I'm Sorry, Right Wing Extremists

When I wrote my piece "What Right Wing Threat?" I might have anticipated some humorless criticism from an offended individual, outraged that I might diminish yesterday's shooting at the Holocaust Museum by joking: "He was there to try to shoot the actual Holocaust...the Holocaust started it; this was simply self-defense."

The response I got was not a diatribe from PC police, but people apparently offended by my dissing right wing fanatics. And these weren't snarky comments posted in all caps. These people called my production company. One guy with a Southern accent said something about reaping what I sow. Another woman was outraged that this senile old man who had a senior incident like shooting up the Holocaust Museum was being all exploited by the media. (My poor assistant had to politely field these calls, tying up our phone lines for all those backers who would normally be calling to give us money to produce more social documentaries.)

In my attempt to draw mainstream Republicans and conservatives away from attacking DHS intelligence reports with a partisan mindset, I figured the stark contrast from white supremacist whack jobs would be some welcome middle ground in the debate. I apparently neglected to pause and consider the feelings of the right wing nut jobs.

I would not expect right wing extremists to read the Huffington Post, or that they would bother with me. The piece did not really report anything new, or offer a celebrity nipple. I'm hardly part of the TV punditry circuit (though I am available). I am, as my documentary FREE FOR ALL! found conclusively, just some dude.

I am further struck that this piece would be the one to draw personalized reactions. I've authored other things I would expect to be more offensive or controversial: I made light of the Rick Warren hysteria, I engaged a Sarah Palin zealot, I pontificated on how messed up Ayn Rand was, I made a critically-acclaimed documentary detailing systematic racial voter suppression by the Republican Party and showing how Ohio was subverted in the 2004 election.

But now I apparently have crossed the line by mocking the right wing nut jobs. After repeatedly stressing the differences between mainstream Republicans and conservative thinkers with racist vigilantes, I did not anticipate a spirited defense of the racist vigilantes. I kind of thought that the shooting spree thing did not need elaboration about being bad.

So I'll just skip the debate and make this a quick shout-out to the right wing extremists: I'm sorry. You're right. About everything. My bad. Pay me no mind. Go call your congressmen instead of calling me. I don't even care if you have guns, as long as no crimes ever happen with them.

Besides, the white people angry about defending the power of the white race in this country tend not to be the white people who are actually in power.

Comments

[gizmo64]

Great article Mr Ennis and comnets made on some of these sites tell the true story.The right wing extremist want their particular church to rule us so we have to march in lock step with them.You have to apologize to no one for your article .It is so true the Rush L Bill O,Palin Beck, Hannitery,and Bachman among others have the blood of all that died and were hurt this weekend .Their ranting and raving and encouraging people to take up arms is what caused this and those responsible won't face up to that truth. I will say I was pleasently surprised hearing Shepard Smith tell about the extremest that e-mailed him.Kudos for bring out the truth.I could see others advocating those same people to do harm to others

[IndyReader]

This whole Holocaust Museum shooting has me wondering: in the news CGI recreation they showed 2 white guards and 1 black guard which von Brunn promptly shot, even tho Johns was supposed to've held the door open for the old guy. So, if Johns had been white also would von Brunn have the proceeded further into the museum and started shooting groups of school kids and tourists, which is who actually visits the place and not merely Jews, as he thought? Everyone stops at Johns being murdered, which is tragic, he didn't know what hit him, but no one thinks on of what would've happened if von Brunn hadn't been stopped there.

[ReealOne]

Great article John. There really isn't anything you need to apologize to the fringed right-wing nut jobs for. They know it, you know it and all of the American people knows it. One ONLY needs to apologize, if their opinions are NOT true, as we all know that this is not the case. Just look at how they tend to respond to everything they cannot control, with vlionece. Besides...­.. "roaches do tend to scamper like crazy when the lights come on them!"

If one acts like heathenous hypocritical misfits, how else should those folks appear in the eyes of others. When these folks thumb their noses at honest and fair dialogue and debate, and choose violence instead, it's sad but true that...... they are ALREADY lost.

[mychagal]

ReealOne,

I agree with you. These people sincerely believe that being infomed, civilized, gracious, willingness to have an intelligent and informative debate, educated at a higher institution of learning is a sign of disease. They are so intimidated by people of intelligence that they don't even know what to do with themselves.

Our higher levels of consciousness and knowledge are done with brains not brawn!

