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This article by Stephen Pizzo originally appeared in the Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat on Nov. 13, 1995. I have uploaded it with the permission of Mr. Pizzo. I think the article should be printed by user groups. Parents should be aware of what their kids might come across on the Internet and well as for their on use. Appeared originally in Web Review Magazine -- http://gnn.com/wr/ (c) Songline Studios, 1995 Silicon Alley Cyber Hate By Stephen Pizzo The day Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down by a religious nut, I was in the middle of helping edit a piece entitled Hate On The Net, for Web Review magazine. We'd spent the past few weeks tiptoeing through some of the most despicable web sites you can imagine. But if nothing else it drove home to us that what happened last week in Israel is the direct result of a mind-set that is spreading like a virus. And there is no better microscope through which to view that virus than the Internet. __ Whether it's the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by a crazy white man, or the call for a black separatist state by a black megalomaniac 1995 has been a vintage year for hate. The hate comes in all colors and religious flavors. It would seem that every demographic group in the world now has their very own whacko brigade with an internet homepage. __ For example, a group calling itself "Aryan Crusaders" threaten at their web site that: "We will do whatever is necessary to achieve a White living space and to keep it White. We will not be deterred by the difficulty or temporary unpleasantness involved, because we realize that it is absolutely necessary for our racial survival." "Unpleasantness"? Could that be a euphemism for blowing the brains out of those who oppose them? I suspect so. __ Another group describing itself as "Christian Identity Online" offers an essay aimed at white folk who are attracted to black rap music and culture. These "Christians" call such white people "Wiggers." Cute, huh? I think Jesus would have gotten a real kick out of that play on words. After all you recall when Jesus warned his followers to steer clear of people of color, don't you? If He had it certainly would have come as quite a shock to His largely dark-skinned Semitic audiences. __ African-Americans have their share of fruit-cakes as well. The Black Panther's homepage all but invites black kids to shoot cops at the slightest provocation. And until the Million Man March last month the Nation of Islam's homepage contained two inflamatory essays listing what they demand from white Americans, including cash reparations and a separate black state. Since the successful march those two links just load blank pages. This is almost certainly part of the effort to obscure the racist and radical views of Minister Louis Farrakhan as he tries to attract a broader power base within the black community. __ But the public record can't be as easily erased as Farrakhan's Internet homepage. Farrakhan is on record calling Judaism a "gutter religion," whites "devils" and non-blacks (especially Jews) who do business in black communities "blood suckers." Though asked many times to retract those remarks, he has not. __ And what do you do with "devils" and "bloodsuckers?" The question answers itself. Just as it did in Isreal. Days before Minister Rabin was shot he was vilified at a opposition rightwing Likud Party rally as a Nazi... the worst thing you can call a Jew. But did anyone explicitly suggest that he be shot? There was no need to say it. After all, if he was a Nazi....... well. The point is that words - be they at public rallies or on the Internet -- matter. And once spoken those who hear them should take them seriously. Israelis thought they could shine on their right-wing crazies by indulging them a little and by pretending that in a democracy even certifiable loons have a right to be listened to with respect. Last week they learned that loons don't return the favor. __ The seeds of last week's assassination were germinated in the soil of hate and distrust: racial hatred of Arabs by militant Israeli settlers and distrust of their own government's policies and intentions. __ Those same seeds have been planted and are being cultivated here on the Web. Ruby Ridge, Waco, Vince Foster's suicide, black helicopters, UN Troops taking over the US, AIDS and crack cocaine being spread by the CIA to kill blacks, quotes from the Talmud that "prove" a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world, and sites that offer "evidence" that the Nazi's never really did try to exterminate the Jews. Each site justifies its hate with tortured logic, revisionist history, and outright lies. And just beneath the surface of their rhetoric is the clear threat that unless everyone wises up and adopts their demands blood must flow. __ And so it has. Timothy McVeigh blew up 200 innocent people in Oklahoma, Yigal Amir killed one man a world away in Israel. Just two of the most recent manifestations of this virus. It grows in dark places and thrives on the ability to spread half-truths and lies unchallenged. The only disinfectant is light. Shoving it out of sight or ignoring it is exactly the wrong solution. Instead look it straight in the eye and challenge it head on. __ So, at the end of this piece I offer some places to start. Go there. Read what they have to say because you need to know. It's time that journalists, politicians and citizens step up to the plate and all stop pretending that these screwballs are just part of the democratic debate. They are. But it's time we add that they are also crazy and dangerous. Stephen Pizzo Sr.Editor, National Affairs Web Review Magazine

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