The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 926 active hate groups in the U.S. in 2008—that’s a 54% rise since 2000. And those are only groups, lone wolves—no one knows how many. Statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation report the incidence of hate crimes showed an eight percent increase between 2005 and 2006. Over 50 percent of these crimes were race-related, with the remaining incidents triggered by sexual orientation, religion and gender differences.
FBI counterterrorism expert John Perren said of “lone wolf” domestic terrorists, “It could be anyone. It could be the guy next door … on the Internet just building himself up with hate … to a boiling point and finally using what he’s learned.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 14, 2009
Who are these people who hate? What do they want? What do they believe? It’s hard to lump them all together, as they have different ideologies and display different characteristics, and they all have different objectives. The white supremacists want whites on top of the food chain, want a white Nordic world; the militias are paranoid about the New World Order, or the ZOG, or the federal government coming to put them in FEMA camps or some such takeover; the KKK wants Jews and African American banished from our shores forever, or dead; The Christianists want dominion over–and forced conversions of– the entire planet, and they want gays killed or at least imprisoned. Some of these groups have imagined grievances; some just hate everyone who is not them. But they all have one characteristic in common: Intolerance.
Intolerance is generally defined as the state of being unwilling or unable to endure the beliefs, perspectives, or practices of others. It also involves a lack of recognition for the fundamental rights and choices of others.
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF HATE
Are they really mentally disturbed, mentally impaired, downright crazy? Some are, but most are not. As far as hate crimes go, one would think individuals who commit these acts to be mentally unstable, however a study carried out by the University of California showed differently. Out of 550 hate crime criminals profiled, researchers found aggression and antisocial behavior to be prevalent, but no personality disorders. Perpetrators were described as typically “normal” with a high tendency towards destructiveness and violence.
Mary H. Guindon, PhD, Alan G. Green, PhD, and Fred J. Hanna, PhD from Johns Hopkins University say that there should be a new designation in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for people who hate irrationally.
“It is our intention to explore the possibility of an intolerant personality disorder as a previously unrecognized and unacknowledged type of psychopathology that causes harm to people from many cultures and has been destructive in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. Antisocial, borderline, paranoid, and narcissistic personality disorders are examples of personality styles that are or can be harmful to others. The question is as follows: If intolerance of others in certain forms is indeed destructive and a source of pain and anxiety to its victims, should it not also be categorized as a mental disorder?”
They are part of a growing movement in the mental health community. They do not want to medicalize intolerance or to make it a disease. But they and others believe it is important to name extreme intolerance as pathology. They want to document and research the problem in order to develop treatments that can be part of the solution to profound social injustice concerns. Labeling intolerance as a personality disorder has the potential benefit to rehabilitate these people and lead to increased tolerance, which helps us all.
Whether feelings of hatred are rational or irrational, the logic system behind these feelings is distorted. Sigmund Freud classified all forms of behavioral expression as defense mechanisms used to protect one’s self-image. As such, hatred expressed inwardly or outwardly becomes a self-protective measure that works to maintain one’s sense of identity. Intolerance can also be viewed as a defense against change, acting as a form of self-protection. It is a sick defense mechanism. Suspicion and distrust are perceived as necessary protection against a threat of harm.
The Johns Hopkins team lists these
Symptoms Of Intolerant Personality Disorder:
(a) holds a rigid set of beliefs that assert the intrinsic superiority due to race, religion, culture,or gender of the person’s own group ;
(b) lacks empathy for one or more particular populations, such as Latinos, African Americans, gays, lesbians, or women;
(c) exhibits interpersonal behavior that ranges from covert or overt antagonism and hostility to exploitation toward one or more specific or targeted populations;
(d) seeks to overtly or covertly block, deny, impede, or cancel the social, organizational, psychological, or financial advancement of someone of a group believed to be inferior;
(e) uses power or other means to inhibit or prevent free expression of contrary or intolerable ideas;
(f) has a sense of entitlement based on membership in a privileged group and believes that others should recognize his or her superiority without commensurate achievements or valid credentials;
(g) manifests a pervasive pattern of disregard for the human rights of members of particular populations; and
(h) shows lack of remorse as indicated by being callous or indifferent to having hurt, restricted, mistreated, or maligned members of selective populations.
A study carried out by the University of California on persons who committed hate crimes also revealed that the majority of the participants had a family history of violence and abuse. With this type of background, individuals are more prone to internalize feelings of self-hatred as a part of their overall self identity. As far as defense mechanisms go, one type in particular—projection—is attributed to the experience of hatred directed towards another.