[SewaneeLeftist]

Great article, and some pretty good comments, too. How ironic that racism, bigotry, hate, and terrorism only exist to the radical right -- yeah, I know that's redundant, but SOME rightists DO actually believe in the Constitution -- when they believe they are suffering from it, in which case all their own racism, bigotry, hate, and terrorism are justified and virtuous. And the circle turns round and round....

[mychagal]

SewaneeLeftist,

I just finished listening to Joni Mitchell sing that song while I was reading this article.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

You're whole premise was wasted. The shooter is not a righty as you would have everyone believe, he actually lines up with most of the liberals here on Huffpo...
Racist Museum Shooter Outspoken Liberal
http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/racist-museum-shooter-outspoken-liberal/

[amistad]

What a crock of BS.

[MarianoG]

With so much about the Holocaust in the news recently let us not, ever, forget that the supposed atheist champion of reason, Sam Harris, actually blames the Jews ourselves for all of our suffering including the Holocaust:

“The gravity of Jewish suffering over the ages, culminating in the Holocaust, makes it almost impossible to entertain any suggestion that Jews might have brought their troubles upon themselves. This is, however, in a rather narrow sense, the truth.”—“T­he End of Faith,” p. 93

This post elucidated the point:
http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com/2009/05/from-zeitgeist-to-poltergeist-part-5-of.html

[Khirad]

Actually, Sam Harris blames the Christians, with the Passion, Blood Libel, etc. Try reading the whole book.

[ProudObamacan]

You really believe that? If so, you must not be very inquisitive or perceptive. Please explain what you mean - and please don't quote Hannity, O'Reilly or Rush or say that a Nazi is a socialist.

Look at his education, his mentors - they were REPUBLICAN and right wing lunatics.

[indi1216]

and that article is from whom??? sure it must be from a independent publication, NOT.

[apduncan1]

Huh?

[ayisha]

that's what i said.

[chaya]

So you had no idea such a huge proportion Americans are truly violent and hateful. Perhaps you need to spend more time reading online comments to the various blogs and online news purveyors.

And you had no idea that "right wing extremists­...read the Huffington Post," either. Sure they do. All you had to do was spend more time reading online comments to articles posted on this very website.

Perhaps the consistent use of reason and logic will eventually rub off on them. But I'm not holding my breath.

[mychagal]

Chayaleh,

Interesting point. I'm certainly not holding my breath, either.

[SharpDressedMan]

Mr, Ennis, your sarcasm landed you on the firing line of the latest battle in the cultural wars.

The killing of 5 policemen, Dr. Tiller's assassination and the killing at the Holocaust museum are just the tip of the iceberg.

Like you, I believe right wing nut jobs are void of common sense and sound minds. I know, I used to work with one. He spent part of the working days billing clients while writing letters and blogs to extremist groups.

Let's keep this in perspective. Such extremists existed throughout history in various forms. Their popularity peaked in this country between WW1 and WW2. They resurfaced throughout the years especially in the 90s during the Clinton years and now that President Obama is in office. While they are a fact of life, we won't stand for their anti-social animalistic behavior. They will be brought to justice when they break laws.

[bosha]

These right-wing extremist or as my grandmother now calls them, "those Christan Fundamentalist Terrorist" (thanks to the Huffington Post) only come out when the GOP has lost.

AMERICA BETTER BE ON ALERT, ANOTHER MCVEIGH IS WAITING IN THEIR WINGS AND SIMMERING. THIS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY PEOPLE.

[mychagal]

True, everyone seems so desperate with the decline of the GOP. Thus the report from Homeland Security, which was right on the money. The report actually predicted what would happen and it did!

[ayisha]

i heart your grandmother.

[Genna]

While your first piece was sarcastic and tongue in cheek, this one is just unnerving.

Why didn't you expect hatemongers to spew hate all over you for pointing out their hate? They are the victim always especially when they are attacking people trying to protect the defenseless.

Hate... It is as simple as that.

If you want to take the side of non white people over white people (I'm AA by the way), in their world you are an enemy. In such a post racial media branded event.

There is no need for affirmative action, civil rights legislation, hate crimes protection. There is no need for gun control so felons who have gun felonies or domestic violators or haters can get big magazine automatic weapons. There is no need for world citizens, Palestine, unions, ethnic integration, and a floor for basic needs/rights.

