Category Archives: Right-wing Extremism

Rich and Righteous Victims

Right-wing Extremism

 

In the early 2000s right-wing radio took off and started to control the air waves. As Justin Ling said on his CBC podcast, “These broadcasters decide what wars are good; they decide what countries are bad. They decide who’s a patriot and who’s not. It is a thriving and profitable ecosystem.”

 

The left lost its grip on media, at least on the radio airwaves. But that was not enough for the right-wing.  As Ling said,

 

“And yet they are still able to convince millions of people that it’s the conservatives who are the victims. The marginalized. The downtrodden. But now that they control the narrative this rage machine just needs the right target and they are about to get it.”

 

 So the right wing became a collection of righteous victims.  The left were the perpetrators. The right were the victims and justice demanded reparations for the right-wing stalwarts.  I keep wondering though how the white and privileged can be the victims. This is still a common complaint among the right. How is that possible?

 

Air America

Right-wing Extremism

 

Right wing talk radio was immensely successful; in America.  Left Wing talk radio was a bust. Why is that?

Air America launched in 2004. It was intended to be the Left’s answer to right wing talk radio. Rush Limbaugh mocked this group as being about him. They thought they could pluck some liberal, put him on the air and instantly he would have a platform on 600 radio stations in the country like him. Air America was built over night. Limbaugh had built his network over years from a small radio platform. As Justin Ling said on his CBC podcast series, “Air America tried to go full national right out of the gates.”

Air America assembled a line-up of liberal comics. Many of them were funny but none had experience in radio. They bombed! Al Franken had been a star on Saturday Night Live and he was smart and understood politics, but as Ling said, “On air Franken can’t match the ‘us’ against ‘them’ outrage of rightwing talk radio.”

Franken just could not operate in a binary universe like Limbaugh could where it was a matter of pure evil against pure good. Talk radio was the home of bombast, not nuance or careful thinking or argument. To right wing radio the truth is clear and the enemies are simple and stick out like rotten cabbage. And right-wing radio knew we are at war with the liberals. Leave the nuance in the bag. Liberals like Franken could not understand this. Who of us can?

Bill O’Reilly said “this whole liberal network thing is just plain stupid. NPR fills that prescription and they do it very well. These pinheads backing the venture will lose millions of dollars because the propaganda network is simply tedious and tedious doesn’t sell.”  He was right!

 

 

Demonization of Muslims

Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Hate, Right-wing Extremism

 

 

Right-wing extremists have always liked scapegoats.  It used to be Catholics, or Blacks, or Communists. After 9/11 another arose Muslims. And right-wing radio in America stepped right in.

As Justin Ling the host of the CBC series Flamethrowers said, “The demonization of Muslims became a sport. One that would ensnare millions of Americans. And it was disgusting.” As one visitor to right-wing radio said, “The Moslems are fighting the Jews. The Moslems are fighting the Christians. The Moslems are fighting the Hindus. The Moslems are fighting the Buddhists. They’re slaughtering the blacks. Even the Moslem blacks in African Darfur. Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, wherever you want.”

The right-wing radio talk-show host Glen Beck  made his point of view known , and that of the right-wing in America when he commented to that: “well they certainly are adept at slaughter, I give you that.”

 

After the 9/11 attack the right-wing attacks against Muslims escalated exponentially. As Ling said, “Every week brought a new terror alert. George W. Bush led the invasion of Afghanistan, launching the war on terror. And conservative radio is on it.”

The 9/11 incident electrified the American right. They had a new Satan to replace the presumably vanquished Soviet Satan. The Muslims were the new Satan. With  a new sinner, the gospel of hate was thriving as never before. And the domestic how grown terrorists were fired up.

 

January 6th:  A  Culmination

2024 Trip to South West United States, American Fascism, Death of Democracy, Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Right-wing Extremism

 

After 9/11, Americans understandably, began to fear foreign terrorists. They were hit hard by the events that day. As a result, they created the Department of Homeland Security which concentrated on doing everything possible to stop foreign terrorists. Over time, they began to realize that there was a much bigger problem and it was home-grown. Terrorism, by Americans in their own country!  I call this domestic terrorism.

