Open Thread: The “militia” takeover of a federal building in Oregon

The Federal Government is probably cautious about open confrontations with these people because of what happened at Waco. These people likely would use violence if the government sent military in.

“Oregon militia standoff: Y’all Qaeda declares YeeHawd by storming federal wildlife refuge.” The taiwanese take on it is pretty awesome!

Someone on Twitter pointed out that “Vanilla ISIS,” “Y’all Quaeda,” “yeehawd,” “cowliphate,” etc are all comparing white people behaving badly to brown people, which implies that terrorism is a thing brown people do and white terrorists are just copying them, and glosses over how white terrorism is a homegrown American thing.

So I’ll stop using those terms, even though they’re really funny.

“Tearrorists.”

Or I take that back. I hope he gets the maximum sentence.

Someone on Twitter pointed out that “Vanilla ISIS,” “Y’all Quaeda,” “yeehawd,” “cowliphate,” etc are all comparing white people behaving badly to brown people, which implies that terrorism is a thing brown people do and white terrorists are just copying them, and glosses over how white terrorism is a homegrown American thing.

That point of view rests on a presumption that terrorist groups, for instance ISIS and al Qaeda, are equivalent to Middle Easterners, and accepting it as valid reinforces the notion that ME’s = terrorists. It reserves the most known terms for terrorism for brown people and exempts white people from even a comparison to them. There’s nothing race-sensitive about that.

I fully support any decision to not use them, but I wouldn’t not use them for that specific reason, because that reason is kind of racist.

Let’s not forget that white people HAVE already joined Middle-Eastern terror groups, so even “Islamist” terrorism is hardly a brown-people-only thing. In fact, recent converts to Islam are more likely than those born and raised Muslim to do so, because they feel a need to prove that they are Muslim-er than thou, I guess.

I’m going to go on using the funny terms, because it points up the racist hypocrisy of the media in glossing over how right-wing home-grown bozos are a bigger terror risk than the groups we’re constantly being told to fear (and shouldn’t).

Meanwhile, and germane to the subject, there IS a religious element to all this, and it’s Mormon:

“There is this persecution complex that Mormons have and have had for a long time,” Steve Evans, editor of the popular Mormon blog By Common Consent, told BuzzFeed News Sunday.

But the story of Mormonism’s relationship with authority is more complicated than a simple one about conflict and persecution. Evans — who counts himself among the many in the church who disapprove of Bundy’s actions — pointed out that Mormons see the U.S. government and constitution as divinely appointed, so when complaints about authority arise, they are viewed as the government straying from its purpose.

“You see two sort of counter currents going through Mormon history,” Evans said. “You see this major theme of ‘this country is here because God wants us to be here.’ And you see ‘we’re an oppressed minority, the government doesn’t always do what’s right.’”

Read the whole thing, it lays it out pretty well.

Also, there is (surprise surprise) a strong element of white supremacism/separatism in there. As well as land-grabbing greed on the part of the so-called “militia” (who, as is usual for those types, do not know what that word really means. It does not mean what they think it means.) Bakunin (the commenter) nailed it above when pointing out that these guys are NOT anarchists. They are would-be oligarchs, most likely. The kind who think nothing should be public, and everything should belong to them; that they are a higher law unto themselves, and that the democratic will of the people (to whom that public building and bird sanctuary belong) means nothing.

And judging by other things I’ve read, the people they came out there purporting to fight for are bloody incompetent ranchers, burning off federal land that they had no right to, when they knew, or should have known, that forest fires were especially bad that year. Hence the arson charges. Their increased sentences were not “overreach” on the part of zealous feds, but rather an overturning of a lower judge’s incorrect (too short) sentence for arson on federal lands. They have since surrendered to the authorities, leaving the Bundy-led “militia” hanging high and dry, with no public support — the locals in Oregon all want them the hell out of their state, and who can blame them?

As for the Bundys, they’re deadbeats who think federally-administered lands should belong to them, and that they should not pay leasing fees for grazing their own cattle on them. They apparently think that the land should be finders-keepers, losers-weepers, and that it should belong to them because they grazed some cows on it. Sovereign Citizen idiots, in a nutshell. Hence the idea that they constitute some kind of law unto themselves — and again, proof that they don’t know what words mean. Just as al-Q and other “Islamic” terror groups don’t understand that “jihad” actually means not waging holy war on the ground against “infidels”, but within oneself, and against sinful impulses such as greed, avarice, cruelty, and general stupidity.

Tangential to this:
Does anyone know which tribe that land belonged to prior to the American arrival, and how recently said tribe lost it?

Thanks WWTH. A little cursory googling about the Northern Paiute history gives the dates 1878-1879. If anyone knows anything more in-depth, I’d be very grateful.

> Guy
Thank you for this detailled explanation, clearer than the articles we have here !
The plot of arsoning your own goods is alas not new. We have some case here too, especially in Corsica (that, and phantom goats…). Good thing they have been caught, because it is pretty dangerous for the neighborhood.
Ok, i think i see the points of the case. There are also farmer protests in France. Well, it is generally oil station blocades, or tons of rotten vegetable spilling in front of administration buildings. They may have their farm tools with them, but hardly show them because the police response may be really harsh if they dare. Same thing with hunting rifle, possibly even harsher (?).
This is happening in Oregon. If this had happened in a different state, do you think the response of the authority would have been different ?

> Kupo
Ha ha, yeah, i guess you are right. We have our lot of “bridge / forest of the hanged”, “cooking pot of the devil” (sorry, rough translation) and other ill-named places.
About “Teton”, well, yes, i suppose it could be shocking in your country. As it is also a word used (here) for the part of some metallic pieces and small mountain pics, it is less shocking here 🙂

All in all, i hope this is not going to degenerate.

@ Paradoxy

while stores who could easily afford to replace their stock (and were most likely well insured) were shut down and the citizens of the city couldn’t get basic necessities for living.

Something doesn’t quite sit right for me with the “It’s ok because the victims are insured argument”. Ignoring the fact that many policies specifically exclude losses from ‘riot’ there’s the owners and staff to think about. Staff workers caught up in the London riots reported how terrifying it was.

Are you saying that they should be forced to keep stores open during such an experience?

(And then, of course, there’s Hell, Michigan)