The Unlikeliest Conspiracy-Monger: Colorado Public TV

[Emit]

The Unlikeliest Conspiracy-Monger: Colorado Public TV
Posted in Antigovernment, Conspiracies by Sonia Scherr on March 11, 2010

Law-abiding U.S. citizens who express politically unpopular views are at risk of being rounded up and imprisoned in concentration camps by a tyrannical government.

That’s according to a conspiracy theory that has long been popular within the antigovernment “Patriot” movement. Although recently debunked by Popular Mechanics, Newsweek (which called it “too silly to discuss”), CNN’s “American Morning,” the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report and even (after promoting it on several shows) FOX News host Glenn Beck, the myth that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is creating detention facilities for political dissidents is gaining traction on the far-right fringe.

Now, however, a mainstream media source is providing an uncritical platform for FEMA camp lore: KBDI Colorado Public Television aired the video “Camp FEMA: American Lockdown” twice last weekend and has scheduled another showing for March 13. The 90-minute film opens with newsreel footage of Japanese-Americans being forced into internment camps during World War II and then trots out conspiracy die-hards who suggest that freethinking Americans today may face the same fate. Those featured include syndicated radio host Alex Jones, who frets about one-world government at Infowars.com; longtime Patriot broadcaster John Stadtmiller, who insisted after the Oklahoma City bombing that the U.S. government was behind the mass murder; and James Lane of the Patriot group We Are Change, which does not believe that al-Qaeda perpetrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Not unreasonably, “Camp FEMA” producer Gary Franchi sees the recognition from a major PBS market as a coup for believers in the camps. “I think it definitely lends credence to the issue,” he told Hatewatch. (Though some Patriot movement beliefs have roots in white supremacy — including the FEMA camp story, whose early proponents included the anti-Jewish Posse Comitatus — Franchi said his group is not anti-Semitic, racist or antigovernment.)

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/

[bobthedrummer]

1. We've got a few Libertarian lunatics in my neck of the woods too, Emit. Kick n/t

[Emit]

3. Hey, bobthedrummer, long time no see

:hi:

Actually, we have a lot of Libertarian lunatics here in N NV, too.

I was just looking at the number of Tea 'Baggers and Libertarians in Colorado after I made this post. Seems they have quite a few, with what I read but could not confirm, about a dozen in Colorado Springs alone. And according to several sources I checked: The Libertarian Party was formed in Colorado Springs in the home of David Nolan on December 11, 1971... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Libertarian_Party_(United_States)

Perhaps their local PBS station is bringing what their locals want, catering to their Libertarian and 'Bagger crowds. And let's not forget, Repug Congressman Tom Tancredo, hugely popular with the 'Bagger crowd, is from Colorado.

[jaxx]

2. Well gee, that ought to make the repugs feel more secure

because it's for damned sure none of them are "freethinking Americans"!