You Are the Enemy
Update, May 20, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/
A7672-2003May18.html?referrer=emailarticle
"You prosecute what you can prosecute," says a "law-
enforcement" official. He's talking about a midnight
raid on someone's house in search of evidence regarding
-- copyright violation. Specifically, unauthorized use
of the Nike "Swoosh" symbol:
> Armed federal agents slipped silently into
> place around Byron Calvert Cecchini's Leesburg
> home. They pounded on the door, rousing the
> self-described white supremacist from bed. For
> several hours, the agents scoured the house,
> loading his computer, Rolodex and files into a
> Ryder truck.
>
> The FBI began investigating Cecchini because
> of his ties to one of the largest neo-Nazi
> groups in the United States. In an > affidavit
> seeking a warrant for the pre-dawn raid this
> year, an agent wrote that Cecchini had a
> "violent criminal history" and probably owned
> weapons.
>
> Agents found no weapons, but they found
> something they were looking for -- T-shirts
> with a Nike swoosh logo that substitutes the
> word "Nazi" for Nike. Cecchini is facing
> possible charges of trademark violations, said
> law enforcement sources, who spoke on the
> condition that they not be named.
When I was a callow lad some 30 years ago, I remember
the popularity of another T-shirt emblazoned with the
unauthorized modification of another trademark. In that
case a famous Coca-Cola slogan was changed to read:
"Enjoy CoCaine." Its popularity among stoned-out
druggies surely infuriated the buttoned-down suits at
Coca-Cola headquarters -- after all, they're known for
siccing lawyers on people selling miniature soft-drink
machines emblazoned with the Coke trademark for
furnishing dollhouses, model railroad layouts, et
cetera. However, I've never heard of SWAT raids on the
long-haired manufacturers of that notorious shirt, nor,
more recently, the makers of tiny bootleg Coke machines.
The implications of the raid described above are
chilling. Armed -- no doubt heavily armed -- police
agents surround a house, before dawn, before pounding on
the door and rousting an unarmed man -- for copyright
violations.
It's similar to nothing so much as the way the KGB used
to arrest dissidents. The Soviets well knew how to take
advantage of the time when a person is the most
vulnerable --the hours before dawn. His body is at its
alowest ebb, and when the victim is wakened suddenly, he
is groggy and disoriented -- not to mentioned terrified
and humiliated. Of course, our modern-day Dzerzhinskys
and Berias have added their own touches that no doubt
enhance the terror and humiliation, such as the modern
police tactic of shouting abuse at the top of their
lungs, throwing him on the floor, and planting a knee on
his neck while the cuffs are put on him. How satisfying
it must be to know that, even if their victim is found
innocent of all charges, he's had an experience that
will give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
> It is a tactic being used with increasing
> success nationwide as authorities step up
> efforts to curb domestic hate and terror
> groups: prosecute any illegal activity by known
> extremists and, at the same time, work to
> infiltrate potentially dangerous > groups to
> guard against future attacks.
This is an interesting paragraph when read in light of
the previous ones. There is no indication that this guy
Cecchini was planning any kind of "attacks." The writer
of the story just accepts that he's a potential
terrorist because he's an obnoxious white supremacist,
and because he praises the tradition of lynching on his
web site.
Let's step back and take a look at this for a moment.
What the Secret Police are doing is going after so-
called "hate" and "terror" groups, not on evidence that
they have done -- or even are going to do -- anything
illegal. They are busting in doors because of what their
victims SAY. They are "curbing" people who think the
wrong way. And the "tactic" the above paragraph glibly
talks about is using whatever legal pretext they can
find or twist into shape to justify it. Find a charge
-- any charge -- that will stick, even momentarily. So,
even if you can't put the victim in jail, you can,
hopefully, destroy him with the costs of defending
himself in today's "legal" system.
And the News Media, our informal Ministry of Truth,
reports this deliberate contravention of the First
Amendment uncritically, unlike what they did in the time
of my youth, when the Secret Police's COINTELPRO
operations raised a firestorm in the press when
uncovered.
The story doesn't say what Cecchini's "violent criminal
history" is, and perhaps the warrant doesn't either.
For all we know, it may consist of one drunken bar fight.
Elsewhere in the story, another white supremacist is
mentioned as having been prosecuted on a "weapons"
charge. The nature of the charge is not elaborated upon,
leading one to suspect that they found a revolver in his
nightstand or something equally negligible. Today, even
the legal possession of weapons can get you thrown in
jail, as this story shows:
http://www.illinoisleader.com/opinion/opinionview.asp?c=4541
Now, you may be wondering why this incident is filed
under the "You are the enemy" title. After all, you're
thinking, I'm no Nazi. Well, neither am I, and I view
Nazis with the same distaste I regard Commies,
pederasts, neo-Trots, Congressmen, and, come to think
of it, the FBI. But, they're not only going after
Nazis:
> The terrorism task forces are homing in on all
> groups, including militia movements and even
> environmental and animal rights organizations.
In other words, they're "homing in" on any inconvenient
group they can pin the "hate" or "terror" labels on. To
put some perspective on this, note that there have been
no major terrorist incidents carried out by domestic
organizations for a quarter of a century, since the
demise of the Weather Underground and the Symbionese
Liberation Army. Tim McVeigh supposedly acted with one
or two accomplices, but there was no identifiable group
or network involved with his terrorism that has been
revealed to us. The 9/11 incident was caused by a
foreign organization. And the anthrax attack on the U.S.
Capitol was apparently perpetrated by a lone scientist
who worked for a U.S. government biological weapons lab!
So why, all of a sudden, go after domestic groups?
Still not impressed? Then think about this. Recently,
the web filters used by libraries, government, and
business computer networks, and concerned parents to
prevent their charges from viewing pornography and
racism, have begun to block the web site of THE
WANDERER, a traditional Catholic periodical. THE
WANDERER's main agenda is the reform of the Catholic
Church in the United States, which it regards as having
drifted dangerously away from vital traditional
teachings and practices under the leadership of liberal,
irreligious bishops. It is not racist. It most
emphatically does not call for violence in any way,
shape, or form. And yet, it is now, apparently, a "hate"
publication in the eyes of the shadowy figures who make
these determinations.
Possible reasons for THE WANDERER's hate classification
include:
* Being Catholic, it's anti-abortion, which among our
arbiters of correct thinking is morally akin to
advocating child molesting (ironic, that).
* It does not support gay rights, or any other trendy
political cause that goes against Catholic teachings
(e.g., ordination of women to the priesthood and
marriage of priests).
* It runs columns by Joe Sobran, who has been labeled
an "anti-Semite" because he is critical of the
state of Israel and its numerous supporters in
America. (However, as of yet, Sobran's own site has
not been blocked.)
* It's Catholic.
Other than those astoundingly weak reasons, I'm stumped.
How about you? Do you hold views that are regarded as
unacceptable by our betters? Do you advocate ideas or
practices that might make things inconvenient for
certain groups if widely adopted -- however improbable
that eventuality may be? Have you ever modified a
copyrighted logo or slogan? If so, you too may be a
Hater. It may be years before the "task forces" work
their way down to you, but, just to be safe, you might
want to start cleaning up your hard drive, dumping those
copies of THE WANDERER, and getting rid of those
questionable T-shirts and bumper stickers now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David T. Wright's original article "You Are the Enemy"
may be found at:
www.thornwalker.com/ditch/wright_you_enemy.htm.
Updates are posted as events come to Mr. Wright's
attention.
Go to the Archive of Enemy Updates.
Copyright (c) 2003 by the Thornwalker.com
www.thornwalker.com. All rights reserved.