Posted on 04/13/2012 3:36:38 PM PDT by Travis McGee
On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 9:58 AM, J.M. Berger wrote:
Dear Mr. Bracken,
My name is J.M. Berger. I’m a journalist working on a story about the EFAD trilogy for the Daily Beast. I was wondering if you’d have a few minutes to discuss the book between Thursday and Sunday via phone or email. (My deadline is Monday and I am out of the office most of today.)
I can be reached at this address or at 202-656-XXXX any time starting tomorrow morning.
Best,
J.M.
— On Thu, 4/12/12, Matt Bracken wrote:
From: Matt Bracken
Subject: Re: Media query, #EFAD
To: “J.M. Berger”
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8:10 AM
Sure, I can do that. It’s now 8am Thursday and I’ll be off the grid until later this afternoon, but we can set up a call for anytime after that.
Matt
On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 8:13 AM, J.M. Berger wrote:
Any time this afternoon or after is fine with me. Just let me know, or just call when it’s convenient.
Thanks very much,
JM
— On Thu, 4/12/12, Matt Bracken wrote:
From: Matt Bracken Subject: Re: Media query, #EFADTo: “J.M. Berger”
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8:48 AM
If you would prefer, we can use written Q&A format. Or, you could shoot me some questions that I could consider prior to a phone interview. In any case, I’ll be out of range until later this afternoon.
Matt
On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 8:58 AM, J.M. Berger wrote:
I’m mainly interested in understanding the role you see the book playing for the Patriot movement (entertainment or educational or inspirational, etc.), and how the book reflects (or doesn’t) your own political views.
I’d also like to talk about the inevitable comparison to “The Turner Diaries.” I didn’t think the comparison was inevitable after Book One, but it’s difficult to avoid by the end of Book Three. I’m interested in what you think of Turner, whether you set out intentionally to modify or improve on what it represents, and what role you think racial politics play in the modern Patriot movement.
JM
— On Thu, 4/12/12, Matt Bracken wrote:
From: Matt Bracken Subject: Re: Media query, #EFADTo: “J.M. Berger”
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 9:20 AM
Did you actually read all three novels? Every page? I’m probably going to punt on this interview if your point is to compare my work to the racist screed the Turner Diaries.
Assuming you will say that you did read all three novels, I’m guessing you are comparing FEAT to TTD based on bad actions by black characters in and around Memphis. Do you honestly think that after major earthquakes cut off W. TN (no water, no power etc), folks will all join across racial lines to sing kumbaya? There would be no racial element? Such a plot would be laughably unrealistic and PC. And do you find the murderously evil white vigilantes in FEAT to be portrayed sympathetically? Another “Turner Diaries?” Really? And did you miss the catharsis in racial feelings by Jenny?
I mean, seriously, did you read the damn novel, or skim it, or possibly just read the excerpts on my website?
If you have not read, (I mean, really read), all three novels, then forget it. Get back to me when you have.
And in any case, forget a phone interview. I can see already how that would go, when your “notes” become written words in your essay. Been there, done that, still got the scars, pal. Submit written Q&A only is how this will go, if it goes at all. My trust-o-meter is pegging the redline. My trust in “journalists” after a few decades dealing with them is below used car salesmen and hookers. I’ve given interviews, and seen my words turned via the magical process of “notes” into damnable lies. Fool me once, etc.
Matt
On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 9:45 AM, J.M. Berger wrote:
I read all three novels. These are the reasons I think it’s valid to compare and contrast:
1) Both books are predicated around revolution/resistance tied to the seizure of guns,
2) The Memphis section of the third book clearly echoes the content of the Turner Diaries. My opinion about the credibility of anything you described is entirely irrelevant to that point unless you’re arguing from a belief that black cannibalism is a realistically inevitable outcome of the breakdown of society or an unavoidable literary imperative of some kind.
3) Nevertheless, you seem to be approaching racial content in a markedly different way than Pierce. This is also a valid point for comparison and contrast, which is not the same as saying the two books are equal or equivalent.
4) Since you asked, my view is that the breakthrough that Jenny experiences is an awfully weak counterweight against the Memphis stuff. I plan on acknowledging its presence, and the other factors you included as counterweights, but I think it’s appropriate to discuss it in context. The balance in Book 3 is clearly much different from Book 1.
I can understand your wanting to clearly distinguish your book from Turner, but I frankly don’t understand your outrage over the comparison. I think it’s pretty obvious and valid why one would discuss these two books together. To acknowledge the commonalities is not to equate the books on the basis of racial politics, writing or anything else.
So for some actual questions. I’ll start with these, and if you’re still willing to continue, I will send more.
1) Did you set out to do a political book in the form of a novel, or did you set out to write a novel that simply has political elements?
2) Did you consciously set out to write something that would be a non-racist or at least less racial alternative to The Turner Diaries as a text for the Patriot movement?
3) Would you describe yourself as part of the Patriot movement or as part of some other political wave?
4) Do you feel that the Patriot movement has historically had a racist component? Do you think it needs to change in this respect? If so, why?
Thanks for considering this request.
JM
From: Matt Bracken
To: J.M. Berger
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: Media query, #EFAD
Mr Berger,
Let me take your approach for just a moment.
