The United States of Paranoia (54 page)

18
. Kathleen Tierney, “The Red Pill,” June 11, 2006, understanding katrina.ssrc.org/Tierney.

19
. When a subsequent storm, Sandy, hit New York in 2012, some pranksters deliberately fed the rumor mill by creating a Twitter hashtag called #SANDYLOOTCREW and posting lists and pictures of the goods they had allegedly stolen: a laptop, a TV, a shirt, even a cat. Sometimes they added inflammatory messages, such as “WE NOT STEALIN, WE TAKIN BACK FROM DA WHITE MAN.” Their hoax posts were repeated uncritically by the
Drudge Report
, the
Daily Mail
, and other outlets.

20
. Lee Clarke and Caron Chess, “Elites and Panic: More to Fear Than Fear Itself,”
Social Forces
87, no. 2 (December 2008). Clarke and Chess didn’t coin the term “elite panic”—they quoted a Kathleen Tierney article that used the phrase, and it is possible that other writers deployed it earlier as well. But Clarke and Chess gave the concept a more systematic treatment.

21
. Sara Robinson, “Tragedy at the Holocaust Museum: Stand Up to Terror,” June 11, 2009, blog.ourfuture.org/20090610/tragedy-at-the-holocaust-museum-stand-up-to-terrorism.

22
. Bonnie Erbe, “Round Up Hate-Promoters Now, Before Any More Holocaust Museum Attacks,” June 11, 2009, usnews.com/opinion/blogs/erbe/2009/06/11/round-up-hate-promoters-now-before-any-more-holocaust-museum-attacks.

23
. Paul Krugman, “The Big Hate,”
The New York Times
, June 11, 2009.

24
. Bob Herbert, “A Threat We Can’t Ignore,”
The New York Times
, June 19, 2009.

25
. Frank Rich, “The Obama Haters’ Silent Enablers,”
The New York Times
, June 13, 2009.

26
. “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, April 7, 2009, fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf.

27
. The paper’s own author has had trouble explaining exactly what he meant. In his memoir, Johnson stressed that Homeland Security’s concern was with “violent antigovernment groups and potential terrorists,” adding that in hindsight his “definition of right-wing extremist should have incorporated the aspects of supporting, endorsing, and conducting criminal acts and violence.” But later in the book he related his long struggle with the department’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which tried to add precisely that sort of language to the report before it was released. Rather than recognizing in retrospect that the office had a point, Johnson became defensive. “Extremism should not be limited to those groups or individuals solely involved in criminal, illegal, or violent activity,” his book argued. “Extremism has a much broader definition, because it is the phase that precedes terrorism. Extremism involves ideologies that facilitate individuals and groups toward violence and terrorism.” Daryl Johnson,
Right-Wing Resurgence: How a Domestic Terrorist Threat Is Being Ignored
(Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), 9, 236–37. For a critique of Johnson’s book, see Jesse Walker, “Homeland Security Meets Office Politics,” October 30, 2012, reason.com/archives/2012/10/30/homeland-security-meets-office-politics.

28
. See “Leftwing Extremists Likely to Increase Use of Cyber Attacks over the Coming Decade,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, January 26, 2009, fas.org/irp/eprint/leftwing.pdf.

29
. Michael German, “Soon, We’ll All Be Radicals,” April 16, 2009, aclu.org/blog/national-security-technology-and-liberty/soon-well-all-be-radicals.

30
. Johnson,
Right-Wing Resurgence
, 266.

31
. Allison Kilkenny, “Discussion of Dead Census Worker Highlights Right-Wing Paranoia,” September 24, 2009, huffingtonpost.com/allison-kilkenny/discussion-of-dead-census_b_298534.html.

32
. Rick Ungar, “Send the Body to Glenn Beck,” September 24, 2009, trueslant.com/rickungar/2009/09/24/send-the-body-to-glenn-beck-kentucky-census-worker-hanged-fed-clay-county.

33
. Josh Marshall, “Ideas Have Consequences,” February 18, 2010, talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/02/ideas_have_consequences .php.

34
.
CNN Newsroom
, CNN, August 28, 2009.

35
. For the original assertion, see Ronald Kessler,
In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect
(Crown, 2009), 225.

36
. Author’s interview with Malcolm Wiley, March 30, 2010.

