http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/06/12/von_brunn/ To Zeskind, the most recent attacks only represent the latest stage in a long wave of extremist violence dating back to the early 1980s, marked by assassinations, bombings, bank robberies and other crimes that were largely ignored by the mainstream media because they often occurred in distant rural locations. "The reason we're talking about this incident," he said "is because it happened in Washington, D.C., at the Holocaust Museum, instead of somewhere in the backwoods of Montana."
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As in "Blood and Politics," he warns against the comfortable liberal assumptions about the mentality and intelligence behind acts of crude violence. "If you want to understand the threat, don't substitute what you think about these people for what they think about themselves." He notes that like many of the leaders of the white nationalist movement, von Brunn was in no way stupid or unsophisticated. Attributing his behavior to mental illness is a way of ignoring the underlying issues that make such individuals dangerous.
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The greatest future peril may well arise not from the violent fringe but from racialist organizations and ideologues that have avoided violence. "The Council of Conservative Citizens, the successor to the old White Citizens Councils in the South, is the most dangerous even though they're not violent," he says. "A lot of the smart skinhead types are not violent. They're doing subcultural organizing around music and style on the Internet. They are looking for a political vehicle." Many of the most active racialist militants are seeking to infiltrate and influence the "Tea Party" movement that is planning events for July 4 as well as the remnants of the Ron Paul presidential campaign.
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