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innuendostudios · 3 years

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I was invited to give a talk on GamerGate over Zoom in early 2021. I've long been frustrated that there isn't a good timeline of GG and its origins on YouTube. When people ask "what the hell was GG anyway?" they often get referred to my or Dan Olson's videos on the subject, but both of them were made while GG was ongoing, and presumed a degree of familiarity on the part of the audience. There was just too much to say about what was already happening to spend time getting the audience up to speed, and it was safe to assume our audiences had enough context to follow along. But time moves fast on the internet, and many people who now care about such things weren't there while it was happening, and are lacking the necessary context to follow the better videos. For a long time, I've only been able to direct them to RationalWiki's timeline, which is excellent but so exhaustively comprehensive that it's likely to scare off first-timers.

I realize an hourlong lecture isn't necessarily helping matters, but the first 20-or-so minutes of this video are my attempt at streamlining the timeline such that people can be up to speed on the most important stuff fairly quickly. The rest is talking about what it all meant, how it prefigured the Alt-Right, and using it to better understand digital radicalization.

This video was made with the help of Magdalen Rose, who edited the slides to the audio while I was laid up with a back injury. Go sub to her channel! And please back me on Patreon.

Transcript below the cut.

FUCKING VIDEO GAMES? FUCKING VIDEO GAMES. THEY MADE DOZENS OF PEOPLE MISERABLE FOR YEARS OVER VIDEO GAMES! NOT EVEN FUCKING VIDEO GAMES, FUCKING ARTICLES ABOUT FUCKING VIDEO GAMES. THIS IS WHAT PASSES FOR LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS SHIT??

Hi! My name is Ian Danskin. I’m a video essayist and media artist. I run the YouTube channel Innuendo Studios, please like share and subscribe.

I’m here to talk to you about GamerGate, and I needed to get all that out of the way. I’m going to talk about what GamerGate was and how it prefigured The Alt-Right, and there are gonna be moments where you’re nodding along with me, going, “yeah, yeah I get it,” and then the sun’s gonna break through a crack in the wall and you’ll suddenly remember that all this is happening because some folks - mostly ladies - said some stuff - provably true stuff, I might add - about video games and a bunch of guys didn’t like it, and you’re gonna want to rip your hair out. By the end of this, you will have a better understanding of what happened, but it will never not be bullshit.

Also, oh my god, content warning. Racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, rape threats, threats of violence, domestic abuse - I’m not going to depict or describe at length any of the worst stuff, but it’s all in the mix. So if at any point you need to switch me off or mute me, you have my blessing.

Brace yourselves.

Some quick prehistory:

In 2012, feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian ran a Kickstarter campaign for a YouTube series on sexist tropes in video games. And, partway through the campaign, 4chan found it and said “let’s ruin her life.” And a lot of the male general gaming public joined in. And by “ruin her life” I’m not talking 150 angry tweets including dozens of rape and death threats per week, though that was a thing. I’m talking bomb threats. I’m talking canceled speaking engagements because someone threatened to shoot up a school. I’m talking FBI investigation. The harassers faced no meaningful repercussions.

And in 2013, Zoe Quinn released Depression Quest, a free text game about living with depression. They received harassment off and on for the next year, most pointedly from an incel forum called Wizardchan that doxxed their phone number and made harassing phone calls telling them to kill themself. The harassers faced no meaningful repercussions.

(Also, quick note: Zoe Quinn is nonbinary and has come out since the events in question. When I call Zoe’s harassment misogynist, understand I am not calling Zoe a woman, but they were attacked by people who hate women because that’s how they were perceived. Had they been out at the time things probably would’ve gone down similarly, but on top of misogyny I’d be talking about nonbinary erasure and transphobia.)

Okay. Our story begins in August 2014. The August that never ended.

Depression Quest, after a prolonged period on Greenlight, finally releases on Steam as a free download with the option to pay what you want. In the days that follow, Zoe’s ex-boyfriend, Eron Gjoni, writes a nearly 10,000-word blog called The Zoe Post, in which he claims Quinn had been a shitty and unfaithful partner. (For reference, 10,000 words is long enough that the Hugos would consider it a novelette.) This is posted to forums on Penny Arcade and Something Awful, both of which immediately take it down, finding it, at best, a lot of toxic hearsay and, at worse, an invitation to harassment. So Gjoni workshops the post, adds a bunch of edgelord humor (and I am using the word “humor” very generously), and reposts it to three different subforums on 4chan.

We’re not going to litigate whether Zoe Quinn was a good partner. I don’t know or care. I don’t think anyone on this call is trying to date them so I’m not sure that’s our business. What is known is that the relationship lasted five months, and, after it ended, Gjoni began stalking Quinn. Gjoni has, in fact, laid out how he stalked Quinn in meticulous detail to interviewers and why he feels it was justified. It’s also been corroborated by a friend that Quinn briefly considered taking him back at a games conference in San Francisco, but he became violent during sex and Quinn left the apartment in the middle of the night with visible bruises.

Off of the abusive ex-boyfriend’s post, 4chan decides it’s going to make Zoe Quinn one of their next targets, and starts a private IRC channel to plan the campaign. The channel is called #BurgersAndFries, a reference to Gjoni claiming Quinn had cheated on him with five guys. A couple sentences in The Zoe Post - which Gjoni would later claim were a typo - imply that one of the five guys was games journalist Nathan Grayson and that Quinn had slept with him in exchange for a good review of Depression Quest. Given the anger that they’d seen drummed up against women in games with the previous Anita Sarkeesian hate mob, #BurgersAndFries decides to focus on this breach of “ethics in games journalism” as a cover story, many of them howling with laughter at the thought that male gamers would probably buy it. This way, destroying Quinn’s life and career and turning their community against them would appear an unfortunate byproduct of a legitimate consumer revolt; criticism of the harassment could even be framed as a distraction from the bigger issue. Gjoni himself is in the IRC channel telling them that this was the best hand to play.

The stated aim of many on #BurgersAndFries was to convince Quinn to commit suicide.

Two regulars in the IRC, YouTubers MundaneMatt and Internet Aristocrat, make videos about The Zoe Post. Incidentally, both these men had already made a lot of money off videos about Anita Sarkeesian. Matt’s is swiftly taken down with a DMCA claim, and he says that Quinn filed the claim themself. (For the record, in those days, YouTube didn’t tell you who filed DMCA claims against you.) Members of the IRC also reach out to YouTuber TotalBiscuit, who had been critical of Sarkeesian and dismissive of her harassment, and he tweets the story to his 350,000 followers, saying a game developer trading sex for a good review might not prove true, but was certainly plausible.

This is where GamerGate begins to get public traction.

Zoe Quinn is very swiftly doxxed, with their phone number, home address, nudes, and names and numbers of their family collected. Gjoni himself leaks their birth name. The Zoe Post, and the movement against Quinn - now dubbed “The Quinnspiracy” - make it to The Escapist and Reddit, which mods will have little luck removing. The Quinnspiracy declares war on any site that does take their threads down, most vehemently NeoGAF. People who defend Zoe against the harassment start getting doxxed themselves - Fez developer Phil Fish is doxxed so thoroughly, hackers get access to the root folder of his website.

In what I’m going to call This Should Have Been The End, Part 1, Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief at Kotaku where Nathan Grayson worked, in response to pressure not just from The Quinnspiracy but an increasing number of angry gamers buying The Quinnspiracy’s narrative, publishes a story. In it he verifies that Quinn and Grayson did date for several months, and that not only is there no review of Depression Quest anywhere on Kotaku, not by Grayson nor anyone else, but that Grayson did not write a single word about Quinn the entire time they were dating.

In response, The Quinnspiracy declares war on Kotaku. r/KotakuinAction is formed, which will become the primary site of organization outside of chanboards. The fact that their entire “movement” is based on a review that does not exist changes next to nothing.

Some people start to see The Quinnspiracy as potentially profitable. The Fine Young Capitalists get involved, a group ostensibly working to get women into video games but who have a Byzantine plan to do so wherein they crowdfund the budget and the woman who wins a competition gets to storyboard a game, but another company will make and she will get 8% of the profits, the rest going to a charity chosen by the top donor. 4chan becomes the top donor. They like TFYC because the head of the company has a vendetta against Zoe Quinn, who had previously called them out for their transphobic submission policy, and he falsely accused Quinn of having once doxxed him. 4chan feels backing an ostensibly feminist effort will be good PR, but can’t resist selecting a colon cancer charity because, they say, feminism is cancer and they want to be the cure to butthurt. They also get to design a character for the game, and so they create Vivian James, who will become the GamerGate mascot.

Manosphere YouTubers Jordan Owen and Davis Aurini launch a Patreon campaign for their antifeminist documentary The Sarkeesian Effect and come to The Quinnspiracy looking for $15,000 a month for an indefinite period to make it, which they get.

In what will prove genuinely awful timing, Anita Sarkeesian releases the second episode of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, and, despite not being a games journalist and having nothing to do with Quinn or Grayson, she is immediately roped into the narrative about how feminists are ruining games culture and becomes the second major target of harassment. Both she and Quinn soon have to leave their houses after having receiving dozens and dozens of death threats that include their home addresses.

After being courted by members of the IRC channel, Firefly star Adam Baldwin tweets a link to one of the Quinnspiracy videos and coins the hashtag #GamerGate. This is swiftly adopted by all involved.

