After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, a procession of extremists and lunatics jumped on the phone to claim responsibility for the blast. Before there was an Internet and before September 11, that was the general rule. If someone carried out an act of terrorism, other extremists would try to co-opt it to publicize their own cause until the real perpetrator could be identified.
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That was then. Since 9/11, the government has adopted a full-throttle response to anyone who smells like a terrorist, so mounting such a claim has become a good way to attract law enforcement to one's door. And, as the pulse of extremism has moved from underground bookstores and rural training camps to the more public highways of the Internet, most radicals have realized that online anonymity is an illusion. Domestic extremists have also been sobered by the costs of terrorism -- a process that began after Oklahoma City, when even those who hated the government were repulsed by the death of so many children. Many people who follow extreme ideologies, such as white nationalism, simply have no taste for blood.
The change is palpable. Domestic extremists of every stripe have been eager to discuss who is responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing, and their conclusion has been almost unanimous: It's the other guy.
A white nationalist blogger based in Massachusetts began blaming Muslims before the smoke cleared.
The 2 blast assault is a hallmark of islamic terrorists. We let that scum live side by side with us- and this is what we get #BostonMarathon
— MAfreedom (@MAfreedom) April 15, 2013
But it didn’t take long before other nagging worries began to enter his mind.
Good morning. I half expected to get black bagged in the middle of the night by Piggies looking for a white guy to blame the bombing on.
— MAfreedom (@MAfreedom) April 16, 2013
On Stormfront, the preeminent Web forum for white nationalists, the marathon bombing prompted a thread with more than 500 posts and an array of theories about which of the other guys were to blame. For instance, it could be Jews, or it could be Muslims, or it could be a little of both. Such speculation finally got to be a little too much even for the site's fairly credulous crowd. It turns out that it's surprisingly tough figuring out whether to blame Jews or Muslims.
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