BONUS: The "Great Replacement Theory": A Deadly Doctrine

Hi, I'm Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That's Life, I Swear

It's happened again. It happened in a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. It happened at Walmart in El Paso.

Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Courtesy of: Wikipedia

Now, it's happened yet again at the Tops Friendly Market store in Buffalo. All three of these shooting incidents were the result of someone seeing immigrant invaders, an invasion of non-whites. The dots are starting to connect. This is so alarming that this is only the beginning of the lunacy called the great replacement theory.

Let's jump into this 

Guess we should start with what is the great replacement theory. Looking around the internet, I found various explanations and, a common theme came together.

White Supremacists demonstration University of Virginia's campus on Aug. 11,2022. Courtesy of: New York Times 

The great replacement theory is a conspiracy theory that states non-white individuals are being brought into the United States to "replace" white voters to achieve a political agenda. It’s promoted by anti-immigration groups, white supremacists and others. The theory goes so far as to say that it's a plot designed to undermine or "replace" the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.

Just do a Google search on 'white supremacists', replacement theory; or look on Wikipedia, and you'll find a long history of this theory of fear of being replaced. It's sad and frightening at the same time.

White supremacists argue that the influx of immigrants, people of color more specifically, will lead to the extinction of the white race. They fear a future where they will find themselves living in an America, by which they, the white people, will no longer be the numerical majority. The majority?

My curiosity wondered if there were similar characteristics of these past shooters. There is a common thread. They're white male, age category in mid-teens to late twenties, weaned on social media for educating themselves on hate material, blaming anyone of color or of Jewish descent being sent here to replace and marginalize whites. 

Of course, all were white supremacists' supporters. For these individuals, anyone falling into the non-white group, was in their mindset, fair game be to gun down for they are viewed as invaders or replacers. Nothing more.

I could mention the names of these past shooters, but they don't deserve any free air time for any recognition for what they committed on the innocent people they felt as being looked at as non-human.

A few of these individuals wrote manifestos to call out their reasoning and purpose for gunning down the invaders. However, most of the shooters got their information through social media…an easy channel to spew this hatred at the drop of a dime.

Yes, hate information can be found in other ways, but social media has provided a channel to obtain such extremist propaganda quickly.

There was another characteristic of these pass shooters that stood out. Some had been arrested or questioned for similar threats they intended to perform as a prank while in high school. In most situations, the individual said they were only joking. They were taken into custody, went through a psychiatric evaluation, and released a few days later. Job done; all is well. 

The mental illness card could be played here for the defense as the most significant common denominator as to why this tragedy happened. However, hearing about how all pass shooters were influenced by various social media sites, news, etc., turns my stomach. It's as if claiming mental illness is today’s get out of jail free card. 

The shooter, 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron. Courtesy of: Boston Globe

Looking at what took place in Buffalo, should the mentally ill card be the defense plea, then answer these questions:

1-how was it they were able to research the local demographics by zip code to help determine which area had the highest percentage of Black people?  

2-how was it they were able to plan to arrive a day in advance to take time to survey the neighborhood they would conduct this tragedy? 

3-How was it they could drive over 200 miles if mentally disturbed? 

4-How was it that they had the mental capacity to write a 180-page manifesto expressing racist and anti-Semitic views? 

5-How was it that the Buffalo shooter had the mental capacity to be sure he knew to wear proper body armor? 

In New York, there is a red flag law. The law calls out that people found to be a danger can be forced to surrender their guns. The same law says that anyone who believes that someone may be a threat to themselves or others can ask a judge to issue an "extreme risk protection order" that prevents the individual from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

So, we have a red flag law, calling out that if someone is found to be a danger or a threat must either surrender or be prevented from owning a firearm.

I call this out because the Buffalo shooter had caused alarm about himself about a year ago while in high school. Students were asked for a school project about their plans after graduation.

