Norway Attacks: Anders Behring Breivik Will Join History’s Human Monsters

Those with radical agendas do not trust the pace of political processes or their moderating force. Filled with absolute certainty, clinging to religious or ideological notions, they launch into angry action to implement their ideas. Worse, some like Anders Behring Breivik deliver their messages so out of touch with everyday society with surprising violence. Writing for the Guardian, novelist Henning Mankell recalls “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,” Hannah Arendt’s book that explored the human capability of destroying other humans without empathy. Mankell compares Breivik with Eichmann: “He is torn apart by an inner rage…. He detests the ambitions of globalism and is willing to attack the very idea of the modern age.” Mankell expresses fury that someone raised in prosperous Norway could point a gun and destroy the lives of so many promising youth. Breivik’s action has forcefully reminded us that certitude and impulsive cruelty are part of a human condition that individuals must combat daily. – YaleGlobal