A Hate Group Linked to My Website
I was looking at my website analytics just a few minutes ago and saw that I had received some incoming traffic to my real estate website from a website I’d never heard of before.
I’m always thrilled when this happens. I click the link to find out who has been nice enough to point some traffic to my website.
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Tonight was different.
When I clicked the link to Vanguard News Network I discovered a website dedicated to spewing hate speech.
I’m horrified.
I have liberal social views. I believe in diversity. I believe in gay rights. I believe that all people deserve the full advantages of living in this great country as long as they aren’t hurting others.
I’m also Jewish.
There was a ton of anti-semitic language on this site about Jews in general, Israel and the Holocaust.
My grandmother moved to St. Louis from Poland as a teenager with her parents and siblings before the Holocaust started. All of her relatives left behind in Poland died in concentration camps.
The Holocaust is personal to me. As is discrimination against any minority.
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Support the Anti-Defamation League:
My friend Jon Feraro of Feraro’s Jersey Style Pizza saw the Facebook status I posted when I found this site was linking to Arch City Homes. He was nice enough to do some digging and sent me some information about Alex Linder, the Neo-Nazi who writes Vanguard News Network.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL):
Alex Linder, of Kirksville, Missouri, is a neo-Nazi who runs Vanguard News Network (VNN), one of the most active white supremacist sites on the Internet.
The ADL article on Linder gives the background on his website, his views and some of his offensive quotes.
Vanguard News Network was started August 2000 by Linder and a partner, Regina Besler. Linder soon took complete control of the Web site. Though originally VNN disseminatedNational Alliance (NA) propaganda, Linder’s refusal to quash criticism of the NA on VNN forums led him to resign his membership in the NA and stop participating in its campaigns. VNN is now an independent white supremacist site.
The Web site consists of two parts: a news section, where Linder posts news articles and opinion pieces of relevance to white supremacists, and an online message forum, where white supremacists from around the world can post messages and engage in on-line discussions and debates.
The ideology that Linder has sought to infuse into his site is exemplified by VNN’s header: “No Jews, Just Right.” The site’s content is extremely anti-Semitic and racist, and tends to denigrate women.
I think it’s really scary that not only this man exists, but that he has created a forum which connects people around the world with similar views.
I’m also thankful that the ADL is constantly watching the behavior of people like Linder and websites like Vanguard. I’ve supported the ADL in the past, but haven’t made a donation in a while.
Long overdue, I just made a donation to help the ADL keep the world safe for all of us from people like Linder.
I also took down the article on my website that was titled “How Can Home Buyers Find Demographic Information for an Area?”
The article explains the Fair Housing laws and why agents can’t talk about race, ethnicity, religion or crime rates. I then went on to explain that while the reasons for the laws are designed to protect minorities, they also make it hard for families looking for a diverse neighborhood or who are a part of a minority community and want to live near people with the same background.
The article is still an important one that I want on my website. I will be re-publishing the information tomorrow, but with a headline of “How to Find a Diverse Neighborhood in St. Louis” or something along that line. I’ll also be more careful about the keywords that I use in the article so that men like Alex Linder don’t find it again.
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