Projection is a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously directs feelings felt about oneself onto another person. This is a coping mechanism put in place to protect a person from harmful thoughts and feelings felt toward the self. The antagonistic feelings by someone towards the target of his hatred are, in effect, the same feelings he has with himself.
Understanding hate groups is essential for successful intervention strategies, which depend on an understanding of the hate process. According to FBI profilers, their observations show that hate groups go through seven stages in the hate process. Unless stopped, haters pass through these seven successive stages without skipping a stage. In the first four stages, haters vocalize their beliefs. In the last three stages, haters act on their beliefs. A transition period exists between vocalization and acting out. In this transition period, violence separates hard-core haters from rhetorical haters.
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin/March 1, 2003
Stage 1: The Haters Gather
Irrational haters seldom hate alone. They feel compelled, almost driven, to entreat others to hate as they do. Peer validation bolsters a sense of self-worth and, at the same time, prevents introspection, which reveals personal insecurities. Further, individuals otherwise ineffective become empowered when they join groups, which also provide anonymity and diminished accountability.
Stage 2: The Hate Group Defines Itself
Hate groups form identities through symbols, rituals, and mythologies, which enhance the members’ status and, at the same time, degrade the object of their hate. For example, skinhead groups may adopt the swastika, the iron cross, the Confederate flag, and other supremacist symbols. Group-specific symbols or clothing often differentiate hate groups. Group rituals, such as hand signals and secret greetings, further fortify members. Hate groups, especially skinhead groups, usually incorporate some form of self-sacrifice, which allows haters to willingly jeopardize their well-being for the greater good of the cause. Giving one’s life to a cause provides the ultimate sense of value and worth to life. Skinheads often see themselves as soldiers in a race war.
Stage 3: The Hate Group Disparages the Target
Hate is the glue that binds haters to one another and to a common cause. By verbally debasing the object of their hate, haters enhance their self-image, as well as their group status. In skinhead groups, racist song lyrics and hate literature provide an environment wherein hate flourishes. In fact, researchers have found that the life span of aggressive impulses increases with ideation. In other words, the more often a person thinks about aggression, the greater the chance for aggressive behavior to occur. Thus, after constant verbal denigration, haters progress to the next more acrimonious stage.
Stage 4: The Hate Group Taunts the Target
Hate, by its nature, changes incrementally. Time cools the fire of hate, thus forcing the hater to look inward. To avoid introspection, haters use ever-increasing degrees of rhetoric and violence to maintain high levels of agitation. Taunts and offensive gestures serve this purpose. In this stage, skinheads typically shout racial slurs from moving cars or from afar. Nazi salutes and other hand signals often accompany racial epithets. Racist graffiti also begins to appear in areas where skinheads loiter. Most skinhead groups claim turf proximate to the neighborhoods in which they live. One study indicated that a majority of hate crimes occur when the hate target migrates through the hate group’s turf.
Stage 5: The Hate Group Attacks the Target Without Weapons
This stage is critical because it differentiates vocally abusive haters from physically abusive ones. In this stage, hate groups become more aggressive, prowling their turf seeking vulnerable targets. Violence coalesces hate groups and further isolates them from mainstream society. Skinheads, almost without exception, attack in groups and target single victims. Research has shown that bias crimes are twice as likely to cause injury and four times as likely to result in hospitalization as compared to nonbias crimes.
In addition to physical violence, the element of thrill seeking is introduced in Stage 5. Experts found that 60 percent of hate offenders were “thrill seekers.” They seek an adrenaline high. Each successive anger- provoking thought or action builds on residual adrenaline and triggers a more violent response than the one that originally initiated the sequence. Anger builds on anger. The adrenaline high combined with hate becomes a deadly combination. Hard-core skinheads keep themselves at a level where the slightest provocation triggers aggression.
Stage 6: The Hate Group Attacks the Target with Weapons
Several studies confirm that a large number of bias attacks involve weapons. Some attackers use firearms to commit hate crimes, but skinheads prefer weapons, such as broken bottles, baseball bats, blunt objects, screwdrivers, and belt buckles. These types of weapons require the attacker to be close to the victim, which further demonstrates the depth of personal anger. Attackers can discharge firearms at a distance, thus precluding personal contact. Close-in onslaughts require the assailants to see their victims eye-to-eye and to become bloodied during the assault. Hands- on violence allows skinheads to express their hate in a way a gun cannot. Personal contact empowers and fulfills a deep-seated need to have dominance over others.
Stage 7: The Hate Group Destroys the Target
The ultimate goal of haters is to destroy the object of their hate. Mastery over life and death imbues the hater with godlike power and omnipotence, which, in turn, facilitate further acts of violence. With this power comes a great sense of self-worth and value, the very qualities haters lack. However, in reality, hate physically and psychologically destroys both the hater and the hated.
