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[bryant]

Sadly, this time it’s a guy on the left abusing the definition of terrorist. Putting this in perspective: the KKK is closer to being a terrorist organization than the NEA, but nobody went to court to get the NEA legally defined as a terrorist group.

The particularly vexing aspect of this case is the numbing effect it’ll have. The next time a real domestic terrorist is accused of terrorism, there will be plenty of people who’ll say “Oh, sure, like that KKK guy the professor wanted to muzzle.” Boy who cried wolf.

Comments

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

But the Klan have lynched plenty of people and intimidated many more. I'd call them a terrorist group. Doesn't make the militant pro-life nut jobs any less so either.

[bryant]

Not so much recently, though. As the SLPC guy quoted in the article says, you run into free speech issues. The Klan has been an ineffective debate organization for quite some time; you'd be hard-pressed to show current terrorist activity.

And when the SLPC is saying you don't have a case against right-wing extremists, you really don't have much of a case.

[editswlonghair.livejournal.com]

I see what's going on in the Klan as similar to what happened to the IRA/Sinn Fein. It became a victim of it's own success and splintered. So just because there is now a Provisional, Real, et. al IRAs, doesn't make the good 'ole IRA any less a terrorist org. And Sinn Fein will still handle the speaking engagements. And just because most of the hardcore fanatics won't 'be' in the Klan, I'm sure they'll still show up at rallies to network and recruit. And the Klan can be the public face and mouthpiece for every small cell of white supremacists and militiamen holed up somewhere.

And the whole free speech for hate speech has always made me uncomfortable. I wish I could believe that most people just need an outlet- a pressure release. But I've been getting more conservative in my dotage- I think if there's any chance of any one of them getting out of line and hurting someone (or many someones as is usually the case now), the whole group should be cracked down on and disappeared. But maybe that's just being hypersensitive now that I've married into a Jewish family...

[bryant]

Yeah, except that the Klan really isn't relevant in the white supremacist movement any more. The public faces of white supremacism, these days, are named Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh. It's not like the hardcore assholes of the Aryan Nation and various Christian Identity movements don't talk to the Klan, but the Klan has been largely relegated to the status of historical anachronism.

It's a pretty fine line and I don't lose any respect for anyone who disagrees with me. Well, in general, but in particular on this issue. It's just... I see it attention in a direction that doesn't contain the real maggots of right-wing extremism, and thus counter-productive. I want people going after the real right-wing terrorists, the people who knock over armored cars and stockpile literally enough explosives to blow up an airport. Those guys are out there in America, and they definitely no question mean harm.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Your thoughts exactly mirror mine when i saw the story.