Chip Berlet gives a scholar's insight into the roots of right-wing conspiracism and the violence it engenders
By David Neiwert Sunday Jun 21, 2009 6:00pm
My longtime friend and colleague Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates was interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air earlier this week, talking about right-wing extremism (a term he actually loathes). It's a fascinating discussion and an enlightening listen, as it often is with Chip.
The focus of the discussion was a new paper Berlet wrote for PRA: "Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, and Scapegoating". [The main PDF is here.]
Berlet bounced off the paper for Huffington Post in discussing the Holocaust Museum shooting, and sums up his argument concisely:
People who believe conspiracist allegations sometimes act on those irrational beliefs, and this has concrete consequences in the real world. The shooting today is a prime example of why it is a mistake to ignore bigoted conspiracy theories. Law enforcement needs to enforce laws against criminal behavior. Vicious bigoted speech, however, is often protected by the First Amendment. We do not need new laws or to encourage government agencies to further erode civil liberties. We need to stand up as moral people and speak out against the spread of bigoted conspiracy theories. That's not a police problem, that's our problem as people responsible for defending a free society.
... Apocalyptic aggression is fueled by right-wing pundits who demonize scapegoated groups and individuals in our society, implying that it is urgent to stop them from wrecking the nation. Some angry people already believe conspiracy theories in which the same scapegoats are portrayed as subversive, destructive, or evil. Add in aggressive apocalyptic ideas that suggest time is running out and quick action mandatory and you have a perfect storm of mobilized resentment threatening to rain bigotry and violence across the United States.
Now the only question is: Will Bill O'Reilly send one of his ambush crews after Chip now?
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violence is the problem; conspiracy theories are not.
every agent of the FBI is a conspiracy theorist. so is every police detective. it's how crimes are solved.
bad people get together and do bad things. conspiracy theorists try to keep up.
david neiwert is very good at addressing the problem of right-wing violence. this needs to be addressed.
but lumping those of us who, for example, seek an independent 9/11 investigation, is intellectually dishonest at best, and downright slanderous at worst, especially when you consider that most of us are very peaceful protestors.
no one flood c&l with 9/11 stuff; my point isn't about 9/11 specifically, it's about our civic duty to question authority.
What should be clear is that some conspiracy theories originate from a lack of transparency in the government handling of matters -- the 911 stuff is a perfect example. I'm not a "truther" but I do know that if the government would just release the confiscated surveillance tapes of the Pentagon strike, the tapes would either uphold or disprove the belief that it was a missile strike, not a commercial aircraft that hit the Pentagon. It would be SO easy to settle at least that part of the conspiracy story.
And it took years before the US government confirmed that there was more than one shooter in the JFK assassination, though there were incredibly-wild conspiracy stories swirling around that event for all those years. Americans certainly have reason to disbelieve some government explanations of events, and it is this disbelief that is the source of conspiracy theories.
So while I agree that many conspiracy claims are based on the fears of ignorant people that are ratcheted up by those who would benefit from the fear-mongering, there are other reasons, too. We need to differentiate between them if we're ever to address this problem.
it was Flight 77 that struck the Pentagon.
..but when it answers, Will you listen?
Your beliefs are your beliefs. It's a question of whether you are willing to hurt and kill other people who choose to believe otherwise. So, religion, homophobia and racism can all be lumped in here, as well as UFOs, paranormal beliefs, etc. It's more of a condition of the mind. I mean, gay people have been shit on by the right-wing and society as a whole forever and a day, and how many violent protests and gay terrorism has there been? As for right-wing causes, it seems every time they feel threatened, violence is the only recourse.
even though i have significant differences with neiwert, i can never attack him too hard, because i mostly agree with him.
right-wing extremists are all too often bloodthirsty f%*#ing psychopaths, and something has to be done.
they just kill all our progressive luminaries, like jfk, rfk, mlk, lennon, etc., etc.
i may disagree with neiwert on some things, but in addressing violent lunatics we are in agreement.
