Friday, October 17, 2008

BAIT & SWITCH

TO THE SEARCH WARRANT

TO LATEST BANKRUPTCY FILINGS


Strange things happen in cyber space – especially in the realm of organized and not so organized hate groups. While experts quip about how the internet has provided a new resource for recruitment into such groups and for the proliferation of messages of hate, it has also become a source of their own destruction.

Unpopular views and those who hold them consistently seek validation and reassurance through association and acceptance. Relationships built on need for self-confirmation are tenuous at best and among the hate-filled white supremacists, meaningful relationships are rarely long-lasting.

Consequently, the internet has become the arena in which they beat each other up, publicly denounce rival groups, and basically air their dirty laundry. After-all, why engage in street fighting when you can exact much more pain through the keyboard?

Of course, as an anti-racist, I’m not complaining – merely observing and often reaping the rewards.

With the deaths of Richard Butler and William Luther Pierce the demise of the White Nationalist Movement began. Soon thereafter came the incarceration of Matthew Hale of the World Church of the Creator and the Satan’s Gate revelations of the National Socialist Movement, effectively curtailing the growth and activities of two more rather virulent groups of the same genre.

What has been left is Don Black’s Stormfront potpourri of neutered racists and a rather comical hodgepodge of cretins who frequent the Vanguard News Network Forum.

Up until this spring, the internet was plagued with a couple of rather rancorous racists in the form of Hal Turner and Bill White. Turner produced a white nationalist radio show and threatened Congress, the Jews, immigrants, etc. until he realized that no one was listening and that racists had no loyalties – or money.

Bill White, on the other hand, has been a thorn in everyone’s side for years. A master manipulator of both truth and individuals, it is a truly wondrous thing that he lasted among the supremacists as long as he did. Of course, that doesn’t say much for the mental acuity of the racist crowd, now does it?

Of all of those using the internet to further the racist message, Don Black, Hal Turner, and Bill White have probably been the most notorious with the VNN bunch striving for the same notoriety. However, the one person who has created the most drama and, as such, been the most successful at baiting the racists and pitting them against each other has got to be Bill White.

Now, it’s no secret that White has been a great asset to the anti-racists. We love it when Bill joins or forms a new group because we know that he is getting the goods on everyone who befriends him and will soon make all of that available to us. He has provided us with much amusement and amazement at his ability to maneuver and manipulate the unwary as well as those who know him. His abilities aren’t reserved simply for the unsophisticated or the gullible either as we have witnessed even the most astute reporters fall prey to his ingenuity.

It’s an old game with a new twist. It’s called bait and switch. And while White is masterful at this, every dog definitely has its day.

As was noted earlier, strange things happen in cyber space and game-playing can become very convincing or very confusing. Bill White’s game consists of him joining up with a group of people on the internet, writing and saying all of the things he thinks they want to hear, convincing them that he is extremely intelligent and leadership material, getting publicity, making them feel comfortable, giving them validity in their beliefs, and gathering personal information (just in case).

Once he has gained their confidence, he begins to find fault with the group leaders or other members. He picks away at their failings. He watches carefully for signs that others are starting to agree with him and then he strikes taking his handful of followers and publicly humiliating and outing the others. But it doesn’t stop there.

Allegiances among the racist set are flimsy and short-lived. Once White’s idolaters realize that they have been duped by an egomaniacal jackass they begin to react but, generally speaking, they are little to no match for the agile Mr. White who takes great pleasure in publishing all of their personal information and making up outrageous lies about those who leave.

The truly incredible thing in all of this is White’s ability to often regain entrance into the same group that he left in total disarray – baiting others into his disingenuous web of a self-ingratiating, egoistic brand of hate.

Recently, however, Bill White has been pretty well ostracized by white nationalists. This hasn’t played out well for White whose narcissistic personality demands attention at all costs. Over the last few weeks, it has been obvious to most of us that the stress of this lack of recognition has taken its toll.

In the midst of bankruptcy and personal turmoil, White tried desperately to maintain a web presence and some semblance of “leadership” within the movement. Announcing appearances on little-known radio shows, attempting to create newsworthy situations, and writing articles containing only smatterings of truth, White has been trying to regain some ground in the inner-circles of the movement – all to no avail.

Then things got uglier – a lot uglier. White announced plans to publish a limited edition of a “mini-magazine” with the feature story entitled “Kill This Nigger.” The magazine cover shows a picture of Presidential candidate Barack Obama speaking to a crowd while in the crosshairs.

Next, with the announcement that federal prisoner, Matt Hale, former leader of the World Church of the Creator, was petitioning for a reduced sentence based on perceived improprieties surrounding one of his jurors, White obtained and published all of the personal information on that juror.

Both of these incidents caused a collective gasp among us and a discussion over whether or not Bill had finally crossed the line.

The publishing of this sort of information is not out of the ordinary for White. At the end of the Hale trial, he published what he claimed was the phone number and address of the federal informant who caused Hale’s arrest. Of course, the information was incorrect and caused an innocent family to be put in harms way.

A year ago, White published personal information on Leonard Pitts, an African American, Pulitzer Prize winning author as well as the Reverend Al Sharpton. So, the outrageous is not out of the question when Bill White wants attention.

A couple of weeks ago, White claimed that he was being followed by the FBI and that they had tried to question him. Last week he said that he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. He also claimed that former friend (and general boot-licker), Michael Blevins had turned him into the feds claiming that White had opened bank accounts in Mexico in an effort to hide his money from the bankruptcy courts. All of this has been denied by Blevins.

On October 9th, Hal Turner reported on his blog that Bill White was the subject of a Grand Jury investigation over the publishing of Leonard Pitts’ personal information and his “alleged involvement in something else.” He went on to claim that there were at least two witnesses testifying against White.

White responded with a tirade of accusations claiming that Michael Blevins and Justin Boyer, both former members of his American Nazi Socialist Worker’s Party, were the “rats” and the “snitches.”

On October 10th, White’s website disappeared. He announced that the FBI had raided his facility, seized his servers, and were looking for evidence that he had “conspired to commit violent acts” against the juror in the Matt Hale trial. He went on to say, “I did, however, receive affidavits from individuals Friday indicating federal agents offered them money to commit violent crimes against people profiled on our website in order to implicate us in those crimes.”

Uh…huh.

In a frenzy, White has issued several other statements in the last several hours, claiming that there has been an elaborate (and wholly unbelievable) plot by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to set him up and frame him for conspiring to commit violent acts against others. He has implicated several of the people who left his fold and who have spoken out against him labeling them mentally-ill informants and “snitches.”

How much of the story being told by White is true is anyone’s guess. It’s cyber space and very little of what Bill says can be believed. Certainly, I would like to believe that there might be some sort of justice awaiting White. However, the danger at the moment is that White’s accusations and fabrications may just get someone killed.

For those who have been taken in by Bill White and his games, all that I can say is that you should have known better. As to Bill White…baiting the hook sometimes snags the baiter.

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