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Edited on Thu Sep-24-09 04:03 PM by angrycarpenter
We were all horrified at the news that a census worker was killed apparently because he was working for the government, but who was seriously surprised?
Many of us have seen this coming for a long time. We browse the internet and see, at least in cyberspace, the levels of paranoia are at levels never before seen. Calls for secession, "action", and watering the tree are so thick that I am convinced that we are seeing a phenomenon that is new in spite of just how familiar it sounds.
During the nineties there were a lot of militias but I think most of the membership looked at it like a pretend sort of rebellion, an excuse to drink in the woods and maybe get in some fishing. The economy was decent, people were doing well and maybe just a few had real bloodshed in mind.
This time it is a different story. The economy is very bad, there are a legion of media stars pointing fingers and fanning the flames, there are thousands of websites eager for the shooting to start and the president is a black man. Only once has the fear of the federal government been used this effectively to get fearful people up in arms and ready to kill.
Now I finally come to the case of poor Mr. Sparkman. By all accounts he was a good man and in no way deserved what he got. To be found hanging from a tree, killed by unknown people for an unknown purpose. The word written on his chest, Fed, seemingly pointing to political motive for his murder. There are those who urge reserving judgment until the facts are in, that this could be just a drug killing and the word was written on his chest to cloud the issue. Normally I would agree, but not this time.
Let's say it was a drug killing. The monster(s) that did this fiendish act almost certainly rationalized this murder with the pervasive anti government sentiment common in the rural parts of the south. No matter the root cause, the word carved into his chest points to the rationale that will enable the perps to sleep at night or even be proud of this heinous act. They will tell themselves that they protected their own and that he deserved his treatment for being a tool of the federal government and that menace Obama. If he stumbled on a pot grove or a methlab or a moonshine still doesn't matter, the people who did this see the government as the enemy and this man as their agent bent on the destruction of their way of life.
No matter the motive there is a certainty on my part that the massive paranoia campaign by the right contributed to this terrible crime. There is not one person in this country who is ignorant of the fact that the government periodically conducts a census. Informed people know the purpose of this mammoth, expensive undertaking every ten years but people fed on a diet of rumor and paranoia see all kinds of sinister motives behind the simple need to know how many people live in various parts of the country and how well they are getting along.
As that last front door opened for Mr. Sparkman and he was faced with the the person or persons who took his life there is one thing that is certain, they saw him as the enemy to their way of life. The right wing pundits and politicians did not invent fear of the government but they have used it to it's full advantage. As Mr. Sparkman attempted to take that last survey you can bet that a certain news network that has no problem telling people the government is out to get them was playing in the living room. You can also bet that as he was being driven to the spot where he was found the driver worked himself up with talking points invented by people who have no intention to ever take responsibility for their bullshit.
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