Holocaust museum shooter, right-wing extremist or liberal nutcase?

In case you have been living under a rock, recently a tragedy unfolded in Washington DC at the sight of a massive Holocaust museum where a deranged gunman fatally shot a guard. The story is deeply saddening considering that the shooter was an 88 year old nut job and reminds us that evil comes in many forms and shapes. What is equally interesting about the development is the portrayal of the shooter in the media and from the left in general.

I have collected a few samples from the web that depict the shooter; James von Brunn as a right-wing extremist. Why does this matter to me? I have been called many things; conservative, right-winger, nut job, republican, hardliner, etc. I assure you that I have very little to do with the musings of Mr. Brunn as I will demonstrate later.

Washington Independent -‘Right-Wing’ Rhetoric on Hold After Museum Shooting – “The details of von Brunn’s life and views spilled out across the airwaves and across the Internet, revealing ties to neo-nazi groups, virulent anti-semitism a belief in the racially charged conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa. Notes found in his car and years of chat board and blog comments turned into a quick portrayal of Von Brunn as a right-wing, violent extremist.”

Gawker – The rise of Right-Wing extremism – “..When the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of potential violence by “right-wing extremists,” the right-wingers of the internet were enraged. Then some right-wing extremists started killing people. “

Huffington Post – Death at the Holocaust Museum and the Degradation of the American Dialogue – “In that moment, I felt deeply for my Republican friends who, on some level, must also be experiencing the embarrassment and discontent of recognizing that their party had been hijacked by racists and religious fanatics who derided education and achievement as “elitist.”"

Greg Sargent – Time to revisit criticism of DHS’s report – “MSNBC reports that the suspected gunman is connected to anti-government and white supremacist groups. If that proves correct, perhaps it’ll be time to revisit all that criticism of the DHS report. Right?”

So and so forth. In case you do not feel like reading the links, the theme is quite simple. The left asserts that when DHS issued the report on right-wing extremism, they were correct in doing so. Why? Because the shooter is clearly a right-wing extremist because anyone who hates Jews or is affiliated with Neo-Nazi groups is clearly a right-winger. One individual at the Huffington Post goes even further and suggests that conservative talk-show hosts have blood on their hands, because they add fuel to the fire of hate brewing inside the minds of lunatics like James Brunn.

However what a few of us know and something Jonah Goldberg wrote an entire book about, is that conservative movements are ideologically the opposite of neo-nazi groups. Fundamentally speaking, KKK members and similar trash of society are much closer aligned to liberals than conservatives. If you consider for a moment what they preach from a purely government level and what Nazism represents is more of a socialist, centralized government, federal control approach, just like our modern day liberals. The main difference of course, is that these people are also racial purists and hatemongers which most liberals are not. So naturally the left will be very disappointed in hearing that I have somehow made allegations that their dogma more resembles Nazism, but this is just a dirty little secret that nobody wishes to confront. Instead they prefer to call people on the right Nazis as it tends to stifle conversation and taps into deep rooted ignorance of the American people. Everyone “KNOWS” that obviously Socialists are on the Left and liberals are also on the Left, then the opposite has to be Nazism (the contrived and horribly incorrect assumption) which is the Right and therefore conservatives are Nazis. Makes sense? Not really, not at all.

So who is James Brunn? Based on his own writings.

James Brunn hated the following: Jews, Bush, neo-cons, Cheney.
James Brunn believes the following: 9-11 was an inside job, Jews control the world, Corporations are evil, Illuminati, Socialism, etc

How many conservatives do you know believe this garbage? On the other hand, how many liberals believe 9/11 was obviously a plot orchestrated by Bush? Or in Socialism? See my point?

The second I discovered his position, I knew immediately based on my previous writings, that this is not a conservative nor even a right-winger. In fact these are all patterns exhibited by another group of people.

In a post I wrote criticising Ron Paul and his penchant for conspiracy theories I mentioned how dangerous he has become. Not because he necessarily espouses these views (although he could), but because his followers are some of the craziest and most insane individuals in America, coincidentally half are former liberals. Ron Paul appeals to many conservatives for his deep understanding of the economy and love of small government, something I can certainly stand behind. However he also attracts a legion of lunatics who know nothing about free markets, nor do they care. It is no coincidence that his supporters passionately believe that 9-11 was an inside job or that we are being controlled by the NWO or that the Fed is controlled by a network of rich Jewish bankers.

