> >From http://www.gerryreid.com/viruses.htm#reno ><http://www.gerryreid.com/viruses.htm#reno> > > >Janet Reno "Cult" Quote Hoax >I received the following which was quoted in an e-mail from well-meaning >friend: > "A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and >the Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who has a >high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools for >their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has strong belief in >the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may >qualify a person as a cultist but certainly more than one of these would >cause us to look at this person as a threat and his family as being in a >risk situation that qualified for government interference." > Janet Reno, Attny. General, USA Interview on 60 Minutes June >26, 1994 > Do you qualify? Are you (as defined by the US Attorney >General) a threat? This should disturb everyone in "The land of the free." >Those with computer access should forward this to every other man, woman and >child who can read." >My reply was as follows and I offer it to the reader of this page for your >edification: > I have some bad news and some good news regarding the Janet >Reno quote you forwarded to me. > 1 of 3. The bad news is that in propagating of this HOAX you >have unknowingly assisted (what I will call) "Hate mongers" who using the >Internet to inflame people. What I sense is that these people have a strong >evil-based force that wants people to hate each other. For what purpose, I >do not now. I do know that having met you, you are not at all like those >people. It is so easy for us to get caught in the frenzy of forwarding >information without verifying its validity. > I took a few minutes to do some research, for I refuse to be >taken in by hoaxes and hate-based e-mail. As I expected, THE MESSAGE ABOUT >JANET RENO AND "WHAT IS A CULT" is a hoax, a blatant lie about Janet Reno - >Now, don't get me wrong - I am not a Janet Reno fan by any stretch of the >imagination, but I believe the world will never get on the track of peace, >respect, tolerance, mercy and love if people do not check to see if such >"extreme" information is factual. > 2 of 3. The good news about receiving your e-mail is that I >will be posting the information (below) on my web site in hopes of educating >others. > 3 of 3. I encourage you (and those before you) to be as >diligent in passing this note back (up the chain), to the person who sent it >to you (and all those on their CC list) as you were in sending the original >note to me. Maybe together we can make a difference on many levels - >hopefully, someday, back to the unethical "Hate Monger" who originated it. >May God have mercy on his/her soul. > FYI: I have contacted John S. Hanson at Abilene Christian >University and am awaiting his call back verifying or denying that he sent >the original note you quoted. >Here is what I found on various sites regarding this hoax: >According to CBS, Janet Reno did not appear on 60 Minutes in 1994. More to >the point, even if she had made such an appearance and even if she did hold >this unlikely opinion, the Attorney General would not have dared to publicly >utter such impolitic words, which essentially consign the majority of >practicing Christians in the United States to the status of "cultists" and >"threats" to the society. >Background >In spite of the fact that most of us have only recently encountered this >hoax for the first time, it turns out to have a bit of history. A variant of >the same text, including an overt reference to the 1993 Waco tragedy, was >already circulating by fax and email in 1994. That version went as follows: > 'A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the >Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who has a >high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools for >their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief >in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may >qualify (a person as a cultist) but certainly more than one would cause us >to strongly look at this person as a threat, and his family as being in a >risk situation that qualified for government interference. Waco was one of >those situations that qualified under our definition of people being at risk >that necessitates government action to save them.' >The controversial statement attracted enough attention at the time to spur >Rep. James V. Hansen of Utah to query the Justice Dept. in regards to its >authenticity. Hansen's letter elicited the following response, dated March >7, 1995, from the Department's Office of Legislative Affairs: > This responds to your January 23 letter inquiring about Attorney >General Reno's alleged statement on the television program '60 Minutes' >defining a "cultist." > The plain fact is that the quote is a hoax. The Attorney General has >never been interviewed on '60 Minutes.' She has never discussed cults, or >tried to define one. There is nothing in the counterfeit quote that guides >government policy. > The quote first appeared, to our knowledge, in the August 1993 'Paul >Revere Newsletter' of the Christian Defense League in Flora, Illinois. The >information came by telephone from a woman in Florida whose name was not >noted. The newsletter subsequently ran a retraction. >Two months later, the Reno quote was again branded a hoax by The New Gun >Week, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation. Executive Editor >John P. Tartaro reported the correspondence between Rep. Hansen and the >Justice Department, adding: > Given Reno's other public statements, her public record in Florida >and in federal office, and her responsibility for both the good and the bad >of the Justice Department, it is not hard to understand why people might >believe the "cultist" definition statement attributed to her. However, if >someone concerned about her philosophy, her statements, and her >unwillingness to publicly put to rest public worries about the Waco and >Weaver cases, and a host of other flawed operations by FBI and other >government law enforcement agencies which she supervised, were to publicly >use the attributed quote in a speech or article, they could quickly be >discredited by their opposition. Such an event would tend to also discredit >any other comments made at the same time or at a later date, no matter how >factual. Once you are publicly made to appear a kook, that will be the >remaining public perception. > - The New Gun Week, April 28, 1995 >Well, the kooks in the present case, the same rabid pro-gun groups and far >right zealots who find the Clinton "Body Count" email convincing are still >at it. The phony Reno quote has remained on artificial life support courtesy >of the Internet since 1994, circulating constantly by email among right wing >groups and cropping up from time to time in Usenet articles and on Websites. >A 1997 variant posted by a Neo-Nazi organization alleges that Reno made the >statement at a Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco luncheon. No date for >the alleged speech was given. Currently, the quote can still be found >displayed on Websites ranging from the wholly uncritical and >conspiracy-oriented Pissed Off American Page [Please note: the author of the >POA Page removed the Reno quote subsequent to the publishing of this >article] to the slightly more cautious, conspiracy-oriented Coming Earth >Changes millennial site. >he authors of such pages would do well to heed the closing words of John >Tartaro: >It doesn't matter whether inaccurate information is intentionally or >accidentally put in our paths, we have the obligation to know that something >is accurate before we repeat it. And it doesn't matter whether the slander >is directed at friends or enemies. Otherwise we are merely proving the >accuracy of another quotation, this one from >Mark Twain: > "It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you >to the heart; the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you." >Is anyone listening? > > > > <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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