Holocaust museum shooter, right-wing extremist or liberal nutcase?

In case you have been living under a rock, recently a tragedy unfolded in Washington DC at the sight of a massive Holocaust museum where a deranged gunman fatally shot a guard. The story is deeply saddening considering that the shooter was an 88 year old nut job and reminds us that evil comes in many forms and shapes. What is equally interesting about the development is the portrayal of the shooter in the media and from the left in general.

I have collected a few samples from the web that depict the shooter; James von Brunn as a right-wing extremist. Why does this matter to me? I have been called many things; conservative, right-winger, nut job, republican, hardliner, etc. I assure you that I have very little to do with the musings of Mr. Brunn as I will demonstrate later.

Washington Independent -‘Right-Wing’ Rhetoric on Hold After Museum Shooting - "The details of von Brunn’s life and views spilled out across the airwaves and across the Internet, revealing ties to neo-nazi groups, virulent anti-semitism a belief in the racially charged conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa. Notes found in his car and years of chat board and blog comments turned into a quick portrayal of Von Brunn as a right-wing, violent extremist."

Gawker - The rise of Right-Wing extremism - "..When the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning of potential violence by "right-wing extremists," the right-wingers of the internet were enraged. Then some right-wing extremists started killing people. "

Huffington Post - Death at the Holocaust Museum and the Degradation of the American Dialogue - "In that moment, I felt deeply for my Republican friends who, on some level, must also be experiencing the embarrassment and discontent of recognizing that their party had been hijacked by racists and religious fanatics who derided education and achievement as "elitist.""

Greg Sargent - Time to revisit criticism of DHS's report - "MSNBC reports that the suspected gunman is connected to anti-government and white supremacist groups. If that proves correct, perhaps it’ll be time to revisit all that criticism of the DHS report. Right?"

So and so forth. In case you do not feel like reading the links, the theme is quite simple. The left asserts that when DHS issued the report on right-wing extremism, they were correct in doing so. Why? Because the shooter is clearly a right-wing extremist because anyone who hates Jews or is affiliated with Neo-Nazi groups is clearly a right-winger. One individual at the Huffington Post goes even further and suggests that conservative talk-show hosts have blood on their hands, because they add fuel to the fire of hate brewing inside the minds of lunatics like James Brunn.

However what a few of us know and something Jonah Goldberg wrote an entire book about, is that conservative movements are ideologically the opposite of neo-nazi groups. Fundamentally speaking, KKK members and similar trash of society are much closer aligned to liberals than conservatives. If you consider for a moment what they preach from a purely government level and what Nazism represents is more of a socialist, centralized government, federal control approach, just like our modern day liberals. The main difference of course, is that these people are also racial purists and hatemongers which most liberals are not. So naturally the left will be very disappointed in hearing that I have somehow made allegations that their dogma more resembles Nazism, but this is just a dirty little secret that nobody wishes to confront. Instead they prefer to call people on the right Nazis as it tends to stifle conversation and taps into deep rooted ignorance of the American people. Everyone "KNOWS" that obviously Socialists are on the Left and liberals are also on the Left, then the opposite has to be Nazism (the contrived and horribly incorrect assumption) which is the Right and therefore conservatives are Nazis. Makes sense? Not really, not at all.

So who is James Brunn? Based on his own writings.

James Brunn hated the following: Jews, Bush, neo-cons, Cheney.
James Brunn believes the following: 9-11 was an inside job, Jews control the world, Corporations are evil, Illuminati, Socialism, etc

How many conservatives do you know believe this garbage? On the other hand, how many liberals believe 9/11 was obviously a plot orchestrated by Bush? Or in Socialism? See my point?

The second I discovered his position, I knew immediately based on my previous writings, that this is not a conservative nor even a right-winger. In fact these are all patterns exhibited by another group of people.

In a post I wrote criticising Ron Paul and his penchant for conspiracy theories I mentioned how dangerous he has become. Not because he necessarily espouses these views (although he could), but because his followers are some of the craziest and most insane individuals in America, coincidentally half are former liberals. Ron Paul appeals to many conservatives for his deep understanding of the economy and love of small government, something I can certainly stand behind. However he also attracts a legion of lunatics who know nothing about free markets, nor do they care. It is no coincidence that his supporters passionately believe that 9-11 was an inside job or that we are being controlled by the NWO or that the Fed is controlled by a network of rich Jewish bankers.

Here I outline the prototypical conspiracy theorist an article disputed by Ron Paul supporters.
I then did a small piece about Obama the Deception, a movie released by Alex Jones, a person preaching the core of Zeitgeist and other conspiracy ideas. Like clockwork, the legion of Ron Paul supporters come storming in.

So what is my point here?

First of all, the propensity of the left to spin and disparage true right-wing conservatives is appalling and distressing. In fact the realization that James Brunn is ideologically aligned to them will probably be a very shocking realization, assuming there is even a realization.

Second of all, the danger of Ron Paul's constant anti-Fed bashing, Israel bashing and other complex topics whereby groups of people completely misinterpret the message is real and present. To fully understand the reason behind the Federal Reserves' failures requires thought, reading, research and delving into Austrian school economics. Most people will NOT do that and instead take the easy approach, that is, Jews control the Fed and must be stopped.

So, was I shocked and surprised when I discovered: James Brunn was a member of Ron Paul for president group (follow link for Brunn's own writing).

No, sadly, I was not.