I can assure you that you are in no way superior to anyone else

I have no qualms whatsoever about my feeling of superiority over violent criminals. No guilt, no shame, nothing. My conscience is remarkably clean on that score.

If, for whatever reason, you consider yourself to be well-suited to the company of criminals, then I’m happy for you.

I’ll be quite happy up here, not losing a second of sleep over considering myself to be a cut above criminals and thugs.

Sleep tight!

I know taking that position was a tough move — I’m sure the SPLC’s opponents will mutter angrily about “censorship,” and think that their First Amendment rights are being somehow taken away.

Actually, they’re not…this is SPLC’s blog, not Stormfront or VNN, and SPLC and SPLC alone decides who gets freedom of speech here. The First Amendment applies to government censorship, something that nutters either do not know or will not admit to, preferring to paint themselves a martyrs.

You can be assured that this commenter, at least, will do his best to comply with the standards of this blog, as a supporter of SPLC and its works, and more importantly, as a decent and honorable human being, who has empathy and compassion for others.

Ezra_Mead said,
on October 10th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
“… we all agree that Hal Turner was an FBI operative, correct? If that is true, he does not represent any true white nationalist. It was a put-on. An act. A lie. A very stupid one at that. A show, orchestrated by the FBI. Similar to ABSCAM during the 1970’s. Just a front. Does not that make you question if many of the other white nationalist organizations are also FBI fronts? e. g. NSM, National Alliance, Aryan Brotherhood, World Church of the Creator… basically any wacky group of nut cases. I believe that most Nazi/KKK organizations are actually organized by the FBI. They’re fake organizations.”

And also:

Eugene said,
on March 1st, 2013 at 5:41 pm
“The ‘United Klans of America’ is an FBI front organization. It’s fake. Bradley Jenkins works for the FBI, just like Hal Turner. He’s a stooge. Truth is, there is no ‘KKK’ in America. It hasn’t existed since the 1920’s. Every KKK group in America is a fake operation set up by the FBI.”

And what does it say about “AG” that he or she endorsed Emma’s prefabricated comment?

As one who operates a blog with a decidedly snarky tone, I know how difficult it can be to avoid taking sharp commentary over the line. I’m not always successful at staying behind the line but the tone that seemed to have morphed in comments here had made it difficult to wade through at times, what with some commenters seeming to be in a contest to outdo each other with piling on the jabs.

Moderation is no picnic either. I’ve had to not approve comments that are critical of people that I don’t think much of myself but the hatefulness expressed is so over the top sometimes that I’m even surprised to hear it coming from people that I would normally be in agreement with. Good luck with that.

T.

Thank you very much for this consideration. It was growing to be a real headache to have every thread derailed by certain individuals. It will be nice to be able to finally comment on the stories themselves without having to fight through a constant barrage of trolls, hate-speech spewing individuals, and misguided racists.

I know they will accuse you and the community of censorship, but frankly, I think it is the only way to be able to keep things civil and respectful. After all, the other side most certainly would not afford us the same freedom of speech if they had their way.

As a lot of you know, we’ve developed a problem with the antagonistic nature of the comment threads on Hatewatch. As a result, and after talking to some of you, we’ve decided to try and restore some civility and sense of community.

From now on, we’re just not going to publish comments that include name-calling of any kind, no matter whose side of a particular issue you’re on. We’re not going to publish guttural expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, gay-bashing, misogyny and so on. We will publish white nationalist arguments, but only if they’re presented civilly and calmly, like the fellow from Stormfront who recently made an effort to politely argue with other commenters here. We will not publish bogus claims about certain groups’ alleged inferiority, and we won’t publish links to racist sites or sites that contain misleading or false statistics. Finally, we plan to stop publishing comments from a few posters who have become a real problem on our threads.

This is not an attempt to censor people’s thinking, but it is an effort to make Hatewatch more of a community of people discussing important issues. We don’t want it to degenerate yet another Internet shouting match.

Thanks for your understanding. We appreciate your contributions to the blog very much.

Mark Potok

It wouldn’t surprise anyone to discover that white supremicists claim adherence to moral principles that they don’t actually follow. The notion that drug sales don’t provide money to white power gangs is beyond laughable, as is the notion that their members are not morally deficient.

I searched the linked news items, along with Altemeyer’s pdf that was so graciously offered as a point of reference in this matter, for any quote or other evidence suggesting that these four men (or the victim) made any claims to being a member of a “Master Race,” or some such variant. Nary a clue to be found.

I’ve scoured the internet in search of any evidence to suggest they were involved in the manufacture or trafficking of methamphetamine. Zilch. If you have any, please share.

I overlooked the rather juvenile comments concerning “Mustard” and instead looked towards discovering any justification for designating the individuals listed in the OP as “POS.” Innocent until proven guilty, I’ve always heard. Right?

As I said; initially. Since that time I’ve come to understand two simple facts.

1. Emma Reynardo got it right.
2. I am the clueless one here, for failing to understand how any of these comments can be considered valuable, at least from the perspective of the SPLC.

I see many here who lay an ostensible claim to superiority, but I can assure you that you are in no way superior to anyone else, including John Corey Lanier, Todd E. Dalton, David Gordon Jenkins and Coty Keith Holmes.

Now, please; continue hacking away at your new scare crow.

“I have never said authoritarians are pathological.” ~ Bob Altemeyer

Read it.

Especially you, AG and Clueless Emma

“Officials announced Tuesday that four Coffee County men targeted 26-year-old Corey Matthews due to his affiliation with a white supremacist organization, Aryan Nations.” via newschannel5.com

“We listed in 2013 four different types of Aryan Nations groups, none of which are in Tennessee,” said Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center ~ via timesfreepress.com

“Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Aryan Nations groups tracked by the center do not list any of the suspects or Matthews as members.” also via via timesfreepress.com

@adamhill: “most white supremacist groups are “overtly anti-drug,” said Heidi. So…let’s try to get a handle on the stereotyping. K?

I am a Human Rights activist for decades, I’ve been to many war zones where I saw the genocide and what religious hatred brings, but these uneducated fools are in the dark ages, and this is America!! and we still have these problems but not even close to what occurs down there, we have a much stronger tolerance and respect for each other in NYC and the Northeast in general, it’s time for these warped individuals to get some education, it’s very sad.

Really the bigots I’ve come across just appear not to have lives and are angry very displaced individuals who only appear to hang out with other losers like themselves.

Interesting link with the Chattanooga\Dayton area though. Those of you who have read Mencken should see the reason for it though. Man has not evolved an inch from the primordial slime that spawned him.