manifesto denounced his perceived failure of Norwegian politicians to defend the country against Islamic incursion, and quoted Robert Spencer, operator of the Jihad Watch website, 64 times.       
     Marc Sageman, a consultant on terrorism and a former C.I.A. officer, cited the darling argument of anti-jihadists that the fundamentalist Salafi branch of Islam “is the infrastructure from which Al Qaeda emerged. Well, they and their writings are the infrastructure from which Breivik emerged.”
     Mr. Sageman tempered this claim by saying it was unfair to hold anti-jihadist writers responsible for Mr. Breivik's behavior. Given my belief that everyone must at some point be responsible for his or her actions, I agree, but to claim that a culture of fear and hate can be divorced from fearful and hateful actions is nothing short of absurd.
    Sadly but predictably, this is precisely what the Western media appears to be doing. A recent report from the New York Times suggests that Mr. Breivik is likely insane, a claim that gives me horrifying flashbacks to Jared Lee Loughner and the shooting of Representative Giffords in January. That too was an atrocity that seemed so obvious an extension of the hateful climate surrounding it, but the media quickly de-politicized and de-contexualized the act with the self-same designation of insanity.
     Meanwhile, New York Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he had no plans to broaden hearings about the radicalization of Muslim Americans to address terrorist threats from non-Muslims, and proceeded as planned.
      Where and when does it end?