In response to all this, Leigh Alexander writes a piece for Gamasutra arguing that the identity that these men are flocking to the “ethics in games journalism” narrative to defend no longer matters as a marketing demographic. Gaming and games culture is so large and so varied, and the “core gamer” audience of 18-34 white bros growing smaller and septic, that there was no reason, neither morally nor financially, to treat them as the primary audience anymore. Love of gaming is eternal, but, she declared, “gamers,” as an identity, “are over.” Eight more articles contextualizing GamerGate alongside misogyny and the gatekeeping of games culture come out across several websites in the following days. GamerGate frames these as a clear sign of [deep sigh] collusion to oppress gamers, proving that ethics in games journalism is, indeed, broken, and Leigh Alexander becomes the third major target of harassment. These become known as the “gamers are dead” articles - a phrase not one of them uses - and they make “get Leigh Alexander fired from Gamasutra” one of their primary goals.

Something I need you to understand is that it has, at this point, been two weeks.

Highlights from the next little bit: Alex Macris, a higher up at The Escapist’s parent company, expresses support for GamerGate; he will go on to write the first positive coverage at a major publication and cement The Escapist as GamerGate-friendly. Mike Cernovich, aka “Based Lawyer,” gets GamerGate’s attention by mocking Anita Sarkeesian; he will go on to hire a private investigator to stalk Zoe Quinn. GamerGate launches Operation Disrespectful Nod, an email campaign pressuring companies to pull advertising from websites that have criticized them. They leverage their POC members, getting them, any time someone points out the rampant racism and antisemitism among GamerGaters, to say “I am a person of color and I am #NotYourShield”; most of these “POC members” are fake accounts left over from a previous, racist disinformation campaign. Milo Yiannapoulos gets involved, writing positive coverage of GG despite having mocked gamers for precisely this behavior in the past, and gets so much traffic it pulls Breitbart News out of obscurity and makes it a significant player in modern conservative news media.

[Hey! Ian from the future here. This talk mostly addresses how GamerGate prefigured the Alt-Right strategically and philosophically, but if you want a more explicit, material connection: Breitbart News took its newfound notoriety to become, as its Executive Chair phrased it in 2016, "a platform for the Alt-Right." That Executive Chair was Steve Bannon, who threw the website's weight behind The Future President Who Shall Not Be Named, and, upon getting his attention, would then go on to become his campaign strategist and work in his Administration. So, if you're wondering how one of the central figures of the Alt-Right ended up in the White House, the answer is literally "GamerGate." Back to you, Ian from the past!]

In what I’m calling This Should Have Been The End, Part 2, Zoe Quinn announces that they have been lurking the #BurgersAndFries IRC channel since the beginning and releases dozens of screenshots showing harassment being planned and the selection of “ethics in games journalism” as a cover. #BurgersAndFries has a meltdown, everyone turns on each other, and the channel is abandoned. And they then start another IRC and things proceed.

It goes on like this. I’m not gonna cover everything. This is just the first month. It should be clear by now that this thing is kind of unkillable. And I worry I haven’t made it obvious that this is not just a chanboard and an IRC. Thousands of regular, every day gamers were buying the story and joining in. They were angry, and no amount of evidence that their anger was unfounded was going to change that. You could not mention or even allude to GamerGate and not get flooded with dozens, even hundreds of furious replies. These replies always included the hashtag so everyone monitoring it could join in, so all attempts at real conversation devolved into a hundred forking threads where some people expected you to talk to them while others hurled insults and slurs. And always the possibility that, if any one of them didn’t like what you said, you’d be the next target.

To combat this, some progressives offered up the hashtag #GameEthics to the people getting swept up in GamerGate, saying, “look, we get that you’re angry, and if you want to talk about ethics in games journalism, we can totally do that, but using your hashtag is literally putting us in danger; they calling the police on people saying there’s a hostage situation at their home addresses so they get sent armed SWAT teams, and if you’ll just use this other hashtag we can have the conversation you say you want to have in safety.” And I will ever stop being salty about what happened.

They refused. They wouldn’t cede any ground to what they saw as their opposition. It was so important to have the conversation on their terms that not only did they refuse to use #GameEthics, they spammed it with furry porn so no one could use it.

A few major events on the timeline before we move on: Christina Hoff Sommers, the Republican Party’s resident “feminist,” comes out criticizing Anita Sarkeesian and becomes a major GG figurehead, earning the title Based Mom. Zoe Quinn gets a restraining order against Eron Gjoni, which he repeatedly violates, to no consequence; GG will later crowdfund his legal fees. There’s this listserv called GameJournoPros where game journalists would talk about their jobs, and many are discussing their concerns over GamerGate, so Milo Yiannopoulos leaks it and this is framed as further “proof of collusion.” 4chan finally starts enforcing its “no dox” rules and shuts GamerGate threads down, so they migrate to 8chan, a site famous for hosting like a lot of child porn. Indie game developer Brianna Wu makes a passing joke about GamerGate on Twitter and they decide, seemingly on a whim, to make her one of the biggest targets in the entire movement; she soon has to leave her home as well. GamerGate gets endorsements from WikiLeaks, Infowars, white nationalist sites Stormfront and The Daily Stormer, and professional rapist RooshV. And hundreds of people get doxxed; an 8chan subforum called Baphomet is created primarily to host dox of GamerGate’s critics.

But by November, GamerGate popularity was cresting, as more and more mainstream media covered it negatively. Their last, big spike in popularity came when Anita Sarkeesian went on The Colbert Report and Stephen made fun of the movement. Their numbers never recovered after that.

Which is not to say GamerGate ended. It slowed down. The period of confusion where the mainstream world couldn’t tell whether it was a legitimate movement or not passed. But, again, most harassers faced no meaningful repercussions. Gamers who bought the lie about “ethics in games journalism” stayed mad that no one had ever taken them seriously, and harassers continued to grief their targets for years. The full timeline of GamerGate is an constant cycle of lies, harassment, operations, grift, and doxxing. Dead-enders are to this day still using the hashtag. And remember how Anita had nothing to do with ethics in games journalism or Zoe Quinn, and they just roped her in because they’d enjoyed harassing her before so why not? Every one of GamerGate’s targets knows that they may get dragged into some future harassment campaign just because. It’s already happened to several of them. They’re marked.

(sigh) Let’s take a breath.

Now that we know what GamerGate was, let’s talk about why it worked.

In the thick of GamerGate, I started compiling a list of tactics I saw them using. I wanted to make a video essay that was one part discussion of antifeminist backlash, and one part list of techniques these people use so we can better recognize and anticipate their behavior. That first part became six parts and the second part went on a back burner. It would eventually become my series, The Alt-Right Playbook. GamerGate is illustrative because most of what would become The Alt-Right Playbook was in use.

Two foundational principles of The Alt-Right Playbook are Control the Conversation and Never Play Defense. Make sure people are talking about what you want them to talk about, and take an aggressive posture so you look dominant even when you’re not making sense. For instance: once Zoe leaked the IRC chatlogs, a reasonable person could tell the average gater, “the originators of GamerGate were planning harassment from the very beginning.” But the gater would say, “you’re cherry-picking; not everyone was a harasser.”

Now, this is a bad argument - that’s not how you use “cherry-picking” - and it’s being framed as an accusation - you’re not just wrong, you’re dishonest - which makes you wanna defend yourself. But, if you do - if you tell them why that argument is crap - you’ve let the conversation move from “did the IRC plan harassment?” - a question of fact - to “are the harassers representative of the movement?” - a question of ethics. Like, yes, they are, but only within a certain moral framework. An ethics question has no provable answer, especially if people are willing to make a lot of terrible arguments. It is their goal to move any question with a definitive answer to a question of philosophy, to turn an argument they can’t win into an argument nobody can win.

The trick is to treat the question you asked like it’s already been answered and bait you into addressing the next question. By arguing about whether you’re cherry-picking, you’re accepting the premise that whether you’re cherry-picking is even relevant. Any time this happens, it’s good to pause and ask, “what did we just skip over?” Because that will tell you a lot.

What you skipped over is their admission that, yes, the IRC did plan harassment, but that’s only on them if most of the movement was in on it. Which is a load of crap - the rest of the IRC saw it happening, let it happen, it’s not like anybody warned Zoe, and shit, I’m having the cherry-picking argument! They got me! You see how tempting it is? But presumably the reason you brought the harassment up is because you want them to do something about it. At the very least, leave the movement, but ideally try and stop it. They don’t, strictly speaking, need to feel personally responsible to do that. And you might be thinking, well, maybe if I can get them take responsibility then they’ll do something, but you’d be falling for a different technique I call I Hate Mondays.

This is where people will acknowledge a terrible thing is happening, maybe even agree it’s bad, but they don’t believe anything can be done about it. They also don’t believe you believe anything can be done about it. Mondays suck, but they come around every week. This is never stated outright, but it’s why you’re arguing past each other. To them, the only reason to talk about the bad thing is to assign blame. Whose turn is it to get shit on for the unsolvable problem? Their argument about cherry-picking amounts to “1-2-3 not it.” And they are furious with you for trying to make them responsible for harassment they didn’t participate in.

The unspoken argument is that harassment is part of being on the internet. Every public figure deals with it. This ignores any concept of scale - why does one person get harassed more than another? - but you can’t argue with someone who views it as a binary: harassment either happens or it doesn’t, and, if it does, it’s a fact of life, and, if it happens to everyone, it’s not gendered. And this is not a strongly-held belief they’ve come to after years of soul-searching - this is what they’ve just decided they believe. They want to participate in GamerGate despite knowing its purpose, and this is what would need to be true for that to be ok.

Or maybe they’re just fucking with you! Maybe you can’t tell. Maybe they can’t tell, either. I call this one The Card Says Moops, where people say whatever they feel will score points in an argument and are so irony-poisoned they have no idea whether they actually believe it. A very useful trick if the thing you appear to believe is unconscionable. You can’t take what people like that say at face value; you can only intuit their beliefs from their actions. They say they believe this one minute and that another, but their behavior is always in accordance with that, not this.

