Derangement and Duplicity
The Manipulation of Concepcion Picciotto
Eric Gallagher
3/6/07 | Nation
A visit to the White House is never complete without observing Washington’s most famous political demonstrator, Concepción Picciotto. Living in front of the White House since 1981 in a tent made of little more than a plastic tarp held up by a couple brooms and a stray hockey stick, Picciotto has protested virtually every U.S. foreign policy since the Gulf War. If you haven’t met Concepción personally, you may remember her from her cameo appearance in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. She refrains, “Bush kills children…for oil. Bush is a terrorist.” Indeed, statements like these make her fit right in with modern liberals and progressives.
Yet, Picciotto’s mistrust of the government is so profound that it has induced her to drape her head in tinfoil to prevent the government from using “a laser situated on the roof of the White House to infiltrate [her] thoughts.” Indeed, her presence tends to generate pity among tourists who realize that Picciotto has a few screws loose. Liberal activists, however, see her as an important comrade in their crusade against the Bush administration, recognizing that she sits on perhaps the most prime piece of real estate in Washington in terms of demonstrating against government policies.
After 9/11, political demonstrators found it rather difficult to encamp themselves outside of high-security landmarks. The areas immediately surrounding the White House and Capitol Building (“ground zero” for 1960s anti-war protestors) are now encompassed by security checkpoints and zones acceptable for tourist and pedestrian activity. A Secret Service officer speaking anonymously told The Patriot that Federal property laws enacted in 1983 have banned demonstrators from encamping themselves outside of Federal property without a permit. Calling a small patch of sidewalk in Lafayette Park her home since 1981, Picciotto’s residence was not affected by the 1983 law which allowed her to maintain her current abode. However, if Picciotto were to leave her makeshift for a period of time, her home would be dismantled by rangers from the National Park Service.
So who is Conception Picciotto, what is her story? Speaking anonymously, a Secret Service officer informed The Patriot that two of his co-workers have seen her stroll the streets of Washington in an SUV, and that on a regular basis what appear to be Picciotto’s adult children visit her. Seeking to get a better understanding of Ms. Picciotto, I visited her website: http://www.prop1.org/conchita.
Her grammatically flawed autobiography tells a story of a paranoid, mentally unstable woman. According to the site, after immigrating to the United States at the age 18 from Spain, Picciotto obtained a position at the Spanish Consulate in New York and married an Italian immigrant. The couple moved in with Picciotto’s husband’s sister in Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after the move in, Picciotto began to suspect that her husband was having an affair with his own sister and that the sister was following her to and from work. In an effort to solidify her spouse’s love for her in the wake of this speculated affair and due to her own infertility, Picciotto decided to start a family and traveled to South America to adopt a child. To Picciotto’s dismay, the United States would not let her bring the newly adopted child back to the U.S. Sympathetic to her plight, a local family took her and the child in and provided them with food and shelter. Soon, for no particular reason, Picciotto suspected that the family sought to harm or abduct the child. After a rampage directed at her hosts, she departed with her child and brings it to the United States, illegally. Her paranoia, it seems, intensifies after returning to New York, to a point in which her husband, through the legal system, took custody of the child away from her, divorced her and ordered the court to recommend state-facilitated mental treatment for Picciotto. Picciotto, in shambles, refused the treatment and fled to Washington, DC, where she has been ever since. Now the government is out to get her, Picciotto claims.
The case of Conception Picciotto is a tragic one certainly deserving our pity. Yet, outrage should be reserved not only for her apparent disease, but also for those have taken advantage of her for political imperatives since she arrived in Washington. Given her location and derangement, it has been easy for left-wing political activists to use Ms. Picciotto for their own ends. In front of her shack, there lay pictures of mangled bodies of those purported to be Palestinian children, labels referencing the Elders of Zion, as well as posters that allege that wealthy Zionist Jews control President Bush. Surrounding these posters are piles of flyers implicating Jews in a 9/11 conspiracy. Given the plethora of anti-Semitic and Israel bashing paraphernalia, it would be fair to venture that she encountered and was engaged in conversation by PLO or Hamas activists. A jogger who saw me interviewing Ms. Picciotto later informed The Patriot that “educated and refined looking men and women often provide her with material, and that the nature of the conspiracy she describes changes [every few months].” When I encountered her, it was obvious that this month’s conspiracy was oriented around Zionism and the Jewish People.
