Louisville Courier Journal Editorial: America Needs To Stand Down, And Stand Back, From The Hate. I TOTALLY AGREE!
Fighting hatred
For anyone following the growth in fringe groups in the United States of America, the news that members of a Midwestern Christian militia were arrested over the weekend for anti-government plots was shocking — but hardly surprising.
Watchdog organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been warning Americans for almost a year that a faltering economy, polarizing political issues such as health care reform and gay marriage, the erosion of civil discourse and the advent of the nation's first black president were recruiting points for hate, “patriot,” nativist, anti-government and other right-wing militia groups.
Just this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported increases in the numbers of all those groups, including a 244 percent increase in the number of “patriot” groups in a year's time — from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009. Paramilitary militias, such as the Hutaree group (including members from Ohio and Indiana) that was busted over the weekend, were a big part of that growth.
More frightening than that, though, is the appearance in the mainstream of what were previously fringe ideas or expressions. It is one thing for conspiracy theory-fed, End Times warriors to believe the President is a socialist, the anti-Christ and not a citizen. It is quite another for disturbingly sizable numbers of Republicans, members of a so-called major political party, to believe the same thing — as a recent survey showed.
Even the most ardent of Sarah Palin's fans must have blanched when, amid some of the most toxic political exchanges in memory, she used gun sights and words such as “reload” to galvanize support in unseating incumbents. Equally troubling was that John McCain, in a tough re-election season, excused her verbiage, which furthered his descent from respectability. Ms. Palin's disgrace is that she didn't back away from her mob appeal — unlike a militia leader in Arizona, who had the smarts to disband her border watch group last week after she said her “locked, loaded and ready” invitation might attract the wrong people. (As if; that already happened, when a woman with ties to the “defense corps” was charged with double murder a while back.)
Yes, people in the United States have the guaranteed freedoms of association, assembly, speech and gun ownership. Militias can form and howl at the moon if they want — but they can't break the law.
There are signs that something dangerous is afoot. The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force that broke up a heartland plot to kill police officers and start a war against the United States, is a piece of it. So are the watchdog groups' reports.
America needs to stand down, and stand back, from the hate.
For anyone following the growth in fringe groups in the United States of America, the news that members of a Midwestern Christian militia were arrested over the weekend for anti-government plots was shocking — but hardly surprising.
Watchdog organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been warning Americans for almost a year that a faltering economy, polarizing political issues such as health care reform and gay marriage, the erosion of civil discourse and the advent of the nation's first black president were recruiting points for hate, “patriot,” nativist, anti-government and other right-wing militia groups.
Just this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported increases in the numbers of all those groups, including a 244 percent increase in the number of “patriot” groups in a year's time — from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009. Paramilitary militias, such as the Hutaree group (including members from Ohio and Indiana) that was busted over the weekend, were a big part of that growth.
More frightening than that, though, is the appearance in the mainstream of what were previously fringe ideas or expressions. It is one thing for conspiracy theory-fed, End Times warriors to believe the President is a socialist, the anti-Christ and not a citizen. It is quite another for disturbingly sizable numbers of Republicans, members of a so-called major political party, to believe the same thing — as a recent survey showed.
Even the most ardent of Sarah Palin's fans must have blanched when, amid some of the most toxic political exchanges in memory, she used gun sights and words such as “reload” to galvanize support in unseating incumbents. Equally troubling was that John McCain, in a tough re-election season, excused her verbiage, which furthered his descent from respectability. Ms. Palin's disgrace is that she didn't back away from her mob appeal — unlike a militia leader in Arizona, who had the smarts to disband her border watch group last week after she said her “locked, loaded and ready” invitation might attract the wrong people. (As if; that already happened, when a woman with ties to the “defense corps” was charged with double murder a while back.)
Yes, people in the United States have the guaranteed freedoms of association, assembly, speech and gun ownership. Militias can form and howl at the moon if they want — but they can't break the law.
There are signs that something dangerous is afoot. The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force that broke up a heartland plot to kill police officers and start a war against the United States, is a piece of it. So are the watchdog groups' reports.
America needs to stand down, and stand back, from the hate.
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 7:25 PM
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