Symbols, Rituals, and Mythology
Fully understanding hate groups involves identifying and defining their unique symbols rituals, and mythologies. Symbols give greater meaning to irrational hate. Haters use symbols for self- identification and to form common bonds with other group members. Additionally, they often swear allegiance to these symbols.
Symbols, however, are not enough to unify a group; therefore, more organized hate groups incorporate rituals, which serve two functions. First, they relieve individual group members from deep thought and self-examination. Second, rituals reinforce beliefs and fortify group unity.
The hate group’s experiences, beliefs, and use of symbols and rituals combine to create group mythologies. Mythologies unify disparate thoughts and act as filters through which group members interpret reality. Group mythologies can have profound effects on its members. A group with a powerful mythology results in one resistant to ideological challenges, and, therefore, it is more dangerous.
RECRUITMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNMi8fXi5Os&feature=related
Hate groups have always been interested in getting brighter people into its ranks. They are looking for is its future leaders, its tacticians and strategists who can create a second revolution—as opposed to those who can just beat up a few people. The internet really helps them meet this goal. Their primary target is often teenagers. In their view, impressionable youth represents the only hope for the future of the “white race.”
Leaving aside the intergenerational, within-family recruitment, the young are being actively recruited in large numbers and through specific tactics. Many adolescents today find themselves alienated from their families. Occasionally this is because the family is brutal or alcoholic, but more often the alienation arises in a home where the parents possessed no other values than the pursuit of money; where the parents are psychologically absent. The fascist youth group in particular offers these alienated kids a substitute family, an environment of mutual concern, and a substitute set of values. For many young people, a fascist group may provide their first real exposure to commitment, to courage, to unity of thought and action, to the motivation of non-materialistic values. Like any good gang.
RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES
Hate groups concentrate their recruiting efforts primarily in high schools and, to some extent, in colleges and universities. They even offer scholarships. And the Internet seems tailor-made for reaching disaffected young people: teenagers spend far more time on it than their parents do, and many teens consider the virtual world of the web their “home away from home.”
Hatemongers now target young people directly, through hate “music” and special web sites. Young people may be susceptible to online racist propaganda because they don’t have the experience or facts at hand to refute the lies and myths being fed to them.
Although the Internet is a relatively new way to reach young people, the techniques hatemongers use to attract them are still very traditional. Here are some of the strategies hate groups use to attract young people on the Internet:
Music
The rise of white power rock ‘n’ roll has been very important to the racist movement. It’s extremely violent in its rhetoric and lyrics. The songs call for murdering black people or creating a racial holy war or a whites-only revolution, and they’re increasingly being sold to teenagers and people in their early 20s. It’s a great strategy–music is a compelling way to influence young people. When kids surf the Net for music, they may chance on sites that sell hate music, or even offer it free for downloading. Such Web sites often also provide links to hate-promoting brochures, pamphlets, newsgroups, chat rooms or Web sites.
Every year in North America, more than 70,000 white power CDs are sold. Resistance Records (the largest North American distributor of hate music) gross more than $3 million in 2007. Resistance Records has a stable of a dozen high-quality Skinhead bands like a cute girl-band that takes up the mantle from the defunct groups Prussian Blue. Their products can be ordered directly over the Internet. Resistance Records, as well as such established organizations as Aryan Nations and the Christian Identity Posse Comitatus, hold Aryan concerts, Aryan Youth festivals, or annual Aryan Youth Congresses.
Another white power music broker, Byron Calvert, distributed 30,000 CDs in 2007. The campaign is dubbed “Project Schoolyard Volume II” and targets teenagers with a 25-song sampler that features tracks such as “White Power” and “Some Niggers Never Die.” “Remember,” he wrote, “we don’t just entertain racist kids, we create them.” The CDs are on sale for 30 cents each, but Calvert is including several free with each order from Tightrope, his Arkansas-based website that offers hate music and other racist merchandise. He said he also uses multiple MySpace accounts that are not overtly racist to reach white students at schools where racially charged incidents have occurred.
Skinhead Girl Warrior (Les Vilains)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQJ0MPl-mok&feature=related
Militia : May 17 Patrol & training music video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gZD2z_LSZg
“Let’s see out the Fuhrer’s dream/To break the back of the eternal jew/Rid the world of the evil we’ve seen/Make it safe for me and you.”
— From “Under the Hammer” by Brutal Attack“When the battle is over and the victory is won/And the White man’s lands are owned by true white people/the traitors will all be gone.”
