Oklahoma City

25 mins in and still no mention of the main perpetrator. Instead of summarising what angered and motivated Timothy McVeigh to commit the crimes the producers want to give you a detailed backstory. Sheesh! It's history now, just spit it out already😡

The bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 1995 is the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history; this documentary explores how a series of deadly encounters between American citizens and federal law enforcement - including the standoffs at Ruby Ridge and Waco - led to it.

There is the matter of what this film is and what it isn't. If you want a broad view of Ruby Ridge, Waco and Oklahoma City in under two hours, this is the perfect primer or refresher. However, if you want to learn more, and were around in the 1990s, there is very little here you did not already read in the news at the time.

I suppose if nothing else, this would be great for catching the younger generation up on what happened just twenty years ago, when "terrorism" and 9/11 were not yet synonymous.

I don't remember Oklahoma City, or Waco, or Ruby Ridge. These events, if they were in my young subconscious mind at all, were crowded out by 9/11, which happened when I was only ten years old. For a generation that has been inundated with images of terrorism, violence, and war, it's difficult to grasp just how explosive and unjust this event was, and how it shocked the nation to learn that born and bred Americans could be just as responsible for the destruction of the country's goodwill than foreign invaders.

This film was directed by Emmy winning PBS documentarian Barak Goodman (Scottsboro: An American Tragedy). He begins the film's narrative at Oklahoma City, but then flashes back to the inception of the Aryan Nation in the mid-to-late eighties, and the ensuing terrorist institutions that created a platform for an army vet named Timothy McVeigh. Tracing this critical history of white held terrorism within the United States, we see the quick succession of violent white men who have taken arms against their government, and the almost unending paranoia that it created. People like David Koresh and Randy Weaver were the inspiration for an angry, xenophobic young man without many options and a plethora of military knowledge at his disposal.

McVeigh chose the building because he wanted retribution for those who stood against the government and died because of it. In our current political climate terrorism is almost a give-in, an accepted cross to bear in our everyday lives. McVeigh was the first major figure in a long line of American born white men who have taken arms against their own citizenry (Eric Robert Rudolph, Dylann Roof, Wade Michael Page, and thirty-six others since Oklahoma City). This documentary not only sheds light on the horrific act of three disillusioned youths, but the greater trend of discontented, hate- filled teens who later become violent terrorists. These events are more common than ever, and it's not a problem that goes away with prayers and acceptance. It stops because we don't let it happen again. We protect our fellow man, our children, and those who don't have a voice. This film is illuminating in all the right ways, and emotionally devastating in a million others.

Anytime you have Abrahamic separatists zealots fighting the government that's been infested with Leftists(Clintons & Branch Davidians going head to head)children will be caught in between & end up losing their lives in most cases.

The children in Waco, nor the ones in Oklahoma City had to die. Thanks to unreasonable adults, both groups of children suffered & lost their lives. I was raised in an Abrahamic cult too, the J.W.'s(AKA Watchtower Bible & Tract Society). They always beat it into our brains as children "that everything the government does is from Satan" & "this World is Satanic too". And then my eldest sister's Leftist friends were always calling government folks "an evil that needs to be reigned in, we need to be more like Cuba & share with one another & less like Capitalist scum".

See neither side is right to a thinker(both groups are fifth column scums IMO), I'm sure that the J.W.'s would never go all Waco on anyone(they're controlling, but very cowardly), but it did feel like we were in Jonestown being forced to be part of their operation, they're not benign at all!

We were not allowed to have birthdays(I was made to sit in the hallway during birthday parties), holidays, participate in sports, no going to our proms or college either, also if you're in need of a blood transfusion forget about it, it's not allowed!

We also get genitally mutilated as kids(I hated that the most) it's a complete case of evil being inflicted on innocent children. I also got my *** kicked as a kid when when I got caught talking on the phone with a cute girl that was a none J.W., a totally insane group of people IMO & experience.

Now as an adult I want nothing to do with either group, I'm very middle of the road now & don't feel like losing my life over the aspirations of madmen. I only wish that whole situation didn't happen. Too many children get caught in the crossfire. Janet Reno, Bill Clinton & David Koresh were unable to see another's point of view.

That's at the root of most tragedies today, inflexible people that have no place in a modern society. We can make a better future for all of us if we choose rational thought over anti-life dogma!

Until they quoted the Southern Poverty Law Center the end. Next time, try quoting a legitimate organization. And, much of the footage was rehashed from other documentaries.