Did Bullying Play a Causal Role in the Norway Shootings?

Writings by Anders Breivik indicate that, as an adolescent, he felt repeatedly bullied by Muslim immigrants in Oslo. It is not an indictment of Muslims generally to say that this was probably the case.

It seems to be common for young males who are immigrants or the children of immigrants (or part of a minority group) to form gangs and to engage in petty criminal activity. Every immigrant group in America has been known for the criminal behavior of at least some of its young males. The expression "paddy wagon" as a legacy of Irish-American crime. Teddy Roosevelt, who had served as a New York assemblyman early in his career, commented publicly on the criminality of young Jewish males. (In our own time, this is almost unbelievable.) It is also common for young people from established families to resent newcomers and make their lives unbearable.

It also seems to be the case that people who join far-right hate groups often report being bullied by members of the group they despite. A quick perusal of a website called "Stormfront," will bear this out, at least anecdotally. The youth forum is filled with complaints by young people about being bullied by African-Americans and Hispanics.

The combination of youth and forced association seems to be an especially volatile one. In contrast to work, church, or clubs, school is mandatory in a way that other human associations are not. While people are constrained by financial necessity to hold jobs they despise, young people are constrained by law to attend school and in many states can be brought into the justice system if they don't. The only institutions more authoritarian are the military and prisons.

In such environments, petty incidents escalate into open group warfare. I once taught at a school that experienced severe tensions between African-American and Haitian youths. No one remembers how it started, but it seems to have originated in middle school. This feud lasted for years and resulted in several deaths and at least one person being sentenced to 25 years. (He won an appeal and will only serve 6 years.) Other people were shot and recovered.

By asserting that Anders Breivik was bullied, in no way do I mean to approve of or minimize his actions. Rather, I am suggesting that if we want to prevent such massacres from occurring in the future, we need to do three things:

1. Acknowledge the reality of ethnic tension and the fact that, especially among adolescents, this tension will frequently turn violent.

2. Recognize the seriousness of this violence. Because it is "kid's stuff," don't assume that it is minor, that the kids will work it out, or that it will not leave lasting damage.

3. Take active steps to stop it. Most methods will involve education of the young people involved, increased supervision of schools and enhanced patrolling of troubled neighborhoods.

Don't spend time wondering if ethnic violence is occurring in your community. It almost certainly is, especially among adolescents. If other factors are at work -- mental illness, antidepressant medication that seems to provoke outburst of rage,  and easy access to guns -- this tension will almost certainly erupt into acts of extraordinary violence.