The Patriot Post® · About MSU's Study on 'Far Right' Groups

This is the key question: How do the National Institute of Justice and Michigan State University define “far right” groups? Through the NIJ, the Department of Justice awarded a $585,719 grant to MSU to study how “extremist groups use web forums, social media, and technology to enculturate and radicalize individuals to violence.” It’s a question worth studying, as the U.S. government currently worries about supposed “lone-wolf” terrorism. While the study aims to analyze extremists’ social networks to “identify the hidden networks of individuals who engage in extremist movements based on geographic location and ideological similarities” (which is a good descriptor of Jihadistan), the study will look at three jihadist forums — but four from the “far Right.” There are questions about what the Obama administration considers to be dangerous right-wing groups. MSU could be studying the sovereign citizen movement. But in 2009, Mark Alexander warned that Obama’s government was warily eyeing the Tea Party movement. In that same year, the Department of Homeland Security thought veterans returning from combat could be dangerous. If MSU wants to remain objective, it should also study the communications of far-Left groups. But then again is objectivity the point? More…