If I posted every quote, every blog post, every web hit of activists being smeared as “terrorists” and “eco-terrorists,” I’d never get anything done (and you all would probably stop reading very quickly). I guess you get numb to it after a while, and in some ways get used to the scare-mongering. But this one really struck a nerve. The Hillsboro Free Press published an oped by Dan Suderman on Wednesday. The very first line reads: “Calling yourself an animal rights activist is a glorified way of defining yourself as a domestic terror threat.” He goes on to say, “Yes, some animal rights groups advocate violence to protect animals and people have been killed.”
Unsubstantiated claims and sweeping inaccuracies (what the hell is the “Animal Liberalization Organization”?) may pass under the radar on most blogs, but this is a local newspaper. I’m not shocked at all by Suderman’s rhetoric. But I think this should raise some red flags, both about how low journalistic standards have sunk and how pervasive and accepted “eco-terrorist” rhetoric has grown.