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November 17, 2008
Exclusive: Associated Press Pushes New Theme: Threats Against Obama
Since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, the United States has had its share of violence directed against its presidents. Even modern times witnessed presidential-related bloodshed with the JFK and Robert Kennedy assassinations and the failed attempt against Ronald Reagan. Violence against our politicians has been real and our security apparatus must be always vigilant. But one also has to be vigilant against the media stories which contribute to the exaggeration of threats beyond their normal levels.
As our political and cultural life evolves and extremists, nut cases and traditional hate groups are being contained, and even reduced, they are still part of this society. But it would be an error to give them a national legitimacy by circulating stories amplifying their size and capabilities. Unfortunately the respectable Associated Press has begun a campaign to convince Americans that our newly-elected president is under a much higher threat than he actually is, based on evidence suggesting racist extremism is peaking after the election.
In fact, violent racism has always manifested itself in America but the election of Barack Obama has demonstrated that racism at large has receded, if not been fully defeated. The president-elect, nominee of the Democrat Party, the current secretary of state and the previous one from the Republican side, are all African-Americans, and so violent white supremacists are now operating on the margins. Many in the news media and academics kept talking about the "Bradley effect" and the hidden white rejection of an African-American at the ballot box. It simply didn't happen. This shows that the academics of the past are eclipsed by today's realities. The race-tension story is no more.
However, we were surprised to see the Associated Press release yesterday a report by Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington and Jerry Harkavy in Standish, Maine throwing on the table of media consumption a new sensational idea: the so-called “hyper threat” against the President-elect. The AP story flies in the face of America's social reality. Many observers warned of unrest and violence if Obama were elected or not elected. Nothing happened. Americans have evolved – while it seems that some quarters in the intellectual establishment haven't. It also seems that some quarters who fund many international media – like the stories that show America as a violent country, similar to some areas in the Third World – are also stuck in another time.
In general terms, every U.S. President is under threat, but the Associated Press is trying to blame the threat on "white supremacists" by inflating the classical racist hate menace into something much bigger than it is. As one reads the AP report, one realizes that there is an effort actually to create a "dramatic threat" in a way that would spread fear among citizens.
The AP title announces that "Threats Against Obama Are on the Rise." It claims that from "Maine to Idaho, law enforcement officials are seeing more threats against Barack Obama than ever before." The AP story’s claim is this:
The Secret Service would not comment or provide the number of cases they are investigating. But since the Nov. 4 election, law enforcement officials have seen more potentially threatening writings, Internet postings and other activity directed at Obama than has been seen with any past president-elect, said officials aware of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the issue of a president's security is so sensitive.
Even though it admits that the Secret Service did not comment on the number of cases, AP asserts that "writings, Internet postings and other activity" are real evidence of this "rise." The writers of the report go on to show the evidence of the "hyper threats": a sign posted on a tree in Vay, Idaho, with Obama's name and the offer of a "free public hanging." Then in North Carolina, civil rights officials complained of threatening racist graffiti targeting Obama found in a tunnel near the North Carolina State University campus. Following this "evidence", AP cites its own representative in Maine: "From a convenience store, an Associated Press reporter saw a sign inviting customers to join a betting pool on when Obama might fall victim to an assassin."
Interestingly, all the cases cited by AP are within the norm of the fringe abnormal threat type; meaning they have always existed and will continue to exist. AP should have visited chat rooms, YouTube, games online and other internet outlets to see much worse expressions of violence against all U.S. Presidents, including our current sitting president, George W. Bush. The video games targeting Bush for killing are all over the net, and obviously they don't originate from "white supremacists." They have been there for the past seven years.
The scene of a Halloween hanging of Sarah Palin in California was on national TV and the authors weren't even hiding it. Hence, the signs of deranged reactions against politicians are part of the danger zone that we live with in this country. But AP wants us to believe that a "new emerging threat" is on the rise. The underlying message by this news agency is that President-elect Obama is inspiring a political change which is nourishing counter-change violence. And here lies the danger in the AP story: it is predicting violence and pervasive race hatred which doesn't exist sociologically. In short, it is trying to create a new "menace."
In the Third World and within populist ideologies, the manufacture of a mythical danger is a part of the consolidation of a regime. It creates sympathy for the sitting leader and grants him moral power to increase the security apparatus. While we don’t have evidence that the news agency is promoting such activity, we can clearly see a pattern, and perhaps even a strategy, in the way the report presented the threat. From their own assertions, we see that the security sources are cautious and refuse to comment on the allegations of "hyper threats" while the writers insist on finding the menace in a flier posted on a tree or a silly game in some town's 7-11 shop. AP is using extra energy to "build" a case for a lethal thereat against Obama, so that an imaginary enemy is created – other than the standard nut cases whom we have among us anyway. And such an imaginary enemy can be used politically for many purposes: national security rearrangements, foreign policy decisions, war on terror reshaping, and all other wilder fantasies.
While the AP story admits that, in the case of the two skinheads in Tennessee who were charged with plotting to assassinate Obama, "authorities determined the men were not capable of carrying out their plots," the agency's story insists that "chatter among white supremacists on the Internet has increased throughout the campaign and since Election Day." Well you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. Internet chatter among all Americans went ballistic during this election, and obviously among the fringe groups. Not only white supremacists, but also Trotskytes, Marxists, liberals, conservatives, pro-life and pro-choice, and of course the Jihadists. AP selects "white supremacists" only because of the President-elect's ethnicity. It seems to the reader that the "hyper alert" is happening more in the mind of the writers than in reality. Obviously, white supremacists aren't happy with any president including the first half African-American; this is not a new discovery. These neo-Nazis have acted against Americans from all races. Remember the victims in Oklahoma City: they were from all groups.
In conclusion, we warn readers across the country about these types of reports which swing between sensationalism and outright incitement by blowing up beyond recognition a social problem and triggering future violence based on copycat behavior. It is irresponsible reporting which we reject.
The other warning we issue is for Americans not to fall into this populist trap: creating mythical dangers as a prelude to events that will, ultimately, undermine our liberal democracy.
Brought to you by the editors and research staff of FamilySecurityMatters.org.
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