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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   3244 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for August 25, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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So, I'm old enough to remember, back in the Clinton years, the media scaremongering about "right-wing militia groups." Well, it's my understanding that this is entirely fake; right-wing militias don't actually exist, and every group that is purported to be one is actually either:

  • A small group of aging, out-of-shape men who get together a couple times a year to fire off some guns and drink some beer (more the latter than the former)
  • A Fed honeypot operation.

But, I've had some people, including a couple on this forum, assure me that I'm wrong and that "real" right-wing militias actually exist.

So, assuming they're correct, how does one find one of these groups?

Edit: so I note that /u/hydroacetylene was the only one who actually tried to answer the question (even if the example he gives is a Fed honeypot) rather than handwave at groups past, or opine about what "real" means in this context — and that answer was: you don't find them, they find you.

The oath keepers certainly exist, and my impression is that they're invitation only. Most right wing militias are probably like that.

Seems a bit like a fed Honeypot category? Thought their head guy was an informant? I may just be misremembering.

The oath keepers have definitely engaged in non-fed sanctioned activities and attempted basic opsec from the feds on those activities(I think their J6 group had emailed pictures of cursive to each other)- they’ve also definitely had members turned states witness upon arrest.

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