This past summer Oslo, Norway was the site of horrible acts of violence done by Anders Behring Breivik. 92 people were killed in the attacks when Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo and gun massacred a local summer camp for left-wing teenagers. This is a horrible act to commit by any persons standards. Mass murder and violence never seems to have a point. However, to Breivik it was completely justifiable.
Breivik admitted to planning these attacks with a motive, but what exactly could that be? It was simple to him; Marketing.
Breivik is an extreme fundamentalist with hatred for multiculturalism in Europe who desired to create an "idealist" society free of all kinds of cultural diversity and progressive ideas. In particular Brevik was antifeminism, Islamophobic and ultranationalistic.
His ideas were documented in an extremely detailed manifesto of his beliefs which was then emailed out to citizens of Oslo minutes before the attacks.
When questioned in jail about what his motive was for these horrible acts... He answered that he simply wanted to market his manifesto.
Upon reading this I was shocked. Firstly because of these events, but also because of the extremely violent measures used for marketing. Breivik hoped that his Manifesto may go viral post-attacks and cause some revolutionary behavior throughout Europe.
It really had never occurred to me in the past that someone could use such tactics to gain attention to a cause or in this case, manifesto. Sure, riots and attacks have happened in times of revolution and uprising but I had never heard of a situation where many were killed in the hopes of a document going viral and gaining popularity. September 11, 2001 does come immediately to mind when I think of this situation. However, the terrorist attacks that day were done to hurt and create extreme tension whereas Breivik used attacks to draw attention to his Manifesto... Not only just to hurt.
What do you think of what happened in Oslo?
He certainly marketed his manfesto to the world through such violent actions. Not a model to follow exactly, but you can take note on how large events that are different, out of the ordinary because they dont happen often are incredible ways to grab the attention of those who you would normally not reach.
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