— From “White Warriors” by Skrewdriver
And there are a few thousand more music videos! If you thought such unabashedly bigoted music was available only from underground sources, you’d be as surprised as I was. At Apple’s iTunes website you can buy albums and songs from white supremacist groups. But iTunes it’s not the only mainstream music distributor selling racist and offensive tracks. Amazon.com also sells music from many of the same white supremacist bands.
Games
Another strategy used to attract young people is white-power versions of popular computer games. Teens may go online looking for the latest cool game, and may find the “hate version” instead.
For example, Resistance Records has produced Ethnic Cleansing —a computer game whose object is to kill “subhumans” such as Blacks and Latinos, and their “masters,” the Jews, who are portrayed as the personification of evil. Players can choose between dressing as KKK members or skinheads. Even very popular mainstream games, such as Resident Evil5 have definite racist overtones.
Books
Many sites have chat rooms and I’ve noticed members often ask about books that promote their ideology. Stormfront and the Nationalist Coalition, to name just two, offer books for teens.
Activities for kids
Some hate sites offer special sections for kids containing games and activities. For example, on the “Creativity for Kids” section of the neo-Nazi World Church of the Creator Web site, children can try their hands at crossword puzzles with racist content. The purpose of the children’s section is “to help the young members of the white race understand our fight.” Of course, most hate groups home-school their kids, and the bigger sites, like Stormfront.com provide learning materials.
Re: Join the SCOOTS Reading Club…..Promoting Childhood Literacy!
Hail All!
I just wanted everyone to know that the program is a free program for children 2-18. The sponsorship portion is for those that don’t have children, but still want to contribute to early literacy, the love of reading, and family togetherness.
I highly encourage participation from all our children ages 2-18 years of age. It is free and when you meet the goals you have the ability to choose your prizes carefully selected with our Folkish children in mind!
What better satisfaction than to help a child to form a love for reading, or for those avid readers, what better way to get rewarded for a job well done! If you teach a child to read, he or she can truly do anything!
I look forward to hearing from everyone for this program!
__________________
For Faith, Folk, and Family
Lucy(Stormfront chat room)
Cartoon spokescharacters
Some hate sites use cartoon-like or animated characters, similar to (or identical to) those used in children’s media to attract young audiences. They don’t even have to invent new ones, as Disney and many other old cartoons provide many racist characters.
OTHER COMMON STRATEGIES
Racialism
White power and white supremacy sites typically deny that they are racist organizations. Instead, they focus on the need to protect white people from assimilation and/or direct threats from non-white groups. They call this perspective “racialist” as opposed to racist.
The 14/88 Society is a good example of this dynamic. The site’s name combines two hate slogans popular in the white supremacy movement:
- 14 refers to the 14-word slogan: “We must secure the existence of our race and a future for white children”
- 88 represents HH (H being the eighth number in the alphabet), which stands for Heil Hitler
Overtly racist sites, like 14/88, are the easiest to identify because they conform to the mainstream image of the neo-Nazi skinhead hate group. However many hate sites attempt to conceal a racist agenda behind a more moderate message.
Pseudo-Science and Intellectualism
Many hate-mongers use pseudo-scientific intellectualized language and incorporate the work of university-based academics to make their views seem more credible. Canadian professor Phillip Rushton’s work on the different intellectual and physical abilities of different “races” is a case in point. In addition, the late Dr. William Pierce operated a publishing company that released a steady stream of neo-Nazi literature. Pierce’s fictionalized account of racialist revolution in The Turner Diaries is said to have inspired the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Historical Revisionism
Holocaust denial is a frequently used strategy. Haters who “revise” history argue that the Holocaust either did not occur, or was less significant than the historical record indicates. And they are insidious. Let’s say your child is given a school assignment to write about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most likely, he or she will go to the internet and search for Martin Luther King. What they could easily find is pretty scary—and despicable. On one site I found this Discovery Channel movie trailer claiming that whites are the indigenous Ice Age North Americans.
ANTI GOVERNMENT SENTIMENTS AND RECRUITMENT
At a deeper level, recruitment into the neo-fascist movements is based on the on-going crisis of capitalism, especially in North America.
Worsening economic conditions, political instability, a perceived sense of injustice, or a struggle of groups for self-identity or power are among the conditions that may precipitate planned or spontaneous outbursts of violence by groups against individuals, other groups, or the state.
Research on genocide, group violence, and hate crimes have shown that such factors as economic problems, political conflict, or rapid and substantial social change interact with group characteristics such as the need to scapegoat or devalue other groups, the inclination to hinge a better future on identifying enemies who stand in the way, and a pattern of aggression.
Corporate downsizing, declining real wages, changing technology, increasing gap between the wealthy and everyone else, and the steady decline in manufacturing jobs replaced by lower paying, less secure jobs in the service sector, have all combined to leave the average American worker feeling vulnerable and betrayed. For rural Americans, economic uncertainty is compounded by threats to traditional rural industries like logging, mining, ranching, and farming. These are the conditions in which hate groups thrive.