In the talk by Professor Jacob Ware and  his cohort Bruce Hoffman that we listened to thanks to Arizona State University, the speakers concentrated on domestic terrorism. Their talk was called “God, Guns, and Sedition. “

Importantly, Ware and Hoffman do not see the events of January 6th as a ‘one-off.’ Rather, as Ware explained they see January 6th as the culmination of a movement that has been growing for decades. Many Americans, looking through their rose-coloured glasses frequently are heard to say, after each tragic event, ‘we are not like this,’ or ‘this is not America’ when actually that is exactly what America is about. America was created through violent insurrection, genocide of native peoples, and  violent slavery and the biggest problem is that this has never been seriously acknowledged by a country that thinks it is exceptional. It is another example of American wishful thinking. That is the way they want it so it must be true. Ignore reality. Live in FantasyLand where it is much more comfortable.

 That, of course, is why Republicans, and the American-right, including the extreme right in particular, is working so hard to deny history. They see January 6th as a bunch of rambunctious tourists or crisis actors as Matt Goetz claimed in the House of Representatives. They don’t see the reality, which I submit impartial observers with all the facts, would readily admit they saw that day. That reality is that they were American right-wing extremists: Trumpsters and their ilk.

 Unless Americans are able to face the truth about their country they will never solve the horrible problem they have with domestic terrorism. There is little room for optimism here either.  They show no signs of wanting to learn the truth. To them, ignorance is bliss.

Black Lives Matter Insurrection or not?

Death of Truth, Decline of the west, Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Polarization, Police, Political Violence, Right-wing Extremism

 

I want to talk a little about the Black Lives Matter movement.  Perhaps because the right-wing and the left in America get their information from completely different sources, Fox News and the Internet on one side, and CNN, the Internet, and traditional news media on the other. Even on the Internet both sides go to different sources that are polar opposites. The two movements (left and right) have completely opposite views of what happened in Minneapolis, or on Capitol Hill on January 6th,  and other parts of the US.  The right-wing saw insurrection in Minneapolis Portland, and other places, but not at the Capitol. The left wing saw insurrection at the Capitol.

I really think it is a matter of what images the media of choice has chosen to emphasize. Fox News likes to put the emphasis on black rebellion and CNN emphasizes right wing rebellion. This is a key source of division.

In Minneapolis, for example, the media showed graphic images of protesters, many of them, not insignificantly black, ignoring police and laws to burn down businesses, some of which are even owned by blacks. To many white Americans this is proof of the anarchy at the root of the protests against the current regime.

African-Americans and their allies on the left see a white privileged state supported and protected by police that will use all of its powers to tamp down non-white rebellion while doing nothing to protect innocent children of African-Americans.

Neither side is able to see any truth to the side of the other. The other side ignores truth in favor of its own self-serving ideology. The two sides are unable to agree on basic facts so are unable to reach any agreement about what the problem is and how it should be solved. each side is mystified by the apparent blindness of the other to obvious truths.

White spectators at a BLM rally in St. Louis brought out automatic weapons to protect their property. White vigilantes were seen bearing arms in cities to protect white businesses from perceived ruin. This is what the left saw from its media sources. Meanwhile peaceful white and black protestors fear for their lives on the streets of American cities.

It is very difficult for Americans to deal with domestic terrorism  when they cannot agree on what the basic facts are. In the “good old days,” where most news came from 3 television networks that had no strong ideological differences between them, there were no such disagreements about basic facts. As a result, there was not such strong polarization as there is now. As a result of all this the middle is being hollowed out. The extremes are growing, on both sides. I don’t know what we can do about it.

This does not augur well for America. It suggests, to me at least, ruin to come. I hope I am wrong.

A Covid Booster for Extremism

American Fascism, Conspiracy Theories, Death of Democracy, Death of Truth, Domestic Terrorism, Political Violence, Populism, Right-wing Extremism

 

Ware and Hoffman continued their very interesting talk talk to us via Arizona State University in a talk entitled “Guns God and Sedition.”

They pointed out, that then  in the 2020s there was not just a booster for Covid, there was a Covid Booster for radical right-wing violent extremism. As Hoffman and Ware say in their book, and Ware repeated to us in his lecture, “pandemics are basically tailor-made for conspiracy theorists.” A pandemic provides fertile soil for crazies to plant the wildest conspiracy theories. Such as a theory that a presidential election was stolen, even no evidence has been provided for that theory.

