16 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: AUGUST 2017 OPINION/EDITORIAL American Police Beat Chairman & Publisher: Cynthia Brown Chief Executive Officer: Sarah Vallee Editor-in-Chief: Mark Nichols Advertising Sales: Dave Quimby Digital Manager: Jeremy Lange Office Assistant: Brendan O’Brien Designer: Karin Henderson When it comes to homegrown terrorists there’s a growing and disturbing body of evidence suggesting that right-wing extrem- ism is on the rise and that radicalization is increasing. When the Department of Homeland Se- curity tried to address the issue, the political backlash was so intense that they put guys like Timothy McVeigh on the back burner and retaliated against any employees that took domestic extremism seriously. “DHS Crushed This Analyst for Warning About Far-Right Terror,” the headline from Wired magazine read in 2012. Speaking of McVeigh, did you know some people think the mass murderer is an Ameri- can hero? Back in May, police in Tampa responded to a double murder involving a self-described neo-Nazi. Brandon Russell, who shared the apartment with the murder suspect, was charged with possession of bomb-making ma- terials and chemicals including ammonium nitrate – the same stuff used by McVeigh to kill innocent children, law enforcement of- ficers, and federal employees. In Russell’s bedroom cops found a framed photograph of Timothy McVeigh. Russell, who’s in custody, hasn’t publicly explained that fascination. That same month in Washington, D.C., police arrested Bryan Moles at the Trump Hotel. He was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and 90 rounds of ammunition. Moles told an informant that he wanted to “get close to Trump” and “wanted to be like Timothy McVeigh.” Before traveling to Washington, investi- gators discovered Moles emptied his bank account, leaving behind a balance of $4.19 which could be a reference to the 4-19 date that McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City Federal Building in 1995. Homicidal maniac and Portland stabber Jeremy Christian praised McVeigh on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing in an April Facebook post. “May all the Gods Bless Timothy McVeigh – a TRUE PATRIOT!!!” Neo-Nazi Andrew ‘Weev’ Auernheimer, who writes for the Nazi web site “Daily Stormer,” said he was starting a crowd-fund- ing effort to raise money to build a “perma- nent monument” honoring McVeigh. “Think of it, a gigantic bronze statue of Timothy McVeigh poised triumphantly atop a Ryder truck, arms raised as if to form an Algiz rune from his body, with a plaque that states the honest truth,” Auernheimer wrote. “Nothing would be a greater insult to these pizza-party guarding federal swine than a permanent monument honoring McVeigh’s journey to Valhalla or Fólkvangr atop the piles of their corpses.” And during the illegal occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon by anti- government figurehead Ammon Bundy and his militia followers, Norm Olson (another long-time militia activist and leader) said the following about his hero: “Once the fuse is lit, it will be hard to extinguish,” Olson said. “There’s a place that we all should think about: Oklahoma City.” Olson said he was ready to tell members of Congress that “Timothy McVeigh DIED FOR YOUR SINS!!!!!!!!!” So what’s motivating these people and why do they idolize someone who killed 168 people including infants and toddlers? The good news is that radicalization and the factors that enable it are universal. But if you want to understand what makes weak people susceptible to fantasies and delusions of grandeur, you’re going to have to ask a psychologist. Tom Pyszczynski is a professor of psycholo- gy at University of Colorado and has studied and written about the psychological makeup of extremists. He says while incredibly dan- gerous, there are only a small number of people that idolize Timothy McVeigh. “The psychological, social, economic and political forces that lead some Americans to idolize McVeigh are the same as those that lead disenfranchised or disillusioned young people in other parts of the world to idolize Osama bin Laden or ISIS,” Pyszczynski said. “They see them as heroes who stand up for people like them.” “While the issues and lives of the people who follow ISIS and those who idolize McVeigh are different, beneath the surface it usually boils down to a feeling that one’s people are disrespected and mistreated, that one’s way of life is under siege from powerful forces, and that the world as they know it has gotten out of control,” Pyszczynski said. “All people crave meaning in life and a sense of personal or group heroism to protect them from their deepest fears,” he added, explain- ing that it ultimately boils down to the “facts of life, involving death and vulnerability.” “These groups typically have heroes who are idolized as standing up to powerful forces and if they die in that fight, they are consid- ered martyrs,” Pyszczynski said. Terror threats at home “I am the Officer” I have been where you fear to be, I have seen what you fear to see, I have done what you fear to do – All these things I have done for you. I am the person you lean upon, The one you cast your scorn upon, The one you bring your troubles to – All these people I’ve been for you. The one you ask to stand apart, The one you feel should have no heart, The one you call “The Officer in Blue,” But I’m just a person, just like you. And through the years I’ve come to see That I am not always what you ask of me, So, take this badge, take this gun Will you take it . . . will anyone? And when you watch a person die And hear a battered baby cry, Then do you think that you can be All these things you ask of me? – Author Unknown