What could possibly explain this relationship? A headscratching analysis

[Mr. Reactionary]

Oooooh. A chart from the Southern Poverty Lie Center predicting right-wing Armageddon. What's next, a John Birch Society chart about how much closer we are to Communism.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I never entirely understood the severe angst the Far Right had in the mid-'90s. What's their deal

(1989) Bush sporting purpose requirement on imported rifles [Ban on many guns]
(1990) Tax increases [No new taxes!]
(1991) Lawmaster raid [Feds shoot dog b/c guns, find none, refuse to apologize]
(1992) Rodney King Riots
(1992) Lipman raid [Feds seize gun collection, do not charge owner with crime until sues for property]
(1992) Ruby Ridge [Feds snipe unarmed women in head b/c guns]
(1993) Waco [Feds burn down cultist church b/c guns]
(1993) Brady Act [Feds nationalize gun sales]
(1994) Big grazing fee increase proposal
(1994) NAFTA
(1994) Lamplugh raid [Feds stomp kitten to death b/c guns, find none, refuse to apologize]
(1994) Fleming raid [Feds convict pro-gun expert witness for writing "N" instead of "No" on paperwork]
(1994) Assault Weapon Ban [Feds ban guns b/c they look scary]
(1994) Midnight Basketball Grants [Taxpayer money to try and distract criminals from crime]

The established gun community felt threatened at the frequent targeting by the Feds; Economic and crime issues pushed more moderates into the former group. At the same time you had a bunch of Millennialists predicting Y2K or the rapture in the year 2000 imitating the gun people. Basically 2 sets of ideologies which slightly overlap doing similar stuff at the same time. The internet helped it grow.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Glad the Time bar graph doesn't show the breakdown of militias. Not a "hate group."

[Mr. Reactionary]

Glad the Time bar graph doesn't show the breakdown of militias. Not a "hate group."

For some one that "isn't a racist", you sure dislike people who go after racists.

Ah ... the race card. That didn't take long. I take issue with the SPLC because it is a flawed, politically-driven, propaganda org. And I'm not alone in thinking that ... just ask the right-wing extremists at Dailykos who agree with me. Like how the Southern POVERTY Law Center has a secret Cayman bank account, which is apparently bad if you're Mitt Romney, but fine if you are a non-profit.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/26/923486/-Southern-Poverty-Law-Center-s-Cayman-Islands-bank-account

I first started hating the SPLC when they targeted people who weren't racist, because of political motivations. In their 2010 issue (included below) they included several mainstream politicos on one of their list of icky haters deserving of shunning. One would hope the list would be reserved for ACTUAL haters like Neo-Nazis, instead of people the SPLC just disagrees with on policy. The list included:

Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party candidate for President, for the crime of saying George W Bush was too liberal (GASP!), for being a Baptist, and for being a southerner.

Michelle Bachmann, Republican Congresswoman, for the crime of opposing the Japanese internment in WWII.

Ron Paul, Republican Congressman, for the crime of being a "radical" who opposes Obamacare, the Fed, and the UN.

Paul Broun, Republican Congressman, for the crime of denying global warming and trying to ban porn on military bases.

Glenn Beck, Media Personality, for the crime of crying, calling the President Hitler (whom the SPLC usually argues is "right-wing" and thus a compliment coming from Beck), and selling gold.

You may not like any of these people, or their political views, but they absolutely do not belong on a list issued by a group devoted to fighting "racism" like you claimed. So yeah, I take issue with the SPLC for being a bunch of hacks hiding behind their past work. I'm glad they took down a lot of KKK people in the 1980s, but their new targets have nothing to do with their old, and yet they constantly conflate the two. Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann belong on a list of haters as much as Bernie Sanders and Sheldon Whitehouse belong on a list of radical communist sympathizers. When the SPLC does stuff like this, it encourages the government to do likewise. Kind of like how the 2009 MIAC report on super scary terrorists warned police that Ron Paul bumper stickers and Don't Tread on Me flags are a good sign that they've pulled over a terrorist.

The SPLC is a joke org and it has absolutely nothing to do with "racism".


http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/summer/meet-the-patriots/the-enablers

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/summer/meet-the-patriots

[Mr. Reactionary]

Glad the Time bar graph doesn't show the breakdown of militias. Not a "hate group."

Yes, this is proven by the vast abundance of inter-racial, inter-denominational extremist militias that have no substantial ties to klan/nazi type groups.

For example, there's the.....um, well.....

JJ Johnson's group out of Ohio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is_CRRyTei4

You're falling prey to an opposition-crafted narrative. The idea that militias can only be of one ideology is silly. In his objective study of the militias (included below), Prof. Robert Churchill broke the militias into 3 types: Small "L" libertarian (Michigan Militia), End-times Millennialist (Militia of Montana), and racist (Posse Commitatus).  Other than the word "militia" and a few common traits (like wearing shoes, and owning guns), they aren't really the same. It's just a lot easier for us to classify everyone into a neat little box, and so now anyone who hasn't studied the issue just assumes that everyone believes the same thing. Take noted terrorist Tim McVeigh. He attended one meeting of the Michigan Militia, after which he was expelled for advocating actual violence. But I'm sure 90% of the posters here would assume he was "militia" because the ideologies get conflated. Most militia groups have no racial motivation. Some do though. Most Democrats have no racist believes. Some do though. It's unfair to assume that a part = the whole. I mean, isn't that what Democrats have been saying for years about Islam?

http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780472027460

[Mr. Reactionary]

I have a suspicion based on your avatar, but do you support the militias?

I mean, their mere existence does not offend or terrify me. If you're asking if I think militias should violently overthrow the government tomorrow, then no I do not support them. But since very few are actually trying to do that, I need more clarification on what you mean by support. I mean, support for overthrowing an unjust government is pretty much universal beyond a certain point (like in V for Vendetta). That means the idea should be placed on a spectrum and evaluated that way. In other words, a government must be "Really Bad" to justify violence, where "Really Bad" varies from person to person. I do not think we are anywhere close to needing some kind of 1776 moment, others do. I do my best to mock and discourage those people who want civil war sooner rather than hopefully never, but I don't see why American citizens can't have guns, perform military drills in the woods, and play "fit the nWo gub'mint" when they aren't going to do anything.

Besides, as far as political violence goes, the far-left cuckoos have always been more dangerous than the far-right cuckoos. During the past 100 years or so, you've had a rash of Socialist and Marxist bombings and other attempts to overthrow the "gub'mint" (Including 2 Presidential assassinations, 2 attacks on the US Capitol, 30 mails bombs immediately preceding the Palmer raids, and at least 40 attacks just by Weather Underground). As far as Right-wing nutters, you basically get Tim McVeigh, an AMTRAK derailment, a failed bomb left at an IRS office in '95, some bricks thrown through DNC windows by Vanderboeghites, peaceful dumbasses at Bundy's ranch, and some moron who attacked a grill at Tom Perriello's brother's house after Obamacare passed. Other than that, it's just "Oh so and so has a lot of guns and hates the government. That's a terrorist plot!"I mean, the self-identified Commies on this website have said more violent things than most of these right-wing "plots".

Out of curiosity, was your suspicion based on the "C" party label? Because if you look at my political matrix score and compare it to the scores of other posters on this website, I'm closer to 0 than many of the crowd favorites (Red, Blue, and Yellow).

[Mr. Reactionary]

Obama is a black, you see.

Yup, here he is pictured with his black grandparents.