by Jamie Freveletti
I just read about the failed “Midwestern Militia” attempt to take out government officials and I was fascinated by the story. ) Reading about such groups gives a writer insight about the twisted minds of humans that can only improve our stories.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/defendants-in-fbi-raids-on-midwest-militia-groups-set-to-appear-in-court-today/1
Here’s a group calling themselves the “Hutaree” that hates organized institutions so much that they wanted to kill those who represent it. According to the FBI, they trained in the rain in combat gear, discussed luring a police officer with a fake 911 call, killing the officer, and then attacking the funeral with weapons of mass destruction. All of this to be sure that the “testimony of Jesus Christ stays alive.”
Huh? Jesus Christ? The guy who ate dinner with the tax collectors and was reviled by the common man for his tolerance of those that did the government’s bidding? The one who protected the prostitute by saying “he who is without sin, cast the first stone?” I can’t imagine a sicker perversion of the actual teachings. Did these guys not get the “we’re going to tolerate others” memo inherent in Jesus’ acts and words?
Guess not.
But for a writer that perversion leads to some excellent stories. Several writers have dealt with the “homegrown militia as terrorist” theme in their crime novels. I loved the majority of them, because the concept of someone in a country as peacefully democratic as this one who decides to attempt a terrorist act leads to all sorts of interesting conflict for a writer. And when that story includes the evil done by our neighbors on our own soil, it gets an additional boost of the fear factor we all love to add to our books. Reading about these individuals also gives us insight into the mind of fanatics for whom life is not sacred and for whom a story of tolerance, caring, and love is twisted in a sick attempt to justify their need to destroy.
I have a list of books I've read with the homegrown militia as a theme, but if you have any favorites, I’d love to hear them –including those written by Outfit members!
6 comments:
Well, since you asked... DOUBLEBACK features a home grown militia group.
It's a minor thread but an important one, since they have access to equipment and materials (they ripped off a nearby Army base... sound familiar?) that are being used to "clean up the immigration problem..."
The issue fascinates me as well... ever since Matthew Hale inspired white supremacist Benjamin Smith's shooting spree in Rogers Park in 1999. (He shot 6 Orthodox Jews and killed two other people before killing himself).
The irony is that he grew up.. not in a Waco type compound or secluded mountain area.. but on the North Shore of Chicago. Around the corner from me, in fact.
And, Jacob Ward grew up in a very nice community. My mother sent me the link to the Sandusky Register this morning. Jacob Ward, one of the men arrested, was from my hometown, Huron, OH. It's a beautiful little community on Lake Erie, population about 8,000. the hometown news said he was arrested in the house he grew up in, so he was from Huron. So, where do these home grown militia come from? Even nice little towns in the midwest. One of the other men arrested was from Sandusky, a town just west of Huron. Like Libby said, these nutcases can be just around the corner from us, and we'd never know.
It always fascinates me that they can call themselves "Christian" and militia in the same phrase. But, I won't get started on my comments about that.
Lucky for us they're stupid. I mean, if you were a homegrown terrorist with plans to create havoc and draw the government into some version of a holy war, would you put your plans on a website?
For that matter, would you even have a website?
Really, it's so stupid, it's their best defense. How could the FBI take them seriously?
Lesa-so scary that Ward was from your hometown! You have to wonder, don't you? Same for LIbby's Matthew Hale-the north shore is the last place I'd expect him to have grown up.
Spanish Inquisitor: I agree-thank god their not the sharpest tools in the shed!
and that should have been "They're"
my high school English teacher would kill me!
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