Rage on the Right

The United States is facing a surge in anti-government extremist groups and armed militias driven by deepening hostility on the right to President Barack Obama, anger over the economy and the increasing propagation of conspiracy theories by parts of the mass media such as Fox News.

The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Antigovernment “Patriot” groups – militias and other extremist organisations that see the federal government as their enemy – came roaring back to life over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight.

The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias – the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement – were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009.

The report, “Rage on the Right,” is the cover story in the Spring 2010 issue of the SPLC’s quarterly investigative journal Intelligence Report.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mark Potok describes the trend of antigovernment “Patriot” groups – militias and other extremist organisations that see the federal U.S. government as their enemy – coming to the forefront over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama, which is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of U.S.society.

Perceived media bias in the U.S. is a big issue, with each side claiming that the other has too great a voice.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. explains how the U.S. news media failed the America during the George W. Bush presidency. Many of these issues are still very relevant today.

Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an attorney specialising in environmental law and was co-host of Ring of Fire on the Air America Radio network. He is the son of that late Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of the late John F. Kennedy and late Edward M. Kennedy.

His father Robert F. Kennedy was an American politician, a Democratic Senator from New York, a noted civil rights activist the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy who acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. He was the U.S. Attorney General from 1961 to 1964. Both brothers died at the hands of assassins.

With so many conflicting views expressed by the media, its understandable that the younger generations should seek their news from alternate sources.

One is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. An American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States. A weekly Global Edition of The Daily Show has also been created for overseas markets and airs on foreign networks as well as CNN International.

Describing itself as a fake news program, The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organisations, and often lampoons itself.

The program has grown in popularity since Stewart took over hosting, with organisations such as the Pew Research Center claiming that it has become a primary source of news for many young people

A survey released by the Pew Research Center in 2007, indicates that regular viewers of The Daily Show tend to be more knowledgeable about news than audiences of other news sources.

Approximately 54% of The Daily Show viewers scored in the high knowledge range, when it came to how much the public knows about national and international affairs. The Project for Excellence in Journalism released a content analysis report suggesting that The Daily Show comes close to providing the complete daily news.

Here is an example of how the show mixes comedy with current events whilst illustrating the folly of politics and conservative news reporting.

Thursday March 4, 2010 – The Med Menace

The Rapture is the ultimate Republican emergency backup plan, guaranteed to derail Obama’s health care reform. (07:13)

Since the President Bush era there has been considerable polarisation of political opinion in the United States. Two media personalities which represent the opposing viewpoints are Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly. The left wing Stewart was a guest on the right wing O’Reilly’s Fox News program on February 3, 2010, where there was a good natured media heavyweight bout between the two.