Discussion » Statements » Rosie's Corner » FBI DIrector Christopher Wray said "The greatest domestic terrorist threat is white supremacists". Who are they?

FBI DIrector Christopher Wray said "The greatest domestic terrorist threat is white supremacists". Who are they?

All are hate-based groups
All are racists
All are duck-adoring worshippers

The list grows longer each day as more groups are formed and more join existing groups. They number in the millions now. Will they ever eclipse in size normal Americans? Will they ever be redacted made impotent silent invisible?

Posted - December 2, 2020

Responses


  • 3719
    I don't think they are all in organised groups like, for example, the Ku Klux Klan.

    In the USA and in other countries, such bands do exist and a few even form would-be political parties; but many extremists now are individuals who use the loose associations provided by Internet chat-rooms to exchange ideas and mutual support. Such people do not need offices, officers, paramilitary systems etc.; simply accounts on sleazy web-sites.

    Qanon is essentially a social-media circle. ("social"? Hmmm.)

    I don't know its organisational status but The Proud Boys, founded by a Cuban-American, claims not to be racist whatever other nasty little "-ists" it embraces. Even so, it probably has many followers who are out-and-out racists anyway. 


    Most of the terrorist attacks we've had in the UK in the last couple of decades were by individuals, maybe with a couple of accomplices; but they gained their ideology, support and a lot of their training from extremist web-sites.
      December 4, 2020 4:20 PM MST
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  • 113301
    I hope what you say is true Durdle. Not being organized. I just read something about the Proud Boys no longer "standing by" as duck told them to do. Apparently they took to the streets somewhere to protest duck's loss. I will follow up on it to find out what they did. I have no idea how many "nutjob hate groups" there are in America but I look it up once and was shocked to find there is something like 80 hate groups in California alone! California! A blue state! I don't know if each has a "leader" to guide them or they are all lone actors doing whatever they want to do. Another shocking thing. Since his loss duck has received $207 million for his alleged fight to combat the election fraud. He has received more money after his loss than he received in contributions during his campaign. His own personal cash cow. SIGH. Thank you for your reply! :)
      December 5, 2020 2:12 AM MST
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  • 3719
    I'm afraid such circles or movements not being organised groups is not good. It makes them harder to deal with.

    By "organised" I mean with a definite structure, leaders, etc., like a paramilitary gang or a fringe-political party. They can be tracked down. I do not know  if the Proud Boys are in that category but at least the identity of its originator is publicly known.

    Ones that exist only as social-media circles are nebulous and diffuse, with no definite nucleus beyond their originators. If those use public computers or change their accounts the nearest an investigator can reach with any certainty is the instrument on which the first posts were made. 

    A circle like QANON is a diffuse nebula. It was started by one, possibly a few, individuals not yet identified as far as I know; but is not only un-organised but has no strictly defined dogma beyond its core belief of the world being run by a supra-national paedophile ring - and for many  of its followers, the USA being run by Donald Trump. This means its followers can twist anything to match its ideology, and also that if (or when) its originator is eventually identified he or she can simply deny the ideological "truth" of anything anyone else has posted under the Q symbol. Some call QANON a "cult" but that is not strictly true, because although it has cult-like characteristics including blind adherence to absurd ideas and possibly the cult's rejection of opponents and apostates, it lacks the organised nucleus, central figures and dictated ideology of a cult. 

    So I think the authorities can deal with all those hate-groups only by individual cases, starting by determining the nature of each. They would need know if the group under investigation is an entity organised around and by traceable leaders, or is a diffuse circle of followers of an anonymous blog- or Tweet- writer; or is simply a lone actor who might or might not have a following.

    For UK examples, the Islamicist terror attacks we've suffered in recent years were by "lone wolves" who believe in either conversion to cause or death. They were helped by one or two accomplices,  but were otherwise linked to organised groups like ISIS only as on-line followers of the ideology.

    On the other hand, the British National Party and the English Defence League were hard-line Right-wing nationalists with highly-offensive views; but never to my knowledge used or incited murder as their one and only weapon, they seemed to have had some sort of formal constitutions, and their small-minded leaders were not afraid of publicity for themselves.  (Some of their followers could be vicious thugs if a demonstration turned violent, usually when fighting hard-Left opponents in demonstrations against each other. Each side was as bad as the other, but the violence in such cases is sometimes sparked by people attending just for a fight.) 

    The one thing that bands like the BNP, and in America the KKK, lacked when they started was the Internet. They would have had to be fairly formally organised to be able to communicate with each other and organise events. The rise of "social media" over the WWW has meant movements and lone actors, as well as constituted groups, can develop, become tentacular with anonymous followers in many countries, and be very much harder to pin down.


    I wonder what Trump will do if some of those who donated to his legal fund, start demanding their money back when they realise what is happening or if he finally admits defeat and gives up politics?
      December 5, 2020 3:53 AM MST
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