Neo-Nazi William Pierce, author of "The Turner Diaries," dead from cancer.
July 23, 2002 6:12 PM Subscribe
Neo-Nazi William Pierce, author of "The Turner Diaries," dead from cancer. The world just got a little brighter.
funny that even though he was a neo-nazi, he still gets the "deep thoughts" font and wistful distinguished look on his obit photo.
posted by zpousman at 6:35 PM on July 23, 2002
posted by zpousman at 6:35 PM on July 23, 2002
A fool like this derserves a good rigor mortis mocking. Caption contest!
All he wanted was one good genocide.
Dreaming of a White Power Christmas.
Lamenting his own worthlessness.
posted by will at 6:46 PM on July 23, 2002
All he wanted was one good genocide.
Dreaming of a White Power Christmas.
Lamenting his own worthlessness.
posted by will at 6:46 PM on July 23, 2002
Oh yeah, and thanks for giving the name William a bad rap, jackass.
posted by will at 6:47 PM on July 23, 2002
posted by will at 6:47 PM on July 23, 2002
funny that even though he was a neo-nazi, he still gets the "deep thoughts" font and wistful distinguished look on his obit photo.
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo (and not really reading the article), one'd get the impression that this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
Hello? Death's sad as a general rule, but ah, this is one death that shouldn't get any, "This was a great, great man," press, even if inadvertently. Break out the photo taken of him on a bad hair day and transpose that over a swastika or a white hood, something.
posted by precocious at 7:04 PM on July 23, 2002
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo (and not really reading the article), one'd get the impression that this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
Hello? Death's sad as a general rule, but ah, this is one death that shouldn't get any, "This was a great, great man," press, even if inadvertently. Break out the photo taken of him on a bad hair day and transpose that over a swastika or a white hood, something.
posted by precocious at 7:04 PM on July 23, 2002
I love how CNN claims that his book "inspired" Tim McVeigh to blow up the Murrah building. Like Tim was a good, god-fearing Marine, who went to the First Methodist Church of Mom and Apple Pie, until the fateful day that he picked up this nimrod's book.
The Turner Diaries provided McVeigh with the recipe for the bomb. McVeigh believed that the Feds provided him with motive and justification at Waco and Ruby Ridge, among other places/actions. But it's CNN, so I there's no reason to expect better.
And (lest my comments be misinterpreted), I think McVeigh was a murderous dipshit.
posted by Optamystic at 7:04 PM on July 23, 2002
The Turner Diaries provided McVeigh with the recipe for the bomb. McVeigh believed that the Feds provided him with motive and justification at Waco and Ruby Ridge, among other places/actions. But it's CNN, so I there's no reason to expect better.
And (lest my comments be misinterpreted), I think McVeigh was a murderous dipshit.
posted by Optamystic at 7:04 PM on July 23, 2002
Kidney and liver cancer is a pretty painful way to die.
(instant karma's gonna getcha)
posted by BentPenguin at 7:05 PM on July 23, 2002
(instant karma's gonna getcha)
posted by BentPenguin at 7:05 PM on July 23, 2002
Kidney and liver cancer is a pretty painful way to die.
I thought the same and somehow felt vaguely ashamed.
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo ....this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
CNN probably has a template/guidelines for all obits and some dumb guy must had simply used it ...
posted by justlooking at 7:20 PM on July 23, 2002
I thought the same and somehow felt vaguely ashamed.
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo ....this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
CNN probably has a template/guidelines for all obits and some dumb guy must had simply used it ...
posted by justlooking at 7:20 PM on July 23, 2002
Has anybody else tried to read it? It doesn't make sense. It tries to be a novel but sentences don't follow from the previous ones; descriptions turn into opinions; there's no distinction between the narrator and the characters; most pages read like excerpts from other unrelated stories...and, for a democrat, there are disappointingly little diatribes against the Jews, the U.S. government or anything/anyone else worth speaking about.
I guess that all extreme-right-wing books I know of - and I think I've tried to read most of them - are just unreadable, badly written and haphazardly argued books. Well, Turner's Diaries is probably the worst.
Which figures!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:22 PM on July 23, 2002
I guess that all extreme-right-wing books I know of - and I think I've tried to read most of them - are just unreadable, badly written and haphazardly argued books. Well, Turner's Diaries is probably the worst.
Which figures!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:22 PM on July 23, 2002
If you want to read the book (I did back when Timothy McVeigh was on trial), there are plenty of places that have made it available online so you don't have to give your money to those selling it.
posted by Dirjy at 7:25 PM on July 23, 2002
posted by Dirjy at 7:25 PM on July 23, 2002
When I worked as a reporter, I'd interview Pierce from time to time for stories on neo-Nazis or on his thoughts about the McVeigh trial (over the telephone, that is -- I'd never seen the man face to face).
Pierce was a smart guy who let racism take over his life. If he taught me one thing, it was how insidious racism could be, how simple the slide was from idly wondering about (or assuming) the race of a criminal suspect mentioned in the newspaper to fantasizing and then writing about (in the Turner Diaries) bands of black thugs terrorizing the country on the orders of Jewish bureaucrats -- and how critical it is to police oneself at all points, to claw at that slope of racism until we conquer it.
