A Right-Wing Terrorist is A "Good American"

This was the first of five papers (I have three of them in this archive) we had to write as part of a media portfolio for Terrorism in Literature. The idea was to find sources in the media that featured stories about, or including references to, terrorism.


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(1st draft)


ENG 290
September 17, 2009
Portfolio 1: A Right-Wing Terrorist is A "Good American"


When Bert Stead stepped up to the microphone at a town hall meeting in Redding, California, he probably didn't think much about what he was going to say and what impact his potentially careless words were going to cause. Yet when he opened his mouth, the words that came out were careless, and carry such impact as to call into question the relative meaning the culture of America for most of the past decade.

"I'm a proud right-wing terrorist," he said. And nearly 200 people attending the meeting cheered.

The California Congressman present, Wally Herger, replied, "Amen, God bless you. There is a real American."

In an examination of the meaning of words, it would be easy to lose focus on "terrorist" in the 15 words spoken by these two men. To keep focus on it, we must overlook the long-ignored meaning of "bless" being "to dowse with blood," or the fact that, at one time, "real Americans" were in fact active terrorists against their ruling government when they set out to form a country independent of the Crown of England. But these days, "real Americans" aren't often equated with "terrorists"—terrorists are the enemy, aren't they? That's what popular culture and almost all spectrums of the media have continually stated since mid-September, 2001. Terrorists are the ones who attacked America. They must be hunted down and killed.

But suddenly the term "terrorist" is being used in a manner that it should be something to be proud of. Patriotic, even.

"A proud right-wing terrorist."

In the mid-1990s, a proud right-wing terrorist and real American, disgruntled at what his country's government had down to its own private citizens in Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas, took matters into his own hands and blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh was a former Army soldier who had been decorated with a Bronze Star for his service and injury in the first Persian Gulf War. This latter fact marks him as a "real American," his philosophical beliefs would place him in the "right-wing" portion of most political cross-sections, and his actions in Oklahoma brand him as a "terrorist."

Is this the standard Bert Stead of Redding, California held himself up to when he declared himself a proud right-wing terrorist? Are McVeigh's actions sanctioned by Rep. Wally Herger when he replied with a beaming smile and a "God bless you"?

Mr. Stead later commented that what he meant to say was that he was a proud right-wing extremist. Not a terrorist. As if that correction alters what we are to infer from his comments.

It also demonstrates just how meaningless the very words terrorist and extremist have become in our eight-plus years of inundating ourselves with these monikers of fear. When words, however frightening and powerful they are meant to be, get used casually and as carelessly as Mr Stead and Rep. Herger have done, they lose not only their potency to be the signifiers they are meant to, but the words themselves become trite and flaccid. They lose their value to inflict their strength upon our vocabulary, our context, our culture, and ultimately, our mental images of what it is to be filled with terror.

Fear is the most powerful human emotion. And it serves an important role in our lives. Without fear, we wouldn't know to avoid certain things; we as a collective people and individuals would never know when it was time to exercise our courage. When the words used to convey the importance of understanding are abused, we have a lot more to fear than fear itself.

Works Cited

Boerger, Paul. "Right wing 'terrorist' says he misspoke."

Mount Shasta News. Mount Shasta Herald,
28 Aug. 2009. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.

Michel, Lou, and Dan Herbeck. American Terrorist:

Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing.
New York: Harper, 2001. Print.

Skordelis, William.

"Since when does a right-wing terrorist
equal a great American?"
Examiner.com. Clarity Digital Group,
30 Aug. 2009. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.

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