While not exactly a believer in the 9/11 theories myself, I cannot poo-poo them to a great deal.. After all, there was the Reichstag fire which led to Nazi Germany. So it's not like this sort of thing hasn't happened before, and that no people could be this horrific.
that one is being oppressed by a group of others. Right-wing authoritarians are generally paranoid and rageful; they believe they're always being victimized, which is always a reason to lash out in revenge or "self-defense." In fact, the Nazis proved that it's not too hard to push most people into at least a passive acceptance of violence against people whose "crimes" are extremely unlikely or unproven (to reasonable people).
If you don't believe that the official story of 9/11 is deliberately false and covering up massive wrongdoing, at best, you haven't read enough about it.
As for MLK Jr, have a look at "An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King Jr." by William Pepper. The facts Pepper found of a wide-ranging US government-fomented assassination conspiracy were vindicated in court and were the reason the King family sought a second trial for James Earl Ray. Not surprisingly, this very well-sourced investigation has been completely ignored by the MSM. Even the people who sneer at conspiracies believe them enough to want to bury them.
i recommend reviewing the findings of the united states house select committee on assassinations.
among the findings:
mlk's assassination likely the result of a conspiracy
jfk's assassination likely the result of a conspiracy
four shots were fired at jfk
the third shot came from a second assassin located on the grassy knoll, but missed.
Dixie Mafia had King killed. I couldn't get my Klan daddy to admit Klan involvement, but it's almost certain that Mr. Grassy Knoll arranged the murder, and utilized his standard technique on high-risk killings of getting a relative who owed him money to help shoot, then getting him caught as the scapegoat, and pocketing the cash. The top-heavy presence of Southern Democrats in pork bills and pork spending assures government sympathy for the killing. Government is always involved in the coverup, from local cop to the FBI, but not in the assassinations themselves.
A TN relative of the Dixie Mafia figures, a semi driver, carried the guns into Memphis for the job, He is quietly drinking himself to death with guilt, and states that "I didn't even know any colored, we were just always told they were bad". Unfortunately, he would not discuss any of the particulars of the case with me, and I know of his evil errand only from my padre.
It seems to me that these people are yelling fire in a crowded theater. I don't feel my civil liberties are eroded because this is illegal. the fact that some right wing pundit can get bush's base in a lather does not reinforce my sense of freedom. What good does it do to have people in the theater shun the person who yells fire especially when they're being killed or injured by the panicked herd?
Will Bill O'Reilly send one of his ambush crews after Chip now?
In 3...2...1...
..Andrea Mackris..Andrea Mackris..even now.
What a shame we have to keep mentioning this poor woman's name because of BOR.
What more, they are the tools of the GOP.
They get to whip them up in a rabid froth, then tell them who they should kill. Then they cry 'victim' when we say we not only knew they did it, we have evidence of it.
They are a bunch of evil crybabies who are the enemies of America.
The GOP needs to go away forever. I would be very happy if their ringleaders were put into deep dark prisons forever.
The Eliminationists
Fascism is not a single, readily identifiable principle but rather a political pathology, best understood (as in psychology) as a constellation of traits. Taken individually, many of these traits seem innocuous enough, even readily familiar, part of the traditional American political hurly-burly. A few of them, definitely not all, are present throughout the political spectrum. Only when taken together does the constellation become clear, and then it is fated to take on a life of its own.
–David Neiwert Chap. 6 / p. 111
But I agree with the basics of Berlet's arguments.
It isn't simply the conspiracy that is dangerous. Nor is ot simply hyperbolic rhetoric.
The danger is in USING conspiracies, apocolyptic rhetoric, and enabling victimhood that reinforces predispositions.
Too many people are already predisposed toward racism and viiolence. Right wing polemisists give thes unfortunates license.
They tell them that they are right to feel afraid of Blacks, Mexicans, Gays or any scapegoated group.
The Becks, Hannitys and Limbaughs tell the crazies that they aren't insane, the racist that he's just proud and the violent that only the duty of warning the public keeps them from being violent, themselves.