NEXT—HATE IN AMERICA, Part 4: What Can Be Done
Cher, I read your thing to my husband – dgraz – and he even says NO.
He actually told me to log off so that he could log on, but I’m sort of the middle of something else, so no, he can’t have the computer back yet – but even dgraz is looking forward to your 4th installment.
You have to publish it.
Have some faith in your series and those of us following it.
We truly would feel cheated if you went from 3 to 5.
Have faith and let us be the judge and who gives a crap if you’ve already touched on parts of it.
We want to read it!
Please, Cher, put it out there NOW, today, right now, so we can read the 4th installment.
NO!!!
You must post part 4.
Oh no, you must post it, if it’s written, you must.
Post part 4 on Monday and the Part 5 on Tuesday, but you cannot leave it out.
Internet Hate is an important issue, and now that you’ve let that cat out of the bag, you have to post it, Cher.
It’s all part of it and your initial gut feeling should be posted.
Why would you skip an installment?
We are not bored by your writing and it’s part of your original concept, and I’d feel cheated if you didn’t give us the 4th installment.
Please, re-think that.
It is not yet written– just researched and it really overlaps so much of what I’ve already written. I think if anything, I’ll make it a couple of paragraphs in the conclusion part of Part 4. Honestly, it is not because I am thinking about Planet folks–although since I am one of those folks, to be honest, I AM getting a little bored with it!
One of the great things about this site is that it frees me to write for the fun of it! Of course I want people to enjoy what I write– that’s 70% of the thrill; but I just love to research and to write, so it’s pretty selfish too! Besides I like to think of the Planet as a magazine, and I enjoy going back and reading old articles– I figure that at least I can help by providing content, if not money.
Publish what you have then.
And if you can, get it together and do it today or tomorrow.
Please.
I know personally about Internet hate and stalking and death threats.
It’s so easy to do that under the anonymous of the Internet.
When we first got a computer, it would have been what? 1999?
I used to play pinochle online every Friday initially, and then online pinochle became my life.
LOL
But at that pinochle site was a series of imposters, and oh, you’d have to have been there to understand, but I was bullied, sent viruses, got hacked and sent emails, and using the Instant Messenger, my life threatened.
You would not believe the messages I’d get, and even after I stopped playing pinochle online.
There was a person out there that hated me so much, and used to send me im’s describing the ways in which he’d break into my house and kill me.
Seriously.
It’s the reason I stopped playing pinochle online, but the threats continued long afterward, until I figured out how to block them.
My husband was in Paris when 9/11 happened, and the threats to me and threatening my life were at an all time high.
I so freaked.
I stopped playing pinochle and yet the threats to me continued, and it was some nasty shit in detail what they wanted to do to me, but finally, I figured out how to block that shit.
You have to post it, Cher, because it is real.
I will reconsider, Javaz, but it’s take me ’til next week anyway.
But what you experienced is simply horrifying! What could possibly warrent such a irrational act as you described? It is almost unimaginable — from a card game?! I am just speechless and outraged for you! What a terrible experience– and all because you wanted to have a little fun. That makes my blood boil. Pathetic.
Please reconsider, because Internet bullying and hate is real, and it needs addressing.
Cher, may I make a suggestion regarding your exceptional and very important series?
If possible, could you post it earlier in the week, like Monday or Tuesday?
Thursday and Fridays, imho, are wind-down days and Fridays are party days where we all let off steam and have fun with the music and Vox Populi after a tiring week of serious politics and other issues.
You’ve written such an incredible series and like KQuark said, it deserves more attention.
Your series has the potential of going viral, but as with the Dr. Suits, it’s a difficult thing to do, but not impossible.
I’ve learned from every installment, and really look forward to the next!
Your writing ability and research humbles me and I am so happy that you are a member of PPOV!
Dear Javaz– thank you! And you know, that was sort of in the back of my mind when I published it, but I either ignored that little voice or maybe I never really heard it. Most likely, I just didn’t think about it and just wanted to publish it before I found more to write about– almost like I wanted it off my plate. I am such a perennial student that I feel like it’s better to “turn it in early.” 🙂
Anyway, that’s yet another excellent Javaz suggestion! Next time I’ll do that.
Also, Cher, the number of comments doesn’t necessarily reflect the level of interest in an article. I keep coming back to this one.
Sometimes you’ve said all there is to say. And sometimes you’ve put a lot out there to think about.
I have the same reaction to Khirad’s articles on Iran. I don’t comment much, but I keep going back to read and re-read.