And as Zionist-conspiracy theories go, Picciotto’s is as extensive as it is bizarre. She proclaimed, “What is important is revealing the Zionist agenda and everything the United States is doing to make people all around suffer for the Zionists. Everybody who influences or has power in America is a Zionist Jew. President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Martha Stewart, everybody.” When asked why she thought Martha Stewart was a Zionist, Piccoto responded that Stewart “brings Zionist values into American homes, which is why they placed her in her position.” Apparently, not even in the comfort of your Martha Stewart bed sheets can you escape the clutches of subversive Zionism.
I for one, as a Jew, was not terribly concerned by her rhetoric, realizing that few walking past her would be receptive to it. After all, her claims could very well have been taken straight out of The Learned Elders of Zion! However, when I asked Picciotto from whom she receives financial and moral support, I was alarmed by one of the sources: Jews United against Zionism. Elaborating, Picciotto stated, “A Jew against Zionism once told me that ‘Iran is not the biggest threat to the Jewish People, Israel is the biggest threat to the Jewish People’…of course Israel should be destroyed.”
Jews United against Zionism, also known as Neturei Karta, is an organization whose members are against the existence of the State of Israel due their belief that Jews should not establish a state in the holy land until the Messiah arrives. Despite the fact that Israel is a democracy—not a Jewish theocracy—and the fact that every other Orthodox Jewish sect has rejected Neturei Karta’s claims against the inherently secular Zionist movement, Neturei Karta Jews actively oppose not only every Israeli policy but also the very existence of Israel. Rejected by the mainstream Jewish community, Neturei Karta has provided moral support for terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives. Most recently, several chief Neturei Karta Rabbis attended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust Denial Conference. They were, of course, condemned by virtually every Jewish organization.
The very existence of a Jewish group labeled “Jews against Zionism” affords the “rebels without a cause” on college campuses the means to make the argument that there exist anti-Zionist Jews, thus giving legitimacy to their own anti-Zionism. Neturei Karta aids anti-Israel advocates on campus in spreading messages of hate through allocation of funds and by merely showing up at rallies in their ultra-orthodox apparel. I often question if left-wing activists would take advantage of the existence of a Jewish anti-Zionist group if they were made aware of its member’s religious zealotry and extremism.
When asked why pictures of the genocides in Darfur or Uganda were absent from her graphic anti-war poster boards, Picciotto answered: “In Darfur maybe there is genocide, maybe there is not. But I do know one thing, and that is the only people talking about it are Zionist Jews. Everybody knows that the government that might be doing this in Darfur is for the destruction of Israel, and that because of this the Zionists want it to go away, just like Iran.” Surely liberals at GW—whom I truly believe have the best of intentions—would be disgusted by such a statement. Little do many realize, unfortunately, that by championing her as an anti-war hero they are aligning themselves with someone who denies genocide.
Consider which is the greater tragedy surrounding Concepción Picciotto—that extremists are taking advantage of a disturbed homeless woman or the fact that anti-Semitic genocide-denying lies are being presented to thousands of pedestrians a day in the context of innocent human rights activism. On a daily basis anti-war tourists can be seen posing for pictures with Picciotto. This scenario demonstrates the vulnerability, as well as a lack of moral clarity, among the mainstream of self-proclaimed liberals that for decades have allowed themselves to continue to unknowingly serve as useful idiots for our enemies abroad. In my grandparents’ generation, the Nazis first thrived off of understanding on college campuses in Europe. In my parents’ generation the youth became the catalysts of Communism in the West. And today I witness the self-proclaimed “open-minded” being manipulated by Islamofascists under the guise of the “peace” movement. Students should learn that allying with any one who opposes President Bush places them in the company of genocide-denying lunatics like Picciotto and traitors like Jews United Against Zionism.
