Theos-Talk Archives (June 1997 Message tl00384)

In a message dated 97-06-15 20:14:59 EDT, Kym wrote:

>
>  Lynn wrote:
>
<quibbles over relative trivia snipped>

>  > While the show gave example after example
>  >of racism in the militia movement, they never breathed a whisper about
the
>  >militias who are not at all racist--I know of several with minorities in
>  >their leadership. The militia in my county (I'm not a member) is headed
by
> an
>  >Iranian Jew, but you'd never hear about that from most news outlets who
>  >portray all militias as anti-Semitic.
>
>
>  Most militias are racist - all one need do is read their literature.  And
>  just because someone is an "Iranian Jew" does not mean they are not
racist.
>  Having "minorities" or "Iranian Jews" as part of a militia's membership
does
>  not exonerate the advocation of violence.  Militias tend to hold up their
>  "non-white" members as trophies. . .however, most of us are not that
stupid.

First of all, have you read the literature of "most" militias or are you
basing your remark on what you've heard in the traditional news media? I've
never claimed to have read the literature of "most" militias, but have read
enough to know that you can't make broad generalizations about a very diverse
movement.

As an African-American, I think I know what is or is not racist, thank you.
Claiming that most militias use their nonwhite members as trophies is stating
that the nonwhite members of militias are incapable of making these
judgements for themselves, therefore your opinion of their intelligence must
be quite low. Surely you don't want to go there, now do you? I know that this
kind of thinking is common among some liberals, especially in how they
patronize us by believing that they know what is best for us. Your final
phrase (about stupidity) is born of the same reckless arrogance that led you
to make your trophy statement. This arrogance, IMHO, is derived from the
belief held by some liberals that they have an exclusive lock on compassion
and other spiritual virtues and that the moral "high road" they thus think
they travel entitles them to be as arrogant and condescending as they please
toward those of differing viewpoints.

>  >> (Bart said) 	The reason it concerns me is the parallels to the way that
>  the Nazi's
>  >>  portrayed Jews in their communications prior to WWII, creating thought
>  >>  forms that dehumanized them so that the German people would quietly
>  >>  accept the concentration camps. If one must make up lies to use
against
>  >>  a cause, then one has proven that one's own cause has already been
lost.
>
>  >I've seen and have been concerned by the same chilling parallels.
>
>  There are NO, I repeat, NO parallels between what happened to the Jews and
>  what is happening with the militias.  This is AN INSULT to the Jewish
>  people.  My god.

Excuse me? You have the nerve to claim that I've insulted a certain group of
people after the degrading trophy remarks *you* made about minorities in
militias? Reread what Bart said, if you can stop your knee from jerking long
enough. He was describing how the Nazis demonized the Jews prior to WWII so
that the Germans would accept what the Nazis would eventually do to them. No
way does this trivialize the monstrous horror of the atrocities committed
upon the Jews, so where is the insult? I was agreeing with the basic premise
that prior to moving to destroy a group a people, history has shown that a
government will dehumanize/demonize them so that the population will accept
whatever steps, no matter how monstrous, that the government then takes
against them. The parallel that Bart mentioned and that I agreed with had to
do with the demonization as "justification" process. Had he instead said
"dehumanization of Africans in order to justify enslaving them", I would have
agreed just as heartily, not screamed about insults to Africans or
African-Americans.

And, just to make sure that you are totally clear about where I stand on this
entire issue. None of this is said to justify the actions of that fascist
group that has been terrorizing Jacqi's neighbors or friends.

Lynn