False Flags, Sharia Law, and Gun Grabs:
GOP Lawmakers Embrace The Crazy
A few days after the Boston bombings, Stella Tremblay went to Glenn Beck’s Facebook
page to express her conviction that the terror attack was, in fact, orchestrated by the
U.S. government.
“The Boston Marathon was a Black Ops ‘terrorist’ attack,” she wrote. “One suspect killed,
the other one will be too before they even have a chance to speak. Drones and now ‘terrorist’
attacks by our own Government. Sad day, but a ‘wake up’ to all of us.”
She then linked to a video at Infowars.com called Proof! Boston Marathon Bombing is Staged
Terror Attack.
Tremblay’s post, though, stood out from the wave of post-attack crazy because of her day
job: she is a New Hampshire state legislator.
Like too many enthusiastic dupes, the Republican representative was echoing conspiracy
entrepreneurs like Beck and InfoWars’ Alex Jones, who blend dark alternate history with
a dystopian future, offering the listeners the “secret truth.”
This week in Missouri, state legislators voted to cut funding for the state’s divers license
bureau because it had been tasked in 2003 with also overseeing concealed-carry permits.
The wife of state Rep. Kenneth Wilson explained – in the words of the Columbia Tribune –
that the bureau “was part of a plot to impose United Nations policies in this country.
‘I have been doing some study on U.N. Agenda 21,’ Melissa Wilson… told the committee.
‘With this information going to the federal government, I feel that I will be a target. With
Agenda 21, I will be someone who will be put on a watch list.’” She added that Agenda 21
is being pushed through in part because of a mass brainwashing known as the Delphi Technique.
This is shadowy conspiracy theorist stuff, but this theory isn’t just isolated to a few folks
in Missouri. Last November, the conservative head of the Georgia state legislature invited
his conference to a four-hour briefing on Agenda 21. The invitation read: “How pleasant
sounding names are fostering a Socialist plan to change the way we live, eat, learn, and
communicate to 'save the earth.'" The presentation was MC’d by a local Tea Party
activist who is also a 9/11 Truther, and a Birther.
The fact that conspiracy theories are percolating up to local party leaders and even
the halls of Congress should be a warning sign for the GOP. As the faithful know, you
reap what you sow, and the steady diet of hyper-partisan media has seeded these
conspiracy theories in the minds of party activists to the extent that they are starting
to shape policy debates. The embarrassing incidents are evidence of a larger problem
that needs to be confronted: when you do not condemn the use of hate and fear to
serve as a recruiting tool against your political opponents, the ability to reason together
is undermined and self-government is compromised. There is a cost to condoning extremism
when it seems to benefit “your team.” |
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