This sounds like a really insensitive premise for a video game, right?
The year is 2014, and a new breed of neo-Islamic terrorism is rampant in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio … The current White House Administration is pro-Muslim and has ordered a stand-down against Islamic groups. The mission: Destroy the terrorist command post — or die trying. The fighters must go in “sterile” — without name tags or other identifying insignia — as a deniable covert force. ” [Time]
Guess what? We’d be lucky if this was just a video game. This is reality. There are people in this country with guns that are really this crazy and “training.” Time Magazine has the full scoop:
This August weekend of grueling mock combat, which left some of the men prostrate and bloody-booted, capped a yearlong training regimen of the Ohio Defense Force, a private militia that claims 300 active members statewide. The fighters shot blanks, the better to learn to maneuver in squads, but they buy live ammunition in bulk. Their training — no game, they stress — expends thousands of rounds a year from a bring-your-own armory of deer rifles, assault weapons and, when the owner turns up, a belt-fed M-60 machine gun. The militia trains for ambushes, sniper missions, close-quarters battle and other infantry staples.
What distinguishes groups like this one from a shooting club or re-enactment society is the prospect of actual bloodshed, which many Ohio Defense Force members see as real. Their unit seal depicts a man with a musket and tricorn hat, over the motto “Today’s Minutemen.” The symbol invites a question, Who are today’s redcoats? On that point, the group takes no official position, but many of those interviewed over two days of recent training in and around the abandoned Roseville State Prison near Zanesville voiced grim suspicions about President Obama and the federal government in general. (See Obama’s troubled first year.)
“I don’t know who the redcoats are,” says Brian Vandersall, 37, who designed the exercise and tried to tamp down talk of politics among the men. “It could be U.N. troops. It could be federal troops. It could be Blackwater, which was used in Katrina. It could be Mexican troops who are crossing the border…”As militias go, the Ohio Defense Force is on the moderate side. [Time]
I urge SM readers to read the whole article. You’ve kind of heard rumors of all this before, but this just lays the crazy out across the table for you to examine.
the stuff i’ve read suggests that this behavior is counter-cyclical to left-liberal parties being in power in the states. if a republican is elected prez in 2012 this will immediately disappear. if not, not. also, the economy probably matters some. it’s probably viable to analogize them with islamic terrorists. but just as i think neocons tend to overestimate the existential threat of islamists to the american republic, i think liberals tend to have the same fear of right-wing reactionaries. the republic is robust, and has gone through several waves of paranoia and terrorism of different stripes. if the time story piques your interest check out a book from the mid-90s, Dragons of God: A Journey Through Far-Right America. the material was collected before the oklahoma city bombing, but after clinton’s election. it’ll be familiar. some day the republic will fall. but i wouldn’t be too stressed out personally that it will happen soon.
p.s. making predictions about the year 2014 reminds me of mark steyn’s dumb book america alone, except they were about muslims.
Glad to know I’ve driven through Zanesville from time to time. Yay, Ohio!
Old news, bhai. That’s why I fully embrace my right to bear arms.
I’ve said it before and will repeat it- brown folks need to take their personal security seriously, even the ladies.. Not to any paranoid level, just keep all your options on the table.
No offense Paul but I don’t think that you being armed with a gun is going to make a darn bit of difference, even if you know how to use it. That kind of misguided macho mentality is how a society gets to this point in the first place. Do you have visions of yourself barricaded in a house shooting out at the crazy hordes?
While I support the right to bear arms(provided you pass checks), I find it odd that these NRA types rarely fight to remove some of the inane TSA regulations like the right to carry a regular contact lens solution bottle. Why should I have to travel size everything when a real terrorist can easily circumvent that restriction? But they will scream and kick anyone in sight if you try to put limits on the kind of arms they can bear legally.
), I find it odd that these NRA types rarely fight to remove some of the inane TSA regulations like the right to carry a regular contact lens solution bottle.
is there arguably a “right to fly” without harassment in the bill of rights? whether you believe there is an individual right to bear arms or not is a matter of debate, but it’s a debate you can have. additionally, the right to carry guns, or not, is a major cultural marker within our society. flying is not, unless you count upper middle and upper classes who fly frequently vs. those who fly perhaps once every few years.
I live in militia country (no, I won’t mention the state), and it is CRAZY. Talking to these people — who are your neighbors, school parents, your kids’ nurse — is like talking to schizos. They look and sound normal, all happy and shit, and then as their words sink in, you feel a warm lap of fear, and you maintain steady eye contact, don’t make sudden moves, and back the fuck out of the room and out of the area.
It is chilling scary as hell.
And these guys are everywhere.
And BS on the cyclical thing. Just because news cycles are cyclical and reactionary do not mean these people are. These guys are in worlds of their own, regardless of who is in power or the economy. Those bunkers are being built, rain or shine.