Conspiracy theories that do not dehumanize segments of a society are generally harmless. I believe that J Edgar Hoover was behind the Kennedy assassination. But that doesn't give anyone the idea that killing someone will save America from FBI agents.
Telling people that Democrats want to take your guns, run the banks and turn your children into homosexuals setd Democrats up as legitimate targets in a war for America's soul.
Hoover had nothing to do with JFK's killing, though he may have welcomed it. The murder was arranged and done by a Klan sympathizer at the behest of a corporate figure who wanted deregulation of their commerce.
Grassy Knoll is alive and in a Southern prison, and the current FBI is keeping his arse covered.
Why in the world would the 'Klan' ever wish Kennedy assassinated? It's kinda assumed there were no Cubans in the Klan at that time. I can certainly see how Kennedy handled the Bay of Pigs invasion that a whole lot of Cubans would want to do more to Kennedy than shoot him.
Kennedy voted against the 1959 civil rights bill. Nixon voted for it. It that's the motivation, looks like the Klan would have been gunning for Nixon and other Republicans. It was the Democrats who filibustered and bogged down civil rights legislation for years. The Klan were solid Kennedy men. You're not very educated, are you?
Conspiracies exist, they always have, when two or more conspire towards a nefarious end.
It is more than slightly toxic to Democracy that "conspiracy theories" have been so relentlessly demonized on all sides, to the point now where anyone who speaks of a conspiracy is automatically labelled a nut.
The Love Canal cover-up was a conspiracy, of truly toxic proportions.
The murder of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy.
The fake "yellow cake" Niger document was quite obviously a part of a larger conspiracy.
Only a fool would not realize at this point that there was a conspiracy afoot from the highest levels downward to commit torture in our country's name.
I would go on, yet I realize this post is somewhat off topic, and I understand and agree with the post in the grander sense... but not all conspiracy "theories" are irrational.
if i went public on 9/12/01 with my "conspiracy theory" that the bush administration had prior warning of the terrorist attacks, in the form of a document that read "bin laden determined to strike america", i would have been tarred and feathered by 93% of the population.
i also would be exonerated by today's historians.
W was incompetent as a Governor, a CEO, an owner of a baseball team. Why would him being President make him any better than the idiot everyone already knew he was. Remember, he didn't win the election and was appointed President the first time. I would believe that he ignored threats over an attack on the United States in a heartbeat.
Did they include...
"Florida man shoots five Chilean students, kills two" Feb 27, 2009
[ http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/... ]
Should they have?
I think there's an enormous difference between believing "conspiracy theories" like those the Christian Identity Movement runs on, and simply acknowledging historical facts.
For instance, the oil/automotive industries' successful destruction of public transit in California early in the last century was a conspiracy. Enron's scams were a series of conspiracies. Perhaps we need a word that's more precise than just "conspiracy" to separate the very real problems Berlet describes from legitimate issues.
True....Judge Doom did want to get his hands on Toon Town.
;)
But it is true, same thing happened in Houston. Oil/car industry clamped down public transit in the 60's (including a wide spread monorail system) and now we have horrible traffic, and a fucked up bus/train system trying to get started but can go nowhere due the roads and sprawl.
[ http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/eek-mu... ]
if not more conspiracy theorists on the left as the right and if some of them weren't of an eliminasionist bent the site monitors would have a lot less work to do removing wishful remarks regarding other people's painful demise.
what one says and what one does. People on the left haven't been shooting rightwing evildoers, and not for lack of provocation. The wingnuts aren't just shooting people who to them are evildoers, like Dr. Tiller; they're shooting people for who they are (or perceived to be), not for what they do.
It's also worth pointing out that at times, a violent reaction to an oppressive conspiracy is justified. The Boston Tea Party and Lexington and Concord come to mind.
Then BillO and friends are scouring the comments section and blaming John Amato for doing something that John avoids as if it was The Plague.
