I’m turning into a big fan of the POV documentary series on PBS. This week’s documentary was The Fire Next Time, a documentary about the unrest in the Flathead Valley in Montana. It’s a story about the conflicts between citizens over land use, militias, and development in this growing valley. The film focuses on the threat of violence against citizens and conservation activists. One of the primary antagonists in the movie is John Stokes, a Washington resident who moved to Montana and bought an AM radio station. His schtick is the same as the Limbaughs of the world, except that he “jokes” about using violence to resolve their disagreements. One of his statements on camera, no less:

A recall is nothing more than another form of exercising a right. You know, we can’t assassinate in this country. We have to do it with an ink pen. [Laughing]

That’s right off of the closed captioning.

You might not be completely sure he’s joking, except that his facial expressions indicate disappointment over the illegality of assassination. That and well, the movie opens with a little background about the domestic terrorist group called Project Seven. The group plotted an elaborate scheme to kill government officials and police officers. Nice town…

Another interesting segment was about a unity meeting citizens organized to condemn some of the divisiveness going through the community. Among the testimonials shown during the movie was this fun statement by the local state senator:

Just because I like smaller government , less taxes, and individual liberty, doesn’t mean that I’m against colored people or gays or, or whatever. I’ve got — or Jews.

That’s Jerry O’Neill (R), Montana State Senator. Ah, you can feel the diversity oozing from the crowd. My favorite comes from citizen J.B. Stone:

All of my ancestors were Polish. They were also treated to violent acts, myself included in the 1960s by black people.

There’s not a black person in the entire movie, by the way. There were some Hispanic citizens in the film (one? two?), so I think that this is the primary minority group in town, but it’s hard to say.

Back to John Stokes. Another of his statements on camera:

The Third Reich was born out of the environmental community. I don’t make it up, it’s there.

He refers to the conservationists as “Green Nazis” and uses phrases like “all out war” and “eradicate” when talking about what their response should be. Like most far right wing radio talk show hosts, he uses God and country to divide people, claiming that conservationists (environmentalists to Stone) are “destroying America” and are “commies” who get their money from “Ted Turner.”

OK, enough making fun of this nutjob. The core of the film covers the progression of these disagreements from neighborly disagreements to vandalism and violence. In that light, this movie is eye opening. To see people who otherwise are so similar get to the point where they’re loosening lug nuts on cars and slashing tires was shocking to me. I couldn’t believe the level of disagreement between these people.

Often times I think, perhaps incorrectly, that differences have to have something tangible to build off of. Race, religion, ethnicity, something, you know? These folks are all white, from similar ethnic backgrounds, of the same religion, and are otherwise similar in many ways. The biggest difference seems to be class and wealth. In fact, that was the differentiator I noticed most. The folks on the environmentalist side seem to be at least slightly wealthier. And the land use battle, of course, is a battle of which industries survive and which ones perish and with them, the jobs.

I can’t decide if the hate is more a part of the story than the land use and development issues that are the actual fault lines. The Stokes nutjob is portrayed as the guy fanning the flames of hate. From his bashing of Holocaust victims (claiming they didn’t defend their people, for example, and didn’t stand up for their fellow Jews) to constant calls to violence and broadcasting the home addresses of prominent opponents, John Stokes is at least enabling much of the violence.

The power of talk radio is front and center here, and I think it’s as important as anything else. The actual violence that these people are dealing with from the petty vandalism to the crazy stuff like sabotaging cars has roots in this divisive speech by folks like Stokes. He uses the typical tricks of right wing propaganda radio like Limbaugh or Hannity or others… there are liberals and good people and everyone that disagrees with the host is a liberal (how evil!), a communist, and a destroyer of all things American. Even the conservative Republican county commissioner is a liberal communist. Ah, irrationality.

If you get a chance, watch this one. It’s pretty good and it’s got some very powerful segments.