Das Lachen der Täter: Breivik u.a

The laughter of killers is recounted in numerous cases, and German Wehrmacht soldiers are said to have shared their atrocities with each other in English captivity with great cheerfulness. However, behind the laughter lies the other side of the lust for killing: the cold rationality of speech when perpetrators publicly justify their actions. Anders Breivik's defense in court resembles the text of a statistics seminar on immigration numbers in Norway. Theweleit's essay exposes the language of justification as a facade for the lust for killing, for, as the author's provocative critique suggests, everything can be justified, but one should believe in none of it.