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Apocalyptic Typologies of Left and Right Wing Political Groups and Their Violence Through the Period 1990-1997

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Apocalyptic Typologies of Left and Right Wing Political Groups and Their Violence Through the Period 1990-1997 Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 4-1999 Political Violence in the United States: Apocalyptic Typologies of Left and Right Wing Political Groups and Their Violence through the Period 1990-1997 Gordon Daniel Green Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Green, Gordon Daniel, "Political Violence in the United States: Apocalyptic Typologies of Left and Right Wing Political Groups and Their Violence through the Period 1990-1997" (1999). Master's Theses. 5018. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/5018 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES: APOCALYPTIC TYPOLOGIES OF LEFT AND RIGHTWING POLITICAL GROUPS AND THEIRVIOLENCE THROUGHTHE PERIOD 1990-1997 by Gordon Daniel Green A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillmentof the requirements forthe Degree of Master of Arts Department of Political Science WesternMichigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan April 1999 Copyright by Gordon Daniel Green 1999 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first acknowledge the support and patience of my best friend and love, Linda. Secondly, I thank my family: motherand fatherfor a lifetime of support, my sister who's next forthis honor, my grandparents fortheir encouragement and guidance. I would like to thank Dr. Kevin Corder for allowing me to take on this unusual and unique subject matter, and Dr. Pete Renstrom and Dr. John Clark for their willingness to explore this area also. I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Ron Arnoldwho guided me in the right direction during the genesis of this work, and Chip Berlet and Dr. J. Gordon Melton for reassuring me that my findingswere not as faroff as one might believe. I also need to thank Sharon Lau of the National Abortion Federation, Amy Solomon of the Anti-DefamationLeague, and Nancy O'Meara of the Cult Awareness Network. Thanks also need to go out to fellow "Freepers"for showing me how these groups can affecteveryday people's lives, on both sides. Lastly, I need to thank the inspiring work of those in this field that I have yet to meet. Dr. JeffreyKaplan, whose call fora similar examination guided me to do this paper, Dr. Michael Barkun, Dr. Martha Lee, and Dr. Catherine Wessinger, fortheir intriguing work in this area. I look forwardto meeting them one day. Gordon Daniel Green 11 POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THEUNITED STATES: APOCALYPTIC TYPOLOGIES OF LEFT AND RIGHT WING POLITICAL GROUPS AND THEIRVIOLENCE THROUGHTHE PERIOD 1990-1997 Gordon Daniel Green, M.A. WesternMichigan University, 1999 Historically the study of apocalyptic groups has occupied the "exotic fringe" of political science (Flanagan 1996). With the use of textual analysis, historical description, and participant observationas its main research methods, there has been little progress made in the study of these groups. By using data analysis of incidents of violence to compare the violent actions of apocalyptic groups, a better understanding of reasons forthe use of violence by these groups can be found. Six apocalyptic groups are studied and categorized into a typology of apocalypticism. The Rescue Movement and End-Times Religious occupy the Supernaturaltype, Militia/Patriotand Anti-Industrialfl'echnologyoccupy the Unnatural, and the Radical Environmental and Animal Rights occupy the Natural. Data on violence are then examined to findrelations across and between groups. What emerges fromthis examination is support forthe concept of imminence as a possible factorin determining violence. This imminence is not that of salvation (Cohn 1970) or attainment (Taylor 1991) but of the apocalypse itself. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 LIST OF TABLES . v LIST OF FIGURES . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. VI CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Description of the Typology .. .. .. .. .................. 6 Description of Data ...................................... 8 Research Questions, Limitations and Assumptions .. .. .. .. .. .... 12 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................... 15 Academic Literature ..................................... 16 Literature With an Agenda .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 III.TYPOLOGY OF APOCALYPTIC GROUPS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 27 SupernaturalApocalyptic Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 29 Rescue Movement .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 29 End-Times Religious .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 35 Unnatural Apocalyptic Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 43 Militia/Patriot Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 43 Anti-Industrialffechnology . