Oklahoma City

25 mins in and still no mention of the main perpetrator. Instead of summarising what angered and motivated Timothy McVeigh to commit the crimes the producers want to give you a detailed backstory. Sheesh! It's history now, just spit it out already😡

Until they quoted the Southern Poverty Law Center the end. Next time, try quoting a legitimate organization. And, much of the footage was rehashed from other documentaries.

The half-witted anti-government philosophy responsible for the Oklahoma bombing took root in Ronald Reagan's famous quip that the government isn't the solution; it's the problem. Except when it is the solution, which it is for many things we now consider to be modern civilization. What the Hitler-lovers don't understand is that for a society to function, there must be compromise. Most people who live in big cities get this basic concept. Rural hillbillies just want everything their way and don't want to pay taxes.

If you want to see a country without a government, I'd suggest you try Somalia. In theory, this is a libertarian's wet dream, except it isn't because Somalia is a hell-hole of anarchy. Of course, to flea-brains like Timothy McVeigh, their perfect world has individuals running all of the facets of modern life. What a ridiculous concept.

McVeigh, like so many of his ilk, was mentally ill, obviously. He was also a freaking idiot with the IQ of a rodent, an animal to which he bore a remarkable resemblance. Medical examiners at his execution revealed that McVeigh's genitals were also rat-like and inadequate, even to facilitate congress with a small rodent. It's true, look it up! His whole movement is composed of inbred hicks, who when they pool all of their mental resources together still fail to conjugate verbs correctly in the only language that they speak, yet they call themselves the master race. How do they figure?

The thing is, nobody like the cops, and the federal agencies (FBI, ATF et al) did some outrageous things, not just to the far-right freaks, but to lots of people with opposing views, but that's no excuse to go overboard. If they think that they can go toe-to-toe with these agencies, they are dumber than I ever thought they were.

This is the central lie of the militia groups. You can suit up in G.I. Joe clothes and buy guns, but don't think that you could actually oppose a real, state-sponsored army, not even a little bit. As far as opposing the government, it is all we have as a people, the only thing we have purchase on in the quest for power. By limiting government, you are drastically limiting the power of the people and handing it over to the plutocrats, people like Trump and his backers (the people who control him, not those who voted for him).

McVeigh opposes killing Iraqis but goes on to bomb a child care center. This is the sort of loony thinking of these violent groups. He was pulled over after the bombing because he didn't have a plate on the car he was driving? What a complete moron!

I oppose the death penalty, even for a rat-face creep like McVeigh.

I don't remember Oklahoma City, or Waco, or Ruby Ridge. These events, if they were in my young subconscious mind at all, were crowded out by 9/11, which happened when I was only ten years old. For a generation that has been inundated with images of terrorism, violence, and war, it's difficult to grasp just how explosive and unjust this event was, and how it shocked the nation to learn that born and bred Americans could be just as responsible for the destruction of the country's goodwill than foreign invaders.

This film was directed by Emmy winning PBS documentarian Barak Goodman (Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). He begins the film's narrative at Oklahoma City, but then flashes back to the inception of the Aryan Nation in the mid-to-late eighties, and the ensuing terrorist institutions that created a platform for an army vet named Timothy McVeigh. Tracing this critical history of white held terrorism within the United States, we see the quick succession of violent white men who have taken arms against their government, and the almost unending paranoia that it created. People like David Koresh and Randy Weaver were the inspiration for an angry, xenophobic young man without many options and a plethora of military knowledge at his disposal.

McVeigh chose the building because he wanted retribution for those who stood against the government and died because of it. In our current political climate terrorism is almost a give-in, an accepted cross to bear in our everyday lives. McVeigh was the first major figure in a long line of American born white men who have taken arms against their own citizenry (Eric Robert Rudolph, Dylann Roof, Wade Michael Page, and thirty-six others since Oklahoma City). This documentary not only sheds light on the horrific act of three disillusioned youths, but the greater trend of discontented, hate- filled teens who later become violent terrorists. These events are more common than ever, and it's not a problem that goes away with prayers and acceptance. It stops because we don't let it happen again. We protect our fellow man, our children, and those who don't have a voice. This film is illuminating in all the right ways, and emotionally devastating in a million others.

"Oklahoma City" (2017 release; 115 min,) is a documentary about Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, and the wider background as to what roe him to do this. As the movie opens, it is "April 19, 1995, 9:02 am" and we her voices at the Water Resource Board Meeting, when an enormous explosion takes place. We get various historical footage as to the damage caused by the bombing, as well as first account interviews of first aid helpers, survivors, and family members of the perished, We then go back in time to the early 1980s, in northern Idaho, where white supremacists are gathering steam. As this point we're 10 min, into the movie, but to tell you more of the story would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is, to say the least, a sobering documentary, Built in three major chapters, "The Spark" (referring to Ruby Ridge), "The Flame" (referring to Waco) and "The Inferno" (referring to Oklahoma City), the documentary makers examine how right wing white supremacists were able to build a small but fierce resistance cell that becomes convinced that the federal government is "the enemy". The link between Ruby Ridge/Oklahoma City on the one hand, and Waco on the other hand, is less obvious (the Waco incident does not involve white supremacists), but nevertheless essential for the McVeigh narrative, as the documentary makes clear. McVeigh's personal background, fairly well known at this point, is examined as well. In the end, the lasting images of this documentary remain those of the Oklahoma City bombing itself, to this date still the largest domestic terrorist attack in this country's history, and with it the resolve of the survivors and the family of the perished. "Love is stronger than a terrorist attack", comments a survivor who has forgiven McVeigh. Wow.

This documentary played in a few theaters, but opened wide when it was shown on PBS' "The American Experience" last night. As it most often the case with programs on "The American Experience", the documentary was well researched, restrained and very sobering. A must-see for anyone interested in the history of this country.