Nellie– I really know that because it’s true for me when I read other posts. Like Khirad’s excellent piece the other day– it was so much to take in and I had no idea what to say about it all, but I loved reading it. That’s one of the reasons i like the author’s listing– I go back to articles long after they’ve vanished from the queue.
It’s all good, and thank you for your sensitivity.
I’m really looking forward to Part 4. 🙂
Me too!
But more so, I’m looking forward to part 5, whereby Cher explains or outlines portions of a solution.
I really cannot wait to read the conclusion!
I also agree with the very first introductory article, whereby Cher said that she wasn’t discouraged by what she found, but encouraged.
Because after reading all of them so far, I also feel encouraged in that there is a solution or partial solution in dealing with the hate.
I think part of the solution is trying to understand the problem, and that’s what I hope we’re going to do in finding a way to unite in solving corporate influence in our government.
I think the two are related, and the corporate media and whoever the powers that be understand that and promote the hate, but knowledge is power.
Ooops, I forgot to mention– I am going to scuttle part 4 and go straight to the solutions. My reason for this is that originally, the series was going to focus on INTERNET hate, but it kinda evolved and I think I’ve addressed that already.
I’m energized by that as well — I think Part 4 is going to be the solutions.
And I’m very energized by what’s going on with your Americans United idea. I can’t wait to get started on that.
Oh good, I’m glad you understand.
I’m feeling a bit hurt or paranoid or something lately here, and well, I’m glad that you understood.
I do think that your series is major and I am serious in saying that you’ve taught me so much and gave me a deeper understanding of hate in ways that I’d have never thought or even wanted to think about.
You write like a professional and I am in awe of your work.
It’s an honor to read what you write and I just wish more people could read it.
Javaz– I get what you are saying and I understand. I have no words of wisdom, except to tell you that you started something important and you cannot be expected to finish it alone. I think what you started goes beyond the specific goals, if that makes any difference. You proved that a small group of people who don’t know each other can be energized and can come together to try to accomplish something.
I don’t know if you’ve ever served on a committee or have done community work, but from my experience it is one of the most frustrating and thankless PROCESSES imaginable. It’s like trying to change tires on a moving car. But in the end, you’ll see–you’ll be glad.
My husband was in management at a major corporation, and we truly talk about this – the movement – a lot.
He knows all about egos and the difficulties of mission statements and the egos involved when it comes to getting it done.
He helped me with formulating an outline, but we were thinking 60’s era type thing, whereby AdLib is thinking 21st Century and youtube.
Oh, and btw, you and boomer are my husband’s age!
(am a youngin’ compared to you all – just kidding – but I do like to tell my husband that he robbed the cradle! LMAO
I do have an idea for a youtube vid, and would love to share it, but am paranoid, and would want to share it in the author’s corner, because I wouldn’t want to give anyone else out there trolling the site, ideas.
Gosh, that sounds like I think much too of myself or thoughts, but I am a paranoid person and didn’t someone else already sort of steal Dr. Suits?
I think authors’ corner is smart. I forget about that resource all the time!
Some of these people have drifted into the Kalispell area. They’re remnants of Richard Butler’s compound at Hayden Lake, Idaho.
That was actually a real feel-good story. Butler was this old, angry racist millionaire. He bought a big parcel of land at Hayden Lake, and built a compound, then invited the worst of the worst dregs of society to come live in his little white paradise. Eventually, his thugs beat up a couple of Indians and with the help of Morris Dees, they sued him and won a huge settlement. He lost the compound then died. His followers scattered and a few dozen of them filtered into Kalispell. That’s such a creepy town. We always just drive right through it as fast as we can with the doors locked and windows rolled up.
Some creepy dude named John Stokes with his own radio station even moved there. He was more anti-enviromentalist than anything, but he had militia links. Again, he lost his radio station in a multi-million lawsuit because he just kept slandering people left, right and centre. He went off the air for good last year. What a kook.
Pepe, were you the one who mentioned the group Prussian Blue in my earlier installment? If so, they have been replaced with another girl group, mentioned in this post. (And if not, sorry!)
And yeah, I heard about Butler, but Stokes is a new one on me– Good! Drop dead, a-hole!
Yeah, I talked about Prussian Blue. Apparently the two girls never wanted to do it and were pushed into it by their insane mother.
Yes, Stokes is a very, very creepy dude. I don’t know what became of him, or if he is still even in the Kalispell area. His radio station is dead and gone. That’s what’s important.
I’m sorry to hear that about Kalispell. I’ve always had a fantasy about visiting there, that it would be so wonderful. I once spent a few days in Coeur d’Alene. It was a pretty town but I had trouble getting past the idea that it was harboring a lot of white supremacists.