Here I outline the prototypical conspiracy theorist an article disputed by Ron Paul supporters.
I then did a small piece about Obama the Deception, a movie released by Alex Jones, a person preaching the core of Zeitgeist and other conspiracy ideas. Like clockwork, the legion of Ron Paul supporters come storming in.

So what is my point here?

First of all, the propensity of the left to spin and disparage true right-wing conservatives is appalling and distressing. In fact the realization that James Brunn is ideologically aligned to them will probably be a very shocking realization, assuming there is even a realization.

Second of all, the danger of Ron Paul’s constant anti-Fed bashing, Israel bashing and other complex topics whereby groups of people completely misinterpret the message is real and present. To fully understand the reason behind the Federal Reserves’ failures requires thought, reading, research and delving into Austrian school economics. Most people will NOT do that and instead take the easy approach, that is, Jews control the Fed and must be stopped.

So, was I shocked and surprised when I discovered: James Brunn was a member of Ron Paul for president group (follow link for Brunn’s own writing).

No, sadly, I was not.

Zeitgeist the ultimate in conspiracy theories.

If you have been reading any of my articles then you know my general dislike for conspiracy theories and those that espouse them. Specifically Ron Paul’s supporters and 9-11 Truthers the embodiment of everything wrong with tinfoil hat wearing nutcases. I could care less you think there was a 2nd gunman or the bullet was embued with magical properties, but do not accuse our government of killing almost 3,000 of our citizens.

Conspiracy theories will always be around us, like festering tumors in the heart of society and I have largely come to terms with that. I have written my theory as to why people turn to this dark “science” and stipulate that an absence of religion must be a primary explanation. For those of you who know me, this might sound hypocritical because I am an atheist, but my atheism does not push me into believing that some shadow organization is trying to control the world. I find it amusing that conspiracy nuts destroy the concept of religion and level all sorts of asinine accusations against religious people, but then turn around and insist that some all powerful organization is manipulating the entire world. Hello? It’s not just hypocritical, it is downright imbecilic.

I do not plan to engage in any lengthy diatribe today, but I do want to a share a little story. My family on occasion communicates with people in Russia, friends of ours I suppose, and sometimes it is interesting to hear their perception of what is happening in the world. Especially their constant blaming of America and how we causes all of Russia’s problems. Boo-Hoo! Recently, my dad discovered that Zeitgeist has been translated in Russian and has become EXTREMELY popular over there. Surprised? Nah, after 9-11 a book alleging our government was implicit in the destruction of the twin towers became a best seller in France. Unfortunately with the global recession gaining speed and people becoming angrier and more desperate, movies like Zeitgeist act as gunpowder in an inferno that has already been raging. “Peter Joseph” seems to understand that pretty well I take it.

I largely ignored this movie when it first came out once I discovered the contents. Why would I waste two hours of my precious life watching lies and “facts” that have been debunked? I would rather stab myself with a dull knife. Unfortunately, the popularity of this so-called movie is undeniable and there are legions of followers who consider this sacred piece of cow dung the TRUTH. Ironically these people consider the rest of us sheep, who can only be cured by basking in the soothing light of verity that is Zeitgeist. Yet, we are the sheep?

Ultimately, my dad was asking me a few questions about the movie, he wanted to relay the information back to our Russian friends – considering that this Russian friend of ours has a somewhat open mind about things, a rarity in those lands. Specifically who made the movie and why? At first I wanted to comb through the movie and debunk it, then I realized it would actually require me watching the whole thing. This of course would significantly compromise my eye sight and might cause a brain hemorrhage, so I spent some time looking on the Internet.

Luckily, a brave soul sacrificed himself for our sakes. Edward Winston has a website, called Conspiracy Science and I highly recommend it! He goes through the entire movie, part by part and painstakingly explains everything to the best of his abilities. Unlike the original movie, Edward actually uses sources!

If you have questions about the movie, or just need some ammunition to fight the swaths of Zeitgest zombies then be sure to investigate this fantastic resource.

P.S. Peter Joseph is the creator of this magnificent piece of crap and unfortunately I could not find much about him. The only interesting piece of information comes from Edward, who calculated that Peter most likely is making a killing off this movie. Even though Peter claims this movie is entirely non-profit, he makes a tidy profit on every DVD he sells. This is only relevant as it illustrates that conspiracy theorists engage in deception, ironic considering they accuse everyone else of being liars.

