Does Your Government Think You are an Extremist?

Remember when the state of Missouri published a report a few years ago talking about people who were, for example, Ron Paul supporters, and how they were "extremists".

Then the Department of Homeland Security called tea partiers extremists but the Occupy groups "peaceful activists".  Clearly they didn't know about the sexual assaults, destruction of property, and more that the Occupiers were doing.

Now look at what the Defense Department is using to train our troops about "extremism" in the United States.  Some highlights:

• The document defines extremists as “a person who advocates the use of force or violence; advocates supremacist causes based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or national origin; or otherwise engages to illegally deprive individuals or groups of their civil rights.”

• A statement that “Nowadays, instead of dressing in sheets or publically espousing hate messages, many extremists will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.”

• “[W]hile not all extremist groups are hate groups, all hate groups are extremist groups.”

• Under a section labeled “Extremist Ideologies” the document states, “In U.S. history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements.  The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.”

• In this same section, the document lists the 9/11 attack under a category of “Historical events.”

• “[A]ctive participation…with regard to extremist organizations is incompatible with military service and, is therefore prohibited.” [Emphasis in original]

• The document details the “seven stages of hate” and sixteen “extremists’ traits.”

• The SPLC is listed as a resource for information on hate groups and referenced several times throughout the guide.

• Of the five organizations besides the SPLC listed as resources, one is an SPLC project (Teaching Tolerance) and one considers any politically or socially conservative movement to be a potential hate group (Political Research Associates).

• Other than a mention of 9/11 and the Sudan, there is no discussion of Islamic extremism.