Eric Gallagher is a freshman majoring in political science.
Yet, Picciotto’s mistrust of the government is so profound that it has induced her to drape her head in tinfoil to prevent the government from using “a laser situated on the roof of the White House to infiltrate [her] thoughts.” Indeed, her presence tends to generate pity among tourists who realize that Picciotto has a few screws loose. Liberal activists, however, see her as an important comrade in their crusade against the Bush administration, recognizing that she sits on perhaps the most prime piece of real estate in Washington in terms of demonstrating against government policies.
After 9/11, political demonstrators found it rather difficult to encamp themselves outside of high-security landmarks. The areas immediately surrounding the White House and Capitol Building (“ground zero” for 1960s anti-war protestors) are now encompassed by security checkpoints and zones acceptable for tourist and pedestrian activity. A Secret Service officer speaking anonymously told The Patriot that Federal property laws enacted in 1983 have banned demonstrators from encamping themselves outside of Federal property without a permit. Calling a small patch of sidewalk in Lafayette Park her home since 1981, Picciotto’s residence was not affected by the 1983 law which allowed her to maintain her current abode. However, if Picciotto were to leave her makeshift for a period of time, her home would be dismantled by rangers from the National Park Service.
So who is Conception Picciotto, what is her story? Speaking anonymously, a Secret Service officer informed The Patriot that two of his co-workers have seen her stroll the streets of Washington in an SUV, and that on a regular basis what appear to be Picciotto’s adult children visit her. Seeking to get a better understanding of Ms. Picciotto, I visited her website: http://www.prop1.org/conchita.
Her grammatically flawed autobiography tells a story of a paranoid, mentally unstable woman. According to the site, after immigrating to the United States at the age 18 from Spain, Picciotto obtained a position at the Spanish Consulate in New York and married an Italian immigrant. The couple moved in with Picciotto’s husband’s sister in Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after the move in, Picciotto began to suspect that her husband was having an affair with his own sister and that the sister was following her to and from work. In an effort to solidify her spouse’s love for her in the wake of this speculated affair and due to her own infertility, Picciotto decided to start a family and traveled to South America to adopt a child. To Picciotto’s dismay, the United States would not let her bring the newly adopted child back to the U.S. Sympathetic to her plight, a local family took her and the child in and provided them with food and shelter. Soon, for no particular reason, Picciotto suspected that the family sought to harm or abduct the child. After a rampage directed at her hosts, she departed with her child and brings it to the United States, illegally. Her paranoia, it seems, intensifies after returning to New York, to a point in which her husband, through the legal system, took custody of the child away from her, divorced her and ordered the court to recommend state-facilitated mental treatment for Picciotto. Picciotto, in shambles, refused the treatment and fled to Washington, DC, where she has been ever since. Now the government is out to get her, Picciotto claims.
The case of Conception Picciotto is a tragic one certainly deserving our pity. Yet, outrage should be reserved not only for her apparent disease, but also for those have taken advantage of her for political imperatives since she arrived in Washington. Given her location and derangement, it has been easy for left-wing political activists to use Ms. Picciotto for their own ends. In front of her shack, there lay pictures of mangled bodies of those purported to be Palestinian children, labels referencing the Elders of Zion, as well as posters that allege that wealthy Zionist Jews control President Bush. Surrounding these posters are piles of flyers implicating Jews in a 9/11 conspiracy. Given the plethora of anti-Semitic and Israel bashing paraphernalia, it would be fair to venture that she encountered and was engaged in conversation by PLO or Hamas activists. A jogger who saw me interviewing Ms. Picciotto later informed The Patriot that “educated and refined looking men and women often provide her with material, and that the nature of the conspiracy she describes changes [every few months].” When I encountered her, it was obvious that this month’s conspiracy was oriented around Zionism and the Jewish People.