According to law enforcement officials, the shooter, then a senior stated they wanted to commit a murder-suicide. Now, he claimed to be joking per the official investigation. The Buffalo shooter was taken into custody per a state mental health law. He was given a psychiatric evaluation in the hospital, and then released a few days later since he was only 17 and had no prior history of mental health issues. So, was this incident not enough to at least flag it as a potential history of a mental health issue?!  You know, a heads up.

So, how many incidents have we read about where people had joked about conducting a shooting spree only to say they were joking. These mass shooters often exhibit warning signs before they kill. There should be the means to place those individuals on a list, joking or not, so that should they then want to purchase any gun, the red light goes so that the gun dealer conducts a background check. We've had enough tragedies over the years that these shooters, white supremacists, have a pattern that should set off the warning bells. 

Yet, the Buffalo shooter, who wasn't on a red flag list. They walked into a gun shop and purchased a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle. Guess they were planning to go deer hunting but instead shot 10 innocent people who were walking the aisles in Tops Friendly Market that morning.

 Ironically, when the authorities questioned the gun store owner if they had conducted a background check on the Buffalo shooter, they said they did, but the report showed nothing. That’s right, no history here.

Enough about the shooter. Let’s get back to the big issue at hand…this foolish great replacement theory.

What can we learn from this story? What's the take away?

As sited in my opening, here we go again. We've been down this road before. More killings by self-identified white supremacists, waving the banner 'we will not be replaced'. 

Our society is becoming numb to these incidents, and for a good reason. Nothing is ever done to address the fuse that's been lit for a long time, and getting close to imploding. We keep hearing the shocking news of innocent people who, as in Buffalo case, were just going to the supermarket to buy groceries or where one adult was planning to purchase a birthday cake for his three-year-old. 

The Buffalo attack and those that have preceded it, are not random acts as we like to label them. Instead, these happenings are the dots connecting to what is sadly becoming part of this country's history. It's a history of violence brought about by white supremacists, who feel they have been anointed the chosen race, and that if black, brown or other minority groups, you either go back to where you came from or be eliminated.

The concept of replacement theory is a threat to what is precious to us and now threatened…democracy. 

Replacement theory is nothing more than a perverted argument centered on racist and anti-Semitic paranoid lies. The theory wants to contribute to the will of the people, just as long as ‘those’ people are white.

This theory ignites made up fears and biases.

What’s most frightening about this idiotic cause, is that violence is being used to stoke this fear. The logic is leans towards, if you can even call it that, is that if the final vote count in an election ends up where their candidate doesn’t win, the outcome only means one thing; the race was rigged and/or the result of too many non-whites voting.

Some other examples.

We have the FoxNews champion, Tucker Carlson, Mr. ‘say anything to hype up ratings’, who in a New Your times report, calls out his leading the charge of the great replacement theory. He’s expanded on this topic over 400 episodes on his program. 

Of course, Carlson has his political fans such as Florida Representative, Matt Gaetz, who tweets that Mr. Carlson is correct about his thoughts on the great replacement theory. 

Another example is Elise Stefanik, representative for New York’s 21st congressional district, staged a paid campaign on Facebook, calling out the ‘radical‘ Democrats permanent election insurrection.  

What was once thought of as stupid fad has now crystalized into a dangerous reality. The great replacement theory has been around much longer than one realizes. I invite you to check it out on the internet. The violence we are experiencing today will only get worse, and that the window of opportunity to take action to solve it, is closing in on us.

I was struck by what Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, commented on her Twitter account and think it captures the moment we are currently in, and I quote:

"The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse." 

Unquote

In closing let me share what the Buffalo shooter said in their defense. The gunman expressed how they were motivated by past white supremacists incidents. They were proud to be part of the movement. It was hoped their actions will inspire others to follow his example. 

Unfortunately, until our country meets the replacement theory and white supremacists head on for what it is, a rotten poison in our nation, then the shooter will be right about others willing and wanting to follow in his footsteps.

I hate to call this out, but it will happen again.

Well, there you go. That’s life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website that you can find on either Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned, and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening.

Be sure to subscribe here or wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode. See you soon.