The New York Times deemed a story on the John Birch Society “fit to print” in its June 26 edition. Written by roving columnist Dan Barry, about the worst that could be said of it and the author was that it had a snarky headline “Holding Firm Against Plots by Evildoers.” Or, it could be the subtitle on the landing page for Barry's This Land section of the Times website: "The John Birch Society, right-wing relic of the ’60s, remains ever-vigilant to protect the United States." As editors often write story headlines, the reporter may not have even written either one.

Barry’s column is sold by the Times as a foray “beneath news stories and into obscure and well-known corners of the United States.” We can tell for sure from the tone of the story that he sees the JBS among the more “obscure” rather than “well-known” within his assignment.

The moderate tone of the story has caused me to second-guess my life membership in the John Birch Society. Was the organization not worthy of a full frontal assault from the most prominent journalistic scion of the political establishment? My faith in the JBS was almost shaken.

The story even had an accompanying audio/pictorial slideshow that demonstrated the JBS had a real brick-and-mortar office, with secretaries, researchers, warehouse, and all that stuff. It documented that the JBS was among the larger political education organizations outside of the Manhattan/Washington Beltway axis. What’s up with all that stuff giving an accurate picture of the JBS?

Barry did elect to lead the article with the obligatory reference to a 1960s folk song featuring the John Birch Society, in this case the Chad Mitchell Trio’s “The John Birch Society.” Why he chose that over Bob Dylan’s B-side 45 “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” I’ll never know.

But I’m wondering: where’s the obligatory Chip Berlet quote? Chip Berlet of the left-wing Political Research Associates styles himself an expert on the right, and he can always be relied upon for a quote to place the Birchers somewhere within the grassy knoll fringes of society.

Instead, Barry chose to quote actual JBS people almost exclusively. I haven’t heard much from Chip lately. I hope he’s well. Maybe Chip had taken an early summer vacation, and couldn’t be reached for comment. While press organs never look for such opposing quotes when profiling super-ultra-mega-left-wing or establishment Republican organizations, they always do so with constitutionalist organizations like the John Birch Society … or they always used to. Now the Times is being fair to the JBS too.

Considering the reporter in question, I really shouldn’t have expected an attack. If the Times had decided to run a hit-piece on the JBS, sending Barry probably wouldn’t have been their first choice. Barry’s most recent articles for the New York Times featured a story on the new HBO series about a male prostitute, as well as stories about the American hot dog and a French bakery in Northern New Hampshire. That’s not exactly a résumé for a reporter practiced in cheap shots and deceptively cropped quotes.
 
But my concern for the JBS goes beyond this mere article. It’s almost part of a trend by the Times. Back in 2004, a similar column by Peter Applebome almost painted the JBS in a sympathetic light. Applebome did say the JBS was “an organization whose founder traced his view of a global conspiracy back to an occult Bavarian group known as the Illuminati, founded in 1776, [and] may have limited chances of becoming all that mainstream.” But he talked about how the JBS had taken a number of positions that “sounds a little like a disaffected Nader voter or tuned-out suburbanite” rather than what used to be painted as an extremist by the Times. “But if the society at its peak was indeed at the outer edges of American politics, it's a little hard these days to be sure whether it's mellowed a tad or the country has shifted a bit in its direction.”

Admittedly, they’re hardly calling the JBS a centrist organization. And back in 2004, when the JBS was criticizing Bush for a foolish war in Iraq and the domestic excesses of the misnamed Department of Homeland Security, it did sound a lot like what the Left was churning out. However, the difference was that the JBS had simply stood by its long-held constitutional principles of avoiding entangling alliances and limiting government in those cases. But this latest represents a marked change of tone from America’s most influential newspaper.

I’ve long accepted the fact that I’m at the political center as a constitutionalist, but it really burns me that the New York Times is almost hinting that I may not be an extremist because of my JBS membership. If the Times isn't calling itself my enemy, I'm wondering, am I doing something wrong? Maybe that’s their evil plan.

We Birchers have been so used to hearing attacks from establishment newspapers like the Times for so long that a little fairness might fake us into thinking it’s the JBS that has changed. And then they can get us JBS members to quit and kill the organization through kindness.

If that’s their plan, it won’t work on me.

But, of course, it could instead be that they just wanted to run a fair story.

Yeah, maybe that’s it.

