Appropriated Martyrs: The Branch Davidians and the Radical Right

After the disastrous end of the Waco standoff in 1993, the Branch Davidian dead were idealized as martyrs by many on the radical right, despite the incompatibility between Davidian doctrine and right-wing ideology. This appropriation suggests the importance of martyrologists in identifying martyrs, as well as the increasing malleability of the concept of martyrdom. For martyrdom, as it appears in the right-wing treatment of the Waco affair, departs significantly from classical definitions of what constitutes a martyr.