In the negative space, their belief is, “The harassment of these women is okay. My anger about video games is more important. I may not be harassing them myself, but they do kind of deserve it.” They will never say this out loud in a serious conversation, though many will say it in an anonymous or irreverent space where they can later deny they meant it. But, whatever they say they believe, this is the worldview they are operating under.

Obscuring this means flipping through a lot of contradictory arguments. The harassment is being faked, or it’s not being faked but it’s being exaggerated, or it’s not being exaggerated but the target is provoking it to get attention, which means GamerGate harassers simultaneously don’t exist, exist in small numbers, and exist in such large numbers someone can build a career out of relying on them! It can be kind of fun to take all these arguments made in isolation and try to string together an actual position. Like, GamerGate would argue that Nathan Grayson having previously mentioned Zoe Quinn in an article about a canceled reality show counts as positive coverage, and since Grayson reached out to Quinn for comment it’s reasonable to assume they started dating before the article was published (which is earlier than they claim), and positive coverage did lead to greater popularity for Depression Quest. But if you untangle that, it’s like… okay, you’re saying Zoe Quinn slept with a journalist in exchange for four nonconsecutive sentences that said no more than “Zoe Quinn exists and made a game,” and the price of those four sentences was to date the journalist for months, all to get rich off a game that didn’t cost any money. That’s your movement?

And some, if cornered, would say, “yes, we believe women are just that shitty, that one would fuck a guy for months if it made them the tiniest bit more famous.” But they won’t lead with that. Because they know it won’t convince the normies, even the ones who want to be convinced. So they use a process I call The Ship of Theseus to, piece by piece, turn that sentence into “slept with a journalist in exchange for a good review” and argue that each part of the sentence is technically accurate. It’s trying to lie without lying. And, provided all the pieces of this sentence are discussed separately, and only in the context of how they justify this sentence, you can trick yourself into believing this sentence is mostly true.

So, like, why? This is clearly motivated reasoning; what’s the motivation? What was this going to accomplish?

The answer is nothing. Nothing, by design. GamerGate’s “official” channels - the subreddit and the handful of forums that didn’t shut them down - were rigidly opposed to any action more organized than an email campaign. They had a tiny handful of tangible demands - they wanted gaming websites to post public ethics policies and had a list of people they wanted fired - but their larger aim was the sea change in how games journalism operated, which nothing they were asking for could possibly give them. The kind of anger that convinces you this is a true statement is not going to be addressed by a few paragraphs about ethics and Leigh Alexander getting a new job. They wanted gaming sites to stop catering to women and “SJWs” - who were a sizable and growing source of traffic - and to get out of the pockets of companies that advertised on their websites - which was their primary source of income. So all Kotaku had to do to make them happy was solve capitalism!

Meanwhile, the unofficial channels, like 8chan and Baphomet, were planning op after op to get private information, spread lies with fake accounts, get disinformation trending, make people quit jobs, cancel gigs, and flee their homes. Concrete goals with clear results. All you had to do to feel productive was go rogue. In my video,

How to Radicalize a Normie, I describe how the Alt-Right encourages lone wolf behavior by whipping people up into a rage and then refusing to give them anything to do, while surrounding them with examples of people taking matters into their own hands. The same mechanism is in play here: the public-facing channels don’t condone harassment but also refuse to fight it, the private channels commit it under cover of anonymity, and there is a free flow of traffic between them for when the official channels’ impotence becomes unbearable.

What I hope I’m illustrating is how these techniques play off of each other, how they create a closed ecosystem that rational thought cannot enter. There’s a phrase we use on the internet that got thrown around a lot at the time:

you can’t logic someone out of a position they didn’t logic themselves into.

Now, there are a few other big topics I think are relevant here, so I want to go through them one by one.

MEMEIFICATION

So a lot of interactions with GamerGate would involve a very insular knowledge base.

Like, you’d say something benign but progressive on Twitter.

A gater would show up in your mentions and say something aggressive and false.

You’d correct them. But then they’d come back and hit you with -

ah shit, sorry, this is a Loss meme.

If I were in front of a classroom I’d ask, show of hands, how many of you got that? I had to ask Twitter recently, does Gen Z know about Loss?!

If you don’t know what Loss is I’m not sure I can explain it to you. It’s this old, bad webcomic that was parodied so, so, so many times

that it was reduced to its barest essentials, to the point where any four panels with shapes in this arrangement is a Loss meme. For those of you in the know, you will recognize this anywhere, but have you ever tried to explain to someone who wasn’t in the know why this is really fuckin’ funny?

So, now… by the same process that this is a comics joke,

this is a rape joke.

I’m not gonna show the original image, but, once upon a time, someone made an animated GIF of the character Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z graphically raping Vegeta. 4chan loved it so much that it got posted daily, became known as the “daily dose,” until mods started deleting every incident of it. So they uploaded slightly edited version of it. Then they started uploading other images that had been edited with Piccolo’s color scheme. It got so abstracted that eventually any collection of purple and green pixels would be recognized as Piccolo Dick.

Apropos of nothing, GamerGate is a movement that insists it is not sexist in nature and it does not condone threats of rape against the women they don’t like. And this is their logo. This is their mascot.

If you’re familiar with the Daily Dose, the idea that GamerGate would never support Eron Gjoni if they believed he was a sexual abuser is so blatantly insincere it’s insulting… but imagine trying to explain to someone who’s not on 4chan how this sweater is a rape joke. Imagine having to explain it to a journalist. Imagine having to explain it to the judge enforcing your abuser’s restraining order.

Reactionaries use meme culture not just because they’re terminally online but also because it makes their behavior seem either benign or just confusing to outsiders. They find it hilarious that they can be really explicit and still fly under the radar. The Alt-Right did this with Pepe the Frog, the OK sign, even the milk glass emoji for a hot minute. The more inexplicable the meme, the better. You get the point where Stephen Miller is flashing Nazi signs from the White House and the Presidential re-eletion campaign is releasing 88 ads of exactly 14 words and there’s still a debate about whether the administration is racist. Because journalists aren’t going to get their heads around that. You tell them “1488 is a Nazi number,” it’s gonna seem a lot more plausible that you’re making shit up.

MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS

Online movements like GamerGate move at a speed and mutation rate too high for the mainstream world to keep up. And not just that they don’t understand the memes - they don’t understand the infrastructure.

In an attempt to cover GamerGate evenhandedly, George Wiedman of Super Bunnyhop interviewed a lawyer who specializes in journalistic ethics. He meant well; I really wish he hadn’t. You can see him trying to fit something like GamerGate into terms this silver-haired man who works in copyright law can understand. At one point he asks if it’s okay to fund the creative project of a potential journalistic source, to which the guy understandably says “no.”

What he’s alluding to here is the harassment of Jenn Frank. A few weeks into GamerGate, Jenn Frank writes a piece in The Guardian about sexism in tech that mentions Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn. In another case of “here’s a strongly-held belief I just decided I have,” GamerGate says this is a breach of journalistic ethics because Frank backs Quinn on Patreon. They harass her so intensely she not only has to quit her job at The Guardian, for several months she quits journalism entirely.

Off the bat, calling a public figure central to a major event in the field a “journalistic source” is flatly wrong-headed. Quinn was not interviewed or even contacted for the article, they were in no way a “source”; they were a subject. But I want to talk about this phrase, “fund a creative project.” Patreon is functionally a subscription; it’s a way of buying things. It’s technically accurate that Frank is funding Quinn’s creative project, but only in the sense that you are funding Bob Dylan’s creative project if you listen to his music. And saying Frank therefore can’t write about Quinn is like saying a music journalist can’t cover a Bob Dylan concert if they’ve ever bought his albums.

And we could talk about the ways that Patreon, as compared with other funding models, can create a greater sense of intimacy, and we also could comment that, well, that’s how an increasing number of people consume media now, so that perspective should be present in journalism. But maybe it means we should cover that perspective differently? I don’t know. It’s an interesting subject. But none of that’s going on in this conversation because this guy doesn’t know what Patreon is. It was only a year old at this point. Patreon’s been a primary source of my income for 5 years and my parents still don’t know what it is. (I think they think I’m a freelancer?) This guy hears “funding a creative project” and he’s thinking an investor, someone who makes a profit off the source’s success.

The language of straight society hasn’t caught up with what’s happening, and that works in GamerGate’s favor.

In the years since GamerGate we have dozens of stories of people trying to explain Twitter harassment to a legal system that’s never heard of Twitter. People trying to explain death threats to cops whose only relationship to the internet is checking email, confusedly asking, “Why don’t you just not go online?” Like, yeah, release your text game about depression at GameStop for the PS3 and get it reviewed in the Boston Globe, problem solved.

You see this in the slowness of mainstream journalists to condemn the harassment - hell, even games journalists at first. Because what if it is a legitimate movement? What if the harassers are just a fringe element? What if there was misconduct? The people in a position to stop GamerGate don’t have to be convinced of their legitimacy, they just have to hesitate. They just have to be unsure. Remember how much happened in just the first two weeks, how it took only a month to become unkillable.

It’s the same hesitance that makes mainstream media, online platforms, and law enforcement underestimate The Alt-Right. They’re terrified of condemning a group as white nationalist terrorists because they’re confused, and what if they’re wrong? Or, in most cases, not even afraid they’re wrong, but afraid of the PR disaster if too much of the world thinks they’re wrong.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONTROL

A thing I’ve talked about in The Alt-Right Playbook is how these decentralized, ostensibly leaderless movements insulate themselves from responsibility. Harassment is never the movement’s fault because they never told anyone to harass and you can’t prove the harassers are legitimate members of the movement. The Alt-Right does this too - one of their catchphrases is “I disavow.” Since there are no formalized rules for membership, they can redraw boundaries on the fly; they can take credit for any successes and deny responsibility for any wrongdoing. Public membership is granted or revoked based on a person’s moment-to-moment utility.

