Oh how I hate an ism. Born in the first half of the twentieth century I've lived through them all. That century was cursed with fascism, communism, and McCarthyism. In the twenty first we have Islamic terrorism. I must apologize if I am adding to the already overcrowded list of isms -- but with the threats from Republican Congressmen, the bulls-eye targeting of Sarah Palin of the Democrats she disagrees with, and the racist and homophobic curses from the Tea Party ringing in our ears after the passage of the health care bill, I suggest that we take a look backwards at the sad story of Timothy James McVeigh and see the McVeighism that is festering. Here was a man so filled with rage and resentment against the government for its Waco and Ruby Ridge raids, and a generalized hatred for American foreign policy, that he used explosives to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in April of 1995 killing 168 people, injuring 450 others, nineteen of them small children in a day care center. I won't use the word fascism if I can help it -- it belongs to another era -- and often degrades clear thinking, but it requires more self control than I may have to keep it from sneaking into this piece.
McVeigh was the child of a divorced Irish Catholic family from upstate New York, the target of bullying in school, claiming that he found relief in fantasies of retaliation against the bullies. Withdrawn, a loner, he became interested in computer systems and showed a talent for technology. Fascinated by firearms, obsessed with gun rights, he served in the Gulf War, claiming that the army taught him how to switch off his emotions. Discharged from the army in '91, he became a wanderer, an anti-taxation advocate, writing "Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system? I hope it doesn't come to that. But it might." He wrote angry letters to the government, mostly because it was growing larger and he seemed to feel smaller, except for his possession of a gun. He worked at gun shows and handed out cards with the name and address of the sharpshooter who had worked for the government during the Waco siege "in the hope that somebody in the Patriot Movement would assassinate the sharpshooter." His paranoia had an almost humorous cast to it if it did not lead to such tragedy. He claimed that the government had planted a chip in his buttocks to keep track of him. If they had the chip in his behind it did not work because he was able to execute a tragic act of terrorism -- American style.
Of course no two madmen or assassins with a grudge against the world are ever quite the same. But the common thread that runs through them is a deep sense of victimhood. McVeigh had it, Hitler had it, Oswald had it, Booth had it, and I can see and hear reflections of that dangerous victimhood in the far right today. The anti-government, in this case anti-Obama rhetoric is hate filled, some of it race based, and contains within it an unappeasable grudge -- the us against them kind that sets off explosions, kills the innocent, and destroys the security of the country it claims to protect. If we sniff we can smell the burning fuse. There is no constitutional right to inflame sociopaths to commit murderous acts. Cool it Sarah, and all you Republican leaders who are playing to your base, using code words that are well understood by many who feel victimized because of the recession (just as Germans became targets for Hitler's rhetoric because of the Great Depression). Sorry, reader, I've done it, slipped it in but I am truly worried by the parallels and hope against hope that I am wrong.
By COREY WILLIAMS and DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) – 43 minutes ago
DETROIT — Nine suspects tied to a Midwest Christian militia that was preparing for the Antichrist were charged with conspiring to kill police officers, then attack a funeral using homemade bombs in the hopes of killing more law enforcement personnel, federal prosecutors said Monday.
The Michigan-based group, called Hutaree, planned to use the attack on police as a catalyst for a larger uprising against the government, according to newly unsealed court papers. U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said agents moved on the group because its members were planning a violent reconnaissance mission sometime in April.
Members of the group, including its leader, David Brian Stone, also known as "Captain Hutaree," were charged following FBI raids over the weekend on locations in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hGc00FR9o4OUr36gm80mOpG00ccwD9EOD0600
can anyone post a youtube video of the CBC beening insulted? there were cameras and cell phones all over and I have yet to actually hear a sound bite of a racial slur or anything.
I imagine if there were, it would be plastered all over the net, like Biden and his f-bomb.
I will assume democrats are playing the race card until I hear the slurs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI
These people did not think of this by themselves.
Look up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition
Great post, yes this is exactly the same victim-ism that Tim McVey felt and it is dangerous.
Glenn Beck's rhetoric, which has been mimicked incessantly by the GOP for the past year, has incited acts of violence and continues to fan the flames of discontent. It is only a matter of time before innocent people are hurt, considering that the GOP’s tea party has gone so far as to cut a gas line at the home of Rep. Perriello’s brother, thinking the address was his. When apprised of the fact that the individuals in the home had children who might have been harmed, the tea party instigator suggested that it would merely have been "collateral damage". Meanwhile, another Republican, Rep. King, suggested that tea party activists should “Beat the [health care] opposition to a pulp.†“Chase them down, said King, “There’s going to be a reckoning.†Are you willing to accept responsibility for such acts as supporters of an extremist faction that takes its marching orders from the likes of Glenn Beck, Sarah Plain, and Michelle Bachmann, among others, who are actively calling for sedition? Freedom of speech is one thing, but I do not believe that the First Amendment protects the incitement of violence against fellow citizens nor encouragement of violence against the government, as the GOP’s Becks, Palins, and Bachmanns suggest their tea party minions should do to “take back ‘their’ countryâ€. Should the violence escalate, peaceful citizens will hold the GOP accountable.
America is America, not the Tea Party Republic. There's no WE in Tea Party.
Oh, and the "Tea Party" members who cut that "gas line" that was member #42882 and #51771 we'll call them into the office and talk to them.............
Especially in desperate economic strife, desperate people will believe simple answers to complex problems, and it can lead to scapegoating,
Non violent people never "feel" the way he did...and he was in fact a terrorist.
Non violent people who dissent have no fear of being seen as terrorists, because of the fact they are non violent.
The tea party, and the Republicans and corporate operatives that fuel their Obama h8, have been ratcheting up the rhetoric for months now.
Limbaugh is calling for Dems to be "Wiped out", Palin has them "In her sights", the level of violent hyperbole is increasing.
Textbook example of escalating....McVeigh showed the same behavioral pattern.
http://christopher-calbat.newsvine.com/_news/2010/03/26/4073188-an-article-i-wish-i-would-never-have-to-write-to-those-calling-for-a-civil-war-this-marine-wants-you-to-stop-and-think
"I never expected the response I got, and I must admit while some of the comments that I received were some of the greatest thoughts and words I've ever seen - some were words I'd hope no human being would never utter to another. My family and myself were threatened, if for no other reason than because my opinions differed from someone else's. Obviously, the intent of my message was convoluted and lost. "
http://christopher-calbat.newsvine.com/_news/2010/03/27/4080107-a-rewrite-of-a-marines-call-for-peace-and-pause-that-had-been-reduced-into-sheer-irrelevanceand-an-apology
His original post can still be read at the following link. Very eloquent and stark:
http://sealaskatimes.blogspot.com/2010/03/article-i-wish-i-would-never-have-to.html
Any true Okie who went through the Murrah bombing would be sickened and disgusted with WRSA using the 15th year anniversary of McVeigh's murders with the above rally. I should know. I was a physician on call a few blocks away when the bomb brought down the Murrah building.
Here's what a poster said on the WRSA's site concerning this event:
"First, I'm not going to ask permission from a foreign government what can and cannot be done on a friendly state's land. I do not recognize US government possession of the land.
Second, if I were to attend, my rifle will be loaded and slung in front for ready use, I'll have a combat load of ammo, chemical protective mask, and likely a armored vest.
Somebody needs to get a grip on what this rally is all about, it ain't to ask permission."
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Now THAT, sparkandy, is throwing gas on a fire!!
She said the whole community thought they were a little off.
It pays to know your neighbors I guess.
And if they are loons send them a pie. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.