AMERICAblog: Another bad effect of the tanking economy: Increase in hate groups
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
Honestly, I think it's more because their boy in the White House is leaving office.
We had a great economy under Clinton, but they were running wild then too--blowing up Federal Buildings, Olympics Parks and having shootouts with the Feds all over.
I think they just calmed down over the past eight years because they didn't want to give their boy in the White House any hassles.
Akaison
· 1 year ago
Exactly. I expect a lot more militias to rise and also domestic right wing Christian terrorist attacks.
Patrick_Bateman
· 1 year ago
The movie Idiocracy comes to mind when I see what has become of the United States.
S in PA
· 1 year ago
No kidding!
lilybart
· 1 year ago
Does anyone wonder whether the three new cop killings, white cops killing black men in cold blood for no reason, is about white anger at a black man in the white house?
I think it should be considered.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
I don't think that 4 or 5 potentially violent activists out of a 100 is particularly high compared to the ratio of violent incidence among Islamists. One of the many side effects of American isolation is the widespread absence of violence. As our discontented become more globally aware, they'll see the extent to which the discontented act out in Africa, in the Middle East, in Greece and France and Italy, and possibly that global example will inspire them. We're pretty calm in the States. I'm not sure that will last, but we haven't had nearly as much extremist violence as many areas where the disaffected are a measurable part of the population.
Of course, it is possible that we could stop reading our social structure on a racist caste scale and look instead at poverty and bad education among the non-black, non-hispanic population.
Nah . . . we won't do that. That would be . . . smart.
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
Lots of that bad education and poverty in this area--I see it on a daily basis, and then there is Patrick McHenry who represents this district...like he gives a shit.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
This country will always have a dark, violent right-wing subculture plotting against it.
We're not much different from Pakistan in that regard.
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
Among those 3 concerns stated by Potok, I'm not so sure electing a black president is at the top of the list--except perhaps to the most racist skinheads--of concerns among the general population, though. After all, we're still a majority white country. It's the second concern fed in large part by the first, immigration--both legal and illegal--which is becoming a real concern among the larger white population. I heard a piece on MSNBC last week showing the change in demographics, which feeds the fears about immigration. After all, who wants to be a minority in this country after the history we have of discrimination and bigotry, of which a large part of the population have had no hand in promoting but have been institutional means of division?
maudgonne
· 1 year ago
Frank worries that Obama’s evenhandedness may prove to be a political liability. “On the financial crisis, Obama said that both sides were asleep at the switch,” Frank said. “But that’s not true. The Republicans were wide awake, and they made choices to oppose regulation. They had bad ideas. He says, ‘I don’t want to fight the fights of the nineties,’ but I don’t see any alternative to refighting the fights of the nineties if we want to change things.” Still, Frank is uncharacteristically hopeful about the future, including gay rights. “We’re going to do three things in Congress,” he told me. “First, a hate-crimes bill—that shouldn’t be too hard. Next, employment discrimination. We almost got that through before, but now we can win even if we add transgender protections, which we are going to do. And finally, after the troops get home from Iraq, gays in the military. The time has come.” http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/0...
PJ
· 1 year ago
Is Ann Coulter considered a hate group by herself, or are they counting the entire Fox News group?
Bush Crime Family Porn: the Yale Rub, father-son stylings.
lilybart
· 1 year ago
This is the kind of blame the "other" for the economic troubles, that could have and still can, make Palin the leader of the violent masses, turning on minorities and Jews. THAT was why most progressives wanted to defeat her and her type of ugliness-for-Jesus.
Scott
· 1 year ago
DUH!
And to top it off, many of these hate groups manage to be tax-exempt.
All Peter LaBarbera does is watch gay porn and talk shit about gay people, lives in a nice home, lives a lavish lifestyle - and it's ALL paid for by tax-exempt donations.
If people want to really bring down the hate groups, they need to start calling out these people who run hate websites/groups, totally paid for by the taxpayers and donors.
rafael
· 1 year ago
Whenever the economy tanks, racist nutjobs go berzerk. Someone brown person must take the blame. Does the name Vincent Chin ring a bell? Same sh@t, different economic crisis.
lynchie
· 1 year ago
The hate groups are a problem but a rising group being ignored are the unemployed and the poor. There are a lot of young 20 kids with a college degree who can't get a job even at McD's. They are unhappy and the old, white, gray politicians in Washington better pay them some heed. I see the kids hanging out during the day and on weekends more now than at any time in the past 10 years. They have nothing to do. Many have student loans and no way of paying them, they see their parents being laid off and jobs leaving America like a flooded river. The economy has tanked, wall street has gone bust, the rich continue to flaunt their wealth and deny the need to help the middle class and poor. Here is Western Pa. people want to have a job, get a couple weeks vacation every year, get married, buy a house and have a couple of kids, nothing too complex. they also want to see their kids achieve the same thing. Those days are gone. The American dream has been raped by Freddy Bush and the Taliban who supported him in Congress (Republican and Dem). Unless jobs are developed and or returned to America this group of people will be much more dangerous to the elected lobbyists than any supposed hate group, without hope people consider other options.
paulbe
· 1 year ago
How does one define a "hate" group in today's divided America. One persons hate group is so easily another persons political or religious affiliation. One of your biggest enablers of "hate" is tax exemption for any idiot who claims to be a religion.
mike
· 1 year ago
I wonder how much the rising tide of anti-Semitism throughout the world is due to the economic problems. Blaming Jews has been a standard response to economic difficulties throughout the ages. It's really frightening. I hope the FBI and other law enforcement groups are keeping a close eye on the leftwing blogs and other anti-semitic centers. Many of the people are just criticizing Israel, but I can't count the number of comments I've seen recently where people are saying that all Jews are evil and openly demanding that all of the Jews in the world just be wiped out. And if you try to point out the facts they ignore them, and just launch these vicious and incredibly nasty attacks.
