Friday, February 10, 2006
Minuteman Militia GOP Pawns
[The following letter was sent today to the Seattle Weekly.]
Set aside for the moment the pseudo-journalistic game of he said/she said reporting by such uninformative, corporate chain, daily news monopolies like the Bellingham Herald, and take an earnest look at what noted authorities on racism, politics, and hate crimes in America have to say about the Minuteman Militia. It's not hard to do these days with the Internet--even a Herald reporter or editor could do it.
Southern Poverty Law Center has a weekly online update on the GOP-choreographed immigration drama, highlighting state-by-state how Republican legislators, vigilante misfits, and right-wing media like the Herald work in tandem to create the public perception of an immigration problem so dire it justifies mobilization of untrained, unregulated, armed citizenry and vast expenditures from the public treasury to build such things as an apartheid wall on the Mexican border.
One would think that these days the notion of the GOP cooking up bogus crises for political purposes wouldn't be that difficult a concept to get one's mind around, but that's assuming the right-wing media--like the Bellingham Herald--is the least bit interested in exposing this Republican fraud for what it is, which, of course, they are not.
If this were the first time the Herald engaged in an active coverup of a GOP/militia partnership, it might be forgivable; corporate news editors aren't the brightest people in the world. Unfortunately it isn't. Ten years ago, the Herald maintained an active four-year coverup of the Building Industry Association-sponsored property-rights/militia GOP front groups to the extent of threatening two of its own reporters with dismissal if they exposed this cabal of vigilante lawlessness.
I know, I was there. And like last time, I informed the Herald editors--showed them evidence--gave them the benefit of the doubt. But unlike the last time they chose to sweep the sordid truth under the rug, this time people can find out for themselves what's really going on. They can go online to websites like Public Good Project or Center for New Community; they can check out weblogs like Orcinus; they can read SPLCs weekly update and Minuteman profiles; they can read my book Blind Spots at the Bellingham Public Library; they can read my free online memoirs.
Now that the Herald's monopoly on information has been outflanked, there's no longer any reason for the public to remain in the dark. After all, this isn't a game--real lives are at stake.
Set aside for the moment the pseudo-journalistic game of he said/she said reporting by such uninformative, corporate chain, daily news monopolies like the Bellingham Herald, and take an earnest look at what noted authorities on racism, politics, and hate crimes in America have to say about the Minuteman Militia. It's not hard to do these days with the Internet--even a Herald reporter or editor could do it.
Southern Poverty Law Center has a weekly online update on the GOP-choreographed immigration drama, highlighting state-by-state how Republican legislators, vigilante misfits, and right-wing media like the Herald work in tandem to create the public perception of an immigration problem so dire it justifies mobilization of untrained, unregulated, armed citizenry and vast expenditures from the public treasury to build such things as an apartheid wall on the Mexican border.
One would think that these days the notion of the GOP cooking up bogus crises for political purposes wouldn't be that difficult a concept to get one's mind around, but that's assuming the right-wing media--like the Bellingham Herald--is the least bit interested in exposing this Republican fraud for what it is, which, of course, they are not.
If this were the first time the Herald engaged in an active coverup of a GOP/militia partnership, it might be forgivable; corporate news editors aren't the brightest people in the world. Unfortunately it isn't. Ten years ago, the Herald maintained an active four-year coverup of the Building Industry Association-sponsored property-rights/militia GOP front groups to the extent of threatening two of its own reporters with dismissal if they exposed this cabal of vigilante lawlessness.
I know, I was there. And like last time, I informed the Herald editors--showed them evidence--gave them the benefit of the doubt. But unlike the last time they chose to sweep the sordid truth under the rug, this time people can find out for themselves what's really going on. They can go online to websites like Public Good Project or Center for New Community; they can check out weblogs like Orcinus; they can read SPLCs weekly update and Minuteman profiles; they can read my book Blind Spots at the Bellingham Public Library; they can read my free online memoirs.
Now that the Herald's monopoly on information has been outflanked, there's no longer any reason for the public to remain in the dark. After all, this isn't a game--real lives are at stake.
