Lessons from Embedding with the Michigan Militia – 5 Questions Answered about the Group Allegedly Plotting to Kidnap a Governor
occurred in both these groups around whether they support police, or whether they call for a widespread uprising against government tyranny.
From the evidence available so far, it strikes me that the arrested men are probably more millenarian in outlook. In general, millenarian groups are more likely than their constitutionalist comrades to be invested in conspiracy theories, to be motivated by religious and racist views and to have members who are closely related to each other.
These characteristics fit with what is known so far about the men arrested in Michigan, which include two people who share a residence and two others who share a last name. For instance, at least one of them appears to have followed and promoted QAnon, a movement that has been called a “collective delusion” rather than a conspiracy theory. That belief system includes claims that “vaccinations with tracking chips will later be activated by 5G cellular networks,” “the coronavirus is a hoax,” “celebrities harvest [a chemical] from children’s bodies” and that a “global network tortures and sexually abuses children in Satanic rituals,” among other ideas.
A different member of the alleged conspiracy has shared online images of Norse symbols and a religion worshiping the Norse god Odin. These are not inherently racist, but many racists and white supremacists identify with and promote the myths and iconographies of that religion, often called “Odinism.”
Some might suspect that the men were motivated by a desire to overthrow the government – since they allegedly sought to kidnap a governor. But based on the information available so far, including the federal charges against them, I think it is more likely that these men saw themselves as resisting government overreach and infringement on individual liberties, seeking to restore what they understood to be a constitutional leadership structure.
For instance, the federal charging document quotes one of the men as saying “I can see several states taking their … tyrants. Everybody takes their tyrants.”
3. How Much of Their Belief Is about Gender?
Overt sexism is not usually part of militia groups’ principles, but militias are dominated by men, with most groups having no more than 10% women among their membership. Many of those men believe in largely traditional roles, where men are the protectors and breadwinners of the family, and women take more supporting and child-rearing roles.
Those beliefs can be amplified among people who follow certain versions of Odinism that are connected to white supremacy. From their perspective, It’s a way to
