Valkyrie

I don’t wish to give airtime to the ravings of maniacs, but when they commit mass murder, they become hard to ignore.

I spent some time (far too much) reading Breivik’s “manifesto” and there was one logical inconsistency that screamed out far more than any others. Breivik claims to be fighting a war against the “Islamic invasion of Europe” – and in his manifesto he cites sharia law and Muslim treatment of women (I use Muslim because he does, but while ‘honour’ crimes may be cloaked in religious excuses, they’re just misogyny) as things the West should fear and fight. But he simultaneously blames feminism and the rise of gender equality for the “emasculation” of the West that is, as far he’s concerned, allowing this invasion in the first place.

The trouble with the 2083 manifesto is that it appears, at first glance, to be well-researched and argued. While it’s full of internal inconsistencies and random digressions (and stylistically appalling, but what did I expect) if you only scan it, and it’s so long most people will only do that, it could potentially be persuasive.

But back to the one inconsistency that jumped up and down screaming at me: Breivik comes from a culture that gave us the Valkyries, shieldmaidens and Unnur the Deep Minded (a wealthy woman who became a leader and chieftain in Iceland).  New evidence suggests Viking women accompanied Viking armies – if only because colonisation was as much a Viking aim as pillage. The Sagas tell of many strong women, causing, directing and diverting the action.

So Breivik, for all his “patriotism” seems to have forgotten, or chosen to ignore, large chunks of his own heritage in order to make the contradictory argument that feminism – especially radical misogyny-is-still-a-pervasive-global-problem feminism - is paving the way for the West to come under the most gender unequal interpretations of sharia law (am I the only one who cannot see the logical chain here?)

So I would suggest that now is the time for the Valkyries to ride again to battle, against all the myriad oppressors of individual freedom that are rearing their heads in this new crusading climate.