It’s almost like… they’re cherry-picking.

The flipside of this is a lack of control. Since they never officially tell anyone to do anything but write emails, they have no means of stopping anyone from behaving counterproductively. The harassment of Jenn Frank was the first time GamerGate’s originators thought, “maybe we should ease off just to avoid bad publicity,” and they found they couldn’t. GamerGate had gotten too big, and too many people were clearly there for precisely this reason.

They also couldn’t control the infighting. When your goal is to harass women and you have all these contradictory justifications for why, you end up with a lot of competing beliefs. And, you know what? Angry white men who like harassing people don’t form healthy relationships! Several prominent members of GamerGate - including Internet Aristocrat - got driven out by factionalism; they were doxxed by their own people! Jordan Owen and Davis Aurini parted ways hating each other, with Aurini releasing chatlogs of him gaslighting Owen about accepting an endorsement from Roosh, and they released two competing edits of The Sarkeesian Effect.

I say this because it’s useful to know that these are alliances of convenience. If you know where the sore spots are, you can apply pressure to them.

LEADERS WITHOUT LEADERSHIP

One way movements like GamerGate deflect responsibility is by declaring, “We are a leaderless movement! We have no means to stop harassment.”

Which… any anarchist will tell you collective action is entirely possible without leaders. But they’ll also tell you, absent a system of distributing power equitably, you’re gonna have leaders, just not ones you elected.

A few months into GamerGate, Randi Lee Harper created the ggautoblocker. Here’s what it did: it took five prominent GamerGate figures - Adam Baldwin, Mike Cernovich, Christina Hoff Sommers, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Nick Monroe, formerly known as [sigh] PressFartToContinue - and generated a block list of everyone who followed at least two of them on Twitter. Now, this became something of an arms race; once GamerGate found out about it they made secondary accounts that followed different people, and more and more prominent figures appeared and had to get added to the list. But, when it first launched, the list generated from just these five people comprised an estimated 90-95% of GamerGate.

Hate to break it to you, guys, but if 90+ percent of your movement is following at least two of the same five people, those are your leaders. The attention economy has produced them. Power pools when left on its own.

This is another case where you have to ignore what people claim and look at what they do. The Alt-Right loves to say “we disavow Richard Spencer” and “Andrew Anglin doesn’t speak for us.”

But no matter what they say, pay attention to whom they’re taking cues from.

AD CAMPAIGN

George Lakoff has observed that one way the Left fails in opposition to the Right is that most liberal politicians and campaigners have degrees in things like law and political science, where conservative campaigners more often have degrees in advertising and communications. Liberals and leftists may have a better product to sell, but conservatives know how to sell products.

GamerGate less resembles a boots-on-the-ground political movement than an ad campaign. First they decide what their messaging strategy is going to be. Then the media arm starts publicizing it. They seek out celebrity endorsements. They get their own hashtag and mascot. They donate to charity and literally call it “public relations.” You can even see the move from The Quinnspiracy to GamerGate as a rebranding effort - when one name got too closely associated with harassment, they started insisting GamerGate was an entirely separate movement from The Quinnspiracy. I learned that trick from Stringer Bell’s economics class.

Now, we could stand to learn a thing or two from this. But I also wouldn’t want us to adopt this strategy whole hog; you should view moves like these as red flags. If you’re hesitating to condemn a movement because what if it’s legitimate, take a look at whether they’re selling ideology like it’s Pepsi.

PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING

One reason to insist you’re a consumer revolt rather than a harassment campaign is most people who want to harass need someone to give them permission, and need someone to tell them it’s normal.

Bob Altemeyer has this survey he uses to study authoritarianism. He divides respondents into people with low, average, and high authoritarian sentiments, and then tells them what the survey has measured and asks, “what score do you think is best to have: low, average, or high?”

People with low authoritarian sentiments say it’s best to be low. People with average authoritarian sentiments also say it’s best to be low. But people with high authoritarian sentiments? They say it’s best to be average. Altemeyer finds, across all his research, that reactionaries want to aggress, but only if it is socially acceptable. They want to know they are the in-group and be told who the out-group is. They don’t particularly care who the out-group is, Altemeyer finds they’ll aggress against any group an authority figure points to, even, if they don’t notice it, a group that contains them. They just have to believe the in-group is the norm.

This is why they have to believe games journalism is corrupt because of a handful of feminist media critics with outsized influence. Legitimate failures of journalism cannot be systemic problems rooted in how digital media is funded and consumed; there cannot be a legitimate market for social justice-y media. It has to be manipulation by the few. Because, if these things are common, then, even if you don’t like them, they’re normal. They’re part of the in-group. Reactionary politics is rebellion against things they dislike getting normalized, because they know, if they are normalized, they will have to accept them. Because the thing they care about most is being normal.

This is why the echo chamber, this is why Fox News, this is why the Far Right insists they are the “silent majority.” This is why they artificially inflate their numbers. This is why they insist facts are “biased.” They have to maintain the image that what are, in material terms, fringe beliefs are, in fact, held by the majority. This is why getting mocked by Stephen Colbert was such a blow to GamerGate. It makes it harder to believe the world at large agrees with them.

This is why, if you’re trying to change the world for the better, it’s pointless to ask their permission. Because, if you change the world around them, they will adapt even faster than you will.

THE ARGUMENT ISN’T SUPPOSED TO END

Casey Explosion has this really great Twitter thread comparing the Alt-Right to Scary Terry from Rick and Morty. His catchphrase is “you can run but you can’t hide, bitch.” And Rick and Morty finally escape him by hiding. And Morty’s all, “but he said we can’t hide,” and Rick is like, “why are we taking his word on this? if we could hide, he certainly wouldn’t tell us.”

The reason to argue with a GamerGater is on the implied agreement that, if you can convince them they’re part of a hate mob, they will leave. But look at the incentives here: they want to be in GamerGate, and you want them not to be. But they’re already in GamerGate. They’re not waiting on the outcome of this argument to participate. They’ve already got what they want; they don’t need to convince you GamerGate isn’t a hate mob.

This is why all their logic and rationalizations are shit, because they don’t need to be good. They’re not trying to win an argument. They’re trying to keep the argument going.

This has been a precept of conservative political strategy for decades. “You haven’t convinced us climate change is real and man-made, you need to do more studies.” They’re not pausing the use of fossil fuels until the results come in. “You haven’t convinced us there are no WMDs in Iraq, you need to collect more evidence.” They’re not suspending the war until you get back to them. “You haven’t convinced us that Reaganomic tax policy causes recessions, let’s just do it for another forty years and see what happens.” And when the proof comes in, they send us out for more, and we keep going.

The biggest indicator you can’t win a debate with a reactionary is they keep telling you you can. The biggest indicator protest and deplatforming works is they keep telling you in plays into their hands. The biggest indicator that you shouldn’t compromise with Republicans is they keep saying doing otherwise is stooping to their level. They’re not going to walk into the room and say, “Hi, my one weakness is reasoned argument, let’s pick a time and place to hash this out.”

And we fall for it because we’re trying to be decent people. Because we want to believe the truth always wins. We want to bargain in good faith, and they are weaponizing our good faith against us. Always dangling the carrot that the reason they’re like this is no one’s given them the right argument not to be. It’s all just a misunderstanding, and, really, it’s on us for not trying hard enough.

But they have no motivation to agree with us. Most of the people asking for debates have staked their careers on disagreeing with us. Conceding any point to the Left could cost them their livelihood.

WHY GAMES?

Let’s close with the big question: why games? And, honestly, the short answer is:

why not games?

Games culture has always presented itself as a hobby for young, white, middle class boys. It’s always been bigger and more diverse than that, but that’s how it was marketed, and that’s who most felt they belonged. As gaming grows bigger, there is suddenly room for those marginal voices that have always been there to make themselves heard. And, as gaming becomes more mainstream, it’s having its first brushes with serious critical analysis.

This makes the people who have long felt gaming was theirs and theirs alone anxious and a little angry. They’ve invested a lot of their identity in it and they don’t want it to change.

And what the Far Right sees in a sizable collection of aggrieved young men is an untapped market. This is why sites like Stormfront and Breitbart flocked to them. These are not liberals they have to convert, these people are, up til now, not politically engaged. The Right can be their first entry to politics.

The world was changing. Nerd properties were exploding into popular culture in tandem with media representation diversifying. And we were living with the first Black President. Any time an out-group looks like it might join the in-group, there is a self-protective backlash from the existing in-group. This had been brewing for a while, and, honestly, if it hadn’t boiled over in games, it would have boiled over somewhere else.

And, in the years since GamerGate, it has. The Far Right has tapped the comics, Star Wars, and sci-fi fandoms; they tried to get in with the furry community but failed spectacularly. They’re all over YouTube and, frankly, the atheist community was already in their pocket. Basically, if you’re in community with a bunch of young white guys who think they own the place, you might wanna have some talks with them sooner than later.

Anyway, if you want to know more about any of this stuff, RationalWiki’s timeline on GamerGate is pretty thorough. You can also watch my or Dan Olson’s videos on the subject. I’ll be putting the audio of this talk on YouTube and will put as many resources as I can in the show notes. The channel, again, is Innuendo Studios.

Sorry this was such a bummer.

Thank you for your time.

#video essay #alt-right playbook #Youtube

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legalrichieflood · 3 years

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Instagram whistleblowers reveal California College Republican hate speech in chatroom

Screenshots from a Discord server attributed to a statewide California College Republicans (CCR) chat exposed misogynistic, racist, antisemitic comments and threats of violence from various CCR members, including members from Cal Poly Pomona’s chapter.

