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Citation: USA Today (Magazine) Nov 1996, v125, n2618, p64(2)
Author: Hyatt, Ralph
Title: America is being plagued by an invasion of "crazies."
(militias and moral decay in the U.S.) by Ralph
Hyatt
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COPYRIGHT 1996 Society for the Advancement of Education
While staring nightly at the 11 o'clock news, have you ever found yourself
toying with the thought that Americans are going berserk? The relentless
parade of shootings, rapes, robbenes, muggings, and carjackings dig into your
soul and eventually nourish a gnawing cynicism. What about those odd-ball
militias cropping up all over the place? This epidemic of terror is downright
scary. The "Crazies Are Coming]" could very well have been a terrifying Alfred
Hitchcock thriller were he alive today.
Take the Montana Freemen. Are they merely an updated example of the
timelessness of the constitutional amendments created by America's wise
post-revolutionary leaders? The basic intent of the Second Amendment, after
all, was that each of us--alone or in groups--should not be deterred from
bearing arms for his or her own defense. Surely, few would negate the concept
that those who govern never must breach the privacy of citizens by commanding
soldiers or the Nation all Guard to search their homes. Yet, does that apply
to the renegade racist, anti-government Freemen and similar loonies? Between
the salaries of FBI agents and other expenses, it was costing the nation about
$30,000 a day to contain the cast of 17 characters peacefully on their Montana
compound.
Then there are the Arizona Vipers, a group of 12 so full of rage they
dreamed about the demolition of seven government buildings, with each
explosion making the bombings of the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City
appear like kids' games. Fired up by their obsessions, they lustily used their
guns--many which were fully automatic and unregulated--for frequent target
practice and military maneuvers. They made and learned how to denonate
extremely powerful explosives.
Combine guns and explosives with paranoid tendencies and you've got big-time
danger. Vipers despise the government and insist that an international
conspiracy exists to control America. "One World Order" they call it, a motto
used by Pres. George Bush during the Persian Gulf war. Forget due process; the
ballot box is a joke, the Feds are criminals; get them before they get
us--these are their slogans. The belief in their version of the Constitution
is so strong, they require new members to take an oath that they will enter
into combat against all enemies--essentially, anyone who differs with them.
The militia problem never can be too small to be taken seriously. It is
estimated that there currently are about 441 militias with 15,000 to 40,000
anti-government members spread across 40 states. This is not a small number
when minds and goals are so destructive, and they are growing stronger.
Right-wing militias, neo-Nazis, and others have found modem, cheap, easily
accessible technologies for spreading their malignant invectives, including
the fax, modem, and Internet. There now are more than 100 outright racist Web
pages, according to Rick Eaton, senior researcher at the Simon Wiesenthal
Center in Los Angeles.
"Their message, theoretically, gets out to hundreds of thousands or millions
of people ... and they're in touch with each other instantly," adds Mark
Weitzman, director of the Wiesenthal Center's Task Force Against Hate. Young,
impressionable, restless kids easily can be fired up and recruited by the
non-stop electronic promotion of contempt and disdain for those ideals and
values most of us desire to live by. Moreover, there are a multitude of adults
ready to gobble up communications of anger and fear since that plays so well
with the hostile, negative emotions already residing in their bellies.
A nonprofit group--The Southern Poverty Law Center, which studies militias
closely--has identified 800 anti-government "patriot" organizations. Their
diverse membership stems from all walks of life--tax protesters, neo-Nazis,
radical anti-environmentalists, elk ranchers, real estate brokers, advocates
of a more equitable distribution of power and wealth, and a host of others. A
series of robberies beginning in 1992 causes of all kinds, and donations from
a variety of other admiring sources help fill their coffers.
The situation is worsening. Well-entrenched neo-Nazi groups are continuing
to link up with the anti-government, self-proclaimed patriot organizations,
according to a report sent to Attorney General Janet Reno by Morris Dees, the
Southern Poverty Law Center director and author of Gathering Storm. All the
publicity about the militia groups has perked up the ears of those who are
ready to listen and to act--of which there are many. The copycat effect has
become a problem not to be underestimated. August Kreis, a leader of
Pennsylvania's Messiahs' Militia, has been quoted as saying, "it won't be like
Waco" if Federal agents come after them. "They won't have to wonder who shot
first; it will be us."
More and more downtrodden, frustrated, threatened individuals are listening
to the bottom-line message: "It's either them or us." The abused of all
kinds--both real and misperceived--find it especially attractive. Even the
wary are being worn down by today's zeitgeist. In tandem with changing
institutional values and behaviors, our individual ideals, optimism, and
attitudes are eroding, as are our behaviors.
Turn on television talk shows any morning of the week and observe people
with bizarre personal problems publicly exposing themselves to millions of
strangers who are entertained by their yelling, screaming, and the sickness of
it all. Note the rise in methamphetamine and cocaine use as people seek
artificial highs and false mental peace. Self-destructiveness spreads as 3,000
kids a day start lighting up the tobacco habit.
Sneer at the corporations that take the easy road and pour toxic waste into
our drinking water. Think about the results of a May, 1996, NBC poll revealing
that we now see ourselves as less honest than a year ago. Fathom the quality
of our present-day best-selling authors and role models: tattooed basketball
star Dennis Rodman; shock jock Howard Stern; singers Michael Jackson and
Madonna; and the characters played by actor Jim Carrey in "Ace Ventura" and
"Dumb and Dumber."
