Saturday, June 13, 2009

Patriots = Weaponized Stupidity

There is no truth to the scurrilous charges that noble, gawd fearin' right wing folk pose any sort of threat to the public good. Sure, they're maybe just a little eager when it comes to exercising their right to free speech. Some times that means folks have to die, but there's always a good reason when a gun toting conservative pulls the trigger. That is why I am sure that when members of the so-called minutemen movement burst into a home and kill a fellow, leave his 9 year old daughter dead and wound his wife that it was a good kill. I mean gosh, the armed trio even dressed up like police when they forced their way into the home and set to killing. How could they have anything but the best of intentions when they were dressed like cops? That little girl must have made a sudden move.

Right wing terror is just another terrible lie told by people that want to hurt baby Jeeziz and make America a commie, socialist hellhole.

6 comments:

Nitangae said...

In the case of the killings in Kansas and at the Holocaust museum, I agree that right-wing terror is the right phrase.

In this case, CC, I think it is a bit of a stretch. They strike me as just thugs looking to make money. Remember, the day will come once again when a left-wing person commits murder (since no movement is free of thugs).

Of course, I expect that you are right that the minutemen in the states are a worry - and I could see how a group like this could become a terror group, but we aren't there yet.

Cameron Campbell said...

Working backwards: it would depend on how you define terror. I find the pretty terrifying. There is evidence that they have terrified some others. That's the goal of terrorism.

"just thugs looking for money"? Umm.. first paragraph here and in the second entry in the table here.

To address your first paragraph, let me put it to you this way: the point isn't that someone from the right wing fringes killed someone, the point is that when it was suggested but the Department of Homeland Security that the idiot, violent, extremist fringe of the right wing was going to eventually do something idiotic and violent and extreme the right wing pundocracy (including tons of bloggers) went nuts.

The reality, as we've sadly seen in the last few weeks, has been way closer to the report than any of them would care to admit.

That's the point.

Lindsay Stewart said...

"I expect that you are right that the minutemen in the states are a worry - and I could see how a group like this could become a terror group, but we aren't there yet."

i'm sure the latino communities of the southern united states would agree.

Plex Flexico said...

"...I could see how a group like this could become a terror group, but we aren't there yet."

Is it nice in your world? It is a place made of rainbows and puppies and sugarplums?

It must be, if you can completely ignore the violence done by groups like Shawna's and groups like the "regular" Minutemen.

These people are vigilantes. Armed, angry and inciting each other to violence. They patrol the border at night with no oversight, no accountability and no one else around to hear their victims scream for mercy.

It's the way they like it, you see. No liberal bleeding-hearts around to make them accountable for the assaults, extortions, rapes and murders they commit while they play soldier.

They "train" together on how to evade legitimate government border patrols so that those members who carry weapons which they are not allowed to own can avoid detection. They plan how to best catch the "god-damn-illegals", and they aren't interested in turning them over to the authorities.

They hunt terrified men, women and children in the night, in the mistaken belief that they are protecting some idealized version of the American Way of Life.

They are xenophobic, racist and full of hate and baseless fear.

These are the men and women who scream and cry about "Furriners takin' our JOBS!", but collect welfare or food stamps and feed their kids government cheese. (If you've ever had to live in poverty in the states, you'll know that feeding anyone surplus cheese and surplus whole canned chickens is really and truly and act of torture.)

These are the people who come, at night, masked, pounding on your door, demanding you come outside so they can search your private property because "We were chasing one of them damn illegals and we're sure we saw them run through your fence, so GET OUT HERE NOW AND HELP US CATCH THAT GREASY BASTARD!"

These are the men and women who stockpile weapons and ammunition in "secret" locations in preparation for the day when "the illegals/liberals/women/feminists take over the gummint".

These are the men and women who you claim aren't yet terrorists.

I'd be very interested in hearing what your definition of a terrorist *is*. Is it perhaps that Shawna and her little band of merry men weren't brown enough, or that her group, and others like it, target people who are "too brown" to be of consequence?

...or perhaps it's because you've never encountered armed, angry men and women on your own property in the middle of the night. Maybe it's because you've never had to pick spinach in the middle of the fucking desert, making next to nothing for your back-breaking labour in the burning sun, only to go to a shanty town at night to spend the darker hours in fear that one of these vigilante groups is going to pick you off when you go for an evening walk.

...and in case you were wondering, yes, I spent a good chunk of time in the southern border states. I was an illegal alien with no papers, no ID. I picked spinach, hauled bricks, picked fruit, shoveled chicken and cow shit, disassembled junked cars and a whole host of other jobs that "regular" Americans won't do.

I worked side by side with people who only wanted to have a better life for themselves and their families. Men and women who fled gang violence, corruption in government and the police force, deprivation and extreme, crushing poverty.

Right-wing terror is not a new phenomenon.

The events I relate above took place in 1993. Not last year, not this year, but SIXTEEN years ago.

This is not some new phenomenon. This is not some "sudden shift" in the way the immigration "problem" is being addressed by ordinary citizens who have been incited, over and over again, to violence by xenophobic, racist, hateful assholes.

Nitangae said...

Dear all:

Thank you for your many criticisms. Thank you especially to Plex Flexico for providing the broader context.

I posted my comments late at night. I agree they were rather badly considered. In any case, I was not denying that the minutemen are racists and violent people. I can easily see how this could develop into something much worse in the future. The reason for my possibly false understanding is that, at least in the case of the article which I read (as linked by CC), it seemed to me that the people described were engaged in robbing and murdering a drug-dealer and his family. This is a disgusting and horrible crime, but on the face of it didn't seem like terrorism.

Perhaps I misread it. Also, of course, many of the crimes committed and being committed in Iraq, for instance, by the various warring groups are also financial crimes, which are used to finance terror. I allow that there is no real divide.


I am with you in finding the movement as a whole very disturbing. I did so even before I read Plex Flexico's informative comments. As it happens, I have never been anywhere near the southern border of the United States, and so don't (and can't) have the visceral understanding of these events that Plex Flexico has.

The minutemen are obviously far too close to blackshirts or brownshirts for comfort.

Thank you once again.

CC said...

This is my favourite part:

"The trio are alleged to have dressed as law enforcement officers and forced their way into a home ..."

It's amusing the way these thugs love to play dress-up. One might suggest that, if they're that keen on the uinform, they actually become law enforcement officers.

Sadly, that would mean that, in addition to the powers, they'd have the lawful obligations that go along with it.

You can see why that's not so appealing.