 

Pandemics, like conspiracy theories are bred and hatched in secret and then explode into public view catching nearly everyone by surprise. It is almost natural to look for secretive causes for such disturbing events.

 

As Ware said, “2020 ends up becoming this tremendously tumultuous year with covid pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and this very contentious political moment leading up to an election in which we have 2 candidates both claiming victory in that election which leads up to January 6th which is the most important moment in our book.”   Ware says that the riot on January 6th 2021is the most serious threat to American democracy that he and Hoffman catalogued in their book. It is the first breach of the capitol since 1814 when the British and their rough and tough Canadian allies stormed the Capitol.

 

Of all the incidents described in their book and the many they mentioned to us in their talk the event on January 6th 2021 was the most significant. It was an American game changer, though now in the US only one side recognizes that. On that day American democracy nearly died. And many now many fear in 2024 we are headed for another such momentous event. Many in America believe that if Donald Trump loses the election in 2024, though that does not yet seem likely but certainly is conceivable, Trump will raise his forces of rebellion and this time it will be worse. Much worse.

 

Why was the terrorism at Charlottesville so Important?

American Fascism, Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, Political Violence, Right-wing Extremism

I want to return to the talk we heard  on line through the auspices of through Arizona State University this winter,  The talk was called God, Guns, and Sedition. That was more than enough to catch my eye it was led by 2 professors who wrote a book called by that name.

As Jacob Ware said,

“This remains a huge moment for the emergence of the modern violent far right, because they felt they could organize publicly and they could commit acts of violence in the defence of the ideology and that they would have protection from the White House. Charlottesville marks the coming out party of a new far right, which dubbed itself the alt right, characterized by youthfulness, viciousness, mobilization on line, and passionate support for President Trump.”

 

In a word, I would characterize them as bullies.  This is significant, because in my view the essence of fascism is being a bully. Donald Trump, of course, as we all know is a classic bully. So are many of his faithful followers.

The extreme right in America for the first time ever, felt they had a fellow traveller in the White House.  They could see that Trump was one of their kind. They felt that one of their own was in charge and they were going to take advantage of it.

 This incident at Charlottesville contributed to a huge increase in violent extremism on the far right in the US. As Ware said, the 2&1/2-year period between the terrorism in Charlottesville to the start of the pandemic in March of 2020 is where there was a huge spike in far-right violence.

In 2018 there was the pipe bomb incident that targeted members of the media and left with bombs.

Shortly after that was the deadliest anti-Semitic terror attack in US history that occurred in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. In March 2019 of that year there was an attack in Christchurch New Zealand targeting the Muslim community and killing 51 worshippers. That terrorist also produced a lengthy Manifesto that he published on line.

The following month there was a terrorist attack in Poway California where a former college student fired an assault rifle inside a synagogue packed with worshipers during Passover in 2019, killing one woman and injuring three others. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his hate-motivated attack. On the same day, the terrorist pled guilty to a charge of arson in connection with a fire at another religious institution, namely, a Mosque and Islamic.

 

In August of that year the US experienced the deadliest attack against the Latino community in El Paso Texas.

There were also a number of similar events in Europe in 2019. Right-wing extremism was spreading around the world. Domestic terrorism was becoming a hit.

As Ware said, “so we see this explosion of White Supremacist and anti-government violence that really grabs the attention of western governments.” It also grabbed the attention of extremists around the world.

Things were heating up. Extremists were happy. It was their time to shine.

Demonization of Muslims

Hate, Right-wing Extremism

 

As Justin Ling the host of the CBC series Flamethrowers said, “The demonization of Muslims became a sport. One that would ensnare millions of Americans. And it was disgusting.”As one visitor to right-wing radio said, “The Moslems are fighting the Jews. The Moslems are fighting the Christians. The Moslems are fighting the Hindus. The Moslems are fighting the Buddhists. They’re slaughtering the blacks. Even the Moslem blacks in African Darfur. Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, wherever you want.”

The right-wing radio talk-show host made his point of view, and that of the right-wing in America when he commented to that: “well they certainly are adept at slaughter, I give you that.”

fter the 9/11 attack the right-wing attacks against Muslims escalated exponentially. As Ling said, “Every week brought a new terror alert. George W. Bush led the invasion of Afghanistan, launching the war on terror. And conservative radio is on it.”