If you actually tell people when you see the monstrous collection of haters who will do other people harm, you have to pretend it is not a threat.

I hope you've learned your lesson.

[transformative]

I think Mr. Ennis was just surprised at the voracity of their comments and of their tracking down his office. His other posts, if you've bothered to read them would have in most people's minds sparked far more controvers­y...

Do these people have nothing better to do with their time? Wow.

What is the lesson you hope he has learned? I don't understand.

We all need to spread compassion and non-judgment and show that there is room for all voices to be heard in our democracy, but in a peaceful way. No shooting please, but let all of our voices be heard.

That is democracy. And with freedom comes responsibility.

Mr. Ennis even says, let them post their comments, but please do so publicly via the HuffPo. And keep your guns, but just don't have them be a part of any crime. Seems pretty fair.
Kudos Mr. Ennis.

[NedroidPrime]

If you want to take the side of non white people over white people (I'm AA by the way), in their world you are an enemy.
----
Try again there, buddy. You try to decry the r@ci$m of others, yet show your own. Otherwise, you have no room to complain, as you are part of the problem. Attack them on their stances and beliefs, not their color.

(i'm not AA, but that shouldn't matter at all)

[ayisha]

wow. um...i'm gonna skip right over the obvious stuff and just say that racism is not a dirty word...so you don't need to employ creative spelling..­.!

[JoePalooka]

Well, you tried to be a snarky idiot, and you got nailed!

[AuntiepoppyCock]

I thought he did a great job. As a matter of fact I want to see the movie. Where can I see it at???

[expired]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This is only the beginning folks.

[jsgaetano]

Conservatives vow to bring as much terrorism to bear as they can in order to prove they aren't terrorists.

[cobraxus]

When I was very young there was a controversy with the Ford Pinto(it tended to explode during rear-end collisions­).I vividly remember people calling into local talk radio outraged..­.not by there being a dangerous automobile on the roads but because it was being reported.T­hey were upset at the news media and angry that it might hurt car sales.Thes­e were the future Reaganites and Bushbacker­s.Today they listen to Rush and Glenn ans Sean and Billo.A scary bunch who can't be reasoned with.

[Chitownfool]

Wow you must be old...even if you were very very young back then

[chaya]

You're kidding, right? That was recent history. Hope you're not completely avoiding learning anything about history. Remember the "doomed to repeat it" thing.

[medici]

In the movie "Top Secret", which came out in that period , a military vehicle came to a screeching halt and barely touched a Ford Pinto's rear bumper. This resulted in a massive inferno Hilarious movie.

[TomFox]

Yes, I love that scene. The car is careening across the field and slows down to a crawl, then as light as a feather...­....KABOOO­OOOOMMMMMM­!!!!!

I believe you can find that clip on YouTube...­..absolute­ly hysterically funny.

Not funny for the real life people who were injured or lost their lives in that death trap though.

[kev1000]

Agreed. Remember when the jeep kept going?

"You've got to hand it to the Germans - they make good cars."

[mychagal]

Cobraxus,

Wow! This is a frightening discourse but completely true. You are right.

[df2112]

People complaing about reports on crappy cars would hardly be future Reaganites. More likely they were overpaid loser union people making same crappy cars. And the non-union Toyota and BMW wipe the floor with them.

[Maxiesid]

I think you can relax, the holocaust museum shooting has been eclipsed by a far more serious issue. A late night comedian made fun of Sarah Palin!! Haven't you heard, my goodness, the sky is falling all around us... poor little Sara, who spends all of her time working for the betterment of mankind, who is an advocate for the downtrodden masses, who urges protection of the earth and our animal friends, was smeared and defamed by a vicious horrible attack by David Letterman!! The extremists are spending the day trying to blame the president, and trying to get him to come out and issue a statement that he will create a law that will protect all right wing extremists from jokes, insults and any type of negative statements. Fox news is busy blaming all liberals for encouraging violence against right wing extremists children (they really could care less about any other children, you know) . So, I think you are safe, they will be busy all weekend stirring up this fantasyversy until they are all lathered up and ready to go for Monday.

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

LOL. Fanned.

[medici]

They only care about right wing extremists, right wing extremists' children and fetuses, everyone else is a target.

[cartoonmayhem]

Hey, why don't we "borned" people get as much respect as fetuses too? We were once fetuses too. This is discrimination!!