Grit your teeth about burning flags, same-sex marriages, church burnings,
and the need to build bigger and better prisons for a growing population of
the out-of-control. Understand the devastating effects of downsizing, when
workers lose good paying jobs and security while corporate profits soar.
Cringe when you learn that schools are unable to offer protection against
violence, particularly with guns. Over all, 6,000 school-age children die from
homicide or suicide each year.
Wince when you see all the gambling around you, especially when it is
supported by the government. Twenty-four states have legalized casinos and 37
have lotteries. Americans gambled away more than $40,000,000,000 in 1995.
Weep for the exploited Haitian workers who earn chicken feed while Kmart,
J.C. Penney, Walt Disney, and other greedy corporations salt away
multi-millions.
Empathize with our 17,000,000 or more brothers and sisters who are
psychologically depressed, usually silently and almost always needlessly.
Shudder at the 60,000 cases of workplace violence that often are carried over
from disputes that started in the home. Psychologists label such behavior as
`displacement."
Plutonium continues to pile up around the globe while officials calmly
debate D; methods for getting rid of it. It takes a mere 15 pounds to produce
a nuclear bomb. Doing nothing about such irrationality is known as "denial."
Believe that our privacy continually is being invaded by computers, credit
cards, government records, and who knows what else. That is known as
"reality." It takes a good bit of strength not to become cynical.
Every generation has its unique ideas and behaviors that are not digested
easily by the graying group of the previous generation. That's understandable.
The baby boomers of today, for instance, view the Beatles' hair length as
short, whereas TV emcee Ed Sullivan was vilified by the adults of that era for
inviting such a long-haired, uncouth group onto his show. The current in-line
skating craze is acceptable providing it does not disrupt the safety of
pedestrians and drivers. This is not perceptibly different than skateboards of
old. Males with pierced ears and earrings present no problems, even though
pierced noses and tongues still raise eyebrows.
Getting dropped by an insurance company after making a claim seems
unreasonable, but we almost have become accustomed to that indignity. Unions
have been on the skids for a while, but, now, Generation X finds they soothe
their job insecurities. People change that way. It's no big deal that cigars
presently are an in-thing for women. To each her own.
When annually we have 1,500 victims of "road rage"--getting shot for cutting
someone off when changing a lane, for instance--we're in serious trouble. When
a place of worship--where one tends the spirit and the soul--is destroyed by
arson, our own deeply troubled spirits and souls clearly are bared. When we no
longer flinch at the "f" word in films and recordings, where has our culture
descended to?
Our moral infrastructure is in need of repair. From the President down, as a
nation, we seem to have lost our orientation. Youngsters try early on to act
as adults (tugging for their independence, having sex) without responsibility.
In dress and manner, adults often mimic their kids, as if to fend off the
course and curse of becoming older.
Quality of the family is at a low ebb; cities are stuck in squalor;
economically strapped educational institutions struggle to educate; potholed
streets seem to be a metaphor of life; blacks and whites glare at each other
suspiciously; the gap between the rich and poor is widening; and we are
enmeshed in what has been labeled "The Age of Irreverence" by Stanley Lehrer,
Publisher of USA Today (see the September 1995 issue).
Of course, it might be said that people of every era have believed they were
at the brink of Armageddon, and we're no different. We are different, however.
The growing sophistication of our current technological capabilities is
mind-boggling. Weapons are more powerful, pinpoint accurate, and very
available.
With the simple movement of a switch, almost any bit of information can
spread out on the monitor of your living room TV set or computer. The access
to all sorts of facts through mechanical-electrical communication systems,
known as cybernetics, is instantaneous. To put it bluntly, any conceived
target may be researched and demolished in a flash--and we are all potential
targets] The Holocaust clearly taught us how close evil can come to world
control and destruction. Had Hitler possessed America's current arms and
information-gathering capabilities, that destruction very well might have been
a reality. The enemy of evil is a moral infrastructure.
Of course, there are potential dangers to anything smacking of limits and
boundaries. Our melting-pot country has prospered and grown in a context of
liberalism, opportunity, experimentation, and the encouragement of
individualism. Wide differences have been accepted and encouraged.
Nevertheless, something isn't working.
Over the last 30 years, the top 20% of Americans earn 44% more, while the
poorest 20% are up just 0.8%. Motorists are terrorized; families have broken
apart; race relations are tense; children as well as adults are violent; drugs
are rampant; the homeless fill our streets; pollution is killing us; and abuse
is on the rise.
Local, state, and Federal governments must set up parameters and boundaries
in order to exist in some sense of order, and the judicial system will
continue to make judgments about them. Good parenting requires the
establishment of rules and regulations, as do our educational institutions.
All religious codes contain "thou shall's" and "thou shall not's." All of us
will have to learn to live with less, in one aspect of our lives or another,
for the greater good of peaceful, communal existence. This is not easy, but
critically necessary]
Let's call a spade a spade. We--all of us are the breeders of the "craziest"
We are their creators. Until we can put sound fundamental principles and
ideals of social living into practice, terrorism, abuse, destruction--"the
banality of evil," as writer Hannah Arendt put it--will continue to haunt us.
Dr. Hyatt, Psychology Editor of USA Today, is professor emeritus of
psychology Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pa.
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