David Duke Survives Assassination Attempt! (Or So He Says.)

David Duke is claiming that during a recent speaking engagement in Sweden, he was the target of an unsuccessful bomb attack by “Zionists”. The only problem with his claim is that the one and only place the alleged attack is being reported is on Duke’s own website (and a few white power sites that have reprinted the article). It’s not that I don’t trust David Duke but… well, OK, I don’t trust David Duke. I’m unsure as to whether this is just a publicity stunt or a manifestation of Duke’s anti-Semitic paranoia. I’ll try to keep tabs on the story, assuming anyone bothers to look into the claim.

Some Questions Are Best Left Unanswered

Kevin Alfred Strom, leader of the National Alliance splinter group National Vanguard, seems quite excited about the current advances being made in the field of DNA testing. It appears that a testing firm is now offering a blood screen that can determine, with a good level of accuracy, the racial background of the subject. The test is apparently precise enough to detect the differences between close ethnic groups, such as Jewish and gentile Europeans. Strom is of course excited about the prospects for the tests’ future use as a prerequisite for being granted citizenship in a “white homeland”. But he and other white supremacists might be wary about using the test within their own groups. Considering the large number of white power people who have recently been outed as being black, Latino, and Jewish, it is likely that they would have to expel a decent number of their own members. And keep in mind that all of these exposed racists knew about their ethnic background and chose to hide it from their comrades. Given the melting pot element of American culture (and the level of adultery in our society), who truly knows the precise makeup of their bloodline? Some of these people might be quite disturbed at what they would discover about themselves.

The Socialists, The Nazis, And Camp Casey

As might be expected, elements of both the far right and the far left have attempted to manipulate the media circus surrounding Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Texas. This article from the Portland Indymedia site claims that a socialist group was asked to leave the camp after they began selling Marxist literature to the crowd. Although the socialists are wringing their hands over the supposed denial of their free speech rights, they would do well to remember that, well, it’s not their protest. Ben Johnson, a writer for Marxist-turned-neocon David Horowitz’s Front Page site, pushes the envelope a bit farther by trying to link Cindy Sheehan to white power groups. His argument (if it can be called that) seems to be this:

White supremacists oppose the Iraq war and suggest it was waged at least partially to protect Israel.

Cindy Sheehan opposes the Iraq war and suggests that it was waged at least partially to protect Israel.

Therefore, Cindy Sheehan is a Nazi in disguise.

Hmm. I don’t know about that.

Getting Out

Those who make a career out of studying extremist groups like speculate endlessly about the participant’s reasons for joining. A less studied, but just as relevant topic, is why people choose to leave. This is a good article on how and why a Klan leader from north Arkansas decided to give up his racist beliefs and begin preaching a gospel of tolerance. The conclusion one draws from the article is the same one I came to after several years of research: Most (though not all) people who join political fringe groups do so not out of a true commitment to the ideology, but for the purpose of social contact. Once social relationships outside of the extremist group appear more promising than those within, the person will quit. This realization was probably the most important thing I’ve learned about extremists since I began studying them. It’s greatly changed the way I look at them on a personal level. While I still find most of their ideologies to be repugnant, I have some sympathy for them as individuals. And I know that it is likely that they will one day leave the political movement that now must seem to them to be the center of their existence.

Pat Robertson Said Something Crazy? No. Can’t Be.

By now, most of you have probably heard about Pat Robertson’s call for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the leftist president of Venezuela. I don’t have much to add, except to note that this statement is not particularly surprising, considering that Robertson has been making extreme comments like this for years. (the linked CNN story has a useful rundown of some of his more offensive statements). It does remind me of how completely hypocritical most of these “pro-life” people are.

"Our laws are based on the Ten Commandments”

James Dobson (Why are these guys always so creepy looking?)

James Dobson, founder of the Christian fundamentalist group Focus on the Family recently organized a televised rally in Nashville called “Justice Sunday II”. Speakers at the rally, who included House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, attacked the federal judiciary for having the gall to assert that the Constitution forbids the establishment of an official government-sponsored religion in the U.S. Many of those present expressed the opinion that the Bible should be looked at as the basis for American law. Although I do love mocking extremists in general, sometimes I have to admit that given the level of power Christian theocrats hold in this country at this point, maybe it’s not that funny anymore.