A fallout within California’s collegiate Republican Party due to differing opinions caused CCR chapters to de-charter and form a new organization in 2019, the California Federation of College Republicans (CFCR). The split came after CCR published a 10-page platform that attacked university funding of birth control and abortion, the legitimizing of transgender people, and institutional support of Mexican and Muslim student organizations. The extremist platform claimed that members of the LGBT+ community were “murderous and degenerate.”

This bled into CPP’s own College Republicans and in Spring 2020, Aaron Santana Ruiz, president of CPP’s College Republicans switched the campus’ charter from the CFCR to CCR.

Instagram user, “abusiveccr,” who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, reached out to The Poly Post on Feb. 4 with screenshots of messages including two accounts alleged to belong to Santana-Ruiz and fourth-year chemical engineering student, Baron Boghosian.

Many of the user “Boghosian’s” posts include selfies of Baron Boghosian.

The same account, under a revised name “Big Gorilla”, also posted a video with the accompanying comment, “watch this you Jews” to the Discord server.

The video shows Baron Boghosian and others driving around during Halloween 2020, including on the empty CPP campus, shouting statements supportive of former President Donald Trump and ending with the group eating pizza.

On Nov. 6, 2020, the same account, posted numerous comments inciting violence.

According to the CPP Republicans code of conduct, “Grounds for removal and/or suspension of an organization member(s) are appropriate if and only if student behavior is not consistent with the California Polytechnic University of Pomona student conduct and discipline code.”

When asked why more reports had not been made, user “disenchantedccrmember” said, “I don’t think anything through CCR would happen just because most of these guys are in their minds, at least, all on the same side. They all share similar beliefs. They don’t like Jews. They don’t like people of color. They think women need to just be at home in the kitchen, so I think if any sort of action was to come, it would come through the schools. Probably through a mission of conduct at the very least…People who have brought up concerns have either been kicked out or they’re blacklisted, and they basically cannot climb up the ladders.”

User “abusiveccr” responded similarly.

“I do want to have a career in politics, and they wouldn’t like this … a lot of the people have connections with all the offices so that could spread.”

Instagram user “_alxlcastilo” commented under every photo “abusiveccr” posted.

Alex Castillo, CPP student and alleged user of “_alxlcastilo”, did not respond to requests for comment.

CCR member, Stephen Miller, had multiple screenshots leaked with his name attached. Because of this, he reached out to user “abusiveccr”.

According to Miller, he was invited to join CCR by Loyola CCR president and CCR state chair, William Donahue.

Miller said that many of the screenshots are old and, at his request, the individuals were “purged from the chat” by William Donahue. He added that even though the messages were his, the photos of the chats are “taken out of context.”

“I know that a lot of things were recently deleted on our discord because a lot of people were scared that their comments were getting leaked out,” Miller said. “People started talking about it, and then other people started running to delete certain messages that they were afraid could be construed the wrong way. Some of them, I wouldn’t blame them. They had no context and they were 100% wrong.”

According to Miller, CCR holds individuals accountable and that a decision to remove someone from the Discord server depends “on the severity of the comments they made.”

“We try to be nonconfrontational and not hostile about it,” Miller said. “Often times you can tell when someone is joking about something. They wouldn’t joke about something that was serious, obviously.”

According to “abusiveccr”, on Nov. 10, the user “Boghosian” was removed from the server after disrespectful comments toward Arielle Spotswood, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and current co-chair of CCR.

Spotswood did not respond to The Poly Post request for comment.

When asked for comment, Boghosian said he has “no connection with CCR at all,” and claimed to vote for the Democratic Party. He added that he never had a Discord account and the profile depicting his name, along with the chats, are “completely false and fraudulent.”

Additionally, sources say the account named “Chancellor Santana”, allegedly that of Santana Ruiz, frequently posted in Discord endorsing Nick Fuentes, a 22-year-old far-right podcaster known for pushing white nationalist and anti-Semitic views onto younger listeners. Followers of Fuentes and Patrick Casey, the leader of the United States neo-Nazi group American Identity Movement, are called “Groypers.”

In January 2019, Fuentes compared the Holocaust to a “cookie baking operation.” According to Instagram user “disenchantedccrmember”, the icon next to Santana’s name is in reference to these statements. When reprimanded for the action, Santana Ruiz changed the image to a pizza.

User “disenchatedccrmember” added that they felt the need to create the whistleblower account to shed light on the controversy.

“We’ve reported them to even their advisor. We’ve reported to Michael Donahue … who is their advisor at Cal Poly Pomona and he said nothing, he’s done nothing,” said “disenchantedccrmember.”

Initially, Michael Donahue agreed to meet with The Poly Post, but on Feb. 10 rescinded the interview in an emailed statement.

“Due to your inquiry, I have investigated this matter with the concerned Cal Poly students and state organization. I have spoken with the Cal Poly Pomona College Republicans President, Aaron, and Baron, (who is in my senior design class at Cal Poly). As it stands, both Baron and Aaron have categorically denied these allegations. Furthermore, Baron is not a member of CPP College Republicans, nor is he a member of CCR,” Donahue stated, “I have found no evidence to support the claims that you have purported. As you know, anyone can change their name and picture on Discord. Anyone can create a new account or server with any name associated to it. Due to this design, as I understand it, there is no way to determine the identity of the person(s) who authored these posts.”

In a Feb. 8 emailed statement to the Poly Post, Santana Ruiz wrote, “While I do have an Instagram, I do not have a Discord. When I looked into these supposed chats that were ‘leaked’ it appears that they come from some social media application called Discord. I have never used Discord and the account is obviously fraudulent. The images registered to the account are not me and it’s frustrating that someone would use my name and an image of a cookie to slander me. (I’m not sure if that’s an attack on me for being mixed race).”

According to Kyle Shulz, former president of CPP Republicans, during the end of his term and under the administration of Santana Ruiz, a mass email subject, “College Republicans at Cal Poly Pomona: Hangout Meeting (Fri. 1/29/21 @ 6-9PM)” was sent to all members with links to both a private CPP Republicans Discord as well as the CCR Discord.

The CPP Republican Bylaws’ article H states that the president, “Shall be the official representative of this organization at all club involved events and activities.” The bylaws have since been removed from CPP Republican’s MyBar, but can be found here.

The server violates Discord community guidelines. The comments may also violate the student code of conduct policy at CPP under item 7, “Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, or sexual misconduct.”

In an emailed statement to The Poly Post on Feb. 9, CCR’s communication team wrote, “On behalf of the organization and alleged affected members, we can unequivocally say that these alleged Discord leaks are either doctored, edited, or manipulated. No records of these conversations or members exist, and there is no evidence they belong to CCR or any chapter. The alleged names/nicknames are not even in our Discord, and there is no evidence they ever existed. This is simply the nature of Discord.”

Before Feb. 9, the Discord’s link could be found publicly on the CCR web page masthead and included the lobby of members active within the attached server.

The link was pulled off its website on Feb. 8 for a short period of time, and then again permanently by the morning of Feb. 9.

Beginning as early as Feb. 5, the Discord server was purged of chats by moderators, until on Feb. 7 when the server was completely wiped clean. Members within the server were not informed and questioned the removed messages and chatrooms. While it is unclear who is the official moderator, both William Donahue and Dylan Martin, communications director, responded to their complaints.

The CCR Discord server contained student members from universities across all of California and there is no record of action to regulate, prevent or discipline comments that could escalate to threats of violence like user “Boghosian’s” had.

Shortly after Santana Ruiz’s email to The Poly Post, the account “Chancellor Santana” changed its name to “Mad World Mad World” and left the CCR Discord server and used the same meme that the account claimed to use when its chapter departed from the CFCR charter.

New University, University of California, Irvine’s campus newspaper reported on similar allegations on Jan. 12.

Additionally, this is not the first time CPP Republicans have been accused of hate speech and discrimination. In fall 2020, popular Instagram account CPP Confessions, an account where the CPP community can anonymously submit community news, reposted several controversial CPP Republican posts for its followers to see.

“This chat is an echo chamber for these people to have these vile, sick beliefs and they hype each other up,” “disenchantedccrmember” added. “One of my biggest concerns is that if they hype each other up enough that they will actually go out and commit acts of violence.”

As of this report, both “disenchatedccrmember” and “abusiveccr” accounts have been terminated. “I plan to continue until the end of the Unity election,” disenchatedccrmember said.

This unity election between CCR and CFCR was dated for Feb. 20, but the results have not been announced nor any news on the election been disclosed. More can be found at https://www.americafirstcr.com. William Donahue is running for chairman.

User “abusiveccr” cited that they would continue the account “as long as it takes… for all of this to hopefully end soon.”

Additional screen grabs with corresponding documents can be found here.

If students are facing harassment, they can reach out to the Office of Equity and Compliance. For reports on threats of violence contact the University Police Department. If students need to report a breach of student conduct, the Office of Student Conduct and Integrity can be found at https://www.cpp.edu/studentconduct/staff.shtml.

Edit 4/6, 7 p.m.: The names of individuals within the screenshots that The Poly Post did not reach out to have been redacted for privacy.

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evilelitest2 · 3 years

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What is the dirtbag left? People keep talking about it but I have no clue what it is

Oh this answer is gonna suck. Good question as always though.

