Showing posts with label Jared Loughner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jared Loughner. Show all posts

Friday, January 14, 2011

Mainstream Conservative Organization Defends American Renaissance

When the media, including "conservative" Fox News, was promoting the claim that Jared Loughner had ties to American Renaissance, the conservative media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media stepped in to refute their claims.

What's interesting about this is the language that AIM used to describe Amren.  Normally conservatives parrot liberals and label such organizations as racist, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and/or anti-Semitic.  Instead, AIM referred to Amren as a "conservative publication" and described it as "on the right side of the political spectrum and is politically incorrect because of its criticism of racial preference and “diversity” programs and immigration policies that weaken the strength of a country."

This is a nice development, but I'm still not holding my breath for the Tea Party movement to come to its senses on racial issues.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Media Smears American Renaissance

Jared Loughner, the man who attacked Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' political event in Tuscon, lacks any coherent political ideology, but that hasn't stopped liberals from tarring him as a right-winger.  Now that the liberal media has exhausted the claims that he was inspired by Sarah Palin or Ron Paul, they are attempting to tie him to American Renaissance (Amren), Jared Taylor's organization dedicated to supporting the insterests of white Americans, limiting immigration, preserving traditional America, and openly discussing issues such as race and crime and intelligence.

This AP "news" story is typical of the media's current smearing of Amren:
Probe examines possible link to anti-gov't group

WASHINGTON (AP) — An official familiar with the Arizona shooting investigation says local authorities are looking at a possible connection between Jared Loughner and an online group known for its anti-government rhetoric.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, says this is one of several motives that local authorities are pursuing in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
So the story is entirely based on the the information provided by one anonymous sourc?  So much for writing stories with multiple reliable sources.  If you go to a journalism school, you're just wasting $40,000 to learn modern-day yellow journalism.
The anti-government organization American Renaissance is connected to the white supremacist New Century Foundation, according to an analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that tracks hate crimes.
I was wrong.  The story isn't just based on one anonymous source.  It's based off of information provided by an anonymous source and a liberal fundraising scam the completely reliable and unbiased SPLC.  No liberal article discussing right-wing organizations is complete without a reference to the SPLC.  The liberal media quotes the SPLC like a Baptist preacher quotes the Bible.

As a libertarian, I have nothing against anti-government organizations, but American Renaissance is not one.  While most of its members are paleocons or iconoclastic libertarians, the organization itself exists to advocate for white Americans.  That does not make it inherently anti-government.

Calling the New Century Foundation "white supremacist" is simply slanderous.  If advocating for white Americans makes an organization racist, then are black advocacy groups such as the NAACP "black supremacists?"  Considering that the people who are affiliated with it tend to acknowledge that East Asians have higher IQs than Europeans, perhaps calling NCF a "yellow supremacist organization" would make more sense.
Members typically espouse anti-Semitic and anti-government views.
This is the problem with journalists.  They think that just by talking to some "sources," they become experts in everything.  Jared Taylor is pretty philo-Semitic.  He welcomes Jews to Amren conferences, even having Jewish speakers in the past.  Amren focuses on race, not Judaism.  The anti-Semite accusation is just more evidence that the anonymous journalist who wrote this AP hit piece failed to do much more research than visiting www.splcenter.org.

And why is anti-government such a pejorative term?  What's wrong about hating the thieves who take a third of your income to give to corporate supplicants, the military-industrial complex, and the lumpen?

Also, note the connotations the "reporter" is invoking.  When people think of organizations "espous[ing] anti-Semitic and anti-government views," they think of guys in Idaho marching around in SA regalia or gun-loving militiamen in the Ozarks.  American Renaissance conferences, however, consist of men in suits listening to academics and writers.
Loughner's online postings include language that is in line with such beliefs.
Loughner was a fan of The Communist Manifesto.  I wonder when the AP will write articles about anonymous sources claiming that he is affiliated with the Communist Party USA?

"News" articles like this are what make me elated whenever I read about the decay and impending end of the Old Media.