Wingnut Violence: A View from the FBI Hotlist

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Wingnut Violence: A View from the FBI Hotlist

Wingnut Violence: A View from the FBI Hotlist
by jedley
Sun Mar 08, 2009 at 06:01:28 AM PDT

I was taught not to tattle, but when I read noweasel's recent top o' the rec list diary, citing threats of violence against Obama at Free Republic, (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/3/1615/97986/816/703959), I promptly forwarded it to my cousin at the FBI...

My cousin got his first rifle when he was 10, played high school football, fought in XXXXXX with the Marines and then became a state cop in one of America's reddest states. He's been with the FBI for about XX years now, working counterterrorism until he was recently promoted to an executive position beyond his years.

Not exactly the resume' of someone you'd expect to give the time of day, much less sympathize with us pinko lefties. Yet when I sent him noweasel's diary, this is how he replied:

Jed,
I will certainly forward this to a friend who works this stuff up in NYC. I fear, however, that he will not be at all surprised. The number of threats to Obama as an individual, not the office, since election day is unprecedented. The Secret Service typically handles this stuff exclusively, but has had to look elsewhere for help.

The FBI monitors and investigates all the white supremacist groups and websites and the guy I know in NY told me that Obama's election has turned into the best recruiting tool they have ever used. Membership is up for the first time in I don't know how long, and new hate websites are emerging every week. Some of the websites actually call for Obama's assassination in their title!

The only solace I can offer is that, typically, these assholes are usually just that: a bunch of bored blowhards, terrified by the pace of a world that is passing them by, who have nothing better to do than complain, blame others for their shitty lives and spew their hatred and pitifully ignorant views online.

This is not to say that Obama isn't in constant peril, as it takes only one idiot to get through and consider himself a hero. Timothy McVeigh, for Christ's sake, has a significant following of people in this country who consider him a martyr!

I'm preaching and this has all been said before. I guess I'm just venting because the level of ignorance in this country actually still astounds me. We act horrified and shocked at the uneducated peasant masses blindly following crazy Muslim clerics when we have essentially the same thing going on here.

When I wrote back to thank him for his reply, I also asked if I could cite excerpts in a DKos diary, withholding his name but indicating that he is a higher-up at the Bureau. I told him I thought his words would be a pleasant surprise that might help allay some of the mistrust that the Bush years have sown among progressives. I naturally expected him to say that these were his own personal views, and that he couldn't risk having them appear to reflect those of the FBI yada yada, which actually would have been quite understandable.

Instead, this is what he wrote:

I know that there is an inherent distrust of law enforcement, especially government, so have at it and help restore a little faith, and thanks for leaving my name out.

As is often the case, one bad apple makes us all look bad, even though the percentage of boneheads working for us is really very small. Unfortunately, when they fuck up, everybody is watching.

This argument, of course, does not apply to the folks on Capitol Hill, far too many of whom are bad apples and far too few of whom are held accountable. In fact, if they're not careful they're going to end up facing down a mob of a million carrying pitchforks and torches (although this won't happen until everyone's HBO gets disconnected for non-payment)...

Anyway, I'll forward your mail to my friend in NY, and you use whatever you think might be helpful. Whether people know it or not, we're all on the same side. Meanwhile, let's keep our fingers crossed and expose these morons whenever we can.

SNIP

He also invites us to help "expose these morons whenever we can". Distasteful as it is to have to venture into the belly of the beast, let's keep an eye on the wingnuts and report any and every instance of hate speech, particularly threats of violence, whether against our President or anyone at all. The Secret Service and the FBI actually do investigate these people, as The Red Pen's rec'd diary from yesterday attests. Reporting them works. So let's keep the heat turned up. While we'll probably never change their minds, we can at least stigmatize the hell out of them, make it less attractive to fence-sitters to be associated with them, and make their lives a little more miserable than they already so clearly are.

Here is the contact page for the US Secret Service:
http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/contact.shtml

Here is the contact page for the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
http://www.fbi.gov/contactus.htm

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/3/8/9128/07258/354/705438