The irony is all those white supremacists have built a real entrenched human rights network in Coeur d’Alene. They have a human rights museum there, built partly with Butler’s money. I know people from there and they were pretty fed up with Butler and his thugs, in particular what they were doing for the reputation of the city, how it affected tourism in the area, etc. At most, in the mid-80s, he had 2,000 people coming to his compound. By the time he died, there were fewer than 200.
Kalispell, on the other hand, needs to get its act together, IMO. Again, there is a human rights watch group based there, in large degree because of John Stokes. The irony is Kalispell is right on the border of a pretty big Indian reservation.
Another great article Cher. I can’t be the only one who sees a strong resemblance between the “militia” types and the teapartiers. Seems to me the teapartiers are just the suburban cousins to their militia relatives who live out in the boonies. They all hate the IRS, the “feds,” the government. They’ve never read the constitution but they rant about it constantly.
Yes, e’cat– you are so right. The Teabaggers, IMO are really closely related to militias, if not “dual citizens.” And they are both pretty racist too. The thing that really separates the militias from the average teabagger is the militias seem to hate the Republicans, as they see them as just another arm of the New World Order. They particularly hate the Bushes. In a way, they have some things in common with the far, far left in that regard. While the Left isn’t paranoid about the UN, I see a lot of feelings on both extremes that the government is always the enemy, as well as virulent anti-Israel sentiment.
I’ve had a few very ugly exchanges over yonder with exactly those far lefties you describe.
Me too. Someone from the ADL, I believe, said he will no longer bother to blog on PuffHo.
Anyway, I found this:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=21&x_article=1656
“Has the Huffington Post Become a Magnet for Israel Haters?”
Interesting article. I’ve seen a lot of those threads. There was one regular who was constantly being banned but was known as “Holland boy.” He was a Yank who now lived in Holland. You probably encountered him — I haven’t seen him in a long time luckily. Really nasty anti-semite.
Another one is that Skialithea (sp?) She posts a lot, and is a real piece of work.
Definitely an extremist. Her hero is Ahmadinejad. I believe Khirad refers to her as his nemesis.
Yes, e’cat, I do. I’ll leave it at that. 😐
Cher, it took me a couple of days to get the opportunity to sit down and attentively read your terrific third segment of this series. Like KQ, I hope more Planeteers will be able to focus on your work here (although I do hear you on the fact that there’s a lot of great posting going on simultaneously). …and the bottom line is that “it’s all good.” I just don’t want this article to be overlooked!
This may sound like an odd leap to make, but several times, in the course of reading your series, it has occurred to me that some of what goes on in our high schools (and even on the junior high level) would legally qualify as hate speech…and, at times, even hate crimes!
If any of us has spent much time at all around 21st century high school kids, I would suspect that we would agree that there’s a fairly significant amount of harassment that goes on daily all over the country in school settings. Kids who are gay, overweight, socially inept, minorities in whatever community the school exists in, poor (or at least not well dressed), or just plain “different” are tormented, often with no consequence to the tormenter. (Should the victim fight back, though, the dynamic often changes. Then authority figures suddenly notice and punishment is meted out… often too late and to the wrong party.)
I wonder if the high level of tolerance for this type of behavior that is commonplace (“after all, kids will be kids”) is also part of the problem. If impressionable teens and preteens never, ever hear from an authority figure that bullying and intolerance are wrong, will they ever figure it out on their own?
Or are schools places where “survival of the fittest” is standard operating procedure on a routine basis, and a training ground where the haters of tomorrow can hone their “skills”?
What a great insight, Kes! I really think you are onto something there. For sure, those are the same impulses that the white supremacists have: Always ready to find the ‘other’ and then denigrate them. I really think schools have an obligation to intercede in these situations or at least to teach tolerance. It should be part of civics classes or whatever they call that these days. By the way, in my final (finally!) part of the series, I will be writing about what materials are available to do this.
Thanks for the kind words, Cher. I just have always had the feeling that episodes like Columbine don’t just come out of nowhere. Not that I’m blaming the victims…but the perpetrators can also be victims in situations like that.
When my kids were in school, it was fashionable to “let them work it out themselves.” So, when my daughter, who was smart and pretty, but small, quiet and insecure, was bullied, and I brought it to the attention of the teacher/principal, I was given the condescending smile and the advice to “cut the apron strings, dear mommy.” Even though the tormenters were twice the size of my daughter, I was told: “She needs to learn how to deal with violence on her own.” (I often wondered how the same people would react if they contacted the police on hearing someone break/enter their home in the middle of the night, and were told that it would be a great character-builder if they dealt with it solo.)