CarolAll
· 1 year ago
There is no doubt that the stress of unemployment, foreclosures, financial and energy crises, and the lack of adequate healthcare services stresses families and puts individuals, families, neighborhoods and communities at risk. Spousal abuse and child abuse increases, as does crime. One group tends to blame another for their troubles and hate crimes increase. However, a significant contributing cause was the tone of the 2008 Republican campaign and the failure of GOP leaders to demand that their candidates adhere to high standards of honor, integrity, and respect for their opponents. When candidates continually whip supporters into a frenzy with shouts of "Kill him!" "traitor!" "socialist" and fail to reprimand the crowd or remove the offenders, they sow hate and division. When candidates accuse opponents of "palling around with domestic terrorists," socialism, and elitism, they incite hatred. When they create divisions between the "real America" and other parts of America or refer to minority voters as "those people," they invite division. When Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter become leaders in setting the standard and the tone of rhetoric, and Barack the Magic Negro is simply considered a humorous parody to be shared with friends at Christmas, hate is emboldened and spread. When Republicans refuse to take responsiblity for their actions, and the leader of the RNC refuses to rebuff Republicans behaving badly, it is pathetic and sad. The seeds of divisiveness hate are fostered by ignorance and ambition. They feed on the fear and anxiety of difficult times.
Chris From Maine
· 1 year ago
The entire Republican Party is a hate group.
Akaison
· 1 year ago
It's not just the economy. It's the fact liberals are in charged. My friend predicted the rise of right wing groups into power again such as militias.
Soundboy_jeff_meanie
· 1 year ago
Joe... a question... does the ATF still include groups like Act Up & PETA on that 'watch list'?
another part of bush's legacy... division among the masses creates hate groups... AND his administration investigates any group that speaks out against his politics as a potential threat to homeland security. seriously, I bet John and Americablog are on one of their lists as well.
.
Mike Tuggle
· 1 year ago
But the SPLC is ALWAYS sounding the alarm about Klansmen under our beds! That's how it frightens little old liberals into donating more money into their coffers. One former associate even publicly denounced Dees, the self-promoting lawyer who started the SPLC, as a "con man and fraud." So don't take everything the SPLC says at face value.
All Comments
We had a great economy under Clinton, but they were running wild then too--blowing up Federal Buildings, Olympics Parks and having shootouts with the Feds all over.
I think they just calmed down over the past eight years because they didn't want to give their boy in the White House any hassles.
I think it should be considered.
Of course, it is possible that we could stop reading our social structure on a racist caste scale and look instead at poverty and bad education among the non-black, non-hispanic population.
Nah . . . we won't do that. That would be . . . smart.
We're not much different from Pakistan in that regard.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/0...
Peace!
i cannot wait for these fuckers to be gone.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/11/bushes-inte...
And to top it off, many of these hate groups manage to be tax-exempt.
All Peter LaBarbera does is watch gay porn and talk shit about gay people, lives in a nice home, lives a lavish lifestyle - and it's ALL paid for by tax-exempt donations.
http://www.phatpage.org/news/032608.html
If people want to really bring down the hate groups, they need to start calling out these people who run hate websites/groups, totally paid for by the taxpayers and donors.
I see the kids hanging out during the day and on weekends more now than at any time in the past 10 years. They have nothing to do. Many have student loans and no way of paying them, they see their parents being laid off and jobs leaving America like a flooded river. The economy has tanked, wall street has gone bust, the rich continue to flaunt their wealth and deny the need to help the middle class and poor. Here is Western Pa. people want to have a job, get a couple weeks vacation every year, get married, buy a house and have a couple of kids, nothing too complex. they also want to see their kids achieve the same thing. Those days are gone. The American dream has been raped by Freddy Bush and the Taliban who supported him in Congress (Republican and Dem). Unless jobs are developed and or returned to America this group of people will be much more dangerous to the elected lobbyists than any supposed hate group, without hope people consider other options.
However, a significant contributing cause was the tone of the 2008 Republican campaign and the failure of GOP leaders to demand that their candidates adhere to high standards of honor, integrity, and respect for their opponents. When candidates continually whip supporters into a frenzy with shouts of "Kill him!" "traitor!" "socialist" and fail to reprimand the crowd or remove the offenders, they sow hate and division. When candidates accuse opponents of "palling around with domestic terrorists," socialism, and elitism, they incite hatred. When they create divisions between the "real America" and other parts of America or refer to minority voters as "those people," they invite division. When Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter become leaders in setting the standard and the tone of rhetoric, and Barack the Magic Negro is simply considered a humorous parody to be shared with friends at Christmas, hate is emboldened and spread. When Republicans refuse to take responsiblity for their actions, and the leader of the RNC refuses to rebuff Republicans behaving badly, it is pathetic and sad. The seeds of divisiveness hate are fostered by ignorance and ambition. They feed on the fear and anxiety of difficult times.
another part of bush's legacy... division among the masses creates hate groups... AND his administration investigates any group that speaks out against his politics as a potential threat to homeland security. seriously, I bet John and Americablog are on one of their lists as well.
.