Civil War 2020 in 'Hateland'?

Fort Hood first responders use a table to move a shooting victim, Nov. 5, 2009. (1SG Jon Soucy)

Review by Bill Doughty

Ten years ago, Nov. 5, 2009, U.S. Army psychologist Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in the name of hate and his faith. Daryl Johnson mentions Hasan, along with dozens of other deranged hate-filled killers, in "Hateland: A Long, Hard Look at America's Extremist Heart" (Prometheus Books, 2019).

Hasan's hatred was apparently fueled by a feeling of persecution and victimization against his beliefs. He called himself a "Soldier of Allah."

Author Johnson profiles Islamic extremists, black nationalists, white supremacists, Christian Identitarians, Posse Comitatus militia, anti-government right-wing conspiracy believers, and other groups often created in anger, resentment and hate.

Shortly after the Fort Hood attack, Huffington Post published an article by Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. Levin wrote that Hasan's case combines issues of ideology, terrorism and mental distress. Levin explored and compared the role of religion to the beliefs of Scott Roeder, a Christian who murdered abortion-provider Dr. George Tiller. Hate-filled killers such as Roeder and Hasan "often self-radicalize from a volatile mix of personal distress, psychological issues, and an ideology that can be sculpted to justify and explain their anti-social leanings."

In "Hateland" Johnson shows how individuals gravitate to and are radicalized by such ideologies. He explains how hate and violence beget more hate and violence. And he investigates whether extreme hate and partisanship could lead to another civil war in the United States.

A memorial stands outside of the Armed Forces Recruiting Center Chattanooga in 2015 to honor  the four Marines and one Sailor who were killed in a shooting at the Navy Operational Support Center Chattanooga July 16, 2015. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Wolpert/Released)

The book opens and closes with an exploration of three examples of hate from three different perspectives: African-American Micah Johnson, who assassinated Dallas police officers; Islamic-inspired terrorist Muhammad Abdulazeez, who killed four Marines and a Navy recruiter in Chattanooga; and white supremacist Dylann Roof, who murdered nine African-American Christian parishioners in Charleston.

Author Daryl Johnson presents the psychological factors, including a "wall of frustration" that can bring a person's hate to a boiling level. He also shows how radical extremist groups recruit from and within the military.

"A government survey of 17,080 soldiers that found 3.5 percent of soldiers have, in fact, been contacted for recruitment by an extremist organization. There are over two million Americans serving in the military and National Guard, which means extremist organizations have approached more than seventy thousand active duty military. More than twice that number, 7.1 percent, said they knew another soldier who was actually part of an extremist organization."

Micah Johnson, like bombers Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolf (also spotlighted in this book), was an Army veteran.

Maj. Hasan's rampage at Fort Hood illustrates how the internet has been an accelerant to the growth of hate crimes in recent years. That growth was further spurred with the rise of social media.


Six months before Hasan's attack, Ashton Kutcher appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to demonstrate the power of a new social media app, Twitter. Designed to create online communities, bring people together, and achieve positive change, social media –including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – have also helped mainstream extremism and false information among a diverse group of haters.

"But not only were all these extremist actors in play at once, these groups were also re-emerging into a country where politics, media, and even intrapersonal relationships were now processed through a web-enabled, hyper-partisan, outrage-fueled, troll-driven, click-hungry, conspiracy-laced, all-immersive media culture. This time, any actions – even peaceful ones – ricocheted rapidly around the media ecosystem, creating a uniquely American conflagration."

This is a phenomenon affecting not only the United States but also the world. "Like the white supremacists before, (ISIS) effectively hijacked the web to spread violent anti-western rhetoric," Johnson writes. Analytics reinforce the message to each individual.

"More than anything else, perhaps, social media and other online content strive to make every online activity, including radicalization, more convenient, fun and addictive."

Now – with anonymity and no accountability – trolls, hackers, doxers, click-baiters and lulz-chasers create a diet of eye candy that leads to intellectual diabetes. The antidote, of course, is reading, critical thinking and, as trite as it may sound, an appeal to "love and understanding."

If acts of hate and violence lead continually to backlashes – and Johnson shows they do – could that then lead to another civil war in America, particularly if condoned and encouraged among vigilantes by some elected leaders? How does the easy availability of military-grade assault weapons contribute to the threat?

Talk of a possible civil war has increased over the past three years, but Johnson is ambivalent about the possibility of outright war, especially as compared with our Civil War just over 150 years ago.

"Despite all the divisiveness and partisanship, there is no single irreconcilable issue like slavery. Abolitionists saw it as an unforgivable evil. Southerners believed that its destruction would mean tearing apart the entire economic and quasi-feudal cultural and social fabric of Southern life. The nation is much more integrated now, economically and socially. For most people, immigration, abortion, gun control, and other wedge issues have nowhere near the same overall impact as slavery did, particularly in the South."

Perhaps we'll continue to have a sort of Cold Civil War. Most certainly, we now have respected voices of reason from federal civilians and the military, including retired admirals and generals, calling for calm, reason, the rule of law, and a return to character and core values.


CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (July 28, 2015) Pallbearers carry the casket of Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith at Chattanooga National Cemetery. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Wolpert/Released)