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Pamela Geller strikes back at NY Times for tying her to Oslo shooter

Matthew Boyle Investigative Reporter
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Conservative blogger and anti-jihadist Pamela Geller told The Daily Caller it’s “outrageous” that she’s been “assign[ed] blame” for Oslo shooter Anders Behring Breivik’s actions.

“It’s like equating Charles Manson, who heard in the lyrics of Helter Skelter a calling for the Manson murders,” Geller said in an exclusive phone interview. “It’s like blaming the Beatles. It’s patently ridiculous.” (RELATED: Norwegian professors defend lenient judicial system in wake of massacre)

Breivik went on a bombing and shooting spree in and near the Norwegian capital on Friday, leaving more than 60 people dead. The death toll estimates have changed several times over the past few days, ranging from 68 to 76 to more than 90. Breivik, who is now in Norwegian custody and pled “not guilty” in court on Monday, left behind what the media has labeled a “manifesto.”

In the manifesto, Breivik cites Geller and other anti-Jihadists as sources for his inspiration. The appearance earned Geller and company a lashing at the hands of The New York Times and many other mainstream media outlets. Reporters have scoured Breivik’s writings, in his manifesto and elsewhere, looking for a connection to anti-jihad activists like Geller.

Geller points out that while she and Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer appear in Breivik’s manifesto, so do several influential historical thinkers. For instance, the New Yorker reports that Breivik cites Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Adam Smith. “Are they responsible too?” Geller asks.

Some bloggers also allege that one of Geller’s contributors, a writer named “Fjordman,” is really Breivik hiding behind a pseudonym. The Guardian has since disproved that accusation.

Geller also told TheDC that those allegations are not true. Fjordman is not Breivik, she says. Geller adds that she has not met or communicated with Breivik at all. Not ever.

“No dealings, no emails, no nothing,” Geller said. “He mentions me once in a 1,500 page ‘manifesto,’ and this is the tie? Does anyone see how completely ridiculous this whole thing is?

“This is a propaganda campaign and, if anything, it shows the true agenda of the media. I find it very revealing. It has nothing to do with me. Nothing.”

Geller added that the media-wide decision to label Breivik a conservative Christian doesn’t make sense. “He himself said he’s not a religious man,” Geller said “There’s nothing in Christianity that calls for this.”

Geller also told TheDC that she’s never advocated in favor of anything violent. “Nowhere in anything that I’ve ever written do I ever in any way promote violence,” she said. “I’m a human rights activist. I fight for freedom.”

She adds that, from what she’s read about Breivik, she believes no ideological force drove him to commit the horrific acts he did. The “close to 20,000 Islamic attacks since 9/11,” on the other hand, Geller believes were ideologically driven. “We’re still waiting for the DoD [Department of Defense] to speak to the religious motivation behind Ft. Hood in November of 2009,” Geller adds.

Moving forward, Geller hopes other Americans recognize what she says she has observed in the mainstream media. “This to me is naked agenda bias,” Geller said. “Clearly the media is no longer taking a passive role, or even objective reporting. The media has become an activist voice for supremacists and the far left.”

Watch raw video: Norway massacre subject leaves court: