Shunning Makes A Comeback

I’ve been staying away from the topic of the religious right of late. It’s often times too difficult to differentiate between the true theocratic zealots (who qualify as political extremists) and those who are merely political conservatives who seek to work within the system for change (who are not). Having made that little disclaimer, I recently came across this article, which describes what I feel to be a disturbing and potentially monist trend within many conservative Protestant churches: shunning. Shunning occurs when a person is asked not to attend services at the church anymore, and parishioners are instructed to have no contact with the expelled individual. This sometimes occurs when the person in question has committed a serious sin (homosexuality, adultery, drug use) for which they refuse to repent. This is a very religiously suspect practice in the first place, but it becomes downright creepy when it is applied to persons whose only “sin” is disagreeing with church leaders. The article linked to above relates the story of an elderly lady who was hounded from her church when she insisted that the preacher should appoint a panel of deacons to oversee the church’s monetary affairs. The preacher claimed she was spreading “a sprit of cancer and discord” within the church. As more of the mainstream religious right churches move towards an openly theocratic orientation, this new application of shunning will be used to silence dissent and ensure that the megalomaniacal leaders in question will be able to lead their flocks in spiritual and political matters without question.

Apparently, It’s Now More Acceptable To Be A Pedophile Than To Be A National Socialist

OK, this page is in danger of becoming the Neo-Nazi Freakshow Blog, so I’ll try to find another group to pick on come next week. In the meantime, I couldn’t help but comment on this one. Kevin Alfred Strom, one time right hand man of William Pierce, plead guilty this week to a single count of possession of child pornography. In return, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges against him. Considering that Strom was at one time a fairly big player in the white power scene (he even had his own group, the now-defunct National Vanguard), this is of course yet another rather embarrassing chapter in the history of the Aryan struggle. Most of the big racist sites aren’t commenting on the affair, although a few sad individuals on Stormfront are still claiming the existence of a dark anti-racist conspiracy in the case. Perhaps most amusingly, Strom has expressed concern that he may be targeted in prison for his political beliefs, and has strongly stated that he has never been a “white supremacist” or a “neo-Nazi”. Strom’s estranged wife Elisha summed it up pretty well when she said, “The thing I kind of wonder more about is that he doesn’t seem upset that he’s being called a pedophile, but he has a problem being called a neo-Nazi”. Last time I checked, white power people in prison usually don’t have too many problems (think of the Aryan Brotherhood). Child-lovers, on the other hand, don’t tend to do as well.

Hal Tuner Is Working For The FBI-Why Am I Not Surprised?

I’ve rarely mentioned Hal Turner on this site before. He used to run a white power internet radio show out of New Jersey that was know for its especially extreme racist rants. Turner regularly threatened to kill his political opponents, and urged others to do the same. Because of his open calls for violence, he was shunned by most other white power groups, and often operated alone. These other racist organizations were no doubt afraid that they might be caught up in a federal case against Turner if they associated with him. Oddly, despite his strident call for the murder of federal judges and others, he was never charged with a crime. The reason for this legal immunity became more clear last week after a group of unnamed hackers got access to Turner’s e-mail account, where they found messages sent between him and his FBI handler. Turner tells his FBI contact about a threat made against a US senator in the comment section of his website, along with the poster’s ISP address. Turner notes, “Once again, my fierce rhetoric has served to flush out a possible crazy.” In another of the e-mails, he allegedly discusses receiving payment for his services to the feds. There are a couple of reasons to suspect that the alleged e-mails are authentic. First, as already mentioned, Turner has never been charged with a crime as the result of his online threats. Second, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported the story as fact. Not that the SPLC is a completely reputable group, but they usually do a good job with their fact checking. Third and perhaps most important, shortly after this story came out Turner quit his radio show, saying that he would have no more contacts with the “pro-white” movement.

This story has several interesting elements to it. As events over the last few years have shown, federal informants have heavily infiltrated the white power scene in the US. This incident will serve to intensify the already extreme paranoia of the racist right in this country. Also, as some people have pointed out, this is a rather unusual use of taxpayer money. As a result of Turner’s cooperation, the FBI no doubt obtained the identities of a couple of the obnoxious loudmouths who post threats on online message boards. But how many lone wolf racists (the ones who are intelligent enough not to express their opinions online) were influenced or inspired by these radio broadcasts? When this case is finally settled, the FBI may have a bit of explaining to do.

Nazi Skinheads Are Scumbags

As regular readers of this blog have likely figured out, I’m not a big fan of white nationalists in general. Genocidal ambitions aside, they tend to be a personably unlikable bunch. But I will admit that occasionally a reasonably intelligent white supremacist thinker like William Pierce or James Mason emerges who actually has something interesting to say. However, the neo-Nazi skinhead movement has, throughout its existence, attracted the kind of individuals one is likely to meet at a cockfighting event or a Methamphetamine Anonymous meeting. Consider this story from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report (which is always a good source for the latest racist gossip). It details the sad story of Amanda Crow, a teenage girl of questionable judgment who got tied up with a crew of Arizona Nazi skins. (I’m not sure why, but that state has a history of producing particularly noxious examples of white power skinheads.) When her fellow Aryans suspected she might become a police informant, they severely beat her and slashed her throat in the presence of her children, then left her for dead in the desert. Crow managed to survive the assault, and her attackers have been sentenced (or will shortly be sentenced) to lengthy prison terms. This blazing stupidity and utter lack of respect for human life are typical of the Nazi skinhead subculture. Unfortunately, our society still contains a large enough population of genetically deficient rednecks to ensure that this movement will continue to exist for the foreseeable future.