There have been a whole bunch of stories written about the idiot skinheads who were busted for a ludicrous plot to kill a whole bunch of black people, including Barack Obama: the AP version, the Washington Post, the New York Times. They're all pretty similar, and they're all notable for one thing: the word they don't contain.
Terrorist.
By any reasonable definition of the word, these guys were wannabe terrorists. Their plan called for shooting 88 people and beheading another 14 (because idiot skinheads are big on Kabbalistic numerology, apparently)-- that's a terror plot. Not a terribly realistic one, mind, but then neither were most of the idiotic plots "broken up" by the noble officers of the Department of Homeland Security.
So why aren't these guys being called terrorists? Law enforcement officials and the news media don't hesitate to throw the T-word around when a couple of yokels with more mouth than brains pop off in a mosque. Why don't skinheads get the same treatment?
Politics
Comments
Because THESE idiots have STYLE. I mean, multiple murders while wearing white tuxedos and top hats?
You're totally right of course.
Posted by: Brian | October 28, 2008 10:40 AM
They're white.
Posted by: Jamie Bowden | October 28, 2008 11:09 AM
They're white.
And more importantly, their targets aren't. McVeigh crossed that line when he set off that bomb in Oklahoma City, which is why it was OK to call him a terrorist.
Of course you're right, but you're telling the truth, not the truthiness.
Posted by: Eric Lund | October 28, 2008 11:51 AM
The 88 thing - I heard that was skinhead code for HH (H = 8th letter in alphabet) = Heil H*tl*r. Oh damn, another perfectly good discussion auto-Godwinated.
Posted by: Green Chile Nation | October 28, 2008 11:51 AM
Brian:
Are they kidding? Do you know how HARD it is to get blood out of a good tux? Especially a white one...
Eric: Sure, but McVeigh gets the D word in front of it, and he targeted an FOB. I don't think the .gov really cares about the rest of us all that much (of course, I'm a fed contractor, so my third class citizen status in that role might bias my opinion).
Posted by: Jamie Bowden | October 28, 2008 12:01 PM
Terrorism based upon the Kaballah? With templates like the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Thirty Years' War, burning of witches, Hopkinsville's night riders... they chose Crown Heights, Brooklyn?
"14/88: Common white supremacist code. 14 stands for the "14 words" slogan coined by David Lane, who is serving a 190-year sentence for his part in the assassination of a Jewish talk show host: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." 88 means "Heil Hitler," as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet."
"Une foi, un loi, un roi!" "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!" Republicans' one hope is a Russky field "nukular" device (fizzle-)detonated in a Detroit slum (presumably Cheney's boys not Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin's). Can observant Republicans spell Huguenot?
Vote Democrat! Install criminals with a more circumscribed Weltanschauung and fluffier impositions.
Posted by: Uncle Al | October 28, 2008 12:06 PM
The media can gather more support for Obama by emphasizing the racial elements. If they used the T word people might start thinking about national defense.
Posted by: Jim C | October 28, 2008 4:19 PM
Jim @ 7: so that would imply that Fox News would be claiming they're terrorists and we need McCain to defend us against them...
Wait. What??
Posted by: Brian | October 28, 2008 5:53 PM