The smear machine grinds on

In my 2009 post, David Irving, the Thought Criminal, I asked, "How is it possible, in these United States, that a group of people, who wish to get together to discuss a historical topic, must relentlessly hide their intention, obfuscate their meeting place, and keep their identities secret, if they don't wish to be hounded like wanted criminals? How is it that citizens who wish to meet peacefully do not have the protection of the law, in order to practice what the law supposedly guarantees, that is, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly?" Well, I'm back again, with the same question, this time, it's raised not for historian David Irving, but in behalf of American Renaissance (Amren).

Professor Irving faced the same impediments as did Amren when its directors organized its 2010 conference, that is, hotel managers were physically threatened for renting meeting space to the group, and hotel staff were generally harassed by a band of self-appointed "anti-fascists." That there are self-elected Enforcers who usurp power over other citizens is not surprising. What is offensive is the failure of government to provide appropriate protections that it is mandated to provide.

There will always be those who claim the right to judge which points of view should be permitted to prevail, and which ones shall be banned from the public square. The operation is pretty much the same: With malice aforethought, the Enforcers mischaracterize those they oppose in the most extreme fashion, and venomously misinterpret their theses or positions. It's critical that the dissenting sinner not be allowed to bring his views directly to the public, and everything is done to prevent the opponent from being given the opportunity to offer any type of clarification – in his own words.

This year, an even more detestable situation presents itself, as Amren attempts to hold its 2011 meeting. A government official, in the form of a black Charlotte (NC) city councilman, has joined the ranks of the Enforcers by lobbying (coercing?) hotels to refuse to book the conference. Here's an official making it clear that he's not about to uphold citizens' free speech as provided in the Constitution. (Does Maryland require its oath-taking officials to conform to federal law? Do they take oaths?) Patrick Cannon's grinning face let's us know that he knows who's boss. Mr. Black Bourgeoisie is so proud of himself.

During the agitation that followed the recent Arizona shootings, when Amren was deliberately mischaracterized by that specious and bizarre memo, which originated not from the cited source, but from another alien government agency, even the leaders of the conventional "anti-hate" groups had to disassociate themselves from the charges of anti-Semitism and racism leveled at Amren. The Anti-Defamation League's Abe Foxman, in one of his rare moments of lucidity, knew to pull the plug on this bit of craziness, admitting that anti-Semitism was not an issue. And, as inconceivable as it was, the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose directors never miss an opportunity to jump on the race bandwagon to exploit their favorite theme of "hate," restrained its rhetoric once it was clear that nothing linked the deranged shooter to motives of racism.

But the mainstream media, eagerly craving to make an ugly story even uglier, and seeking, by whatever means possible, to fill up all that empty time and empty spaces on all those channels and websites, did as they always do, that is, they hung on the SPLC's initial generalizations and delusions about "militias" and "hate groups."

If there's one thing the media understands, it's that the gullible American public will readily buy any fantasies that purport to expose "evil white racists." The public bought the entire package of those who succeeded in smearing Timothy McVeigh as a racist, although his murderous response to a murderous government's actions had nothing to do with racial grievances. But, to fit the spirit of the times, McVeigh's heinous act of retaliation somehow had to be tied to his being a "bigot." Such a connection then made him a truly bad person. Hence, the immediate need to tie the Arizona psychopath to conscious "anti-Semitism/racism."

Because the typical liberal is incapable of comprehending nuance or differences among the individuals, groups and publications on the political right, with which he disagrees, all such ideological enemies are clustered in one common heap. This is one explanation for why so many accepted, without question, the claims in that fraudulent memo, which supposedly came from the Department of Homeland Security and targeted American Renaissance, a publication most of them never heard of. Once they got wind of AmRen's main thematic focus, however, what it describes as "racial-realism," our pundits, reporters and anchors were enthusiastically on the case. Might they be lucky enough to expose a collection of "white supremacists?"