When did you stop beating your wife and children in drunken rages? Since we know that most journalists are drunken louts who beat their wives and kids, right?
Truthfully, most of the self-described “journalists” I have dealt with personally have been smarmy, lying SOBs, and I see you are typical of the breed.
AMF.
Did he really think I was that stupid? Some drooling goober hick that the city slicker “journalist” would quickly subdue and tie in little knots?
The funny part is his trying to pass himself off as a “terrorism expert.” He's all about climbing the MSM ladder to face time on ABCNNBCBS. His website verifies this in many obvious and not obvious ways. The most cute is how he describes himself as an “all-platform journalist.” He's almost begging, “Please, please put me on TV!”
The Daily Beast byline would no doubt appeal to the hipper TV “news” crowd, more so than stuff in the Dry Boring Terrorism Review where most of his unread crap is posted, to no notice.
actually you should...as far fetched as some of Pierce's stuff seemed back then...
compare to what is actually happening today is frightening...truly...I woulda never believed it possible
I have read all manner of stuff I disagreed with from Mien Kampf to Das Kapital to Leviathan and Neitzche and Fromme and Sartre and so forth
Holder's DOJ is eerily similar to that described in Turner Diaries 30 something years ago
one can recognize that truth without agreeing with the cure
we are now living in a very poorly managed post racial culture in which whites are the blame and minorities are treated like pets...and thrown every manner of bone and given all the white leg to chew on they can manage
Matt's work has plenty of minority folks on the right side...not so with Pierce or Peter's screeds
doesn't matter though...they will attack it anyhow...they attacked UIC too as I recall
I got quite a chuckle at the way you ended that exchange! Thanks for the laugh!
I wondered about the obscure book the MSM kept harping on, and I guess I wanted to see what made the guy tick, though I never succeeded in that, nor did I see how TTD related to the bombing at OKC. I did my best to ignore the racist crap, much like tuning the MF word out of rap music. The TTD story line wasn't that bad, as TEOTWAWKI stories go (keep in mind my first two years of High School experience was two years of race riots.), but it was too heavily splattered with racist crap to be worth reading.
By contrast, you wrote clean novels, realistic projections of a possible future in the US, without racism, and I really have problems comparing the two unless it would be to contrast the two.
After recent events, anyone who doesn't think some battle lines, in extremis, in some areas, would be drawn crudely along racial lines isn't paying attention.
That isn't racism, it's reality, a reality people have been recently slapped in the face with.
I'd be suspicious as hell of anyone in the media who even brought up TTD in the same sentence as your books.
Good job ending the 'interview'.
I also noticed the 202 (Washington D.C.) area code, and that would have made me cautious as well.
It took awhile, but you nailed it.
Great catch! His libtard creds are well established there, in his own words.
This put a BIG smile on my face...well done! AMF indeed! Love it!
Thanks for the ping. Good response. Please ping us again when this journolista writes the review. This guy is full of the occupation race baiting meme. I wonder who and when he got his orders, or if he is just one of those “true believers” to the cause. Good work.
Thanks. I just hope he doesn’t give up on the Beast piece.
” The “liberal bias” of the media is the greatest achievement of conservative politics. It’s a lie so successful that the media has begun censoring itself in order to “refute” it. “
First paragraph.... : )
I know, and this from an "all-platform journalist" and "terrorism expert."
What a freaking dork.
That question was where "when did you stop beating your wife" came to mind.
If he knows you are on FR, maybe this thread will make it into the article. Suitably edited to make FR look bad, of course.
Good luck with that, in four novels that feature heroes and villains in every category, racial and otherwise. Shoot, there are even Arab, Jewish, black and Hispanic heroes.
And villains.
(Unlike in his PC-fairyland, where only white Christian men can be evil villains, and it's a hate crime to have an evil person from outside that designated scapegoat group.)
It's not so different from the last National Socialists--today's liberals are all about racial identity. They just like and dislike different races today.
Maybe we can start it off?
Hate to disappoint an “all-platform journalist” and “terrorism expert” like JM Berger.
I'm sure his ideological cocoon is impenetrable by reality.
But it would be interesting.
I write books too and have run up against similar. Thanks for reminding me to be vigilant.
Up till now, my main problem has been being blackballed by gerbalists, who would not report my finding that Harry Reid took money from pimp Joe Conforte of the Mustang Ranch in early campaigns. www.futurnamics.com/reid.php
I had an incredible exchange with Vegas gerbalist Jon Ralston I’ll have to post again.
Is it this
J.M. Berger is editor of INTELWIRE.com and author of Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, available in hardcover and on Kindle.
http://blogsofwar.com/2011/10/31/american-suicide/
These people are blinded by their own smug, self-congratulatory assurance that they’re ever so much more clever and sophisticated than the rest of us. By their lights, we’re all knuckle-draggers, by turns dangerous, contemptible and amusing. Our values and all we hold dear are sniggering punch lines to their cocktail party jokes.
They only live because of our self-restraint. Which today, has worn exceeding thin.
On the other hand, the subject of defending the Constitution, the theme of all three novels, never even came up from him. He could care less. 750K words on the Constitution (as in "enemies foreign and domestic") meant zip to him. Finding some unPC descriptions of racial conflict, oh boy, and he is off to the Daily Beast with a project submission!
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