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The United States Department of Defense (DOD) is reportedly worried about “extremists” who dare to exercise their First Amendment rights and who advocate for “individual liberties, states’ rights” and ways to make the world a “better place” to live.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog organization, broke the story about DOD education materials which instruct staffers on how to identify Americans who subscribe to “extremist ideologies.”
The Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute reportedly drafted the materials. The institute is funded by the Defense Department branch used as a diversity training facility.
An excerpt from the “extremist ideologies” portion of the training manual reads: “In US history, there are many examples of extremist ideologies and movements. The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule and the Confederate states who sought to secede from the Northern states are just two examples.”
Judicial Watch was able to garner 133 pages of PowerPoint slides and lesson plans from the DOD training manual via a Freedom of Information Act request for hate crimes or hate groups materials distributed to the Air Force. Perhaps the most baffling and illogical portion of the hate group educational materials read, “For training purposes only – do not use on the job.”
“[The] Obama administration has a nasty habit of equating basic conservative values with terrorism,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And now, in a document full of claptrap, its Defense Department suggests that the Founding Fathers, and many conservative Americans, would not be welcome in today’s military. And it is striking that some of the language in this new document echoes the IRS targeting language of conservative and Tea Party investigations. After reviewing this document, one can’t help but worry for the future and morale of our nation’s armed forces.”
Following are some quotes and key points in the document, called the “Equal Opportunity Treatment Incidents Manual”:
- “Nowadays, instead of dressing in sheets or publically espousing hate messages, many extremists will talk of individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.”
- “Active participation with regard to extremist organizations is incompatible with military service and, is therefore prohibited.”
- “All nations have an ideology, something in which they believe. When a political ideology falls outside the norms of society, it is known as extremism. When extremists take their ideology to the next level and believe that it is the only right ideology to follow, it becomes supremism.”
- “In the first four stages [of extremism] haters vocalize their beliefs. As an EOA, being able to assess the stage of hate a person expresses can help you determine the best intervention strategy to deter the development from continuing.”
According to document excerpts published by The Blaze, one of the five groups listed as a resource (Political Research Associates) essentially considers all socially or politically conservative groups to be potential hate groups. It also lists as a resource the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has been criticized for its labeling of mainstream social conservative groups — such as the Family Research Council – as hate groups. In August 2012, a shooter, using the SPLC’s list for hate groups, entered FRC’s Washington, D.C., building and began shooting, wounding one person.
“The SPLC is an organization that has systematically and recklessly labeled Christian organizations that stand for biblical morality — hate groups,” said FRC president Tony Perkins. “Now we see where the real hate is formed. It is time for the SPLC to cease their reckless actions before they provoke another shooting rampage.”
The DOD training manual gives more credence to claims by Tea Party and conservative groups which claimed they were targeted by the IRS.
