Sunday, December 25, 2005
Protecting White Privilege
The Minutemen are far from being the fringe white men with guns of much media lore; more than an armed movement, Simcox and his cohorts have converted themselves into a nimble, media savvy, network organization for whom the guns are props. Their main goal is not to "protect" the physical borders of the United States: the primary political objectives of the Minutemen have more to do with protecting the borders of white privilege and notions of citizenship being transcended by the global economic—and political—capital.
In this sense, the flag waving and other symbolism (i.e., using the Minuteman brand), the perpetual need to generate controversy, the phallic deployment of arms at a time when economic and cultural (ie; women and nonwhites like Latino immigrants) globalization challenges American (especially white male) manhood all constitute a form of (para)psychological OPERATION or "psy-op."
Their savvy use of the web and other media, combined with the strategic use of public events, makes the Minutemen more effective than previous racist organizations. At the same time, their mixing of mainstream and old school, anti-Latino, anti-immigrant messages makes their message palatable to an audience, especially aging white males, ravaged by economic and political globalization.
Unlike the previous generation of white supremacists who eschewed and even attacked the Federal government (think Oklahoma bombing or Montana militias), the Minuteman strategy complements the anti-immigrant work of local, state and national politicians like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who regularly praise them as "heroes."
--from Roberto Lovato's article Far From Fringe, Winter 2005 issue of Public Eye magazine http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/lovato_fringe.html
In this sense, the flag waving and other symbolism (i.e., using the Minuteman brand), the perpetual need to generate controversy, the phallic deployment of arms at a time when economic and cultural (ie; women and nonwhites like Latino immigrants) globalization challenges American (especially white male) manhood all constitute a form of (para)psychological OPERATION or "psy-op."
Their savvy use of the web and other media, combined with the strategic use of public events, makes the Minutemen more effective than previous racist organizations. At the same time, their mixing of mainstream and old school, anti-Latino, anti-immigrant messages makes their message palatable to an audience, especially aging white males, ravaged by economic and political globalization.
Unlike the previous generation of white supremacists who eschewed and even attacked the Federal government (think Oklahoma bombing or Montana militias), the Minuteman strategy complements the anti-immigrant work of local, state and national politicians like California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who regularly praise them as "heroes."
--from Roberto Lovato's article Far From Fringe, Winter 2005 issue of Public Eye magazine http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v19n3/lovato_fringe.html