The Obama Deception movie – moonbattery at it’s finest.

Someone on facebook (from a conservative group) sent me a link to the Obama Deception movie, a documentary by Alex Jones. This will be coming out on March 15th and there is a short preview on the website, but no additional information. I watched the preview and frankly, I am a little disturbed. If this is what the conservative/libertarian base is rallying around, then we are stooping lower than Michael Moore, possibly much lower.

While I recognize it is dangerous to judge a movie by a preview, the following signs lead me to believe that this not only comes from a Ron Paul supporter, but one of the crazier Ron Paul supporters a distinction probably not worth making anymore.

- New World Order mentioned, first sign of a conspiracy nut.
- Illuminati and free masonry symbols shown.
- Manchurian candidate and shadow control from up and above.

I gathered this much from just watching a two minute movie clip. I then researched Alex Jones and found his website, called InfoWars which at first glance appears to be an informative anti-Obama website. However there are links and resources to free masonry conspiracy theories, one dollar bill symbolism and it’s meanings,Illuminati architecture and of course the mandatory 9-11 truther videos. See, you can’t have one without the other once you go down the path of one insane conspiracy theory, the rest just naturally follow suit.

While it is upsetting that there appears to be a vocal minority that continues to believe in this garbage, it is even more upsetting to realize that most of the libertarian base is embracing these people and these ideas. I believe it occurs because at first glance our agendas seem to coincide together, opposing this administration, big government, taxation, etc. But at second glance it should become apparent just how divergent our views truly are, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but we should not be giving these people an audience or a platform from which to speak from.

I have written quite a bit on conspiracy theories, Ron Paul and the developing trend into the mental abyss, I urge everyone who continues to nurture these conspiracy theories and concepts to carefully examine your thought process.

Note: For all you people that stil believe this stuff, think the rest of us are “asleep” and are brainwashed by the main stream media, do me at least a tiny favor.

I wrote about zeitgest just a bit before, but the credit goes to the individual who took the time to debunk the movie literally line by line. Before you level accusations and dismiss us as mindless sheep at least attempt to question this piece of gospel. How can it be that so few of us are willing to accept this garbage?

Take off your tinfoil hat, pick up the razor or find God.

The Internet is a beautiful thing, most will argue that it is probably the most substantial technological advancement humanity has experienced since the automobile. The ability to communicate and disseminate information at such rapid rates has made our society more aware, more educated and regrettably more paranoid.

I am talking about the emergence of conspiracy theories that seem to dominate our political landscape now more than ever. I have pondered much on the reasoning behind this rapid development and attribute the Internet as the catalyst. Still, the propensity for a human being to lean towards a conspiracy is still somewhat of a mystery to me and something I would like to explore.

My first stipulation is that human nature since the beginning of time has gravitated towards explanations of events that are of a certain magnitude and significance. Ever since early man discovered the wrath of mother nature and without any scientific explanation was forced to turn to religion as the only meaningful explanation. Imagine a group of neanderthals returning from a difficult hunting trip, when one of them suddenly is struck by lightening. If that does not leave an impression on Ugbuk and Zugzug nothing will. Imagine if they discovered on his charred remains some meat he carved off their kill and was planning to steal it! They might logically attribute his untimely death to punishment.

As of now there are several dominant theories that are swirling about the Internet, we will gloss over three of them. They are in no particular order:

• 9/11 Truthers
• Fed run by international bankers/NWO/Illuminati crowd
• Obama is not a natural born citizen, Manchurian candidate folks.

Continuing with the analogy of our lovable neanderthals, each theory, like I believe ALL theories, start with a traumatizing, larger than life event.

9/11 was of course a shocking moment to all Americans. Not since Pearl Harbor (also riddled with conspiracy theories) has there been such an infraction upon American soil. Unlike Pearl Harbor, most had no idea that we even had enemies let alone what al-Qaeda was. The human mind scrambled to find answers. Focus turned on the US government and a vulnerable president Bush whom many refused to accept as their president. Implicated for wanting to finish his father’s job, the Bush administration was blamed for orchestrating one of the most complex and ingenious events in our nation’s history. This is of course quite ironic, because these very sample people believe our government is inept and cannot do anything right. Go figure.