In our weirdly racially over-hyped universe, there is no latitude offered to those who would focus their sights on the subject of race and ethnicity in any other manner than that prescribed by the country's race monitors. Any aspect of the subject must be scrutinized only within the limits currently deemed permissible by a "diversity" obsessed society. Scientists and other researchers who have the temerity to explore such subjects as native ability, intelligence and I.Q., or other particular studies about biological differences between groups, are suppressed, and often denied an institutional affiliation. Some have been blackballed and banished.

This unenlightened, unscholarly approach, that leads to ignorance, is encouraged by liberals, who deem themselves the country's "intellectuals." They run most of the country's academic institutions, yet tremble at the prospect of applying their academic wits to subjects they have made taboo. To this mentality, the very act of investigating the taboo is an act of "hate." Yet, how can there be a subject that cannot be explored, researched, discussed and debated? What are these people afraid of discovering?

Take note that it was the conservative Fox news channel that grabbed and ran with that fictitious memo now totally discredited by the agency from which it supposedly originated. It's not surprising that the Fox reporters spent not one minute on verifying the memo's claims, or giving a courtesy phone call to Amren's director, Jared Taylor. Whites tend to be the first to run for the hills at the slightest chance of either being linked to dissenters on the race issue, or being perceived as not showing the appropriate indignation against "racists." This is especially so in the conservative camp. What, me get in trouble, along with you? So much for unity among "conservatives."

Although the supposedly neutral Politico finally took the time to learn the truth about the memo's sleazy origins, its editors initially took the SPLC's bait and added to the slurs against American Renaissance. Here's how Accuracy in Media reported on the Fox episode:

Those on the left were not cautious, because they wanted to exploit the shootings for political gain. Fox News, perceived as the “conservative” channel, was the perfect vehicle for the smear. This will go down as a case study of how the left used a conservative news source to smear conservatives. They all ended up with egg on their faces because they ran with erroneous information that wasn’t checked out and which only contributed to the confusion and chaos and smeared an innocent group in the process. Ironically, the false report about a “hate” group generated more hate.

Indeed, it did generate more hate and more obstacles to the Amren meeting -- enough to cause a fearful hotel manager to take seriously the current threats from publicity-hungry bands of ragtag "anarchists," the Jewish Defense Organization (always searching for signs of anti-Semitism even when it has to be invented), as well as something called the "Southern Anti-Racism Network," which brags that they don't "rely on the cops to do our work for us." They can now rely on city councilmen to do their work for them.

As of this date, the Amren conference, scheduled to run February 4-6, is in limbo.

UPDATE - Monday, January 31, 2011

American Renaissance's director Jared Taylor issued a press statement today giving further details of the events surrounding the cancellation by the Sheraton Hotel of the Amren conference. Here are excerpts:

Perhaps what the Sheraton actually found out was that Patrick Cannon, Mayor Pro-tem of the city of Charlotte, does not want AR to come to Charlotte. In an e-mail message to a constituent he wrote: “I have all hotels, motels, and gotels [sic] on notice and they seem to be cooperating well still.” The date of this e-mail was January 25, the very day the Sheraton canceled its contract.

We can only imagine that the Sheraton must have come under very heavy pressure to walk away from tens of thousands of dollars in revenues—100 hotel rooms for two nights, a formal banquet, bar and meal tabs—and to subject itself to a five-figure cancellation fee.

We have heard that another city councilman, Warren Turner, has also urged hotels not to do business with us. Both Mr. Turner and Mr. Cannon are black.

Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam has been to Charlotte four or five times since 1990. Minister Farrakhan has said things about Jews and whites of a vileness that has not the slightest parallel in the writings of American Renaissance. On September 12, 2005, he was in Charlotte to tell you the US government deliberately broke the levees in New Orleans so as to flood black neighborhoods. Imagine the outrage if two white city councilmen pressured the hospitality industry to keep Minister Farrakhan out of the city. ...

Shortly after he was named US Attorney General, Eric Holder famously called Americans “a nation of cowards” because we do not talk about race, and urged us to “be honest with each other.” AR is 100 percent honest about race—and look how we are treated. Is it a wonder Americans have become cowards on race? ...

Read entire statement here.