Ideology and "Psychology", was Re: identifying with the enemy

[Michael Pugliese]

Gordon Fitch <gcf at panix.com>
I've studied Gritz with a certain amount of interest because
I knew him slightly in the Army.  At that time, he didn't show
even the slightest evidence of racism at any time when I was
observing him.  However, the U.S. military has a very strong
policy against racism, so he could have been concealing it
(others didn't, however, and the word tended to get around).
Most of the material on the Net connecting Gritz with racism
seems to do it through guilt by association, that is, they
find someone associated with a racist enterprise who can also
be associated with Gritz, and thereby make out Gritz to be a
racist.  The same means could be used to prove Gritz was an
ardent believer in UFOs.  Now, for all I know, he is both a
racist and a believer in UFOs, but the evidence could also
lead one to believe he isn't very sophisticated about politics
and is something of a nut case as well.  (A nut case being
someone whose universe appears to be a different one from the
one I inhabit.)

If you're really concerned, you can write to Gritz, at
bogritz at bogritz.com, or visit his web site (www.bogritz.com)
and find out what he has to say, or not to say, about the
matter.  Don't say I sent you.  I'm probably too complicated
for Bo and other Manicheans.

   Good chapter on Bo in the book by Montana native, David Neiwert, "In
God's Country: The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest, " Washington
State University Press, $13.95 pb, 1999. Neiwert has a real feel for rural,
conservative working class sub-cultures and the alienation many feel there
from, 'er, "rootless cosmopolitians, " (if that phrase can be disconnected
from anti-semitic discourses for th purposes of shorthand here!). Not a dry
book like say the social psychological studies, based on the F-Scale of
Adorno et. al. , of Bob Altmeyer on rightest authoritarianism.

   The evidence as to Gritz'es racist attitudes is mixed (Asian wife, no?
Who wishes he would get out of the movement. She gave him an ultimatum a few
years ago to quit, which led him to an unsuccessful suicide attempt with a
rifle
( http://www.cnn.com/US/9809/21/gritz.01/
http://www.rickross.com/reference/militia5.html ), but I think falls more on
the side of viewing him as racist given his appearences at Congresses of
Aryan Nations, the Pete Peters organized meeting in Estes Park, Co. in '92
of militias in formation addressed by Louis Beam("Leaderless Resistance" see
his website via the Stormfront website), and esp. his candidacy in the
Populist Party of Willis Carto back in '92 for Pres. (Party symbology> Scary
mofo looking Hawk akin to those of the Croatian fascist Ustashe. Back then,
they distributed leaflets in Santa Cruz, Ca. At Bookshop Santa Cruz, I got
the owner Neal Connerty to throw out the leaflets he had not given more than
a glance at before. Say "populist" and some lefties get all warm inside...)
Oh, and the Nazi salute that Bo gave to supporters of Randy Weaver in Idaho
during the standoff at Ruby Ridge. And the help he offered to Christian
Identity bomber, Eric Rudolph when the FBI put out a huge task force to find
him.

  Racism in the US military? What, anarchist Gordon channelling Charles
Moskos? (Low blow!?) Seriously, anyone on the list have details on the race
riots esp. in the US Navy in the early 70's on battle carriers that led to
the commission headed by Elmo Zumwalt, Sr. on racial tensions in the
military.

   Finally y'all can listen to Bo on this internet radio network,
hmm, well I thought he was on GCN here, http://www.gcnlive.com/hosts.htm ,
other hits on google say, WWCR (World Wide Christian Radio out of
Tennessee), anyway, if y'all find him tell me, it's been a few months since
I listened to Bo.
Michael Pugliese