Reading the Turner Diaries (which I would do, for my job, on the New York City subway, with the cover turned back so New York, in all its pan-ethic glory, wouldn't come down on me) also showed me the power of alienation in American politics. There are a lot of people in this country who don't like/trust/respect the federal government, and reading the Turner Diaries helped me realize that a lot of this fear, loathing or distrust stems from the perception that the bureaucrats in Washington and financiers in New York are different, not fully American. They are Jewish, or black, they are alien, and they are a threat. In reality, of course, a person who holds this belief about modern-day America is probably already alienated from mainstream society and this belief only alienates him further, but he's not going to believe he's the one with the problem. He's going to believe the problem are the people that look, talk and pray differently from him.
Anyway, now that Pierce is dead and can't enjoy the royalty checks, I'd feel less compunction about buying the Turner Diaries. It's an important book if you want to understand the hard-core racist psyche and get a glimpse of its darkest fears.
posted by hhc5 at 7:41 PM on July 23, 2002
Pierce was a smart guy who let racism take over his life. If he taught me one thing, it was how insidious racism could be, how simple the slide was from idly wondering about (or assuming) the race of a criminal suspect mentioned in the newspaper to fantasizing and then writing about (in the Turner Diaries) bands of black thugs terrorizing the country on the orders of Jewish bureaucrats -- and how critical it is to police oneself at all points, to claw at that slope of racism until we conquer it.
Reading the Turner Diaries (which I would do, for my job, on the New York City subway, with the cover turned back so New York, in all its pan-ethic glory, wouldn't come down on me) also showed me the power of alienation in American politics. There are a lot of people in this country who don't like/trust/respect the federal government, and reading the Turner Diaries helped me realize that a lot of this fear, loathing or distrust stems from the perception that the bureaucrats in Washington and financiers in New York are different, not fully American. They are Jewish, or black, they are alien, and they are a threat. In reality, of course, a person who holds this belief about modern-day America is probably already alienated from mainstream society and this belief only alienates him further, but he's not going to believe he's the one with the problem. He's going to believe the problem are the people that look, talk and pray differently from him.
Anyway, now that Pierce is dead and can't enjoy the royalty checks, I'd feel less compunction about buying the Turner Diaries. It's an important book if you want to understand the hard-core racist psyche and get a glimpse of its darkest fears.
posted by hhc5 at 7:41 PM on July 23, 2002
Migeul: I'd love to see what Amazon has on your for recommendations after buying The Turner Diaries
posted by nathan_teske at 9:03 PM on July 23, 2002
posted by nathan_teske at 9:03 PM on July 23, 2002
One down, several more to go. (Richard Butler, Tom Metzger, and Matt Hale come to mind.)
And more good news: at least one of these boneheads has smelled the coffee.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:16 PM on July 23, 2002
And more good news: at least one of these boneheads has smelled the coffee.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:16 PM on July 23, 2002
deep joy. but the sadness is that hatred and ignorance is the real cancer that destroyed him.
posted by quarsan at 2:32 AM on July 24, 2002
posted by quarsan at 2:32 AM on July 24, 2002
Unfortunately he was far from being ignorant, he was a twisted individual who used his intellect to corrupt and subverse the weak willed and the pathetic.
posted by johnnyboy at 5:16 AM on July 24, 2002
posted by johnnyboy at 5:16 AM on July 24, 2002
funny that even though he was a neo-nazi, he still gets the "deep thoughts" font and wistful distinguished look on his obit photo.
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo (and not really reading the article), one'd get the impression that this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
Yes, why didn't they use the famous Associated Press photo of Pierce simultaneously doing the Nazi salute, foaming at the mouth, and kicking a black kid in the head. Weird, isn't it?
I mean, newspapers and TV always ran those pictures of Milosevic with bloody fangs, drinking Bosnian blood, didn't they?
Damn CNN.
posted by matteo at 6:19 AM on July 24, 2002
I noticed that! From just looking at the photo (and not really reading the article), one'd get the impression that this was more of a tribute/fare-thee-well sort of thing, a tribute even.
Yes, why didn't they use the famous Associated Press photo of Pierce simultaneously doing the Nazi salute, foaming at the mouth, and kicking a black kid in the head. Weird, isn't it?
I mean, newspapers and TV always ran those pictures of Milosevic with bloody fangs, drinking Bosnian blood, didn't they?
Damn CNN.
posted by matteo at 6:19 AM on July 24, 2002
Matteo - What did Hitler's obituary photo look like?
I'm just sayin'. When people die, we reflect on their lives. If the person in question was full of hate and did rotten things with their life, what do we do? That's right, we take out the regular "obit_template.psd" and drop in the picture and the name. It's weird. Not a conspiracy.
posted by zpousman at 7:58 PM on July 28, 2002
I'm just sayin'. When people die, we reflect on their lives. If the person in question was full of hate and did rotten things with their life, what do we do? That's right, we take out the regular "obit_template.psd" and drop in the picture and the name. It's weird. Not a conspiracy.
posted by zpousman at 7:58 PM on July 28, 2002
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:26 PM on July 23, 2002