Introduction
Nowadays, people’s life is often saddened by terrorist attacks and other related events. Being influenced by the ideas of particular movements and radicals, certain individuals decide to destroy the lives of many people to fight for the things they find to be important. This situation is common in numerous places around the globe especially since the beginning of the 1990s when such tendencies in the world society started gaining momentum. On April 19, 1995, a nice sunny day in Oklahoma was darkened by the actions of a young extremist Timothy McVeigh. This young man was determined that he was right fighting for the rights and freedoms of the people of his country. However, it appeared that the reality was very different for McVeigh as he became a criminal and committed a terrible crime against fellow humans. In the following paper, this sad event along with its connection to the activity of militia groups will be discussed. Overall, the evaluation of the situation suggests the conclusion that McVeigh not only became insane on the reason of one’s fears and wrong ideas, but he was also affected by the activity and ideology of militia groups, and, thus, he became a part of this social movement in a way.
First of all, speaking about the actions by McVeigh and the evaluation of his motives along with the connection to the activity of militia groups movements, the description of the events of that sad day is to be considered. The following comment by Ottley (par.5-7) helps understand what happened.
Main body
The events of April 19, 1995
It was April 19, 1995 – a perfect, sun-drenched Oklahoma morning in springtime. Against a perfect blue-sky background, a yellow Ryder Rental truck carefully made its way through the streets of downtown Oklahoma City. Just after 9 am, the vehicle pulled into a parking area outside the Alfred P. Murrah Building and the driver stepped down from the truck’s cab and casually walked away. A few minutes later, at 9:02, all hell broke loose as the truck’s deadly 4000-pound cargo blasted the government building with enough force to shatter one-third of the seven-story structure to bits. Glass, concrete, and steel rained down. Indiscriminately mixed in the smoldering rubble where adults and children are alive and dead. The perpetrator, twenty-seven-year-old Timothy James McVeigh, by now safely away from the devastation was convinced he acted to defend the Constitution, for he saw himself as a crusader, warrior avenger, and hero.
In this situation, the question is what is behind the actions of this young man, and what motivated him to commit such a terrible act. In his comment, Ottley mentions that McVeigh thought about some exalted ideas of defending the Constitution of his country, and, thus, to pursue its interests. However, such an explanation raises a few more questions related to the source of such ideas in McVeigh’s head. A closer look at the situation helps us see that McVeigh was associated with militia groups which infected his mind with a lot of dangerous ideas such as distrust and hatred to the US government and the desire to fight against its actions. Going deeper into the ideology of militia groups and the other related extremist groups existing in the United States since the beginning of the 1990s many important details about the way of thinking of this insane man are revealed. Below, the history and the main peculiarities of militia groups will be discussed to explain the motivation behind Timothy McVeigh’s actions.
The emergence of militia groups movement and its influence on the people’s way of thinking
Discussing the activity and the history of militia groups in the United States, it should be stated that their first steps were made in the 1970s and 1980s. However, at that time these groups were quite small and disorganized. For this reason, they did not influence the country’s life significantly. At the begging of the 1990s, these groups started their first controversial standoffs with the representatives of the government which became the beginning of their active functioning. In the next few years, the movement along with its ideology and ideas acquired its popularity among the population of the country. By the mid-1990s, the movement consisted of thirty to sixty thousand active members in all the fifty states of the country. Militia groups were not an example of unity in their ideology and main concepts. There existed numerous variations in their message. However, the main feature of these people’s way of thinking was the idea that they were threatened by the actions of the government of the United States. One of the biggest concerns by the members of the movement was their desire to protect their right for having an armed state in the Second Amendment. Initially, this movement evolved from patriotically determined people who had no bad inclinations in their minds. They stood for the protection of human rights and freedoms stated in the Constitution of the country. However, later some radically thinking individuals spread the ideas of serious threat coming from the actions of the government’s agents. The spread of such dangerous ideas became a turning point in the history of the movement. The other turning point for the functioning of this movement became such events as murdering Gordon Kahl and arresting and destructing David Koresh by the agents of the government. These events were qualified as the beginning of a “war” that the government initiated against the militia groups. As a response to such actions by the governments, militia groups started a series of terrorist attacks and confrontations with the representatives of the government. The actions of the government directed to disarm the American people became critical for the activity of militia groups. People were afraid that the Government had intentions to threaten their freedom and harm their families. This became a motivating power for thousands of Americans to join the rows of the movement and to engage in illegal practices of storing arms and organizing conflicts with the representatives of the authority. Unfortunately, the Government itself added acuity to this terrible situation by murdering people storing arms, and not providing enough explanation to the public as to the legal side of such actions. Among the people of the country, the idea was spread that the Government acted deliberately and had a plan of harming its people. This idea became very dangerous for many people as some of them even became insane. It seems that this is what has happened in Timothy McVeigh’s case.
The connection between McVeigh’s actions and the ideology and activity by militia groups
Evaluating McVeigh’s commentaries as to the motivation of his actions a conclusion can be made that this young man became a victim of ideas spread by militia groups and questionable actions by the Government which provided a precedent for spreading such ideas (Jones and Israel 60). Young men tend to be overly subjected to the influence of confusing events and dangerous ideas connected to them. It happens quite often that they even lose their ability to have a clear way of thinking. When McVeigh was arrested and interrogated concerning what he did his confidence in the rightfulness and even legitimacy of his actions was mind-blowing. There was no doubt that the young man was out of his mind. Being interrogated concerning the victims among the civilians, McVeigh showed a reaction of a person whose mind was blocked and unable to adequately function (Linenthal 13). In his case, it became evident that the ideas spread by militia groups being in the pick of their popularity can appear to be very dangerous. As a result, a conclusion can be made that McVeigh not only became insane on the reason of one’s fears, but he was also affected by the activity and ideology of militia groups, and, thus, he was a part of this social movement.
Conclusion
Concluding on all the above-discussed information, it should be stated that the sad events of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, are more than a sorrow caused by an insane man Timothy McVeigh. A closer look at the details of this situation helps see that McVeigh was influenced by a dangerous ideology coming from a strong source. This source was a social movement called militia groups. The movement initially being a patriotic organization, under the influence of radically thinking people became dangerous and caused significant harm to the country. The main idea behind the actions of militia groups was to defend their constitutional right for bearing arms.
Works Cited
Jones, Stephen, and Peter Israel. Others Unknown: The Oklahoma City Bombing Case and Conspiracy. New York: PublicAffairs, 1998. Questia. Web.
Linenthal, Edward T. The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Questia. Web.
Ottley, Ted. The Oklahoma City Bombing: Bad Day Dawning. Web. 2012.