wfn.org | As Internet grows, so does number of hate sites

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Oct. 2, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{445}

NOTE: This story is the first of a two-part report. (Editors: The report
includes another story, a sidebar and an information box, UMNS #446, #447
and #448.)

A UMNS Feature
By Linda Bloom*

In the world of cyberspace, some groups or individuals that promote
themselves as "Christians" are a far cry from the real thing.

The Anti-Defamation League has labeled the numerous Web sites of the
Christian Identity Movement as part of a "pseudo-theological manifestation
of racism and anti-Semitism on the far right." A site with the innocuous
name "Christian Bible Study," for example, categorizes Jews as the children
of Satan and the image of the "Beast" in Revelations, and implies they
should be killed.

As use of the Internet has grown, so has the number of hateful words and
images that spill across it. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York, which
tracks hate groups, reports having nearly 3,000 hate Web sites on its
database.

"The Internet makes hate crimes all the more dangerous," said Lois Dauway,
an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries. "It provides anonymity and, at the same time, a support base for
individuals who take the information, use it as encouragement and act upon
it. It takes away the need of having to join a group."

Such people are difficult to track, added Dauway, who leads the board's task
force on Ministries in the Midst of Hate and Violence. "One can monitor the
number of hate groups; one cannot monitor the number of individuals who
hate," she explained.

That sobering reality became apparent on the July 4th weekend of 1999, when
Benjamin Nathaniel Smith -- a self-styled white supremacist who later killed
himself during a police chase - embarked on a drive-by shooting rampage
targeting Asians, African-Americans and Jews. His victims included
26-year-old Won-Joon Yoon, shot in front of the Korean United Methodist
Church in Bloomington, Ind., just before Sunday worship.

It has been speculated that Smith drew inspiration from the World Church of
the Creator Web site, a charge its founder has denied. But the Rev. Nancy
Carter, a United Methodist computer consultant, believes that Smith's
actions were both racist and anti-Christian, attitudes promoted by the
Church of the Creator. "There are not a lot of anti-Christian hate groups,
but this is one of them," she said.

Smith is an example of someone affected by leaderless resistance or "lone
wolf" activism. According to a report on "Hacking and Hate" posted by
Hatewatch, "leaderless resistance is an ideology hinging on an individual's
willingness to act alone ... instead of at the behest of a leader." Web
sites can advocate harassment or violence and "create a context where the
individual understands his or her actions as for the 'greater good of the
movement.'

"Leaderless resistance makes the line between free speech and culpability
indistinct so that identification and prosecution of parties involved is
difficult," the Hatewatch report continued. "Many hate sites post
disclaimers and warnings to protect them from liability from lawsuits if
their patrons decide to attack one of the targets mentioned on their Web
sites. It is a strategy used with increasing frequency by online extremist
groups."

Sandra Peters, a board consultant for Ministries in the Midst of Hate and
Violence, pointed out that technology, by itself, is a neutral force, void
of morality. 

"Internet technology is a hugely influential organizing tool which can be
used for good or evil," she said. "One of the more insidious techniques is
the use of enticing games to attract a young person to the site. But to get
there, the child is exposed to a barrage of messages of hate." 

Mark Weitzman, director of the Task Force Against Hate for the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, agreed that some sites use such devices as bright
graphics, coloring-book pages and puzzles to promote their racist agendas.
The danger is that young people "are not necessarily able to critically
evaluate what they're looking at," he explained.

Other sites look respectable on the surface but later reveal themselves. A
site that seems to be tied to Martin Luther King Jr., for example, turns out
to be run by a neo-Nazi group, Weitzman said. Web sites dedicated to denying
the existence of the Holocaust may mimic reputable academic institutions. 

Carter sees a need for educating people about the sites, but at the same
time is cautious about publicizing them.

"We need to be aware of these hate sites," she said, but "we don't want to
assign them more power than they have."
# # #
*Bloom is news director of United Methodist News Service's New York office.

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United Methodist News Service
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