Bad behavior by neo-Nazis should have been a non-event
To the Editor:
We may have run the Montana Humanist Rights Network out of town, but their brand of bigotry remains. If you want to provoke violent acts from the neo-Nazis, just continue the course you have begun. Then you can hold a "Not In Our Town" fundraiser when your harassment produces the violent reaction you claim to despise.
First, you take some misguided youths who haven't outgrown their teenage angst and have taken it to the next level by joining an extremist movement, the neo-Nazis. These fellas may not possess the finest social skills, they may even be behaving badly, spoiling for a fight. That's just my point, the only way to win a fight with someone who wants to fight, is to avoid the fight. The one strategy which will always fail when dealing with someone this passionate about their beliefs is the use of brutal force they have encountered in Libby.
What happened here is textbook leftist agitation at work. You just need a "victim," steeped in the culture of victimhood and fear, to claim that she "was afraid for her life" after these punks yell at her and her children. The punks are standing on their porch, the victim is in her car. Most of us would think that driving away would solve the problem. Even after she drives away, she can't shake the horror of the encounter. She may even coach her children to claim that they saw a weapon such as a gun or a knife (or a cell phone or an apple).
Add some overzealous, improperly trained cops to the mix to trample the men's rights and disregard the Constitution they swore an oath to defend. These "peace officers" can level unvalidated charges and slap the cuffs on the rogues and take away their freedom. The county attorney won't pursue the trumped-up charges, but if you throw enough charges at them, and they are too poor to seek proper legal counsel, they will plead guilty to a lesser, "amended" charge.
What should have been a non-event has just become headline material, and Libby is once again exposed to the rest of the world in her social dysfunction. The newspaper can make hay with headlines about neo-Nazis and "hate crimes" and quote the Southern Poverty Law Center listing them as members of a hate group. One national reporter has said that SPLC has made millions of dollars claiming that Hitler's militia is about to march down Main Street and storm the courthouse. They have built an industry on inciting just this type of sensationalism using these same tricks.
Then you add some community leaders who want to militarize our police force. They write letters and have the audacity to equate this very minor boorish, anti-social behavior with terrorism. Terrorism!? Beheadings, suicide bombs, rocket attacks and…rude behavior. Yup, sure signs of terrorism. I'm not sure using two factions that have been at war for thousands of years provides a good model for civil discourse. Seems to me they're known for creating more friction.
Let's get real folks; this type of dehumanization and humiliation will not only ratchet up the emotional frenzy of the community, it will create deep resentment in the neo-Nazis who think they have every protected right in America to hold their beliefs as long as they don't advocate violence. Once their egos have been decimated you can bet the neo-nazis will become very dangerous men. The violence that results will be as much a reaction to the brutal tactics of our community leadership as anything else.
In the final analysis, it boils down to whose hate is socially acceptable. Politically correct, state-sponsored hate wins.
Daniel Gawain Waters, a very intimidating 400-pound communist, has been handing out fliers in this town, even in the courthouse, for years. He stands on the street corner with a raised fist yelling at passersby. Why hasn't Mr. Waters been subjected to the same treatment? Because living in a free society such as ours carries the risk of being offended by someone you disagree with.
This gives us a perfect opportunity to point out the differences in a society based on Christian principles and one based on Humanistic principles. We've already seen the Humanist ideals at work in this incident, let's study how the Christian ideals may work.
True Christian tolerance is very different from the way our culture views it today. Here, we have three applications of tolerance to contend with — neo-Nazi persons, their behavior, and their ideas as exposed in their fliers.
The neo-Nazis are persons just like the rest of us and are to be accorded respect based solely on their personhood. Civil society, and our Constitution, hold that all men are created equal. Thus, we allow all people a voice in the public debate on matters of social import.
Once they voice their opinion, we may disagree with the ideas presented, but we still accord the person respect. That way, when we debate the idea we may be able to discount the idea in a way that is agreeable to both sides. Most disagreements can be settled with simple communication. We may change their way of thinking, or we may be changed if we keep an open mind and their argument is sound.
Either way each individual arrives at a choice on his own, without threat of force. Using force to quiet an opponent's argument is un-American, I've seen this at council meetings. We have laws that prove free speech was important to the founders of this country. Forceful censorship doesn't settle a difference of opinion, it simply proves a difference in willingness to use force. If both sides are willing to use force, you have violence.
Which brings us to the third facet of tolerance, tolerance of behavior. This is where society has set some rules, laws.
While we believe you can hold any silly belief you want, how you behave affects those around you and must be tempered for the good of society.
If the news accounts bear any semblance to the truth, everyone involved behaved badly. Hurling racial slurs is bad behavior. Being too thin skinned to reply "sticks and stones may break my bones" and making a huge legal issue out of a non-event is bad behavior. Making a false report to police about weapons is illegal bad behavior. Making up charges that hold no legal water is bad behavior that undermines the authority of law enforcement. Equating bad behavior with terrorism is…well, bad behavior that makes me afraid to be in the city where I live and work.
A little mutual respect, civility, and tolerance would have gone a long way in this case.
D.C. Orr
Most protesters have too much time on hands
To the Editor:
Today I received an e-mail regarding a war protester who has been in the national news repeatedly. Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, was the focus of this e-mail.
It seems as though she has time to be noticed by the press everywhere but no time to find a headstone for her son's grave (even though the Department of Defense will pay for it)! It seems as though she gave up custody of her son in the divorce and is doing so again with another son in order to have time to protest the war in Iraq. There was a picture attached to the e-mail showing her hugging another long time protester, Jesse Jackson.
I watched this woman in Texas at Bush's ranch and felt sorry for her, no more! It seems that she is like a lot of other protesters — lots of time and a great ambition to get national recognition, regardless of the reason.
In my 64 years young lifetime, I have heard all kinds of protests, most from people who had way too much time on their hands and too little regard for the consequences of their actions. Please do not protest unless you have a real right to do so and have all the facts and are able to relate them adequately. There are already entirely too many grandstanders!
Jon S. Dunham
Perspective offered on Lebanon war
To the Editor:
Lebanon is a country of only 4,015 square miles, a little less than 400 square miles larger than Lincoln County. Lebanon is more than 800 square miles smaller than the state of Connecticut.
Lebanon has a population of about 3.8 million people — or, it did have. Connecticut has a population of about 3.5 million people.
Israel has pounded Lebanon, just about daily, for about a month, with the best bombs, cluster bombs, guided missles, and artillery shells the United States can provide. And they continue to do it with even more intensity. Makes one wonder what Connecticut or Lincoln County would look like after that kind of treatment.
Jim Rathbun