The Fed has been mired in conspiracy theories ever since it’s creation and the general principle has been around for about 60+ or so years. Concentrating on a more modern trigger, the economic meltdown of 2008 caught many by surprise. The speed at which the American and now global economy unraveled and melted down was a rude awakening to most Americans. Of course this meltdown benefited a shady network of international bankers that orchestrate major meltdowns and laugh mercilessly as they stuff their pockets with profits. This particular theory has it’s roots stemming from Nazi Germany when Hitler believed that the Jews were running all of the world’s finances and were manipulating liquidity in order to engineer wars. Remarkably, this theory is alive and kicking.

Lastly, the impending realization of Obama’s victory gave birth to another conspiracy theory. Largely fueled by research done by Andy Martin and James Corsi, Phil Berg’s lawsuit case challenging Obama’s birth certificate started to catch attention right before the general election. I too got caught in the frenzy and there is a good reason for it. A large group of people could not believe that a man of such dubious past and such few accomplishments could possibly be our next president. This is analogous to a climactic disaster unfolding in front of one’s eyes and many turned to explanations that made sense to them. In fact the only reason I resisted being completely sucked into this feel-good pile of kaka, was an accidental discovery that Phil Berg attempted to sue Bush for orchestrating 9/11!

So what is the deal? Enter Occam’s razor. A simple idea where the explanation of any event/crisis/phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible. Let’s keep it simple, shall we?

Occam’s razor: 9/11 was caused by a group of very wealthy and extremist muslims.

Occam’s razor: The Fed was created by liberals (Wilson), enforced by liberals (FDR) and is a bastard child of centralized government. It is a semi-private entity that attempts and often fails to prevent the business cycle from wreaking havoc upon society.

Occam’s razor: Finally, Obama is an extremely eloquent and charming man who ran at the right time in the right place. Any democrat would have and should have won in 2008 and he did.

But the human mind refuses to follow the path of the razor. Some events are too tragic, too significant and do not neatly fit into what we believe the answer should be. My theory is that many conspiracy theorists are probably of the agnostic variety. I can sympathize for I have left my beliefs at the tender age of 12. Yet there remains a lingering desire to believe in something bigger. Life is a wonder and science has not and might not be able to provide us all the answers we need. Coincidences, destiny and random events can sometimes bewilder even the staunchest of atheists. This is where the mind of an unbeliever is at it’s most vulnerable state. A major event like the aforementioned can put tremendous stress and pressure on a fragile and wounded mind. To complicate matters, the search for answers is often strained by inaccessible information (ie JFK), inconsistent explanations (Fed), answers that defy current understanding (missing airplane parts) or simply a refusal to accept a fact due to it’s simplicty. Without a religious and supernatural safety net, the onus is one the individual to procure the explanation to what ails them and that is sometimes an almost impossible task.

Interestingly enough, there is a wrinkle in my theory that I will acknowledge. One of the most religious areas of the world suffers from the highest affliction of conspiracy theories. This is the Arab world, a largely muslim and deeply religious world. They still believe that everything is hinged on a vast Zionist conspiracy, Jews drink blood and that the USA is driven by imperialist desires to colonize them. Most likely 90% of that logic stems from the ignorance of the general populace and the deliberate anti-semitism injected into them by their despotic governments and biased media sources. Still, it is worthy to acknowledge that no amount of faith prevents the Arabs from contriving the most twisted of explanation for their afflictions.

So take off that hat, stop making it so hard for yourself and if you absolutely must believe in something there are plenty of religions that are eager to newcomers and converts!

Ron Paul, the father of modern day conspiracy theorists?

Ron Paul got up in front of Congress and very simply in about two sentences, stated that Israel created Hamas. (Video below)

The problem of course is that as a politician he created himself some wiggle room in case he is ever confronted, after all he could spin this in a multitude of ways. He could easily say “Israel never stopped Hamas from forming, therefore they helped create them”.

Whatever, not the point. What Ron Paul did however is set off a virtual firestorm among his constituency and much more importantly, among the anti-Israeli crowd as if they need any additional encouragement. Just perusing the YouTube videos alone, will give you an indication of how passionate and emboldened his supporters are upon hearing this. They praise him for being a lone voice of reason, a hero, etc.

The truth is that Ron Paul is either purposely spreading vague misinformation or somehow – I have a hard time believing this – truly believes this garbage. For now we have the effect of people truly believing that Israel not only created Hamas, but are now enjoying the fruits of their labor as this guarantees perpetual war.

