← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 10778 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-10-27
2003-10-27 13:53 | User Profile
SPLC: Attacking the Patriot Act "anti-Semitic." SPLC attacks ACLU leader.
[QUOTE]Common Ground? When anti-Semitic 'Patriots' gathered to celebrate their favorite magazine, they were joined by an unlikely ally
Paul Hall and Chris Temple (left and center), Media Bypass owners and hosts of convention; John Krull (right), ICLU executive director and convention guest speaker
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- When fifty people gathered in late May to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Media Bypass, the magazine darling of the antigovernment "Patriot" movement, the event was mostly business as usual in the world of extremism ââ¬â with one notable exception.
Held in a small conference room at Evansville's Airport Marriott, the three-day "Convention & Expo" was hosted by Chris Temple and Paul Hall, the new owners of Media Bypass. Both Hall and Temple are well-known adherents of Christian Identity, a racist and anti-Semitic religion that teaches Jews are the result of a union between Eve and Satan.
The convention mirrored the editorial bent of their magazine. Speakers railed against Jews and the Internal Revenue Service, and elaborated conspiracy theories "explaining" the Sept. 11 and Oklahoma City terrorist attacks. Vendors peddled the David Duke Report and pamphlets promoting Christian Identity. Musical diversion was provided by a home-schooling family band called Heritage, performing tunes from the Revolutionary War and the "War Between the States."
But there was one surprise in store. Joining the extremists celebrating Media Bypass was John Krull, executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU), the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Krull was warmly introduced by Temple, who formerly edited the Citizens Informer, the newsletter of the white-supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. Temple told his fellow extremists that he, Krull and ICLU board member Mark Miller had developed a friendly relationship, meeting together frequently for more than a year. What brought them together, he said, were the threats to civil liberties represented by the USA Patriot Act, which many on the extremist right have blamed for a spate of arrests and raids on white-nationalist leaders in the past year.
Reciprocating Temple's warm sentiments, Krull said that their relationship reminded him of the old saw about "porcupines making love." He added, "the porcupines do assure me that the final effect is worth the effort."
Krull praised Media Bypass, which had recently published two of his essays about the Patriot Act, as "a powerful voice of freedom during this time of trouble." He then compared the magazine to his own organization. Media Bypass, Krull said, is "making the case for freedom and for our constitutional birthrights." That, he said, "has been the ACLU's job and I'm happy to say that it is also Media Bypass' job."
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url: [url]http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=55[/url] [/QUOTE]
2003-10-27 16:23 | User Profile
The truth is getting out and god's darlings are worried, attacking the messengers whenever and wherever they surface.
-Z-
2003-10-27 16:42 | User Profile
Funny they don't characterize zhidism as a racist humanity-hating religion.
2003-10-27 23:41 | User Profile
It remains to be seen whether Krull's members will share his enthusiasm for such a coalition. But when he was interviewed by the Intelligence Report about his participation at the Media Bypass convention, Krull was unapologetic. "[H]ow in the heck do you think you will ever change these people's minds if you don't engage with them?" he asked.
Krull, who plans to step down from his ICLU post at the end of 2003, said he attended the conference for a simple reason: "I was invited, and basically we go out and talk to anyone who issues an invitation."
In Krull's view, communing with the far right is part of "what the ACLU has been trying to do, reach out to people who were not sensitive to our message in the past." (It is important to note that state chapters of the ACLU have a high degree of autonomy. Executive directors like Krull do not have to receive approval from the national office before deciding who to reach out to.)
Krull told the Intelligence Report that he was unaware of the long histories of racial activism on the part of many participants, including his friend Temple, and said that he had not read Media Bypass, despite his contributions to the magazine.
"I don't do background checks on people," he said. "That is what [U.S. Attorney General John] Ashcroft does." And he added, that is what the Intelligence Report does as well. I'm no supporter of the ACLU, but I like the way this guy stood his ground and refused to be intimidated. I also like the dig he got in at the SPLC.
2003-10-27 23:53 | User Profile
Anybody ever picked up a copy of MB? Is it any good?
2003-10-28 01:23 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Centinel]Anybody ever picked up a copy of MB? Is it any good?[/QUOTE]
Good but a bit skimpy. You'll get more info surfing the net a half hour once you know where to go. At the same time, MB is probably a good bet if you are offline, and not at all bad vehicle to introduce people to the joys of non-mainstream politics.