It’s Time To Call The Alt-Right What It Really Is – White Supremacy
Protesters marched in Washington on Saturday, outside a conference of alt-right writers, activists and supporters. Credit (Al Drago/The New York Times)
If you’re a news junkie like me, then you’re probably as tired as I am of hearing the word “normalization”, or some variant, being thrown around. First it was being used to describe the media for not being alarmists about a Trump Presidency. Then it was directed at the people who decided, “hey lets give this guy (Trump) a chance before we shut him down entirely.” In fact the word has gained so much currency in the news cycle that it almost feels like anyone who uses it is “crying wolf” in some weird way; whether they are or aren’t.
However, now it’s being used to describe those who nonchalantly speak of “The Alt-Right.” But this is different. This is an undeniable wolf in the village.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/3/1495132/-The-first-NYT-article-on-Hitler-serves-as-a-reminder-about-why-we-can-t-downplay-hateful-rhetoric” class=”aligncenter size-full” />The first article in the New York Times on Adolph Hitler via http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/3/1495132/-The-first-NYT-article-on-Hitler-serves-as-a-reminder-about-why-we-can-t-downplay-hateful-rhetoric
But, several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as bait to catch messes of followers, and keep them aroused, enthusiastic and in line for the time when his organization is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.
A sophisticated politician credited Hitler with peculiar political cleverness for laying emphasis and over emphasis on anti-Semitism, saying: “You can’t expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels and ideas like anti-Semitism. It would be politically all wrong to tell them the truth about where you really are leading them.”
The above excerpt from The New York Times (1922) reveals that reliable sources close to Hitler were downplaying the hateful, anti-Semitic rhetoric he used to win over followers. In other words, “normalizing” it. They believed that his actions were all smoke and mirrors, and that the harsh rhetoric was solely being used as a tool to mobilize and enthuse his political party.
Feel familiar?
Now, I am by no means preemptively comparing Hitler and the Nazis to Trump and the Alt-Right. In fact, Donald Trump has repeatedly disavowed the alt-right movement. But what I am saying is that when hate groups start very publicly professing their ideologies and use similar hateful rhetoric, that we should take them at their word.
For those who may be unfamiliar this is what their word sounds like, courtesy of President and Director of The National Policy Institute, Richard B. Spencer:
This 'alt-right' conference in D.C. openly advocated white supremacy and had frightening Nazi undertones https://t.co/n2Cq74oLpf
They are out here at a conference yelling "Heil Trump." 2016. https://t.co/vZvAz83686
— @deray
Not only is this cringe-worthy and alarming, but when questioned after the fact, Spencer told a PBS producer that his rhetoric was “clearly done in a spirit of irony and exuberance.”
Really?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdtKbq3Omkw” class=”aligncenter size-full” />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdtKbq3Omkw
This is the same man who’s called for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” and dreams of an “ethno-state that would be a gathering point for all Europeans.” None of that sounds like exuberance or irony to me. It sounds like his vision for America. And his vision for America is the alt-rights’ vision for America.
To make things clear when the alt-right describes themselves as being against globalization it really means they’re anti everything that didn’t originate from a white Christian. When they rail against multiculturalism, it means that they don’t like people who aren’t white and don’t celebrate Christian holidays. When they call themselves ethno-nationalists it means… well you get the point.
This stuff is alarming. It’s not normal. It can’t be normalized. And if you find yourself falling victim to headlines that refer to the code-name for white nationalism you can always download this
and sign this
and not fall victim to headlines that market white-supremacist organizations as cool guy “think tanks” like this
Meet the new think tank in town: The "alt-right" comes to Washington https://t.co/HzWjchaABY
— @latimes