Ok before we can get into the dirtbag left, I want to talk about the major factions of leftist in the United States, and I am discounting Moderates/Centrist/Blue Dog Democrat's, I am specifically focused on people who support actual left wing policies. Roughly speaking they can be broken up into the following groups though each group is a lot more complicated than I am implying here

The first and most dynamic faction are the progressives, people who are focused on the rights of marginalized people. Sometimes they are called “identity Politics” They are further subdivided into a bunch of specific interest groups, but their main unifying argument is “society is specifically persecuting towards certain groups and we need to address that”

Civil Rights, who focus on the rights of African Americans

Feminists who focus on the rights of women

The Queer Community, who are focused on the rights of Gender and Sexual Minorities (Gay people, Trans people, Non Binary people, Bi people, intersex, asexual ect

This group is really divided within itself but lets not get sidetracked

Groups focusing on the rights of Latin Americans, both citizens and immigrants

Groups focusing on the rights of Muslims/Middle Easterners

Groups focusing on the rights of Jews/Combating antisemitism

Groups focusing on the rights of Asian Americans

And finally groups focusing on the rights of the disabled

The next major group is the labor movement, who focus on the rights of workers, focusing on things like Unions, increasing the minimum wage, addressing the wealth gap and very New Deal FDR policies, and tend to be anticapitalistic or at least Social Democrat.

Environmentalists, who want the world to not die

Anti War advocates

Pro Education/Pro Science anti Fundamentalists' people who just want good goverment.

And some post modernists thrown in because why not?

The two main groups that make up the left are the first two, the issues of Identity Politics and Class, and there is a LONG history of these two groups having trouble le working together. One of the major issue is that a lot of poor whites would happily welcome a lot of leftist social policies, but vote conservative if they believes those policies will help black people, even if it hurts their own best interest. I mean take the New Deal, which was among the greatest economic period of US history and was popularly supported by most Americans. However a lot of poor whites supported it because Latinos and Blacks were not allowed access to most of its benefits. ANd once the Democratic Party started to pursue desegregation and women’s rights, these poor whites abandoned the party which gave them a future and voted for policies that hurt their own best interest because of their extreme bigotry. Which is the most frustrating part of American History.

And among a lot of Democrats (mostly centrist) there is this idea that the best way to win elections is to stab marginalized communities in the back in order to win Republican voters. When Bill Clinton won in 1992, he did so in large part by abandoning a lot of leftist principles, he embraced Third Way style Liberalism and deregulation (which led to the 2008 crash thanks Clinton) but he also happily supported Right wing ideas about trying to keep crazy radicals minorities from advancing too far in politics. Basically try to rebrand the Democrats as “we aren’t as crazy as the Republicans, but we ditched all of that lame uncool parts of politics that makes your family uncomfortable”.

So the Dirtbag Left (there term not mine) was like “Hey could we do this...but for communism?” And like most bad things, its origin is with Nazis.

The Dirtbag Leftist are Marxists who think the best way to win Trump voters over to the left is to combine Socialist style economic/welfare policies with conservative styles attacks on “Free Speech” and “Identity Politics.” The “nicer” version of these guys basically say “ok we win them in with the economic policies and once we implement that, we can work on the other issues”. The cruelr version of that basically want a socialist state...for white straight men and nobody else.

This happened because some communists were looking at how the Alt-Right was radicalizing apolitical young men and were like “wait we can do that too”

See if you have ever had the misfortune of being in Nazi/Red Pill/Gamergate style spaces you will notice that they actually share a lot of the left’s complains about the status que. They dislike both parties, they don’t like capitalism, and they think our current consumerist way of life is souless drudgery. So some communists were like “What if we found the exact same demographic as these guys but tried to turn them to communism instead of Fascism?” Which sounds like a good idea but here is the problem

The type of people who become Nazis had to already be bigoted anti intellectuals in the first place. All you have done is given some of them Marxist Rhetoric rather than Nazi Rhetoric, they are the exact same toxic people. And in trying to cater to them, you have allowed them to infiltrate's your movement.

The other quality of the Dirtbag Left is that they think that the Centrist Democrats (Clinton, Obama, Biden ect) are a greater threat than the conservatives, and that if the Far Right and the Far Left can team up to destroy the center, the radicals can work out their issues. Which has never worked ever in human history but they keep trying.

Initially the DIrtbag Left was basically vulgar leftists who wanted to down play the issues that trigger conservatives (Abortion, minority rights, feminism, being nice to people) in order to get them to support their social/economic policies, but it quickly became co-opted by the Alt Right themselves, and now they are basically just advocates of a Herrenvolk style social state. Or really...they are what would happen if the Nazis actually tried to combine Nationalism with Socialism.

And while they aren’t a large group, like the Alt-Right they are really really prominent online and are constantly engaged in wide spread harassments campaigns that are basically find/replace Gamergate harassments campaigns. They attached themselves pretty hard to Bernie's Sanders campaign and did a really good job in ruining his chances in both primaries, and then attached themselves to Tulsi Gabbard’s fucking toxic campaign after that. At this point they are basically just Alt Rightists with a socialist brand reskin. Sometimes called the Red Brown Alliance

#ask EvilElitest #dirtbag left #Leftism #Marxism #Communism #Alt RIght #Gamergate #chapo trap house #Herrenvolk #National Socialism #The Red Brown Alliance

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schraubd · 5 years

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Election 2018: How Did Anti-Semites Do?

A few days ago, Tablet Magazine published a list of eight "antisemites running for Congress". It was a good start, but woefully incomplete -- there are so many more antisemites to choose from! Moreover, it doesn't really properly gradate antisemitism (there's a huge difference between a literal Holocaust Denier and someone who's been in a room with Louis Farrakhan). So while you can read how Tablet's 8 fared here, for a more comprehensive picture this post has you covered. First, the good news: the absolutely, positively, most blatant antisemites generally did not win.

Actual Neo-Nazi Arthur Jones lost to Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski 73-27 in Illinois' 3rd congressional district.

Jones' Holocaust-denying compatriot, John Fitzgerald, lost by a similar 72-28 margin in California's 11th district to Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier.

In state legislative races, the same basically held true:

In North Carolina's 48th state house district, GOP nominee Russell Walker -- who once said Jews "descend from Satan" -- lost to Black Democratic minister Garland Pierce 63-37.

In Missouri, GOP nominee Steve West (who was disowned by his own kids) fell well short of unseating Democratic State Rep. Jon Carpenter.

Finally, in California, Maria Estrada's virulent antisemitism didn't stop her from earning an Our Revolution endorsement, but it presumably did her no favors in her D-on-D challenge to State Assembly speaker Anthony Rendon -- she lost 56-44.

The two biggest antisemites to win were both incumbents.

Open White Supremacist Rep. Steve King (R-IA), last seen telling the world that European Neo-Nazi parties would just be plain old Republicans in America, had a much closer than anticipated race against Democrat J.D. Scholten. Still, King prevailed 50-47, thus proving that there is no limit to how racist you can be if there are enough Republicans in your district.

Meanwhile, in Washington, GOP State Rep. Matt Shea -- who advocated for an American theocracy where non-Christian men are executed -- handily won reelection 58-42. Huzzah.

Now, those guys represent the worst of the worst. Most (not all) were running on the GOP line, and most (not all) lost. But the Tablet list itself evinces a clear antisemitic spectrum, and once you move past the obvious cases the story gets more complex. On Tablet's list were two definite borderline entries, for whom I think it's fair to question if they are properly called antisemitic at all (certainly, they're far further afield than some of the names further down on this list):

The case for including Indiana Rep. Andre Carson (D) appears to boil down to "he's been in a room with Farrakhan and the Iranian president", which isn't exactly on the level of denying the Holocaust. Call me jaded, but this felt very thin to me. Carson's Indiana district is gerrymandered to be reliably blue, and so it was -- Carson took his race 63-37.

Lena Epstein -- the Republican candidate in Michigan's 11th congressional district -- also has fair grounds to question her inclusion. Yes, inviting a Jews for Jesus Rabbi to eulogize the Pittsburgh victims was stupid, and insensitive, and baffling, and did I mention stupid? -- but was it antisemitic? I'm not sure. But we no longer need to expend much effort figuring it out: Epstein was soundly defeated by Democrat Haley Stevens, flipping this open GOP seat blue and I suspect signaling the last we hear of Epstein in national politics.

The next tier of antisemites comprises people who aren't really accused of saying anything antisemitic themselves, but who have endorsed antisemites or antisemitic movements.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) is the poster child -- while the past few weeks might have you believe that every Democrat in the country is a Louis Farrakhan fanboy, Davis is one of the few who actually has praised the man (the NOI has a large presence in Davis' Chicago district). Davis' district is one of the bluest in the country, and he took 88% of the vote against nominal Republican opposition.

On the Republican side, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) endorsed a Holocaust denier for school board (and that wasn't even his only connection to the Holocaust denying set). "Putin's favorite Congressman" looks to have gone down in his toss-up race, losing narrowly to Democrat Harley Rouda.

Also falling into this category (though arguably shading into the class below) is California GOP Rep. Steve Knight, who ran an ad featuring a far-right activist notorious for antisemitic and racist online comments (Knight plead ignorance about the guy's views, but you'd think the t-shirt he was wearing in the ad -- a US flag with "infidel" stamped over it -- would be a giveaway). Knight lost his seat 51-49 to Democrat Katie Hill.

Next, we get to people who have themselves said or done antisemitic things -- albeit perhaps not as vividly as a Steve King sort.

For Republicans, George Soros is the fulcrum. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who gave a Holocaust denier a State of the Union ticket and is a major source of Soros-related conspiracy theorizing, works as a good example. He handily won his re-election race 67-33.

Speaking of Soros, in Minnesota's 1st district, Jim Hagedorn -- who claimed that Joe Lieberman only supported the Iraq War because he was a Jew and who then cut an ad claiming his opponent was "owned" by the Jewish globalist billionaire -- looks like he will squeak out a win over Democrat Dan Feehan. If that result holds, it marks one of the few districts this cycle to flip D-to-R. It also is particularly painful for me because this is the district where my wife grew up and my in-laws still live.

And while Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis is more well-known for the racism, he too dipped his toe in the antisemitic Soros conspiracy pool, accusing his African-American opponent, Andrew Gillum, of looking to "seed[] into our state government, you know, Soros-backed activists." DeSantis, a Republican, prevailed over Gillum by about a single point in what had been thought to be a blue-leaning race.