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Lee Gonzales said:

	The TYT ran a fairly decent piece on The John Birch Society? As Scatman Gruthers said when he and his compadres arrived safely in Chicago on what was left of the Silver Streak :"Gotta' drink to that."
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June 26, 2009
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Thomas Paine said:

Great Article! Go JBS Maybe these insiders that have put their entire incomes into the hands of the political spending machines are starting to realize that we may be going over the edge of the freedom cliff into total Tyrany. Maybe it is a little confession (Weak at that), by a writer of the elite "Big Brother" establishment as he sees that he has contibuted to our slide into Fascism. He probably realizes that time is running out on any chance of Free Speach as the silent government hit men gain power to a point of no return. Remember Wizard of Ozz. To all those insiders looking for freedom, just remember if you kill the witch, the soldiers will thank you. God bless JBS

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June 26, 2009
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ernie said:

... If the JBS (which is self-described as an "educational organization") would allow outside researchers to have access to its archives -- then perhaps a more accurate understanding about the Society and its members would be possible. Yes, there has been much unfair criticism of the JBS since its inception -- but, frankly, the JBS itself must bear a great deal of responsibility for that. I suspect that a very large percentage of JBS members and sympathizers are college-educated and it seems likely that thousands of those individuals have earned degrees in history, political science, sociology, journalism, or related subjects. However, master's theses and doctoral dissertations on topics written from a JBS-friendly perspective seem to be totally absent. The list of possible topics is endless and if JBS members used unique and previously unknown data because of their first-time access to JBS archives plus interviews with major figures within JBS circles -- they could make a MAJOR contribution to FACTUAL knowledge about the JBS and its membership. So WHY have Birchers never been interested in correcting the historical record by writing such theses and dissertations for their postgraduate degrees --- or even for publication by book and magazine publishers? The JBS may be the only organization that has not generated such research and writings from within itself--which certainly seems odd since it was created as an educational organization.

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June 27, 2009
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ernie said:

... For example: why hasn't a JBS member or sympathizer written a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation on any of the following subjects (just a representative sample)? * a history of the JBS * a history of the JBS National Council * a history of conservative organizations which embraced a conspiratorial interpretation of postwar U.S. history * an analysis of the impact of CFR on American foreign policy * a history of the American Opinion Speakers Bureau * an analysis of why major personalities (such as Phyllis Schlafly) joined and/or left the Society * a history of our civil rights movement from the JBS perspective * a history of prominent African Americans who were speakers for the JBS (such as Lola Belle Holmes, Julia Brown, George Schuyler) * an analysis of attacks on the JBS that were made by former JBS members * a history by a relative of a famous Bircher regarding why their relative joined the JBS * a presentation of Robert Welch's views about prominent JBS critics based upon his correspondence or private papers * a demographic profile of JBS membership * a history of internal disputes within the JBS

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June 27, 2009
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Thomas Paine said:

	To Ernie, we must "kill the witch" JBS is carefully helping society. They were much more front page news. Look at history of Larry McDonald. Congressman and President of JBS. He started a congressional investigation into the CFR. Look what happened to him. We must all work as a mass public to stop the Big Brother Takeover. Remember Wizard of Oz, Kill the Witch and her soldiers will thank you.
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June 27, 2009
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Lal Wynstrom said:

Ernie makes good points... ... and not from an adversarial perspective, which has certainly already been written, including by some former members of the Society such Revilo P. Oliver. However, I too would like to see a comprehensive set of historical treatises on the JBS written by competent members of the JBS. This is a project, but one the Society should definately undertake, particularly as many of the "senior" members of the organization are beginning to leave us or are already well into their older years and their memories fading. As an aside, it was good to see the Society preempt the NYT's potential hit piece by republishing the "behind the Big News" clips on Walter Duranty and Herbert Matthews, two men whose connections to the Times' love of Communist collectivism should be more broadly known.

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June 29, 2009
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Lee Gonzales said:

	The Hi Desert Star carried a snide editorial on The JBS sometime back (Jan.09,2009) http://www.hidesertstar.com/ar...060533.txt The link above is from the Hi Desert Star that was posted on our old website. These were news stories (positive or negative) on the JBS. The comments section is especially interesting.
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June 30, 2009
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Pat Henry said:

known by their fruits While insider politics might be of interest, this would be a distraction from the much-needed continuing push to educate and spearhead effective grassroots action. I joined the JBS because of the fact that after praying and studying myself (having been thrust into law and politics by the pro-life movement), the things I uncovered were the same things I discovered The New American understood and the JBS had been proclaiming since before I was born. As a result, I joined the JBS, despite whatever personal views the leadership and membership might hold. What is important to me is that they continue to provide materials and facilitate effectual action to forestall the plans of the powerful folks who want to merge us into a world government. In regard to 'the conspiracy view' - JBS is promoting many fine works detailing the facts already: see ShopJBS.com, other pages on this website, Birchtube, etc.

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June 30, 2009
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