A couple of weeks ago we sat here in class and had a heated debate as to what role KKK members play in the world today. To refresh all of our memories I believe that there were those who felt they do in fact still pose a threat in todays day and age and were concerned with all of the resources such as the internet that facilitate their cause. However, there were also those in the class that felt that fearing the KKK, Neo Nazi’s, White Supremacists and other hate groups is something that is unnecessary because all of those groups are completely outdated and any KKK members left over are just old folks meeting afternoons to hang out in the park and probably have never even used the internet. Here is why though the US has come a long way since slavery and lynching we still have what to fear. These two young guys, just about our age, in the year 2008 are Neo Nazis that celebrate Hitler’s birthday, and Klansmen that were in the midst of planning an assassination of Candidate Barack Obama along with a plot to kill 88 other children of a black school. Not to mention they met on the internet.
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The Klan definitely exists; the focus on ultra-racist groups, in my opinion, is used as a scapegoat and takes the attention away from more subtle racism that permeates society. Subtle racism is a lot harder to conquer, I think, than obvious racism. People don’t like to think that they are racist, so it’s hard for them to come to terms with it and readjust their views.
My hometown is pretty nuts–in 1923 it had the largest EVER gathering of KKK members. Over 200,000 people attended. That there are only a few people in the park every year is sign of some sort of progress.
I do agree that subtle racism is extremely detrimental to society and probably even more so than things like this because they have a greater chance of sneaking it’s way into every day life. However, this is simply an example of something that does exist in our day despite its infrequent visits into our lives and onto the news.
Another thing to consider is that in this case they were stopped. The feds were able to trace their plots and stop them dead in their tracks. It makes it easier for us to mock instead of fear. But lets just imagine they didn’t catch them and one morning we wake to find that Barack Obama our New President was shot or that 88 black children were massacred at school. Instead of mocking these guys as we might do now I think that we’d experience serious fear. Had the terrorists of 9/11 been stopped dead in their tracks sept 1st 2001, and their plot to fly two planes into the world trade center killing many innocent Americans remained a plot I think the reactions of the people would be very different today.
I think the essential issue is that the internet is what facilitated these two young men to come together and plot against Obama and innocent young black children.
So now we have two new media sides, if you will: on one hand, because of the internet, it’s easier for the neo-nazis to meet and allow for their extreme ideas to grow, but on the other hand, new technology makes it easier for the government to crack down on these cases. Do these two sides cancel each other out, or should we be worried?