Then Columbine happened. It was a sobering event for those teachers and principal. Still, not much changed. They didn’t want to alienate parents and bullies by cracking down… Sigh…
Kes, it is unconscionable that the school took that attitude, but I remember those days. My question to the school–if I had it to do ever–would be: Why should she have to deal with violence AT ALL?
And when dealing with kids, I feel that in most cases they are, by their very nature, victims too. The studies I cited have shown that most of the kids involved with skinhead or other neo-Nazi groups come from neglectful families– at least uninvolved families. And kids love the sense of belonging and of purpose these groups– like any ordinary gang– give them.
And once in these groups, the group is structured to prevent any introspection. Everything is designed (consciously or not) to keep people from thinking, or feeling genuinely. It is escapism from oneself.
Well, ‘twould seem you’re giving me a taste of my own medicine. There is so much in these I want to respond to, but continue reading until at the end I don’t know how many and all the things I wanted to bring up.
Of those I can: that UC study, talk of additions to the DSM-V(or V-TR), and adrenaline were fascinating to me. I often think things come down to the chemicals in our brains. As someone who has had his own battles with chemical imbalances, I know they’re powerful and nothing to scoff at. Oh, and domestic violence/abuse? I’m shocked. (not)
On Neo-Nazi groups. I can’t remember what site it was, but I remember when searching for helpful Muslim primers I happened upon something written by the Aryan Nations (or affiliated ideology). I was like, uh-oh – but well, well – it turned out to be done quite sympathetically (and well, I must add, much to my chagrin). Turns out those extremists with common enemies can make friends (
Khirad — you are right about those guys in the “training video.” They look like a bunch of oversized and out of shape kids playing war.
Cher this is a fabulous article and I wish it got more attention because it’s so important.
Too few people recognize the hate around them when they use coding like 14/88.
420 (Hitler’s birthday) is also a code number they used but it’s fallen out of favor because it’s also the number used by the movement to legalize marijuana.
I especially find disgusting the use of rock music by the hate counter culture since rock music was founded by artists who moved past the racial divide.
KQ, you’re a real gem!
I appreciate the support, but I don’t really mind– there are a lot of excellent articles on the Planet today (and yesterday), and I am actually happier to see that.
This series has a life of it’s own–I just want to get it all down and be done with it. Just something I wanted to do for myself. I was looking over your posts too and was so impressed with the breadth of your interests and with your volume of your writing. Kudos!
Well I just want you to know I’m bookmarking the series and point people to it for reference. We’ve been long time contributors to SPLC’s efforts so I may send the links to them so they can get the word out on your excellent series.
OK Cher I just sent the links to the SPLC. I was reading articles on their blog and to me this series compares very well. Interestingly they have links to most of the big progressive blogs, save for faux progressive Huffy which I find interesting.
Gee, KQ that’s exciting! Thanks you for doing that, even if they decline to post the article, we might get them to link to us!!
I wonder why not 204? This is what their F
Wow, Cher, once again you’ve written a very powerful and very important article.
I didn’t realize until reading this, how deeply embedded hate groups are in our culture.
Here is an example of another form of hate group led by the politicians –
The Republican Legislature has just given police the power to stop people because of the color of their skin or if they appear foreign, and have given the police the power to arrest people that they perceive as illegals.
I find it very scary and quite evil in that our GOP State government is turning Arizona into a police state that targets certain groups of people.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/149721
And on an off-chute from racial hate, is a piece of legislation put forward by another Republican Legislator that could be considered as a case of hate towards women.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/150536
This outrageous piece of legislation is wrong on so many levels that I cannot even begin to express my disgust with the Republican Legislature forcing their religious beliefs onto the people of Arizona.
I so look forward to reading the next installment, Cher, and thank you for taking the time to research and write about this topic.
Javaz, has that marriage legislation passed?! And if not, is it expected to? That is just horrible, and I hope people leave AZ or at least think twice before moving there.
I have no idea if the divorce legislation will pass, but it wouldn’t surprise.
Another form of hate against women is our Sheriff Joe, who purposely held women in his jails that were pregnant and wanted an abortion.
He would hold them long enough so that they could not obtain an abortion in the trimester, as I do not think there are any clinics in the Phoenix area that performs late-term abortions.
There was a certain amount of outrage over that, and I believe a lawsuit, so now Sheriff Joe lets them leave for the clinics, but they must pay for the ride, the gas, and deputies time.
Also, there are reports that Sheriff Joe has made women prisoners give birth while their wrists are shackled to the beds and with deputies present.
Doctors and nurses have asked deputies to remove the shackles during labor and birth, but the male deputies refused.
Sheriff Joe said the women in labor and in birth could be flight risks.
Nice state, eh?