Symbolic Resistance to the Waco Tragedy on the Internet

Abstract

For marginalized religious and political groups, the Internet is a powerful tool for informational and organizational purposes. Important examples of this are Branch Davidian and Waco-related websites. A survey of these sites shows that the controversy over what happened in 1993 that led to the Waco tragedy still rages on the Internet. Despite the fact that Branch Davidian survivors, Libertarians, Second Amendment rightists, and the militia movement have very different political, ideological, and in some cases, theological positions, they employ a common set of symbols to make their case—that what happened at the Branch Davidians' Mount Carmel was wrong. In particular, their websites use shared symbols to protest, effectively offering a powerful counter-vision in contrast to what they perceive as the promulgation of pernicious stereotypes and untruths about David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and the Waco tragedy by the government and the mass media.