That's a rather broad definition of conspiracy. It's the same type of thinking that white supremacists have about the Civil Rights Act. How about calling it what it was: Legislation. The Stamp Act and the later Townshend Acts were legislation. There was a fundamental difference in opinion between the colonists who believed they had the right to representation in Parliament if they were to be taxed, and those in the UK who believed that colonists did not have the right to representation. Nothing secret about any of it, other than the normal meetings of politicians behind closed doors to plot political strategy.
i don't really know much about conspiracy theories and /or theorists. when question(s) are left unanswered for whatever reason it's possible someone can come up with their own theory/answer. there are many variables to this interesting topic/conversation. after the biggest variable that being certain human behaviors,you have the conspiracy theory itself. how was it told? who was it told to? what variation was told? what i think is very important that chip mentioned is it combined with anything else? some people are vulnerable and want to be empowered somehow. some black and white thinkers may also be vulnerable and/or easier to manipulate. if this person happens to be mentally challenged then it could be the makings of serious violence. then of course the conspiracy theory could combine with ones behavior to reach a tipping point/threshold toward violence. this is a complex issue but interesting nevertheless. i myself have questions about 9-11 and jfk. many of us may have questions but hopefully we're not preoccupied/consumed.i will say this i have heard some people refer to conspiracy theories about conspiracy theories. a strategy of deception to further to confuse people to use conspiracy theory as a cover up.
Not unless he wants Chip to skin them alive.
In a verbal sense of course.
*
seem to react negatively to a mild statement that "people who believe conspiracist allegations sometimes act on those irrational beliefs" as if it were aimed at them or the view of one event they hold.
This reaction is not dissimilar to the reaction conservatives had to the DHS report on the extreme right and domestic terrorism.
If the quote had been "people who ignore conspiracy theorists
sometimes enjoy excellent mental health" I am sure some would have taken offense.
Both statements are true and neither preclude the possibility that the implants placed in my molars at an Army clinic while Dad served in the military were used to direct me to write this.
That sums this whole thing up nicely.
This Horatio's philosophy is so boringly, annoyingly simplistic. Can any of us who have peered even a little bit into the abyssal depths of US politics read him without a rueful chuckle of self-recognition? Been there, been done by that. (For a real nostalgic return to Past Certainties, check out Aristotle on celestial mechanics. Mr Berlet's obvious respect for Past Certainties was strongly shaped, I suspect, by scrupulous Sunday School attendance at the Church of the Unquestioned Assumption.) C'mon, Horatio, there's a great big wonderful world of WTF?! out there.
Oops, sorry David. I didn't mean to plant an idea in O'Really's head.
Do you forgive me?
Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates was [...] talking about right-wing extremism (a term he actually loathes).
Why does he hate it? Because it's a redundancy?
The late, great Ralph J. Gleason of Rolling Stone said that "no matter how paranoid you are, they really are out to get you".
Dan White kills Harvey Milk, the KKK Charlie White family buys Bobby Kennedy's assassination, and now you get a White on the bench in San Fran. It's not a conspiracy, just coincidence? One of the Iraqi-line Whites, a corporate exec, is on his private jet and leaving NY just in time to watch the Twin Towers bombed outside his window? Aren't these Patti Blaboivitch's cousins?
The FBI gives witness protection to the man they know was on the grassy knoll, after his convictions for killing four other political figures in two different states, Not a conspiracy, folks--liberal and conservative media will tell you so.
FBI gets info, finally, on who bought the JFK murder and why, and the media family--not LBJ's, by the way--nominates, and gets, a kinsman for a Supreme Court Justice. Call it a conspiracy, and you'll be called a nut.
I'm the daughter of a deceased Klansman and I do know where the bodies are buried, and/or what closets they hide in. Shawna Forde's a Klan Metzger and there's no vast right-wing conspiracy?
OK, do you folks think we've all been lobotomized, or are you waiting to do us all as soon as National Health Care subsidizes and will pay for it?
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