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 49 Natural Apocalyptic Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 52 Radical Environmental Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 52 Animal Rights Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 58 111 Table ofContents-Continued CHAPTER Similarities ofthe Apocalyptic Groups . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 64 Overcoming the Cross-typing Problem . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 66 IV. VIOLENT INCIDENTS FOR APOCALYPTIC GROUPS . .. .. .. .. 70 Methods . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 70 Results . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 71 Focus on Destruction ofProperty .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 80 Militia/Patriot Violence . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 87 Overviewof End-Times and Anti-Industrial Groups .. .. .. .. .. 90 V. CONCLUSION .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 93 Results for Research Questions . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 93 Importance oflmminence on Violence .. .. .. .. .. 94 Future Research and Broader Implications .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 96 NOTES ....................................................... 101 APPENDICES A. Definitions forGroups 104 B. Definitions forViolent Acts .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 106 C. Eight Points ofDeep Ecology .................................. 108 BIBLIOGRAPHY . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 110 IV LIST OF TABLES 1. Divisionof Political Groups Into Their Apocalyptic Type . 10 2. End-Times Interpretations of Organizations/Ideas/People/Countries. 40 3. Militia/PatriotInterpretations of Organizations/Ideas/People/Countries. 44 4. Incidents of Violence forApocalyptic Groups . 72 5. State Rankings by Incident and Population . 77 6. Low Population\HighFrequency Breakdown . 79 7. Incidents of Violence by Year forRescue Movement . 82 8. Incidents of Violence by Year for Radical Environmental Groups . 83 9. Incidents of Violence by Year forAnimal RightsGroups. 84 10. Incidents of Violence by Year forMilitia/Patriot Groups . 88 V LIST OF FIGURES 1. Apocalyptic Typology. 28 2. Apocalyptic Typology Revised. 68 3. Total Incidents by Year. 74 4. 1995 Total Incidents. 74 5. 1994 Total Incidents. 74 6. 1996 Total Incidents. 76 7. Militia/Patriot Incidents. 76 8. AnimalRights Groups Incidents. 76 9. Rescue Movement Incidents. 85 10. Radical Environmental Incidents. 85 11. Radical Environmental Detailed Incidents. 86 12. Animal Rights Incidents. 86 13. Militia/Patriot Incidents. 89 Vl CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This thesis is a comparative examination of violent acts of a diverse grouping of apocalyptic/millenarian political groups in the United States from 1990-1997. Catherine Wessinger suggests that "apocalypticism is a readily recognizable and usefulsynonym for the millennialism that expects catastrophe" (1997, 50). It is for this reason that apocalyptic will be used throughout the rest of this text, rather than the broad millenarian or millennial, to describe these groups. Since the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the AlfredP. Murrah Federal Building, there has been a tremendous growth in the attention paid to right­ wing groups and their violence. The renewed activities of the Unabomber and the resulting publication of his manifestogave us some insight into the anti-industrial left. The sniper attack of abortion provider Dr. Barnett Slepian on October 23, 1998 has brought abortion protesters continued attention. The October 18, 1998 arson of the Two Elk Lodge and other ski facilities, claimed by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), brought the radical environmental movement into the spotlight. What is little discussed in the media, and even in academic research, are the similarities between the apocalyptic belief systems of these groups and individuals. These similarities will be examined within a typology of apocalypticism. Some have gone so faras to openly call forthe need of examining "the remarkable similarity of Earth First! (an apocalyptic Radical Environmental group) to other, particularly right-wing radical movements, and more thorough discussion of Earth First!'s use of violence" (Kaplan 1 2 1996a, 182). This piece will expand on that concernby creating a typology of apocalypticism and collecting data on violent acts committed by these groups to determine if there is any correlation between this typology and levels, or types of violence used. There has been much research examining the violence of one apocalyptic group or another (Barkun 1996, 1997b; Durham 1996; Gallagher 1997; Hall and Schuyler 1997; Kaplan 1995; M. Mullins 1997; Nice 1988). There has also been research focusedon the apocalyptic beliefs of groups with minimal focuson violence (Lamy 1997; Lee 1995, 1997). There has been research comparing
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