Two more Democratic members of Tablet's list -- Leslie Cockburn and Ilhan Omar -- fit in this category, albeit for comments that are several years or (in Cockburn's case) decades old.

Cockburn wrote a book in the early 90s that was basically a "Israel is responsible for all awful things" screed; she lost her VA-05 race to Republican Denver "bigfoot erotica" Riggelman, because America is awesome and that was really a choice. The margin was 53-47 in a race that was viewed as a decent, if not top-of-the-class, Democratic pickup opportunity.

Omar, running in Minnesota's 5th district, has come under fire for a tweet where she accused Israel of "hypnotizing" the world to prevent it from seeing its "evil". While she has seemingly moderated her views on Israel, she pointedly declined to walk back this comment or recognize how it seems to traffic in antisemitic tropes (in contrast to her 5th district predecessor, Keith Ellison, who pointedly disassociated himself from prior Farrakhan affiliations). Omar won her race by a crushing 78-21 margin.

Finally, it's worth looking at some local races where Republicans (albeit not always the Republican candidate) ran antisemitic ads.

In Alaska, a GOP mailer which showed stacks of cash being stuffed into Democrat Jesse Kiehl's suit didn't seem to work, Kiehl defeated right-leaning independent Don Etheridge 60-37. (Etheridge he disavowed the Republican ad).

In California, Republican Tyler Diep painted his Jewish opponent Josh Lowenthal green, enlarged his nose, and showed him clutching $100 bills; Diep prevailed in his California Assembly race, 54-46.

Pennsylvania State Rep. Todd Stephens (R) made sure to drop the "Johnson" from the name of Democratic opponent Sara Johnson Rothman when he photoshopped her holding a stack of cash, instead going with "Stop Sara Rothman". Stephens won re-election by a narrow 51-49 margin.

In North Carolina, Republican Rickey Padgett tried to unseat State Senator Mike Woodard (D) by, among other things, posting a picture with Chuck Schumer dressed in a Nazi SS uniform. Woodward prevailed by a 62-36 spread.

Finally, in Connecticut, Democrat Matt Lesser gained national attention when his Republican opponent Ed Charamut sent out a mailer depicting Lesser with wild eyes, a huge nose, and a wad of cash. Lesser prevailed in a tight race, winning 52-48.

What are the takeaways here? Well, for starters, the most virulent and explicit antisemites generally lost. That's good, though given that those candidates generally ran in ideologically lopsided districts it's easy to overdraw from that. The Steve King victory shows that where the partisan lean works in the antisemite's favor, partisan allegiance generally trumps (seriously, does anyone have confidence that if Arthur Jones ran in Steve King's district as the Republican candidate, he would lose?). And if that holds true for to a blatant bigot like King, it certainly applies to more mild or sporadic offenders, like Davis and Omar.

The more interesting -- and troublesome -- story is how less overt but still clear antisemitism played out in more closely contested races. Those who assume that America just doesn't tolerate antisemitism are in for a surprise. Hagedorn's antisemitic past (and present) didn't seem to dent his chances in Minnesota's toss-up first district, for example. This isn't to say that antisemites were universally winning -- more that antisemitism, even when expressed, generally isn't a losing issue either even in the sort of closely contested districts where you might expect candidates to tread more carefully.

Moreover, there's a partisan lean to this that cannot be ignored. Certainly, there are incidents of antisemitism in both Democratic and Republican politics. And because American Jews (and Jewish politicians) are so overwhelmingly liberal, there are far more progressive "targets" for antisemitism than there are conservatives. Still, between Soros conspiracy theorizing and "Jews clutching money" ads, there seemed to be a noticeable step-up in GOP appeals to this sort of antisemitic sentiment that doesn't have a clear parallel among Democrats right now.

And Republican strategists must have come to a conclusion that these ads work. Yes, maybe they turn off some Jewish or more liberal-leaning voters. But Republican campaign operatives must think they make up for it by revving up the conservative base (or even independents -- for a variety of reasons I strongly suspect that right-leaning independents might be even more susceptible to this sort of appeal).

There was certainly no systematic punishing effect for Republicans going to this well -- and so we can expect they'll keep doing it. And that is a worrisome conclusion.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2zyyHER

#anti-semitism #Election 2018 #Jews

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inkstaineddove · 6 years

Text

End of the Line

Characters: Prussia, Germany, Austria, Britain, France, Russia

Summary: It's been two years since the end of World War Two. The final sentencing by the Allies has come. Germany, Prussia, and Austria have all right to fear what might be coming for them.

1947 - Geneva, Switzerland There was a silence among the three nations sitting in the frigid hallway. Germany, Prussia, and Austria didn't dare speak a word to each other for the longest time. Tension crackled amongst the three men. None of them knew what to say, what would be appropriate in their situation. Austria and Prussia remained silent to withhold their blame. Germany remained silent out of fear until the panic and anxiety of not knowing overtook. A rush of words began to pour from his lips. "Why aren't Italy and Japan here?" The German man asked frantically. He rose and began pacing. The heel of his shoes made a clip that echoed throughout. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and widened from terror. He was shaking uncontrollably and his movements were erratic instead of his usual precise ones. "America and China should be punishing Japan. I shouldn't be alone here."

