# Do you know what the John Birch Society is? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008 "2011-02-20T14:56:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/21 "2011-02-20T20:33:53Z")
They are the Tea Party/Reform Party. There always have been, always are and always will be fringes to either side of political parties. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/22 "2011-02-20T20:34:17Z")
I have been reading The Straight Dope since I was around 13, (1983 or 1984?) which is when I think Cecil devoted an entire column to the Birchers. I still can picture Slug’s illustration on that one… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/23 "2011-02-21T00:26:07Z")
The Birchers were the Tea Party before it got to be as successful as the Tea Party was. Same people and themes. Just never got any traction because people like Beck, Coulter, Hannity and Limbaugh were ignored by the MSM 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/24 "2011-02-21T00:42:04Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I mainly only know it from Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics although I think it is also mentioned in some of Phillip Roth’s books. Let’s see how close I can get to this one without looking it up. The Freaks have a bunch of acid on sugar cubes and they leave the box of them in their van. One of the Freaks’ fathers has to take the van to his John Birch meeting because “The Cadillac won’t start! The Cadillac won’t start!”. He spies the sugar cubes in the van and takes them in for coffee. All the Birchers have coffee with sugar, and then they embark on an ancestral memory trip, where they’re Druids lurking in their mystic groves or whatever. The end of the comic has the father coming home and the mother asks how the meeting went. The father is dressed as some sort of tribal warrior, and he says they’ve dissolved their chapter. How’d I do? ---
**Author:** ![bartleby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bartleby/32/10491_2.png) [@bartleby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bartleby)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/25 "2011-02-21T15:27:28Z")
heh, i learned about it via Mad Magazine… and Pogo ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/26 "2011-02-21T15:28:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I know what they were, but only because of the Bob Dylan song. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/27 "2011-02-21T15:38:48Z")
“Join the John Birch Society, holding off the Reds **We’ll use our hands and hearts, and if we must, we’ll use our heads** ” This wine never goes away, it just gets a new label. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/28 "2011-02-21T15:59:23Z")
I knew who they were, forgot, and was then reminded by that Dylan song. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/29 "2011-02-21T16:04:33Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > “Join the John Birch Society, holding off the Reds > **We’ll use our hands and hearts, and if we must, we’ll use our heads** ” > > This wine never goes away, it just gets a new label. I also like the first chorus:Join the John Birch Society, help us fill the ranks — To get this movement started we’ll need lots of tools and cranks. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/30 "2011-02-21T16:19:57Z")
Bob Dylan? I knew about it because of the Charlie Daniels song: I’m a faithful follower of Brother John Birch And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church And I don’t even have a garage–you can call home and ask my wife! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/31 "2011-02-21T16:34:03Z")
Heck, I’ve got a copy of Walt Kelly’s “The Jack Acid Society Black Book.” (Although I think “Jack Ash Society” is a more elegant parody of the name.) ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/32 "2011-02-21T16:46:38Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Bob Dylan? I knew about it because of the Charlie Daniels song: > > I’m a faithful follower of Brother John Birch > And I belong to the Antioch Baptist Church > And I don’t even have a garage–you can call home and ask my wife! I also came in here to mention that song, Uneasy Rider. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/33 "2011-02-21T17:57:57Z")
Sure, I know who the Birchers are. And so should you, considering that W. Cleon Skousen is [where Glenn Beck gets most of his worst ideas](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/16/beck_skousen) from. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/34 "2011-02-21T18:06:28Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Let’s see how close I can get to this one without looking it up. The Freaks have a bunch of acid on sugar cubes and they leave the box of them in their van. One of the Freaks’ fathers has to take the van to his John Birch meeting because “The Cadillac won’t start! The Cadillac won’t start!”. He spies the sugar cubes in the van and takes them in for coffee. All the Birchers have coffee with sugar, and then they embark on an ancestral memory trip, where they’re Druids lurking in their mystic groves or whatever. The end of the comic has the father coming home and the mother asks how the meeting went. The father is dressed as some sort of tribal warrior, and he says they’ve dissolved their chapter. > > How’d I do? Sounds about right but tbh I can’t fully recall, it’s been years since I read it. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/35 "2011-02-21T18:10:54Z")
That Dylan song, [_Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AylFqdxRMwE) ([lyrics](http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/talkin-john-birch-paranoid-blues)). Charlie Daniels’ [_Uneasy Rider_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCytbDEtks) (and it’s um, interesting, sequel [_Uneasy Rider 88’_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzTU7VAPLY) all about the joys of fag bashing, guess he didn’t hear the warning about the brown acid . . . or something). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/36 "2011-02-21T18:28:37Z")
I think I got the general idea of what it was after seeing the “Fred Birch Society” in the game Illuminati. It’s an “America – Love It or Leave It” kind of group, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/37 "2011-02-21T19:10:22Z")
Would it be too reductive if I were to say I know who they are, when all I really “know” about them is that they’re a bunch of right-wing wackos who see their anti-communism as a hammer, and every conceivable social ill as a nail? Thing is, I don’t like to view myself as someone who just looks to the stereotype and lets it go at that. I suppose it’s theoretically possible for there to be more to them than their stereotype. But I’m gonna vote “know them,” anyway. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/38 "2011-02-21T20:29:24Z")
Now that I think about it, the first time I heard of the Birchers was when Eric Snow, 1980’s Padres pitcher, revealed that he was a member. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/39 "2011-02-21T20:55:10Z")
A sick & lasting legacy of the McCarthy Era. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008/40 "2011-02-21T21:23:32Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > Not only know about them, but I know who John Birch was:American intelligence officer killed by the Chinese Communists shortly after the end of WWII. Considered by the JBS to be the first US casualty of the Cold War. Yes, but have you read his biography? I have! said handsomeharry, proudly. Best wishes, hh [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-the-john-birch-society-is/572008.md?page=3)