'Lone wolves' may turn man-eaters in feardriven US
- Source: Global Times
- [23:19 March 10 2010]
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Illustration: Liu Rui
Everything was prepared. Wearing a neat suit, John Patrick Bedell walked toward the main entrance to the Pentagon like any other visitor. When the guard asked him to show ID, he kept silent and took out his pistol and began shooting. In the ensuing gun battle, two policemen were injured and Bedell was shot on the head and left arm, dying a few hours later.
The incident on the evening of March 4 in front of the office of the US Department of Defense immediately attracted the attention of the global media. Who was Bedell? What was his motive? Was he a member of a rightwing organization? Was there any terrorist organization behind him?
Later investigation indicated that 36yearold John Patrick Bedell was a software engineer who lived in California, where he seemed to be a typical member of the middle class. He may have been severely mentally ill, as he had been seeing a therapist for many years.
Although he has not been found to have any connection with rightwing organizations or terrorist organizations, it was confirmed that Bedell hated the government. He had published rants against the government and the army on the Internet.
This time he spent several weeks driving from the West Coast to Washington carrying sufficient ammunition for his shooting.
His attack was premeditated. He adopted extreme methods to express his dissatisfaction with the government.
Americans still have reason to be worried. Although the investigation showed Bedell was not a terrorist, Bedell's hatreds were given strength through the Internet. People like Bedell who are extremely dissatisfied with or fearful of the government or society are often very lonely. They exchange ideas via the Internet and thus a vicious cycle of mental stimulation is formed, which eventually leads them to take revenge on society or government.
An official from the US Department of Homeland Security described Bedell and people like him as "lone wolves." Due to their isolation, it is impossible for the police to find their activities. They are isolated individuals without communication with others. They only exchange ideas on the Internet and nobody else can know about them. Their plans are confined to their own minds and not disclosed even to their intimates.
If Bedell was only an isolated case, we would have no reason to worry. But there are fears that social factors in the US are increasingly pushing these lone wolves into becoming maneaters. This is especially worrying, given the strong gun culture and idealization of righteous violence in US media.
The worries are not groundless. A recent Southern Poverty Law Center report showed that since Obama took office, the number of rightwing organizations in the US has doubled to 512, among which 127 are armed groups.
Not long ago, in Kentucky, a 72yearold man wrote poems on a white supremacist website, claiming to "kill" Obama. He was charged with threatening the president.
Last June, at the Washington Holocaust Museum, an 88yearold white supremacist shot a black guard. Last April, in Pittsburgh, a 23yearold man named Richard Poplawski killed three police officers and injured two. There were two reasons for his action: One was that he was unemployed, and the other was that he was worried the Obama administration would ban on guns.
Although these extreme emotions are far from the mainstream, they show a turbulent society. Mark Potok, an American expert on extreme rightwing violence, believes that the increasing proportion of immigrants in the US, Obama's presidency, the economic crisis, and increased unemployment, are the reasons for the increase in extreme rightwing violence. Americans' fear is increasing and extremism is spreading.
The paranoid tendency in American political culture has long been known, and today, with 24hour news cycles whipping up panic for viewing figures, a vicious cycle of fear might is developing.
American scholar Barry Glasner has described this phenomenon in his book The Culture of Fear (Basic Books, 2000). He believes spreading and overstating fears creates a feeling of expectation among ordinary people, and convinces them, even for isolated and rare phenomena, that they face serious danger.
I have another worry when considering all these fears: When those unemployed Americans, white supremacist Americans and Americans suffering financial difficulties due to the recession see confident Chinese tourists holding fat wallets and shopping in Macy's, how will they react?
The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily. forum@globaltimes.com.cn
