“A wingnut is someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum – the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They’re the people who always try to divide rather than unite us.” -John Avlon
The latest string of gun-related violence has brought the issue of gun control once more into the forefront of national debate. We are a fractured nation over this issue, many of us fed up with the lack of progress towards a solution. The left-wing is clamoring for stricter gun laws, and the right-wing is screaming for more guns in public places. There are no easy answers, as the gun control debate highlights a much larger epidemic involving mental health, media violence, and civil liberties. It is a complex issue convoluted even more by the right’s persistent inclusion of paranoid conspiracy theories threaded within the subtext of its ideology.
The first decade of the new millennium belonged to the fringe left in terms of conspiracy theory. They promoted a deeply-held belief that the draconian machinations of the Bush Administration were part of an agenda to achieve nothing less than world domination abroad, and total subjugation of its own citizens domestically. During those years, the right-wing surged in power and influence. Left-leaning activists shouted from rooftops and street corners, warning us that our civil liberties were over and that George W. Bush had essentially “torched” the Constitution. Names like “Skull and Bones Society,” “Bildebergers,” and “Project for a New American Century” floated their way to the surface of leftist debate, and for a moment, our imaginations were allowed to ponder the possibility of a New World Order, complete with dictators Bush and Cheney at the helm.
Now that much of the dust has settled since the Bush Administration, we can see that a majority of the fringe conspiracy theories were unfounded and rather silly. Trust me, I hated the Bush years as they were happening, and I had indulged in my share of conspiratorial speculation. Over time however, I realized that my loathing of the Bush Administration had been for more practical reasons, such as its poor fiscal management, terrible foreign policy, and intolerant social agenda. During those years, I feared that we were regressing as a nation and that there was no end in sight to what was beginning to feel like the new normal. Yet, as the torch was passed from one regime to the next, the world at large became a less-scary place.
After Obama was elected President, we were presented with a more tolerant and compassionate administration. More emphasis was placed on personal responsibility towards making our lives, our communities, our nation a better place. It seemed that the conspiratorial curtain of government abuse and mistrust had been lifted and exposed for the facade it was; a largely non-existent monster under the bed. Or, at least, that’s what I thought. It seems that a different kind of torch has been passed, from the left hand to the right.
Once the purview of the left, conspiracy theories are now championed by the right-wing. The same group who had dismissed the left as being absurd and “anti-American” for entertaining notions of an Orwellian government agenda, now have a bevy of their own conspiracy theories. Ranging from the relatively harmless (the so-called Birther Movement), to the dangerously absurd (Obama wants to steal our guns), these theories have sadly become the new standard of thinking within the ranks of the far-right. Most of these theories have stemmed from the peculiar notion that Barack Obama is a socialist dictator who—wait for it—wants nothing less than world domination abroad, and total subjugation of its own citizens domestically.
For anyone who has kept up with Obama’s record as president, it is clear that he is neither a socialist nor a particularly fervent leftist. In fact, many of his policy decisions have put him at the center-right. Those who believe otherwise are either ignorant or are purposely obfuscating truth to create a more protracted reality. It is this group who now dwell in the lunatic fringes, refusing to live outside of the bubble that they have conveniently constructed around them.
These same conspiracy theorists, while claiming that the left is attacking their civil liberties (including free speech), use the very tools of mass communication to spread their delusional ideas. In other words, in a dictatorship, the right would not have the ability to freely share their ideology by use of a mass communications platform. So I think it is safe to say that our form of democracy—as flawed as it may be—is a far cry from a socialist dictatorship.
What I believe to be the undercurrent of all this, is the perceived shift of mob rule from right to left. The right-wing was disbelieving and upset over Barack Obama’s election in 2008, and never really got over it. Obama’s reelection seems to have only angered the right more. Members of the extreme right express vehement (and sometimes violent) opposition to anything that Obama says or does. These misguided individuals cry out in righteous indignation that seems to be laced with—dare I say it?—racism.
Whether or not members of the right-wing are motivated by racism, there has been a discernible ideological shift from right to left. Rather than grow up, evolve, or progress, the extreme right ideologues would rather sulk in the corner at the kids table, commiserating about the good ol’ days when they held the power. This was none-so-apparent as the 2012 election, where the right proved their commitment towards outmoded ways of thinking. The right remained in the relative Dark Ages of social and economic policy, choosing to interfere in women’s reproductive rights and favor the wealthiest of our citizens, among other things. The American voters decided to stick with the President and with progress.
This has done nothing to diminish the resolve of the right-wing, which has only retreated further into the recesses of obtuse thinking. The real danger is when extreme ideas have infiltrated the mainstream and are no longer confined to the lunatic fringes of the party. Otherwise reasonable-thinking individuals parrot the vitriolic views of extreme ideologues who, if for no other reason, wish to maintain absolute control over how we think and what we do with our bodies.
When asked about the influence of fringe groups on the masses, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski stated during an interview:
“In a country of 300 million people, you have to allow that there are a few nuts. Some of them speak out. Some of them have access to the mass media. And some of them have a lot of money. And that’s all right, that’s normal. But you shouldn’t take them too seriously.”
Now as a nation, we are faced with the perilous predicament of dealing with escalating gun violence in a never-before-seen way. The right has ramped-up its response to its feelings of inadequacy by resorting to fear-mongering, agitation, and bullying. The news channels are brimming with angry members of the right-wing, who continue to promote a pro-gun agenda, their rhetoric seething with conspiracy theories. They maintain that the reason to continue to allow citizens to have access to military-grade assault weapons, is to protect against the impending martial takeover (someday) by our government.
Despite the various conspiracy theories that surround the gun violence issue, the fact remains that there is a very real connection between the gun lobby and the right-wing. The fact that many on the right choose to ignore or deny the pervasive influence that the gun lobby has over gun policy in the US, shows the complicit refusal by the right to adequately deal with gun violence.
Those who are committed to maintaining the partisan standard are, by nature, the very agents opposed to advancing consensus on what to do about gun control. This issue isn’t about right or left; it’s about protecting innocent citizens from criminals. It’s about understanding the origins of the problem and doing our best to make sure that these weapons of destruction don’t end up in the wrong hands.
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