Here is the actual truth about Israel creating Hamas. (First my synopsis and then an interview from a Hamas founder)

Hamas formed out of the Muslim Brotherhood something Israel would not touch with a 20 foot pole. Due to their size, Hamas originally concentrated on charitable work to win over the minds and hearts of the Palestinian people.

The PLO was convinced that Israel was helping Hamas in the hope of triggering a civil war. Since Hamas did not engage in terror at first, Israel did not see it as a serious short-term threat, and some Israelis believed that extremists like Hamas would indeed harm and undermine the PLO. They were right.

Israel’s assistance was more passive than active, that is, it did not interfere with Hamas activities or prevent funds from flowing into the organization from abroad. Yet, Jordan and probably Syria and later Iran were very much in the business of funding and helping Hamas grow. Remember, Jordan had it’s own problem with the PLO and it would very much behoove them at the time to create an organization that would cripple and render Arafat useless.

Finally, I have an excerpt from an interview with a founder of Hamas – Khaled Meshaal.

Interviewed by Rainer Rupp
Global Research, December 18, 2006
Global Research, Originally published in German by Junge Welt, Berlin

“R.R. For many years there has been the suggestion in the Western media that Israeli intelligence was instrumental in the creation of Hamas. I suppose you know about this story?

K.M. Unfortunately this tale is told by some Arabs, Palestinian Arabs. It is an attempt to distort the image of our movement. We consider this charge as something so ridiculous, that we don’t even bother to deny it. It is so illogical. How come, that Israel should establish an organisation that will combat Israel, how is that possible?

R.R. The argument is, the Israelis helped to create Hamas in order to divide the Palestinian resistance and weaken the Fatah movement.

K.M. Indeed, during the seventies the main Palestinian force that was combating Israel was the Fatah-movement. Consequently Israel concentrated its fighting against Fatah and the other, smaller groups of Palestinian resistance, which existed in this period. At that time, however, Hamas was not yet properly established. We were only starting to build our social base in Palestinian society, by focusing entirely on social affairs, organizing help, building hospitals and schools, looking after the sick and deprived. In that era we were only involved in peaceful actions. This is why Israel did not do anything against us.Because they did not know at the time, what was going on in our minds. But, while we were focusing outwardly only on social and educational work, at the same time we were secretly already training and preparing for our future resistance projects. Because the Israelis did not see this danger they concentrated their actions against other brigades, not against us. And it is this Israeli inaction against us, which some Palestinian Arab elements unfriendly towards Hamas present as “proof”, that Israel was supporting the creation of Hamas.”

What the Hamas leader does not know, is that not only Arab leaders believe this. (Scroll to about 1:30)

Ron Paul supporters take the good doctor’s words as gospel and immediately begin distributing the information – without actually verifying or confirming any of the facts. This has the horrific impact of infiltrating the minds of Americans with nothing more than vague sniplets of pseudo-facts and intricate theories explaining the unexplainable.

Further still, Ron Paul’s vehement dislike of the Fed has brought out of the woodwork all the NWO/Illuminati/Jews run the World theorists into the spotlight. While I still believe RP dislikes the Fed for the same reason I do – that is, the Fed actually causes more economic harm than the good he was intended for – others, believe there is a darker more sinister reasoning to RP’s repeated Fed bashing. A simple google search on “Who owns the fed” opens a floodgate of “proof” and “evidence” suggesting that a group of powerful international bankers are holding the world hostage. Most of these people, I assure you – are Ron Paul supporters. Of course, as luck would have it – the 9/11 seek the truth crows is generally close behind. This of course should be no surprise, once a conspiracy theorist, always a conspiracy theorist.

Ron Paul is damaging the psyche and the moral fibre of many people. Even though his libertarian views are something I am willing to fight for, the deliberate dissemination of conspiracy evoking rhetoric is making it very difficult for me to support this man. He is supplying the void of the unknown to those seeking answers at whatever cost. Thus, creating a religion for themselves founded on a pile of conspiracies, errors, omissions and distortions. So while on one hand RP has reinvigorated the libertarian movement and united people of all walks and life. Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that Dr. Ron Paul is causing more harm than good to the people behind the libertarian movement. A fight against the oppression of centralized government, individual liberties and freedoms have morphed into something inane and truly perplexing.

Finally, even though Ron Paul has not created any of these theories – many of which have been around for decades – he has inspired a new generation of dangerous zealots hell bent on pushing their truth on anyone willing to listen.

Further reading: Myth about Israel creating Hamas