When Right-Wing Extremism Moves Mainstream

[maddezmom]

Last May, about 30 people gathered at a resort in Jekyll Island, Ga., for a series of discussions about "increasing national instability" and President Obama's "socialized" policies.

The island was chosen for symbolic reasons — the initial discussions about creating a Federal Reserve were held there in 1910 — and the attendees met to formulate a plan for bringing their own radical organizations together.

"One of the interesting things about the meeting is how nondenominational it was," says Mark Potok. "There were Holocaust deniers there. There were anti-Semites. There were also people who have none of those feelings, who are all about the idea that the federal income tax is unconstitutional — people from the old militia movements and so on."

Potok is the director of publications and information for the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group's latest Intelligence Report, "Rage on the Right," documents the growth in the number of hate and extremist groups — and how their rhetoric is increasingly entering the mainstream.

more:http://www.wbur.org/npr/124906766

[MisterP]

1. mainstreaming is one of the things pushing the US rightwards: "centrism" by its very definition

masks these in reasonableness and demands that US "liberals" (Europe's right and hard-right) agree to their policies, one after the other; the Dems' "moderates" are one of the big Trojan horses or "ports" for wingnuttery (imagine if Dukakis had demanded that we turn a blind eye to Iran-Contra, or Roy Bourgeois come out for the McCain- or HillaryCare giveaways). Likewise, secular support for Israel was used to import its rabid policies and legitimized "religious" (in quotes because it ain't in Revelations) rationales for support. Ditchkins gave "Islamismophobia" a respectable veneer--they're wicked and hate our freedoms and are intolerant clitoris-hackers. Sam Harris outright created a "liberal" pro-torture argument. On top of this are all the Dems voting for the IWR, producing a storm of rationalization and rage thanks to the cognitive dissonance of the generally-"liberal" Great BCCI-Slayer buying into the MIC (but that brings us right back to conservadem Trojans and lib Dem caving).

[TexasObserver]

2. K&R