The Southern Law Center reported that there are 939 active hate groups in the United States. They also claim that the surge in hate groups is being fueled by the downturn in the economy, influx of immigrants and the election of the first black president. These factors have also re-created a resurgence of anti-government “Patriot” type movements. These types of groups were responsible for the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City. The latest terrorist incident in Kansas Overland where a Nazi shot and killed 3 people and the stand-off in Nevada is an example of “chickens becoming home to roost”. When people and politicians tell lies and preach hate, they give cover and fuel to these types of groups.
Many members of the Tea Party promote the claim that president is not a US citizen and the country has been stolen, while other has called for violence to remove him. Here I am not claiming that all Tea Party members are willing to use violence to justify their crazy ideas. The Tea Party has allowed right-wing extremist and Patriot type organizations to enter their ranks. These Patriot type groups show up at demonstrations with assault rifles, displaying anti-government signs. The party has funded campaigns where extremist congressman and senators have been elected to the house and senate. They are also using media outlets like Fox news and talk show host to carry their extreme views to the public. The general media can also be criticized for lack of full coverage concerning these extremist views. Many so called high intellectual journals claim that this type of extremism exist on the right as well as the left. This kind of analysis gives cover to Fox News and those on the right promoting these groups. The task of journals in a free society is to report the news in an accurate, balance, and fair way.
Right-Wing Extremism represents the greatest threat to Democracy
Two researchers from the Department of Psychology and Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University demonstrated that the more white Americans know about the changing demographics of the United States, the more likely they are to endorse conservative policy positions. The rise of political extremism from the right, represent the great threat to our democracy. Why are many journalist and politicians unwilling to seriously report this fact? So called high intellectual journals and historians on the right and left are putting forth a false equivalence or false balance argument to prove that extremism exists on the left and the right. None of the journalist promoting this view has put forward any documented evidence to prove that the extremism on the left is equal to the extremism on the right. When the idea of race or political extremism arises during a table discussion, they raise the false equivalency argument. I personally know of no groups on the left which are members of extremist organizations who have enough power to dominate the political discourse in and out of congress.
Extremism in Nazi Germany
I don’t like making comparisons to Nazi Germany, but I think we can make a comparison here. Prior to Hitler coming to power in Germany; he waged a diehard struggle to undermine constitutional laws in Germany. He had to convince the German people that the reason why Germany was experiencing an economic downturn was because Jews and minorities were destroying the history and culture of Germany. He was successful in convincing a large majority in Germany that his political reforms would restore Germany to her glorious past. During the time when Hitler was promoting his political reforms, he met little resistance from journalist and historians. Jennie Rothenberg wrote and essay titled: “How American Journalist reported the rise of Hitler”. In his essay he wrote:
“Even the reporters were sometimes slow to write about the things they witnessed firsthand. I tell the story of Hans Kaltenborn, a famous radio broadcaster of that era. He was of German descent, but had grown up in the United States. Right after Hitler took power; there were attacks on Americans who failed to give the Hitler salute. Kaltenborn went over with the attitude that these reports were greatly exaggerated. Then his teenage son got beaten up for exactly the same reason. The Nazis apologized profusely and said, "I hope you won't write about this." And Kaltenborn replied, "No, I don't insert anything personal in my stories." Even after this happened to his own son, he was reluctant to write about it. “
Hitler was jailed in German for a certain of period. Most of the Journalist thought he was funny and made jokes about is political campaign. Journalist on the left and right need to admit that extremism on the right represents the greatest threat to our democracy. Elected politicians promoting extremist ideas need to be challenged and exposed. By refusing to accurately report and challenge their political agenda gives supremacy and political acceptability to their views. I don’t think the type of fascism that existed in Germany will happen in America, but we could loose many of our individual freedoms. As a result, the political atmosphere could become toxic and lead to violence confrontations
Sources:
Whites Becoming the Minority among U.S. Population under Five
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/whites-becoming-the-minority-among-u-s-population-under-five
Meet America's emerging minority group -- whites
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/22/opinion/anderson-white-minority/
Fear of becoming a racial minority makes white Americans more conservative: study
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/10/fear-of-becoming-a-racial-minority-makes-white-americans-more-conservative-study/
The Southern Poverty Law Center
http://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/hate-and-extremism
Day 4 (Part 2): The Press and Nazi Germany
http://www.faspe.info/journalism2013/?p=296
Fritz Gerlich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Gerlich
Newspapers in Nazi Germany
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/newspapers_nazi_germany.htm
THE PRESS IN THE THIRD REICH
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007655
Hans Massaquoi: Journalist who grew up black in Nazi Germany
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hans-massaquoi-journalist-who-grew-up-black-in-nazi-germany-8467938.html
Report: Anti-government groups on rise
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/report-patriot-groups-on-rise-88487.html
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