Re: Constant Vigilance

[rynling]

One month after controversial adult-content purge, far-right pages are thriving on Tumblr
https://thinkprogress.org/far-right-content-survived-tumblr-purge-36635e6aba4b/

This subtle far-right creep echoes a 2017 study by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue which warned that the far-right had become extremely adapt at using internet platforms to normalize their ideas. “The weaponisation of internet culture is deliberately used by extreme-right influencers to bring about attitude and behavioural change, in particular among the younger generations,” the report warned.

This sort of normalization of white nationalist talking points was what tech companies were supposedly shocked by - and promised to stop - in the wake of Charlottesville, as they provided an easy way of “red-pilling,” or radicalizing and recruiting, new members, most of whom are young, white, disaffected men.

White Supremacist Propaganda

https://closet-keys.tumblr.com/post/160047478578/white-supremacist-propaganda-while-a-lot-of-klan

The intent is to convince racist white people (who don’t think of themselves as racist, but who clearly are, and clearly feel angry when their entitlement isn’t immediately gratified) that the hate group in question is just ‘misunderstood’ and is really about pride and celebrating your own culture, etc.

The intent is that once someone falls for that bait and hook, they can play up on their underlying resentment and entitlement. If you already believe that you should be able to celebrate being white, and they can bring you from that belief to the belief that people of color are preventing you from your right to have pride in that, then they can foster anger against people of color. From there, any time there is a collective societal reaction of disgust towards the hate group or towards the notion of white pride, the recruited whites can be relied upon to feel victimized by society collectively.
 

Both of these essays accurately reflect my social media experience with mainstream white supremacy and white supremacist messaging, which is worded and coded in such a way that it seems plausible that a decent, reasonable person would agree with it if they didn't know where it was coming from. "Loving your heritage doesn't mean being a racist" is representative of this type of entry-level messaging, which is intended to target people who feel socially alienated and are searching for positivity and affirmation.

The reason that cult-like belief systems are so fringe is because most people find them uncomfortable and strange and don't want anything to do with them, but that doesn't mean there isn't real danger in spreading this messaging.

I wish I could express myself better, but this whole thing makes me very tired and upset.

Comments

[runicmagitek]

This all reminds me of a conversation I tried to have with my mom several years ago about why I feel uncomfortable around her husband, mostly in that he's extremely racist in exactly these ways that the provided essays talk about. And even the times I used examples of him being racist point-blank, she just shrugged it off as, "Well, he's a good man and means well." But does he actually mean well in regards to anyone who isn't an old white guy like himself? Sigh.... and then I go online and see there are younger clones of him everywhere and yeah.

That makes two of us being very tired and upset of this fucked up shit :\