The 9/11 incident electrified the American right. They had a new Satan to replace the presumably vanquished Soviet Russian Satan. The Muslims were the new Satan. it was time to unleash the hate, and American right-wing talk radio was up to the tast.

 

 

Glenn Beck and the Gospel of Hate

Hate, Right-wing Extremism

 

Following on the heels of Rush Limbaugh in the annals of right-wing talk radio in America, was Glenn Beck. In fact, Limbaugh took “credit” for Glenn Beck. “Glenn Beck is a result of my success,” claimed Limbaugh  And he might be right.

The September 11, 01 attack on America by Al Qaeda followed a couple of years later in 203 by an American led invasion of Iraq, together, supercharged the right-wing in America.  They had a new enemy for their gospel of hate.  And the pundits of right-wing talk radio were in heaven.  George W. Bush pushed the war as a “just war” to destroy weapons of mass destruction and to prevent another attack on America. He said that, and Americans believed it, despite the fact that Iraq had no such weapons and the United States had more of such weapons than the rest of the world combined. Only America and a select few other countries, has the right to such weapons. Everyone else’s use of them is somehow illegitimate.

Paranoia like that which has engulfed the United States leads to such magisterial leaps in logic.  And the American right wing feasted on such claims. They saw American acting in rightful defense from attack by a dangerous other. A follower of Satan. It was a battle of civilizations and religions against each other. The Americans also believed naively that the people of Iraq would immediately drop their weapons and turn on their own leaders as soon as they caught a glimpse of the righteous leaders of America.

As Glenn Beck, one right wing commentator said, “I truly believe that these Mullahs are far worse than Hitler. Hitler was crazy evil. I believe these guys are biblically evil.”  He also said, Nancy Pelosi and her acolytes want us to lose in Iraq. They want there to be chaos in Afghanistan. They want this. They’re rooting against their own country.”

The Dixie Chicks (later called “the Chicks”), until then were one of the most successful bands in America but when their leader said they were “disappointed in the president of the United States,” they were cancelled around the country. Radio stations across the country banned their music. Some radio stations hired steam rollers to crush their CDs. Some set up fires to burn their CDs and they became a favoured villain on American talk radio. All that for saying they were disappointed in their president!

Yet thousands of people also protested against the war on terror launched by George W. Bush. Glenn Beck organized a rally against those who opposed the war and their perceived  “liberal” allies. He called these “rallies for America” and dozens were held across the country. Beck said Americans should pay more attention to the torture chambers organized by Iraq then spending so much time criticizing the American president. The rallies were huge in many America cities. There were more than 100 such events in America and Canada. Thousands of people waved little America flags. One of them at one of these rallies had a tattoo of the twin towers burned across his entire back.

The devoted followers of American right-wing extremists were ecstatic. They had a new enemy to replace the evil communists who had been successfully defeated, only of course to rise again in the form of right-wing populists or right-wing dictators.

 

 

Rush Limbaugh: The Father of Hate Radio

Hate, Right-wing Extremism

 

 

In his State of the Union address in February 2020 Donald Trump introduced a man he called “Beloved by millions of Americans, the greatest fighter and winner you’ll ever meet.” That is a pretty big endorsement from the President of the United States.

 

That man was Rush Limbaugh. He awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  The Republicans in the Congress that day jumped up for joy. The Democrats were horrified.  To Republicans, he was one of theirs.  He was one of their heroes and he was being rewarded by their President.  But who was Rush Limbaugh?

 

Limbaugh was the guy who helped propel Donald Trump to the US presidency. According to Justin Ling in his CBC podcast on Right-wing radio in the US, Limbaugh was the guy whose followers stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in part due to conditioning from Limbaugh.

 

Here is something Limbaugh said, “If any race should not have any guilt about slavery its Caucasians.”

 

Or this, “How many of you guys with your own experience with women, know that that ‘No” means ‘Yes” if you know how to spot it?”

 

According to Ling, “He is the guy who made the modern Conservative movement into what it is.” His great talent was to supercharge hate.  Sort of like modern owners of social media. Both knew that hate sells.

 

The moment Limbaugh was crowned, according to Ling, was “the moment right-wing politics cemented its central role in American politic.  And the role was the production of hate.  Right-wing radio shows were hate farms!