One of the points of contention during the discussion for “Colossus: The Forbin Project” was whether the movie explored a realistic fear of the dangers of technology or whether the sci-fi trope of computers gone wild was merely a lens through which to examine the human condition. In our class, for example, we focus less on the actual details of the apocalypse in the various media we study and more on what apocalyptic belief reveals about human fears and anxieties. I found that sort of critical detachment not only useful, but necessary while reading The Turner Diaries. I know that there is an idiom along the lines of forewarned is forearmed, but I still wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of racist ideology. I have never before been exposed to unfiltered extreme right wing rhetoric and I never realized how deep the hatred cuts.

Putting aside my emotional response to the text, I also saw echoes of Strozier’s essays on fundamentalism and paranoia, esepcially in the characters’ deep-rooted feelings of victimhood and the escalation of violence. While the event that immediately trigers the events of the book is the seizure of weapons by the government, the characters believe they are already living in an oppressive system. Earl Turner points to the (in his opinion) unjustified arrests, the covert surveillance of citizens, the control of the mainstream media, and the creation of an internal passport system, all of which are frightening policies under any government. He also considers the racial integration of schools and the police force as direct contributors to the degredation of American society. He views himself as the defender of the white race,of “[their] history, [their] history, all the blood and sacrifices and upward striving of countless thousands of years” (34); if he fails, it is the end of the world as he knows it.

In reality, the system that the characters find so oppressive disproportionately harms African Americans and people of color, the very communities that are supposedly benefiting. It is, as Strozier states “Opening the Seven Seals of Fundamentalism,” disturbing when “those with the most privilege [embrace] this particular text of violent retribution, paranoia, and revenge to define the contours of their spiritual landscape” (119). Of course, Stozier is referring to the Book of Revelation, but the same sentiment can be easily applied to The Turner Diaries. For people in power, in this case, white, privileged people, the slightest erosion of their power seems to lead to great anxiety, and the need to reassert their power through violence. The guarantee of equal rights and protection under the law for African Americans seems like a fundamental right to most, but for people like Earl Turner, it is one step down the slippery slope towards white slavery or subjugation. The book plays into the paranoia and the sense of victimization that already exists amongst its readership; it presents a highly unrealistic worst case scenario, but cloaks it in enough references to current events so that the events of the book remain relevant.

The book employs much of the same bombastic, dualistic, self-righteous language as the Book of Revelation. Turner and his compatriots are clearly the good guys – they are the “higher man” (35), the defenders of White America – fighting against the “mulatto zombies” (34), the “alien minority” (33), and the traitors crippled by their racial guilt. It doesn’t matter how many people they have to kill, and how many innocent lives are lost in the process, if “they don’t destroy the System before it destroys [them]…[the] whole race will die” (42). Unlike the characters of Glorious Appearing, Turner can express some sorrow for the people that are needlessly killed; he feels guilt and remorse following the bombing of the FBI building. However, that same empathy is notably lacking whenever he kills a black person; throughout the text, black people (mostly black men) are killed casually, almost matter-of-factly. The same is true for Jewish people. The Organization’s rigid construction of the “other,” which makes it impossible for Turner to recognize their humanity, is one of the most chilling aspects of the book.