Norway Opinion: A Time for Restraint

Comparing Friday's bomb and shootings in Oslo and Utoeya Island to attacks around the world where more people have been killed and then assessing the magnitude is futility. Nor should this just be “How could this have happened in Norway?” What happened yesterday should have never happened anywhere, period.

I wanted to a write a more thorough analysis of what happened. I considered discussing race relations and even assign partial blame for events and their aftermath on certain groups, political parties, or media outlets with particular political leanings. But there is not nearly enough solid evidence to make such judgements. For now, the only thing we can do is hope that this is not part of a larger plot, especially connected to certain terrorist groups who never stop at one attack.

See also Norway Analysis: Questions and Lessons from Friday's Attacks in Oslo and Utoeya
Norway Follow-Up: At Least 87 Dead in Oslo Bomb, Utoeya Shootings

I think we all need to look at how the Norwegian people and Government are dealing with this tragedy, following their lead and admiring their unflinching strength in the face of this gut-wrenching disaster. We need to allow them time to grieve in peace. They deserve the dignity of being able to bury their loved ones, care for their wounded, and find some measure of national solitude before we unleash a barrage of speculation from the impulse that we need to get to the bottom of the truth even if there is insufficient information to back up our ponderings.

A man has been arrested and the police are interrogating him. They have his guns and explosives from Utoeya Island. They have witnesses that saw him driving there. They also claim that he was in Oslo just before the bomb blast. But, even if Anders Behring Breivik committed these acts, this is not much evidence to tell us why he did so. We cannot impose motives from events outside Norway, from race relations, or media influence.

Perhaps, in the following days, the Norwegian police will offer better answers to questions that we are grappling with right now. Maybe then we can analyse the events in the larger context and start assigning blame. But not now.

The Norwegian people need a break. The people who are accused of such attacks collectively when such attacks happen need a break. People who look to journalism for facts and not senseless blame-mongering need a break. 

We must find strength in each other and our collective power as human beings with the capacity to love, care, and empathise to get through this and the many other tragedies that will inevitably befall us.

Personally, I am very upset over what happened in part because, as an Afghan, I have some affinity with what Norwegians are feeling now. I am  very angry at how easily the blame was assigned on people of a "foreign" background so early on without any evidence. But, beyond this upset and anger, I must remember this fundamental: nothing good can come out of the massacre of almost 100 people, most of them teenagers.

And at the very least, let’s look to stop this from giving birth to more bombings and shootings. The best way to halt the speculation is to cut it off at the source.