You Can’t Reason With Nazis

Over the course of my aforementioned dialogue with the white power folks over at Vanguard News Network, several of my key beliefs about the psychology of extremism were reinforced. These psychological traits can easily be seen when examining the thought processes of other fringe politicos such as anarchists or radical environmentalists. Some of the key points are:

You Are Either With Us Or Against Us: (sound familiar?). Neo-Nazis tend to see the world in (no pun intended) black and white terms. For instance, when I made it clear that I am not a white nationalist, several rather extreme assumptions were made about my beliefs. One poster suggested that my political goal is to bring about “racial amalgamation, and possibly as envisioned by Orwell, the abolition of gender and the sex instinct.” Another poster suggested I go live in Harlem, so as to be around the blacks I love so much. The idea that someone can disagree with white power thought and not be a brainwashed leftist is to then inconceivable.

Our Way Is The Only Way: When I mentioned that some of my views on social issues were far from politically correct, one poster wrote “if you aren't naming the jew, then you are just engaging in fake rebellion.” Once again, if you don’t agree with me 100%, you’re a tool of the system.

Only White Supremacists Can Understand White Supremacy: This is of course linked to the to the above arguments. The implicit argument is that any (white) person who studies white supremacy with an open mind will naturally adopt it as their own ideology. Of course, this also acts as a defense against criticism: They will never have to accept any outside critiques, as outsiders don’t understand their beliefs in the first place.

History And Current Events Can Be Tailored To Fit Our Reality: This led to some really bizarre statements during the exchange, such as that there was no significant restriction on freedom of speech in the Third Reich prior to the war, and that the majority of white American support the aims of the neo-Nazi movement.

My personal favorite comment came at the end of the discussion. One poster suggested that considering the amount of reading I’ve done on the subject, my conversion to white nationalism is inevitable. Another poster responded:
“This depends on whether his ‘irrational impulse’ toward pluralism is the result of unthinking acceptance of propaganda or whether it is an expression of a degenerate's desire to be surrounded by degeneracy.”
From the white power perspective, I think I would have to say the answer is the latter.

Radical Muslims Begin Prison Recruitment

This being a blog dedicated to following the activities of North American extremists, I rarely mention Al-Qaeda or other radical Muslim groups. However, it appears that some Islamic terrorist groups have had some luck recruiting African-American Muslims within the prison system to their cause. A new investigation in California has unearthed links between a Pakistani national bent on attacking government and Jewish targets in the LA area with Jamat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh, a Muslim prison gang. If these links turn out to be substantial, it could greatly complicate homeland defense. For the first time, Islamic terrorists would be able to use native born American citizens to aid and carry out their attacks, something they have been unable to do in the past.

PETA Scores Yet Another Media Coup

Ah, PETA. Whenever I start to run low on recent events to write about, you guys always come through with yet another attention-grabbing stunt. This time, they’ve released a new informational program that among other things compares the sufferings of animals today to that of slaves in the antebellum South. Predictably, ultra-PC organizations like Tolerance.org have taken the bait, decrying PETA’s campaign and giving them the media attention they crave. The reframe of the PETA’s critics seems to be that it is offensive to portray the suffering of animals as being equal to the suffering of humans. Perhaps it is offensive, but it may achieve PETA’s purpose: Reminding people that animals indisputably feel pain and fear, a fact most meat-eaters would rather not think about.

Jerry Falwell Makes Himself Appear Even More Odious

Jerry Falwell, leader of the Moral Majority, has recently started a campaign to encourage his followers to only vote for Christian candidates. He’s even selling bumper stickers that read “I Vote Christian”. Obviously, many Americans are going to be very uncomfortable with a somewhat well known preacher is putting forth such blatantly theocratic appeals, although many conservative republicans probably follow this rule already. I suppose Michael Bloomberg and Joe Liberman shouldn’t bother to ask for endorsements.

