The Alarming Rise of Hate Groups in America
Fear and Anger as Tools to Mobilize the Masses
Fear has always been a useful propaganda tool for spreading dissent or appeasing the populace, a speaker at one of these secret meetings I attended emphasized. He had plenty of examples. One that comes to mind is how Hitler used a troubling economy, the loss of respect in the eyes of the world community, and nationalistic pride, to his advantage as a way of blaming all of Germany's problems on the Jews.
As the speaker pointed out about current affairs, the Cold War threat of communism defeating capitalism had produced the domino theory, which led directly to an unpopular war in Vietnam; strained race relations in the North and South, freedom marches and boycotts were major segments of daily newscasts. Also of concern, young people all over the country were rejecting almost every ideal that the status quo represented; and political pundits ridiculed the women's rights movement and used catchy phrases like "the generation gap" as warning signs that the American way of life was unraveling at the core, in the process disintegrating all of our long held religious beliefs and moral values.
Toss into this volatile mix militant groups like the Weatherman using homemade bombs to make their anti-social statements; the Black Panthers shooting it out with cops, and it's easy to depict this era as the most turbulent in our country's recent history. Perhaps the most iconic image defining the volatility of those times is the 1974 publicity poster for the Symbionese Liberation Front, which shows kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst dressed in black leather and armed with an automatic rifle.
Although everyone in the traditional media had an array of opinions, the outlook for the future was clouded with thousands of negative probabilities. And with the assassinations of Reverend King and Bobby Kennedy, all hopes and dreams of a brighter day seemed to have been buried with them. In today's even faster-paced world, when it comes to spreading information as well as disinformation, the traditional media is no longer the lone giant of influence it once was. We have the Internet to help with that, and the perpetuators of fear and the hate mongers are working overtime to ignite the angry passions of the people.
Furthermore, with the radical ideology espoused by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and other right-wing radio and TV hosts, it is almost impossible to escape the snowball effect of their ominous warnings. Add to that Sarah Palin's claim that President Obama's administration is establishing death panels as one example being made to compare the present health care proposal to Nazism.
In the same vein, Worldnetdaily.com warns that the government is planning to build concentration camps for dissenters. The same theme is highlighted in Jerome's Corci's book "The Obama Nation." Ted Gunderson, a former FBI agent takes that theory a step further by declaring that the government is warehousing 1,000 guillotines to execute its critics. Then there is the much-publicized Arizona Baptist preacher who says he hates Obama so much he is praying for him to die and go to hell. In this ever-growing atmosphere of dissension, is there any wonder that so many people have expressed anger at town hall meetings and gun storeowners are running out of preferred weapons and ammunition?
If there was ever a time in this country that showed all the signs of being ripe for a revolutionary movement to take center stage, that time appears to have arrived. Although it is still difficult for me to imagine dissenting forces uniting behind one banner to overthrow the government, given the facts I am inclined to believe there are those who are in the act of planning to do exactly that.
Oathkeepers, a group of active and retired military, police officers and firefighters, are surely making defensive plans. One of the principles that all members pledge is, "We will not obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext."
They say their loyalty is to the Constitution, not an administration. Yet the fact that they are concerned about a totalitarian-type government coming into being speaks volumes. Which begs the question: how concerned should you and I be about our country's present day political climate?
Published by Charles Shea LeMone
I am a published author of novels, short stories and poems. For more of my work see: allwordman.com My latest novel, "Corner Pride" is available at Multicultural Educational Publishing Company and has been... View profile
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26 Comments
Post a CommentWe can run but never really hide or get away from rude people. That's something we have to accept as inevitable as death and taxes. However, I will never allow negative people to change the fact that I choose to be kind in my dealings with every one I cross paths with. By the way, I have submitted a new column called Can You Say President Glenn Beck? You don't need Nostradamus to see the way the left is leaning
Frustration with running from site to site takes this writer on a search for a place to share in peace on the internet. From eBay Community Boards to Facebook, he searches for a home and finds examples of Godwins Law and the deterioration of civil discourse on the web. Concludes with some suggestions from others how to isolate them from this growing disturbance on the web.
build a shed plans
Frustration with running from site to site takes this writer on a search for a place to share in peace on the internet. From eBay Community Boards to Facebook, he searches for a home and finds examples of Godwins Law and the deterioration of civil discourse on the web. Concludes with some suggestions from others how to isolate them from this growing disturbance on the web.
I am glad to see that amidst the mound of ensuing problems in America, someone else has managed to propose the idea that there could be another potential problem in the United States. With many people focusing on mainstream issues such as health care reform and unemployment, Americans have not been able to see that the current situation could possibly be a breeding ground for increased terrorist activity in the United States. I really enjoyed how you were able to tie in your personal experiences, having lived through the Martin Luther King assassination and Watt riots, into America's current state. Although the fear and anger that existed through those events was far more intense then the fear and anger that we can currently see in the American public, it could be argued that if nothing is done to ease this tension America could be heading back in that direction.
I am also glad that you touched upon the one monumental difference that existed between those time periods and the pres
I was musing on this the other day, and it occurred to me that the current parade if hate is occasioned by the current proliferation of real fellowship. The hateful minority has been given the leaping fantods by the election of a black man to the presidency. But he wouldn't be there without the votes of a white majority. My thought is that the number of white people who hate black people is smaller than the number of black people. Further, the rest of the white people think the hateful minority needs psychiatric help. In the current political climate the Dems have the left, center, and right. The Republicans have the outpatients.
One good thing happening today is that the internet allows %22meetings%22 from all points of view--the way the writer%27s group did.
I love diversity and believe there's a lot I can learn from a cross-section of opinions. Believe it or not, I actually watch FOX on occasion. A friend and I started a writers' group in Los Angeles that quickly grew to incorporate a wide range of personalities with backgrounds across class, racial and cultural borderlines. It was that special mix that made the once-a-month potluck meetings the place to be. I often think that's what America is about. And with our planet in peril, now is the time, more than ever, to demonstrate that ideal to the world and to any extra-terrestrials who may have a stake in how we deal with each other.
As for me personally, yeah, bombastic is a great representation. I only take anything personal when it is directed at me or mine and done to defame and destroy, or intentionally belittling and/or disrespectful. I am often times NOT over the top when persons make reasonable arguments, no matter how vehemently I may disagree. If they wanna chat, talk or discuss, I'm good. If'n they wanna play games, I can do that too.
"If you don't want people to get your goat, don't let them know where you keep it." NICE!
Snidely, The responses from other readers that you object to are part of what the philosopher Erich Fromm described so well in his book "The Art of Loving" as group narcissism. I've noticed a lot of that going on lately-the hurling of derogatory names. We need a more civil approach to discuss our differences-whether we are Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, liberals, black, white or whatever.
I've also noticed after reading a few of your Associated Content columns-- as well as the comments you've made here--that you seem to delight in taking a bombastic tone to state your opinions. Perhaps the comments to your comments were written in the same vein, meant to get under your collar. If that's the case, they seem to have succeeded.
As a bright Southern friend once told me, "If you don't want people to get your goat, don't let them know where you keep it."