The Militia Kinship With Aum Shinrikyo : Sects: An apocalyptic vision is empowering to outcasts, crazies and tech-minded.

When Americans, particularly those knowledgeable about Japanese society, first heard about the subway gas attack in Tokyo, they were amazed. Such things were thought never to happen (at least not in recent memory) in peaceful, well-organized Japan.

A month later, when a bomb tore through a government office building in Oklahoma City, Americans were once again amazed. Strange and violent events are thought possible and even common on both coasts, but the American heartland is perceived as peaceful and old-fashioned. Japanese have similar images of an iconic countryside, such as Fujinomiya, where Aum Shinrikyo, the sect believed to be responsible for the subway attack, has its headquarters.

Whereas Aum is ostensibly Buddhist, the bombers in Oklahoma appear to have been influenced by a right-wing militaristic movement that is strongly anti-government and “survivalist.” Groups of this sort are also ideologically allied with the Christian Right--fundamentalist sects that preach Armageddon (the last contest between good and evil preceding the end of the world as described in the Bible) and that have been in the forefront of the often violent battle against abortion.

If one makes allowances for the different imagery produced by Buddhism and Christianity, there are some striking similarities between the American and Japanese groups. Both preach peace and love of mankind and yet do not shun violence. Both have apocalyptic visions of the end of the world, which they (or a few of the chosen) expect to survive. And both seem to be organizing themselves into alternative societies.

Aum differs from the American groups in that it has a charismatic leader. But America is not immune from spawning such leaders, as the Jim Jones and David Koresh cults demonstrate. There may also be differences between the Japanese and American groups in the nature of their adherents. It has long been said that all cults, would-be revolutionary groups and even successful revolutionary vanguards attract three kinds of people: outcasts, fools and experts.

By outcasts, social scientists mean people who have a genuine grievance against their society and have been forgotten or somehow dispossessed. In the United States today, these tend to be white working-class men who feel that they are losing ground to better-educated whites on the one hand and affirmative-action favored minorities on the other.

Fools constitute the category of those who join political or social movements for private reasons. This may include “crazies” of all sorts--those who get pleasure out of hurting or killing people and those who harbor grudges or fantasies that have little foundation in reality.

By experts we mean precisely many of the people in Aum Shinrikyo whose membership in such a group at first seems baffling. Why have doctors, scientists and highly trained technicians of various sorts joined this movement? The answer seems to be, precisely because they are experts. They are trained in one specific, technical field, but this does not necessarily make them wise. Nor does it necessarily make them happy. These people, when they join such a movement, are among its most dangerous members, because while they may not be the most violent, they may be the most able to plan and carry out dangerous operations.

A society that wishes to survive must, of course, protect itself from such groups. If a government does not deal with terrorism, it invites more of the same from other dissidents and crazies; on the other hand, if it over-reacts, it will drive more people into the arms of radical groups and destroy the very society it is trying to protect.

I am an ardent supporter of gun control, but, to my sorrow, I have now discovered that mere fertilizer and oil, or some other readily available chemicals, can be much more dangerous than guns. What we must change is people’s minds--and that is very hard, given a free society. And so we must learn to live with a certain amount of ambiguity, risk and inconclusiveness. In the final analysis, what I have come to fear most is someone who thinks he has all the answers.