Observer (UK): 'The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer'

[Jackeens]

The unlikely friends of the Holocaust memorial killer

An anti-liberal ideology is being created by groups who would once have been sworn enemies

Nick Cohen
The Observer, Sunday 14 June 2009

In his brutality and his obsessions, James W von Brunn was both a relic of the old far right and a sign of things to come. Before he murdered a security guard at the doors of the Washington Holocaust museum - murdered, that is, at a memorial to a mass murder he denied - he was tied into the old web of international neo-fascism. As might be predicted, he went to meetings of the American Friends of the British National party, where he could share his desire to drive the blacks and the Jews from the "white nations" with what friends he could find.

He did not seem to find many. Eighty-eight years old, living in a condo, with a broken marriage behind him, he even joined Mensa, the habitual rest home for failures with delusions of grandeur. Stephen Tyrone Johns, the security guard, who died for politely opening the door of his car, was in every respect the better man. After the killing, American newspapers decided that von Brunn was a typical white supremacist. David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, had gloated that the first black president was a "visual aid" whose presence in the White House would recruit a new generation of racists and the press quoted civil rights groups who worried understandably about how many would sign up and how violent they would be.

Yet for all his roots in neo-Nazism, von Brunn was also a transitional figure who typified a wider range of forces than I can adequately squeeze into the "far right" label. He was an enthusiastic "truther", who went on the net to deny that the al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington had surprised the conspirators in power who secretly controlled America. He hated Bill O'Reilly of Fox News and neocons as much as the New York Times and Obama. "It doesn't matter that you despise Jews-neocons-Bill O'Reilly," he declared in one of his incoherent internet postings. "You pay the kosher tax - or else you don't eat."

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/14/james-von-brunn-far-right

[baldguy]

1. Riiiight...and Hitler was a liberal, too.

:eyes:

[AspenRose]

2. Ooh that's harsh

"...Mensa, the habitual rest home for failures with delusions of grandeur."


Ouch.

[Jackeens]

3. LOL, I gulped at that too

(But it's probably an accurate description!)

[rasputin1952]

6. As a member of Mensa, I have to agree...

:D

I quit going to meet ups years ago, while the info and guest speakers were of top caliber...most of us never really did what we had planned to...I met more "failures" than I did "successes"...:)

I joined while in the Army, and some of the officers in my unit thought it was a "subversive" group...there are "failures" in all aspects of society...and these "highly educated" officers were often as dumb as a box of hammers...:rofl:

[Cha]

9. Well, I alway thought it was for

the intelligentsia. The brilliant minds, if you will(channeling Jon Stewart):)

[rasputin1952]

11. What I find in Mensa, are some remarkable people that are far more

philosophically minded than others, but this leaves a lot of room for "not" doing things that would actually benefit either the individual or society in any "tangible" ways.

There was a lot talk about how things 'should be", but no one really knew how to "do" anything...:D

I met brilliant physicists, teachers, chemists, etc...but some of the brightest were working at 7-11's or in stockrooms at Target. I was a soldier and considered an "oddity"...:rofl:

In any case...I learned a lot about human interaction, as well as inaction...;)

[Cha]

13. Thanks for that

synopsis of your experience with mensa, rasputin.

[rasputin1952]

14. My experience was, in a nutshell...

"hey look at me, I've got a wonderful brain! damned if I can do much with it though."...:D

[Cha]

15. Nevertheless..

It's gift:)

[rasputin1952]

16. Yes...and upon occasion, some greatness comes from it...

There is a LOT to be said about thinking, something far too few people actually do these days...:hi:

[lunatica]

4. Mensa in spanish means idiot or stupid female. Menso for a male

Just thought I'd contribute that little factoid for no useful reason except extra knowledge.

[hileeopnyn8d]

5. I think this one line

about neocons and Bill O'Reilly is being misinterpreted. The right-wingers are trying to interpret it to mean he hated neocons & O'Reilly, I just don't think you can tell that from that one line.

I've had enough online messageboard battles with freeper-types to know that they're wording is often unclear.

Here is how I interpret his remark:

"It doesn't matter that you despise Jews-neocons-Bill O'Reilly," he declared in one of his incoherent internet postings. "You pay the kosher tax - or else you don't eat."

Changed to:
"It doesn't matter if you despise Jews, neocons, or Bill O'Reilly," he declared in one of his incoherent internet postings. "You pay the kosher tax, or else you don't eat."

I changed that to if, and added commas. So "I" inerpret his comment to mean "It doesn't matter if you're an anti-semitic, neo-nazi, right-wing freeper OR a liberal...."

The bottom line is the right is trying desperately to tie him to the left. I read at least ten times yesterday on a general topic messageboard I frequent, that Nazis and fascists were liberal/progressive ideologies.

How do we stop this propaganda campaign that the GOP and some media are waging?

[Cha]

7. von brunn wrote to bill o'reilly..

"It doesn't matter if you hate Jews..blah tax blah tax"? I don't even like writing that sentence.

What kind of idiot was this guy? He didn't pay his taxes?

[rockymountaindem]

8. I think it stems from the following

There is one conspiracy theory that the stamps certifying that an item is Kosher is actually a tax stamp of some sort issued by the Jewish Conspiracy. The theory goes that if food producers and merchants don't pay for the tax stamp, the Jew-dominated media will lead a boycott of their product and ruin them. How they figure that pork rinds remain on sale, I don't know; but I have read about the so-called "Kosher nostra" scheme before on various anti-Semitic websites.

[Cha]

10. Oh Geeze..

and Obama wasn't born in the USA.

[rasputin1952]

12. I'd rather buy kosher...

kosher products are more than just a "stamp", there are no artificial ingredients or "fillers". Buying kosher in Nebraska is tough though...;)

This idiot, (von Brunn), is nuts, but that does not excuse his behavior; he is a murderer, and for that, if convicted, he should spend the rest of his miserable life behind bars.

Perhaps if he received treatment for his delusions in the past, and it had the desired effect, this tragedy would never have unfolded; but with the level of hatred this jerk had come to, I doubt any "good" outcome was possible.