37
. Quoted in Rachel Slajda, “Secret Service Director: Threats Against Obama Not Up,” December 3, 2009, archive.is/Qpp7.

38
. Martin Vaughan, “Threats Against IRS Employees on the Rise, Official Says,”
The Wall Street Journal
, February 21, 2010.

39
. I spoke with the official in April 2010.

40
. Paul Krugman, “Climate of Hate,”
The New York Times
, January 9, 2011. The report he’s referring to is Erika Lovley, “Exclusive: FBI Details Surge in Death Threats Against Lawmakers,” May 25, 2010, politico.com/news/stories/0510/37726.html.

41
. Mark Potok, “Rage on the Right,”
Intelligence Report
, Spring 2010.

42
. “Active ‘Patriot’ Groups in the United States in 2009,”
Intelligence Report
, Spring 2010.

43
. Ibid.

44
. Quoted in Alan Maimon, “Oath Keepers Pledges to Prevent Dictatorship in United States,”
Las Vegas Review-Journal
, October 8, 2009.

45
. Quoted in Jennifer Chambers and Doug Guthrie, “FBI Raids Mich.-Based Militia Group,”
The Detroit News
, March 29, 2010.

46
. David Neiwert, “FBI Busts of Michigan Militias’ Hutaree Sect Once Again Rip the Facade Away from Patriots’ Civil Pose,” March 29, 2010, crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fbi-busts-michigan-militias -hutaree.

47
. Author’s interview with Amy Cooter, March 31, 2010.

48
. Quoted in Mike Wilkinson, “Other Militias Told on Hutaree,”
The Detroit News
, April 17, 2010.

49
. Arie Perliger, “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right,” Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, November 2012, ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ChallengersFromtheSidelines.pdf. All subsequent Perliger quotes come from this paper.

50
. The 1996 campaign was an exception, Perliger hypothesized, because it featured “the least-competitive elections of the last 22 years.” He raised the possibility that “far-right groups and individuals are more inclined to engage in violence in a contentious political climate.” Maybe.

51
. I do not mean to suggest that the militias necessarily opposed the Minutemen’s agenda and vice versa. Many militiamen wanted stronger border controls, and many Minutemen favored reducing government power in areas unrelated to immigration. But even where there was overlap, the emphasis was different.

52
. Daryl Johnson’s company, DT Analytics, includes the birthers among the groups it tracks, listing “Birthers, Truthers, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters” as examples of “anti-government extremists” on “the far right of the political spectrum.” People who adopt such “extremist belief systems” have allowed a “poison” into their minds, the company’s site says; they may be on “the path from extremist sympathizer to extremist activist to terrorist.” “Radicalization and Mobilization,” n.d., dtanalytics.org/help.php.

53
.
The Lou Dobbs Show
, United Stations Radio Networks, July 15, 2009.

54
.
Hardball
, MSNBC, July 23, 2009.

55
. Gene Healy,
The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power
(Cato Institute, 2008), 4.

56
. Gary G. Kreep, “FAX All 50 State Attorneys General to Investigate Obama’s Birthday Fraud,” July 2009, scribd.com/doc/17682329/Why-Can-Obama-Keep-College-Papers-Hidden.

57
. Bob Miller, “Got Birth Certificate?” July 15, 2009, unitedconservatives.blogspot.com/2009/07/got-birth-certificate.html.

58
. “An Open Letter to Barack Obama,” December 1, 2008, wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/misc2008/Obama-USA-TODAY-ad.htm.

59
. Hugh McInnish, “Fire the Silver Bullet!”
The McInnish Newsletter
, May 21, 2009.

60
.
On Point
, National Public Radio, July 27, 2009.

61
. Markos Moulitsas (markos), “Mission Accomplished, Sarah Palin, http://is.gd/knNgl,” tweet, January 8, 2011, 2:19
P.M.
Moulitsas’s link went to a post at the liberal site Firedoglake that reprinted the Palin map under the headline “Sarah Palin’s Hit List.”

62
. Michael Daly, “Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Blood Is on Sarah Palin’s Hands After Putting Cross Hair over District,”
Daily News
, January 9, 2011.

63
. Ed Pilkington, “Jared Lee Loughner: Erratic, Disturbed and Prone to Rightwing Rants,”
The Guardian
, January 9, 2011.

64
. Erad3 [Jared Lee Loughner], “Infinite Source of Currency!?!?” August 7, 2010, abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread591520/pg1.

