Hatred be stilled by hatred

Take a look at the KKK website (http://www.kkk.com/) - but only if you are not white. Of course, it’s truly unfair that I can browse the website out of academic interest in the middle of the library (avoiding my stats exam) without being accused by anyone of white supremacist beliefs, while a caucasian would not dare. It’s unfortunate, because I know well that you only would do so out of curiosity and disgust. Still, it probably would not be a good idea to visit the site if you are white, because a) if you are in public space, people will accuse you of being a white supremacist, which you may have a difficult time refuting, if only because denying racism is rarely convincing – and b) if you are alone in your room, I guarantee you that you will feel disgusting and violated afterwards. So don’t visit the site if you are white -the satisfaction of your curiosity is not worth it in this case.

They are suffering from unusually high traffic (in the light of the recent election, some people must be realizing their own bigotry and checking out the infamous group – or maybe some are made curious like me) so it does not direct you right away to the main site. Although I have checked out the group on wikipedia before, I never even thought of checking its website out! I didn’t think they would have such an active community online, but I am clearly mistaken. It seemed too much like a thing of the past, no longer relevant in our times. 

There are reportedly about 5,000 to 8,000 members of ”the Klan” among an estimated 179 chapters today. Certainly, it is a huge decrease from its peak in 1924 at 4,000,000 members. The site sell T-shirts, buttons, books, and stickers. It streams a white supremacist television show. You can print out a legal form from the site to ensure that in the case of your death, you children will be adopted by a heterosexual, white, and Christian couple. The site also claims that KKK’s doctrines are about love, not hate. It’s not about hate, but about God, America, and white fraternity against those that threaten them with their homosexuality and darker skin.

So a few questions: are they innocuous as long as they do not lynch anyone? Can we condemn them for just believing these things, although they do not quite act on it (yet)? Although Winston’s thoughtcrime was one of freedom and love, a KKK member’s “thoughtcrime” is a hateful and disturbing one – but does that distinction allow us to punish them for their “thoughtcrime”? It’s a slippery slope! The website is a shameless outlet of their hatred, but can we punish them for a website? After all: freedom of opinion! And especially on internet, where anonymity is possible.  

Although they are a minority, I do not know how comfortable I feel about a single one of them remaining in our society like a “benign” tumour. I would like them off the streets (does that make me prejudiced and fascist?), if we can’t reform them (which we realistically cannot) - but direct and overt oppression has never worked before when dealing with a fanatical minority group. They’ll be martyred and elevated as the “victims” of the society (e.g. Christian movement in Ancient Rome), which is dangerous - which I guess is why the government takes no real action against these local and relatively/arguably powerless groups.

Should we just wait until the organization starts acting on its impulses? Or is it in the process of dying, made obscure as a defunct ancient cult? Or should we just let it be? Freedom of opinion?

It is way easier to teach people how to use machine guns than to be human

Check this out.

I guess some people actually think that killing a presidential candidate is a step towards achieving their racist and white supremacist aspirations. To me, that sounds plain silly. Murdering Barack Obama will only shock people into talking about the issue of racism. No one’s going to clap for them aside from their fellow white supremacists – and mostly from inside their closets. Nothing will be gained! They will be ostracized and anti-racism movement will gain a stronger voice.

If they murder Obama, it will be publicized like omfg. Then people will stop viewing these dangerous ideas as things of the past, and start taking them seriously as something that unfortunately has a presence in the world. Assassinating a young and beloved politician of hope will only make him a martyred saint and a stock example of racism in the 21st century, giving anti-racism activists more material to work with. And that’s probably not what a couple of white supremacists want.

But I guess these drug addicts are just kids, living in the clouds without any real agenda – which is a relatively comforting thought. They may have a distorted view of the world, but are thankfully stupid – which means they will never be able to give power to their distorted view. I do not find them particularly dangerous – not because I am certain that they are incapable of murdering Obama but because they do not even know how to use their hate properly. They are hateful, but powerless. They haven’t got a clue.

Racism, like sexism or homophobia, is an art. It needs to be subtle, hidden (sometimes even from oneself) and moderate. It has to feign fairness. It has to use the epithet “Statistics show that…” consistently. It has to be perfectly polite. It has to be quiet and agreeable. Racism has undergone a revolution (after WWII? only recently?) and now the trend is to be as silent as possible – or at least sugarcoat it until it is unrecognizable.

In comparison to competent artists of racism, these raving meth users are harmless. No one will ever listen to them. No one will ever want to be associated with them. They will just be considered “knuckleheads” and “whack jobs”.

Although they’re probably just a bunch of kids high and rambling about scary and serious things they know nothing about (and there’s no evidence that they are a real threat, an article says) things like this make me kind of nervous. They should tighten the security around Obama and keep the guy safe.