SHAC Gets What’s Coming To Them

The radical animal liberation group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) has been waging a campaign of harassment against the Huntingdon Life Science Laboratory and its business partners for years in both they U.K. and the U.S. SHAC claims that animal are routinely mistreated in Huntingdon’s labs, and that the company has done little to correct the problem. In an effort to force Huntingdon into compliance, SHAC has posted the names, addresses, and phone numbers of Huntingdon’s employees and the employees of companies that do business with the lab. In some cases, the names of the target’s children have been posted as well. SHAC has also gleefully reported each case of illegal harassment, encouraging further attacks. All of this has resulted in some real damage against the targeted persons: Homes and properties have been vandalized, threats have been received, and in one case SHAC supporters walked onto a target’s driveway and overturned their car. Thankfully, federal authorities recently responded to the severity of the attacks and filed criminal charges against seven persons, who have come to be known as the “SHAC Seven”. Predictably, SHAC has claimed a first amendment right to post the targeted person’s information on their website. They may find little sympathy for that argument in courts, as recent decisions have held that if an individual’s personal information is posted on the internet with the knowledge that such postings may bring harm to the subject, the post is a threat, and not protected by the Constitution. The outcome of this case will be of great interest to extremist groups like One People’s Project, who routinely publish the names and addresses of white supremacists, as well as their racist counterparts who occasionally do the same to their opponents. Some animal right groups have claimed that the stopping the abuse of animals will excuse any tactic, no matter how reprehensible. The courts, however, are unlikely to agree.

Some People Should Not Take Off Their Clothes In Public

WTF?

On July 23rd, a “Breast Not Bombs” march was held in (where else?) Berkeley, CA. The marchers, acting in the absolutely worst tradition of hippy silliness, chose to protest the war in Iraq by barring their bodies for all to see. Both men and women took part, as well as a few people (see photo above) whose gender was, shall we say, indeterminate. Considering that the war becomes more unpopular with every passing day, I’m not sure that this sort of nausea-inducing tactic is really necessary.

OK, Almost All Anarchists Are Idiots

In the pathetic movement that is today called anarchism, there are still a few people championing the old, freedom-loving, mind-your-own-business variant of the ideology. One of the best examples is Fred Woodworth, who since 1969 has published The Match, one of the very few anarchist publications still worth reading. Fred is getting a bit crotchety in his old age, but his thinking is still sharp. His lengthy descriptions of police brutality and political malfeasance are enough to make even a hardened skeptic like me think that a stateless society might not be such a bad idea. Adding to The Match’s allure is the fact that no computers are used in its production: Fred owns his own printing press, and sets all of the type himself (!). You can get a free lifetime subscription by writing to the address below (You see kids, before e-mail, we sent out these things called “letters”. Ask your parents if you don’t know where to get a stamp.):

The Match!
P.O. Box 3012
Tucson, AZ 85702

Be a pal and give Fred a little donation when you ask for your subscription. But send cash or stamps; as you might expect, the man has no checking account.

Extreme Politics Reaches Out

In an effort to get some feedback on my documents page (as well as knock up the hit counter a bit), I recently posted links to it on several white power bulletin boards. Surprisingly, the post on Vanguard News Network has turned into an interesting and fairly well reasoned debate between myself and several of the non-kosher posters thereon. Check it out and see if I come off as witty and authoritative, or if I just make an ass of myself.

Anarchists Are F*cking Idiots

Sorry about the post title, but they’ve really pissed me off this time. A bunch of anarchists in San Francisco held an anti-G8 protest on July 8th. It rapidly degenerated into a riot, during which several storefronts were vandalized and a cop was severely injured, resulting in his being rushed to the hospital with brain swelling. The twits who helped to organize the protest later published an article lauding what had happened, calling it “militant direct action in response to the oppressive global capitalist system and the state of perpetual imperial war that it has created.” What about the cop who got hurt? “Although the bourgeois media sensationalized the report of an injured officer, they failed to note that every day in the Mission district and all over this white supremacist society, poor people of color are brutalized by the police.” OK, I guess it’s all right for you guys to act like a bunch of thugs them. And what about Shoebiz, the mom-and-pop store whose front window you broke? They had it coming you see, because it’s “a Valencia St. store that is an agent of gentrification.” In other words, the people who own it are white. The essay ends with a rousing call:
Don't Wait for Instructions, Don't Ask for Permission Resist the System! Free your Desires and Take Action Now Realize your Dreams and Destroy the Capitalist Nightmare!

Could we just destroy the anarchists instead?