65
. Will Rahn, “Fellow Commenters at UFO Conspiracy Website Questioned Jared Lee Loughner’s Sanity in Threads,” January 11, 2011, dailycaller.com/2011/01/11/fellow-commenters-at-ufo-conspiracy -website-questioned-jared-lee-loughners-sanity-in-threads.

66
. youtube.com/watch?v=nHoaZaLbqB4.

67
. Mark Potok, “Who Is Jared Lee Loughner?” January 9, 2011, splcenter.org/blog/2011/01/09/who-is-jared-lee-loughner. Potok elaborated: “Miller claims that the government uses grammar to ‘enslave’ Americans and offers up his truly weird ‘Truth-language’ as an antidote. For example, he says that if you add colons and hyphens to your name in a certain way, you are no longer taxable.” Loughner, meanwhile, wrote that the government was performing “mind control on the people by controlling grammar.” QED.

      It could conceivably emerge that Loughner encountered Miller’s ideas at some point. But it’s worth noting some things that Loughner hasn’t done. For one, he hasn’t added any colons or hyphens to his name. Also, he hasn’t declared that he isn’t taxable. Miller’s following, to the extent that he has one, consists of people who think his ideas will let them avoid penalties in court. Yet when Loughner was arraigned, a day after Potok published his speculations, he didn’t invoke a single Millerism. And while Miller believes he has discovered a “correct language” (sorry, “:Correct-Language:”) that everyone should use instead of the “bastardized” English imposed by elites, Loughner’s YouTube channel raised the possibility of creating
new
languages. What exactly he meant by that is anyone’s guess, but it sounds rather different from Miller’s project.

68
. Quoted in Nick Baumann, “Exclusive: Loughner Friend Explains Alleged Gunman’s Grudge Against Giffords,” January 10, 2011, motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/jared-lee-loughner-friend-voicemail-phone-message.

69
.
Harsh Realm
was created by Chris Carter, the man behind
The X-Files
.

70
. My fantasy for how the trilogy should have concluded: After learning that every level of reality is just another matrix, Neo shrugs his shoulders and walks off the film set. A digital camera follows him across the street to a lecture hall, where a professor is denouncing metafiction and declaring postmodernism a literary dead end. Keanu’s cell rings: It’s his agent. We hear them chatting about how much they’re making from
Matrix
merchandise. Then the wall collapses and the cast of
Blazing Saddles
falls into the classroom, throwing pies.

71
. Philip K. Dick, “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” (1978), in
The Shifting Realities of Philip K. Dick: Selected Literary and Philosophical Writings
, ed. Lawrence Sutin (Vintage Books, 1995), 262.

72
. After a series of mystical experiences in the 1970s, Dick began to believe this was happening in his life as well as his stories. In one of the theories he conceived to explain what he had gone through, he suggested that the world we seem to live in is a
Matrix
-like “Black Iron Prison.” (This idea worked its way into one of his last and best novels, the autobiographical
VALIS
.) He also played with the idea of a Benevolent Conspiracy. At one point he told an interviewer that “the Illuminati are doing for Bob Wilson and me what God is doing for everybody else. Running the world very well, and doing a great job of it.” Quoted in Gregg Rickman,
Philip K. Dick: The Last Testament
(Fragments West/Valentine Press, 1985), 42.

73
. wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamie_Kane&diff=528503901&oldid=20854738.

74
. Fraser M, “Jamie Kane Dead,”
Top of the Pops
, April 6, 2005.

75
.
The Beast
had precursors, of course. For an overview of ARGs’ antecedents, see Bryan Alexander,
The New Digital Storytelling: Creating Narratives with New Media
(Praeger, 2011), 153–55.

76
. Jane McGonigal, “ ‘This Is Not a Game’: Immersive Aesthetics and Collective Play,”
Digital Arts & Culture 2003 Conference Proceedings
, May 2003.

77
. Quoted ibid.

78
. Quoted ibid.

79
. Quoted in Cory Doctorow, “BBC: Wikipedia Is Not a Viral Marketing Tool,” August 15, 2005, boingboing.net/2005/08/15/bbc-wikipedia-is-not.html.

80
. Bryan Alexander, “ARG vs Wikipedia vs Blogosphere,” August 16, 2005, infocult.typepad.com/infocult/2005/08/arg_vs_wikipedi.html.