Posted on 11/07/2002 12:36:28 AM PST by Michael2001
As investigators try to get inside the minds of the suspected snipers, a possible motive that has emerged is anti-American sentiments… sympathy for terrorists… hate.
Target 11 investigator Karen Welles looks at one way criminals of hate could be recruited; it's called cyber hate.
Extremists and racists are creating an electronic community of hate; groups that monitor hate websites say they could propel people to commit crimes.
Don Black says, "If uh white people do it then they're of course called haters and bigots and racists if black people or Jews or Hispanics do it then they're simply promoting their heritage."
Don Black defends Stormfront.org, the website he founded, that's dedicated to the white nationalist movement.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have pointed to Stormfront as influencing defendants in two local high profile murder cases.
Richard Baumhammers is on death row for a killing spree motivated by racism and hate. Ian Bishop, just months before he allegedly bludgeoned to death his own brother with a claw hammer, an anonymous call to his school branded him as a racist who wanted to kill minorities.
Allegheny County first assistant district attorney Ed Borkowski prosecuted Baumhammers.
Borkowski says, "We do believe that it was a profound influence on his behavior."
Borkowski presented evidence from Baumhammers computer to the jury. "It showed motive in the sense of racial animus a person without any prior criminal history had developed a profound and evidently unabiding racial animus towards one or more groups in fact all nonwhite Aryan uh persons or groups of persons."
Black says, "For anyone to suggest that simply because someone comes to our website and they see the truth about what's going on they see the truth about immigration they see the truth about our government's policies which are in many ways anti white they see the truth about so-called affirmative action which is discrimination against uh uh white European Americans and maybe that does make them even angrier."
And on what he calls a political website, you can also learn about assault weapons.
Reverse swastikas, iron crosses… symbols of hate Bishop's defense attorney said he printed off of Stormfront are signs of a troubled teen drawn to the skinhead philosophy.
A transcript of the call entered into evidence said Bishop was a racist terrorist; he wants to be the next Richard Baumhammers; he said he wants to kill people that aren't like him.
The State Human Relations Commission says websites like Stormfront provide the rationale to hate and harm others.
"The words fighting and victory it seems almost like a call not just a political ideology, o what are you trying to tell people there?" Channel 11's Karen Welles asks. Black says, "We want to build a powerful and viable political movement in this country."
White supremacist websites have grown from one in 1995 to more than 400 today in the U.S.; more than 2,000 if you count bulletin boards and chat rooms.
"Other people get to do it, every other race gets to do it, so why shouldn't we? What's so different about white people? How come when we do it we're branded as haters and uh the kind of people who promote violence?" Black says.
These hate websites exist because they're protected by the first amendment, free speech, and they're a draw because those who visit them have a sense of anonymity.
But prosecutors are finding that they can get inside a suspected criminal's head by examining what they surf on the Internet and establish motive.
The Allegheny County D.A. figures in two years, half of all of its cases will have a connection to the computer.
How in the world are they tying the DC sniper to white racists? I know the media was hoping it would be a right wing white guy; but come on, it's over. The sniper was black, he was Muslim, he was a member of the Nation of Islam, the complete opposite of the KKK.
The media has completely stayed away from even mentioning the fact that Muhammed and Malvo are both Muslim (I only know that Malvo is Muslim because of WorldNetDaily). If not for the name "Muhammed" we never would have known that even one of these guys was Muslim.
The entire media has been bad, but this article was by far the worst. You can contact them here:
http://www.pittsburgh.com/partners/wpxi/aboutus/feedback.html
[fill in the blank] websites have grown from one in 1995 to more than 400 today in the U.S
All that proves is that the INTERNET is growing, not that white supremacism online is growing at an alarming rate...
In all reality the only difference in the Nation of Islam and the KKK is the race of their members. Both are racist organizations with overtones of religious bigotry.
The article is disingenuous in that it states that it is trying to get in to the mind of the snipers by looking in to on-line hate but then focuses entirely on the neo-nazi website, while totally ignoring websites devoted to Nation of Islam.
Just another shining example of unbiased reporting.
Actually, not such a far leap as you might expect. To give you a few pointers:
There is scarcely one neonazi site that doesn't currently have at least one islamic link, it is pretty common that they have a lot of them. This started in earnest around the beginning of 2002, but even earlier there were some.
At least one well-known forum with a "white nationalist" focus is actually run by a very militant member of the New Black Panthers.
Earlier this year, the denizens of a forum which some Stormfront members describe as a "more highbrow version" of Stormfront were planning a closer cooperation between their part of the "political spectrum" and Islam.
Islamic militants - some of them of the al fuqra type - are also common members on boards that have neonazi leanings.
These critters are not enemies, they mingle pretty easily these days. To give you the ultimate example: old Robert Byrd of KKK fame has a son in law bearing the name Mohammad.
Yes. It was a very dithering article :)).
Young Miss Welles must be an internet newbie.
White supremacists were among the first to realize the power of internet communication and disemination of ideas and there were a lot more than one of them in 1995.
People should write what they know and not blather on.
Plus the article is classic bait and switch, purporting to tell us about apples through a description of oranges.
BS...
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