THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, November 22, 1985

• Trouble meeting home
and/or farm payments and
taxes? $2,304,257,900,000.
According to the Library of
Congress, the net cost as of
Jan. 1, 1983 for foreign aid
is the amount shown above.
Are the Orientals in Asia or
the Jews in Israel somehow
more important to the U.S.
government than working
Americans?

TERMINAL
E

The computer revolution has
given birth to a disturbing
side effect -- high-tech
bigotry.

Only the Jews could have
thought up such a creature as
Michael Jackson for the
youthful "goyim" to admire.

-

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•

Bill Pugliano

elcome to the world of bits,
bytes and anti-Semites. The personal
computer, heralded by educators and
business leaders as a key to the fu-
ture, has become the technological
darling of America's darker side —
the hate mongers who still populate
the Ku Klux Klan and the small-
but-growing contingent of neo-Nazi
organizations which continue to
flourish four decades after the fall of
the Third Reich.
Electronic "bulletin boards" car-
rying anti-Jewish and anti-black
messages such as the two reproduced
above have been set up by white
supremacists in nearly a dozen loca-
tions across the U.S. and Canada.
While much of this new wave in
computer hate originates near the
small towns and rural villages of
America's heartland, hate networks
have also appeared in major met-
ropolitan areas like Houston and
Chicago.
Detroit has, so far, been bypas-
sed by those looking for a place to
base their operations. But Richard
Lobenthal, Michigan region director
of the Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith, feels big-city sophistica-
tion provides no guarantees against
small-minded bigotry, especially
when high-tech tools are used to
promote such philosophies.
"What you're talking about is
setting up an information network
that serves a specific function. And
that's possible anywhere. I don't
think you can say we (Detroiters)
are too sophisticated to let that kind
of thing be successful here."
Nationally, computer hate net-
works are logging in some 150-400
call seach day. This figure is ex-
pected ,to increase dramatically as
more computer enthusiasts purchase
modems (couplers which allow com-
munication with other computers
over telephone lines). Currently,
only 2.1 million home computers are

BY TEDD SCHNEIDER
Staff Writer

equipped with modems, but some
expect that figure to jump ten-fold
by 1989.
Detroit area residents contacting
the hate networks must incur
long-distance telephone charges in
addition to a one-time fee in order to
obtain the password necessary for
entry. They have not yet reached
epidemic proportions, according to
Lobenthal, but he is concerned that

any increase in use might tempt
Detroit-area extremists to go on-line
with their own locally-based system.
And while setting up an elec-
tronic hate network requires some-
thing more than just a casual in-
vestment, any interested party could
get going with a modest personal
computer and some basic accessories.
Sales people at a pair of local corn-
puter outlets pegged the price for

such equipment — a computer with
mid-range power • and storage
capabilities, software and a modem
at $1,000 - $2,000.
Those making use of the latest
20th Century technology to spread
their message to the masses are
really no different than their precur-
sors. In fact, in many instances, they
are the same people.
George Dietz, a West Virginia
farmer, has set up a bulletin board
on his Apple IIe and regularly up-
dates it with anti-Semitic material.
Before he joined the ranks of elec-
tronic hate mongers, the 57-year-old
German native distributed printed
matter, pictures of Hitler and other
Nazi leaders and old recordings of
Nazi war songs to white suprema-
cists (often in the guise of World
War II memorabilia collectors)
around the world. The ADL has
labeled Dietz as the most prolific
distributor of neo-Nazi literature in
the United States.
But it is the Liberty Bell Net-
work that Deitz has set up with his
computer that is his "pride and joy."
"I'm doing nothing more," Dietz
says, "than taking advantage of my
constitutional freedom." The former
member of the Hitler Youth says he
plans to use that freedom to rouse
the masses until they get rid of the
Jews, who Dietz says, are responsi-
ble for inflation, crime, homeless
people, the deficit and just about
every other problem which plagues
America.
For Dietz, the computer is a
simple and relatively cheap way to
lure youthful hackers to his anti-
Semitic message. Computer
enthusiasts can find the Liberty Bell
Network number published on other
bulletin boards and may tap into the
system out of curiosity.
Dietz is not alone in his desire
to peddle the same old message to a
whole new audience. Tom Metzger, a

Continued on Page 42

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