And as Zionist-conspiracy theories go, Picciotto’s is as extensive as it is bizarre. She proclaimed, “What is important is revealing the Zionist agenda and everything the United States is doing to make people all around suffer for the Zionists. Everybody who influences or has power in America is a Zionist Jew. President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Martha Stewart, everybody.” When asked why she thought Martha Stewart was a Zionist, Piccoto responded that Stewart “brings Zionist values into American homes, which is why they placed her in her position.” Apparently, not even in the comfort of your Martha Stewart bed sheets can you escape the clutches of subversive Zionism.
I for one, as a Jew, was not terribly concerned by her rhetoric, realizing that few walking past her would be receptive to it. After all, her claims could very well have been taken straight out of The Learned Elders of Zion! However, when I asked Picciotto from whom she receives financial and moral support, I was alarmed by one of the sources: Jews United against Zionism. Elaborating, Picciotto stated, “A Jew against Zionism once told me that ‘Iran is not the biggest threat to the Jewish People, Israel is the biggest threat to the Jewish People’…of course Israel should be destroyed.”
Jews United against Zionism, also known as Neturei Karta, is an organization whose members are against the existence of the State of Israel due their belief that Jews should not establish a state in the holy land until the Messiah arrives. Despite the fact that Israel is a democracy—not a Jewish theocracy—and the fact that every other Orthodox Jewish sect has rejected Neturei Karta’s claims against the inherently secular Zionist movement, Neturei Karta Jews actively oppose not only every Israeli policy but also the very existence of Israel. Rejected by the mainstream Jewish community, Neturei Karta has provided moral support for terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, that are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives. Most recently, several chief Neturei Karta Rabbis attended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust Denial Conference. They were, of course, condemned by virtually every Jewish organization.
The very existence of a Jewish group labeled “Jews against Zionism” affords the “rebels without a cause” on college campuses the means to make the argument that there exist anti-Zionist Jews, thus giving legitimacy to their own anti-Zionism. Neturei Karta aids anti-Israel advocates on campus in spreading messages of hate through allocation of funds and by merely showing up at rallies in their ultra-orthodox apparel. I often question if left-wing activists would take advantage of the existence of a Jewish anti-Zionist group if they were made aware of its member’s religious zealotry and extremism.
When asked why pictures of the genocides in Darfur or Uganda were absent from her graphic anti-war poster boards, Picciotto answered: “In Darfur maybe there is genocide, maybe there is not. But I do know one thing, and that is the only people talking about it are Zionist Jews. Everybody knows that the government that might be doing this in Darfur is for the destruction of Israel, and that because of this the Zionists want it to go away, just like Iran.” Surely liberals at GW—whom I truly believe have the best of intentions—would be disgusted by such a statement. Little do many realize, unfortunately, that by championing her as an anti-war hero they are aligning themselves with someone who denies genocide.
Consider which is the greater tragedy surrounding Concepción Picciotto—that extremists are taking advantage of a disturbed homeless woman or the fact that anti-Semitic genocide-denying lies are being presented to thousands of pedestrians a day in the context of innocent human rights activism. On a daily basis anti-war tourists can be seen posing for pictures with Picciotto. This scenario demonstrates the vulnerability, as well as a lack of moral clarity, among the mainstream of self-proclaimed liberals that for decades have allowed themselves to continue to unknowingly serve as useful idiots for our enemies abroad. In my grandparents’ generation, the Nazis first thrived off of understanding on college campuses in Europe. In my parents’ generation the youth became the catalysts of Communism in the West. And today I witness the self-proclaimed “open-minded” being manipulated by Islamofascists under the guise of the “peace” movement. Students should learn that allying with any one who opposes President Bush places them in the company of genocide-denying lunatics like Picciotto and traitors like Jews United Against Zionism.
Eric Gallagher is a freshman majoring in political science.
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