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From: ralph@cbnewsj.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi)
Newsgroups: news.groups,alt.config
Subject: Re: Skinhead newsgroup
Message-ID: <3528@cbnewsj.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Jan 90 07:52:22 GMT
References: <48215758.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Reply-To: ralph@lzfme.ATT.COM (Ralph Brandi)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, DEIO Tech Pubs
Lines: 41

In article <48215758.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> moynihan_r@apollo.hp.com (Robert Moynihan) writes:
>In article <1231@rsiatl.UUCP> jgd@rsiatl.UUCP (John G. De Armond) writes:

>>There is a great misunderstanding in this country, mostly caused by
>>wretched left wing media hacks, that the skinhead movement is a terribly
>>evil thing.

>The media has nothing to do with it.  Any time I've seen skinheads appearing
>on television, they have displayed their vile natures all by themselves.  They 
>needed no help from the media in showing what utterly wretched creatures 
>they are.

>The skinhead movement is a bunch of uneducated, racist juvenile delinquents.
>They tout the absurdity of white supremacy to the world as a way to make 
>themselves feel that their inability to make anything of their lives is a 
>result of some great "black consipracy", and not their unwillingness to work 
>for their own betterment.  For all intents and purposes, they are the teens
>of the KKK.

This is just not so.  There is certainly a very vocal camp within
"the skinheads" to whom this description applies; they march with
the KKK and the White Patriots Party, and make outrageous
statements, thus guaranteeing the media's interest in them.  There
is also a sizable portion of "the skinheads" who are kind, gentle,
*tolerant* people, who have absolutely nothing to do with the
above-mentioned group and their opinions and activities.  Many of
the ones I've known have taken to growing their hair longer so
they're not mistaken for the racist skinheads, who seem to be the
only ones who get attention, due to the nature of the definition of
news; the out of the ordinary is news, the threatening of the status
quo is news.  A group of people who wear their hair like Marines and
live just like the rest of us is not news.  So there is some
validity to Mr. De Armond's assertion that the media's picture of
skinheads is not an accurate one.

That said, his comments about the media leave me uneasy about which
camp he falls into, and the intent of his campaign.  
-- 
Ralph Brandi     ralph@lzfme.att.com     att!lzfme!ralph

Work flows toward the competent until they are submerged.