Austria sighed. "Italy has already received his and we've heard no word from the East yet." He looked down at the ground. "We're all war criminals." "Well, two of us aren't. Two of us got dragged in for the ride." Prussia grumbled under his breath. Roderich was the only one to catch the comment and glared at his cousin. Gilbert got the cue and went back to being quiet as Germany continued to ramble on. Five minutes later, a petite Englishwoman opened the door and led them into the chamber. Canada, China, Russia, England, America, and France all sat in a semicircle at the head of the room. None of them showed any expression, except for America who gave them a polite, yet very restrained, smile. The three nations on trial sat at the chairs and table before their prosecutors. Prussia leaned back and exhaled sharply through his nose. "Can we cut to the chase? All three of us are aware of how shitty we are. Just deal it out to us." England smiled with deeply refrained anger at his long ago ally. "As you wish, Mr. Beilschmidt." France took the lead. "We were originally going to go with Austria first, but due to a last minute change of plans, Gilbert-" "Only my friends call me Gilbert." The Prussian cast Francis a dirty look as he spoke. The betrayal he had felt a century before due to Holy Rome being slaughtered at the Frenchman's hands still stung. Even when they had been allies, Prussia refused to call him a true friend. That was what Spain was for. And now, now that someone who was supposed to be his friend was treating him like a criminal? Convicting him of crimes he was forced to be complacent with as a result of his brother? No, they would never again be friends. "And, I want to state that I'm a victim in this. That this is no longer my nation to control. It's called Germany. Not Prussia, Germany. Two very distinct things. Anyway, so what hell am I being subjected to? Gotta give Konigsberg to Poland? Least I can do. The guy deserves it. It makes a lot of geographical sense anyway." France's face turned white. He looked away from Prussia and instead at the Briton besides him. "Non, I can't. I didn't want to be the one to do this. I understand the necessity, but I can't." He barely looked at the Prussian before him. "Prussia, please, forgive me." Gilbert cocked an eyebrow. "It's not even that big of a deal. Ja, there was a lot of history attached, but I'll get over it. I'll come and visit it every now and then for old times sake." He finally realized the looks of mockery and pity he was getting. Bile came rushing up into his mouth. He forced himself to swallow. "I get the feeling I'm wrong." Arthur grinned. To demolish the nation that had enabled the one to set his heart in flames? It would be one of his last great pleasures as the untouchable empire. Prussia's time had finally come. They'd partition him worse than Poland. "We, the Allied Forces of World War Two, find it necessary to dissolve the Free State of Prussia. Your lands will be divided up between Germany, Poland, Russia, and whomever else we find you've wronged. Your name will change accordingly to each place, but will not remain apart of you." He licked his lips. "I must admit, it will be interesting to see a nation die considering none of us are aware of what exactly happened to our ancestors. I barely remember how Mother went. Yours will be an interesting case study." Prussia's face turned paler than normal. His heart dropped into his stomach. "Nein. Nein! You can't do this! I had nothing to do with the start of the war! My people revolted against Hitler!" Tears were brimming in his eyes. He jumped over the table and rushed towards his prosecutors. "There's no standing for this!" America looked away. "Dude, don't make this worse than it has to be. I doubt you're really gonna die." This enraged him. "You arschloch! I've seen my bruders, my vader, everyone I'm related to die over the years! And you dare tell me being dissolved isn't a big deal? That I'm blowing this out of proportion? I. Did. Nothing! I fought in plenty wars, ja, but so did all of you! We've all spilt each other’s blood!" He frantically looked at each face, trying to find someone he could plead to. He found that person in Russia. Prussia fell to his knees before Ivan. Tears were flowing freely now down his face. "Please. Ivan, Russia. We were allies. We've been allies for so many years. We fought together and won. I know unification hurt that, but you and your boss can't forget the past. Please. Please don't let me die." Russia felt his heart wrench. While he was no fan of the snake in the grass Ludwig had turned out to be, Gilbert was another story. They had fought excellently together. They had won so often and shared many good memories. Did they have their wars? Of course, but that's how Europe was. He wouldn't punish him for that. "Stalin didn't...I didn't want this. We wanted to at least retain the name. I'm sorry, Prussia. I'm not the one who needs to hear this." He then looked at the other nations. "I need a drink." He somberly escaped into the chamber where the allies had come from. France turned around in his chair. "Mon ami, this is for the best. You were a very militaristic region. Always fighting and invading, never playing by the rules or respecting the balance of power. Non, it wasn't good. If we divide you up and separate you from your brother, he should be able to grow and mature without your warmongering instincts. This all could've been avoided if you put down the sword and put on the toga like the rest of us." A chill ran down the Prussian's spine. He couldn't believe this. He didn't want to believe this. "Look at yourself! Look at England, Spain, the Netherlands! I did not go to the New World to start wars that carried over into Europe! I begged none of you for help against my enemies! I stood tall, strong, and powerful! If anyone's militaristic in this room, it's the one with the fucking empire that's ready to collapse! You and Arthur are the biggest hypocrites I've ever met! What makes it worse is getting your two former colonies, a nation you've fucked over so much just for trade, and a Russian who's only on your side because we betrayed him to agree to this!" He turned to walk towards the door, but the anger he felt couldn't be held back. He whipped around and faced them all once more. "I didn't want this war. My nation, my free state or whatever bullshit it became, had a significant amount of people that revolted against Hitler. My government - my true government, not Hitler’s fucking puppets - wanted to prevent the outbreak of this." He looked at Germany. "Did you ever step foot in those places?" Germany shook his head. Prussia continued. "Not surprised. Well I did because I had to stay in line. I had to be constantly threatened. Fun fact: Edelstein. It's a German name, but it's also Jewish. I want you all to guess where Roderich would've gone. Doesn't matter that he's a nation, he would've been there. It's a good thing someone in the family picked up on the extreme antisemitism, realized their cousin would die repeatedly alongside his people, and changed his last name to Beilschmidt. Such a good thing one of us did. Ludwig? Was that you? Nein, of course not because I'm the one who did it, but I'm the one who wanted to get his last kick at being a superpower this way." Austria looked touched. "You did that? I would've thought...danke." Prussia didn't hear the Austrian over the sound of his ranting. "If anyone should be getting dissolved it's Germany. That's his boss! That's his boss and he's the one who should cease to exist because his birth was a mistake as far as I'm concerned!" He glared at his brother. Hatred suddenly filled him. "You...you were the mistake! Ostmark should've started you! I regret Bismark and I regret your birth! Nationalism poisoned your birth, it poisoned your heart, and it slaughtered millions! You're the reason all this shieße has happened to me! If we really wanted to protect ourselves, we’d abolish you!" There was a deathly silence. The gravity of what had been said hit hard. Germany looked broken. His gazed at his hands and a few stray tears went down his cheek. Gilbert's eyes widened. "I didn't mean it like that. I’m blowing off steam. Ludwig, please. I didn’t mean all that." It was a minute before the German stood. Ludwig rose on shaky legs and looked straight at the men who held his fate in their hands. "Ja, he's right. Everyone's been right. I don't deserve any mercy. I don't deserve any forgiveness or empathy or respect. This isn't the first war, this isn't where we all made mistakes. The blame winds up on me and the people I represent. You all say you wish to do the right thing, to clean the slate once and for all." He glanced at his older brother and sighed. "Don't punish him. The right thing is to dissolve Deutchland." Tears once again fell down his face and he collapsed in his chair. "Please, dissolve me! My life is the one that should be traded for all the millions lost! I stood beside evil incarnate, I supported it, I was proud of it until so recently! Dissolve me! Dissolve me, let a better nation take my place." Francis shrugged. "Getting rid of the German sounds good to me." He glared down his nose at Germany. "You've been a menace since you were a small child." Russia had walked back in sometime ago and was back in his seat, vodka glass in hand. "Da, there's no reason. He's done nothing for us." He chuckled softly. "Or for me. He has never kept a promise. Then again, keep your enemies closer." Discussion broke out amongst them. Arthur rolled his eyes. This was much longer than he had wanted it to be. He banged his gavel. "Morons, you're forgetting the plan! Germany, you're going to be split into East and West. The West will be overlooked and controlled by America, France, and I. The East is Russia's problem. As far as I'm concerned, you're not really going to exist." He turned his attention back to Gilbert, who was still fuming. "Mr. Beilschmidt, did you not fight in the war?" "Ja, I fought. I had to. I also owned his stupid book because it was illegal not to. Look at me! I'm an albino, I'm a freak! I'm hardly Aryan! I had to do everything I could so I wouldn't wind up like what that monster ordered on Poland or Belgium or Hungary!" "Did you oversee generals who committed acts of torture?" "This is crossing a line! You're doing this purely for-" "Did you not help kill innocent people?" "-a power trip to show your authority in-" "Do you not deserve to pay for your crimes?" This silenced the Prussian. His eyes were burning holes into the ground. Eventually he looked up. His cheeks were tear stained. "You forget that we can't disobey. We've all committed atrocities we hadn't wanted, that we look back on with disgust. The Trail of Tears, the slave trade, the Romanovs. Who among us doesn't deserve to pay for what they've done as a nation? Who here is truly innocent? You're punishing me for wanting to be strong. We all wanted to be strong! But I'm somehow the worst for it?" "Answer the question, Gilbert." Prussia closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. There was no escape. "I deserve to pay." Arthur reclined in his chair. A smug grin danced across his lips. "Then, like all the other Nazis, you will. Your country is dissolved. Ludwig, your war reparations will be billed to you. Austria, no reparations will be paid to you, but we see you not at fault. Again, Russia, America, France, and I will see to the running of your respective governments. This meeting is adjured." The Allies left, leaving the three men alone together. Ludwig took a cautious step towards his older brother. He reached out a hand towards him. "I'll see what I can do. I'll try and transfer power. Gilbert, I can't do this without you. I don't know what I'm doing." He sounded so small, so like a child. Prussia stared back and forth between his brother and his cousin. He could always feel how distant he was from them, but now it felt like there was an uncrossable ocean. "Nein. You got rid of me first with Versailles then with the lawsuit. I’m sorry, Germany, but you're on your own now." He patted Germany on the shoulder and walked out of the courthouse. Soon he found himself sprinting, trying to get away from it as fast as he could. As he ran, the meeting played over and over again in a loop. He couldn't get the words out of his head or the emptiness in his soul to dissipate. Finally, he stopped. What good would running do? He couldn't turn back time. He had to accept fate. Gilbert slumped down on the ground, hugging his knees. He wished to be a Teutonic Knight again, he wished to be young and free. He wished to be anywhere but here. It took twenty minutes for someone to catch up to him. The sound of labored breathing is what snapped Prussia out of his self pity. He saw Austria, of all people, standing behind him. The Austrian was hunched over with his hands on his knees, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Instinctive hostility took over. "What do you want?" Gilbert hissed. The last thing he wanted to see was another nation. Especially one of his kin. The be-speckled man remained silent. He took off his suit jacket and laid it on the grass before sitting on it. Roderich stared for a long time at Prussia before suddenly hugging him. Tears ran down his cheeks and wet Gilbert's shoulder. "Danke. Danke." Those were the only words that could escape his lips. Prussia held onto his cousin. Instead of being annoyed like he normally would, he appreciated this. He was thankful that someone realized he had done at least one good thing over the past decade. When the Austrian had composed himself enough to say more than one word, he pulled away. His violet eyes still glistened with water and his cheeks were stained. "Ludwig went back to the house to pack for me since I'm allowed to return to Vienna as soon as I please." Gilbert huffed and turned his attention away. Austria smiled slightly, relieved to receive the response he expected. "I didn't think you cared, but I thought I should tell you. I'll be home by sundown tomorrow." Gilbert laughed without humor. "Nothing like having a home." The two didn't exchange words for awhile. Instead, they watched the cars and people go by on the streets of the city. This was the most time they had spent together in peace in centuries. "Why? Why did you do it? I saw those places too and...danke. I couldn't have...Elizavèta would've been..." Prussia shrugged. "Believe it or not, I'm a decent fucking person." He ran a hand through his hair, freeing it from the professional style he had worn for their day in court. "I've been around you the majority of my life. We've fought against each other, had good times together, went after the same girls. Same territories too. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I like you." Austria laughed. "I don't like you either." "Good. I don't want you or your pity especially now." He looked at the Austrian. "Roddy, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. That's my job. Verdammt, you were such a mess after the divorce with Lizzie that I almost wanted to kick her ass. It's my job and my job only to make your life miserable. No one can ever replace me there." Some more silence passed between them before Roderich would speak again. "Now that you're dead, what are you going to do with your life?" The Prussian flashed his trademark smirk. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back on the grass. So many answers, but he wanted the perfect one. When it came, he laughed. "I'm going to live."

#aph prussia #aph austria #aph germany #aph germanics #dissolution of prussia #prussia dies #well.....'dies'#aph france #aph russia #aph britain #aph #hetalia #axis powers hetalia #aph fanfic #aph fanfiction #hetalia fanfiction #hetalia fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction

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enquiry-monique · 3 years

Text

Presentation

Point of departure

> Liminal spaces A liminal space is defined in architecture as a space that is between two other spaces, like a hallway or a waiting room. On the internet, it has a bit of a different definition. It is a picture of a place that looks familiar and gives a feeling of nostalgia. But at the same time it also gives off a feeling of eeriness. These places are often abandoned or they have strange architecture, and the quality of the image is often bad. I really like how these simple pictures can give such a big group of people such heavy emotions. And I have also tried to recreate this feeling in some of my work.

> Ivan Seal. He’s an artist that makes work around Alzheimer's. His work consists of objects of which you aren’t really clear what they are. This is his way of making Alzheimer's disease visual. These are objects that may have existed once, but now the person can only think of them like this. These works also give me a deep feeling of discomfort.

The works you see here are album covers he made in collaboration with this guy named the Caretaker. He made a six hour long art project about the six different stages of Alzheimer’s disease. It’s a haunting musical piece that to me causes a very deep feeling of melancholy. If you ever want to feel really really sad I recommend you to listen to it, it’s called Everywhere at the end of time.

> Pavel Otdelnov. A Russian painter that mainly paints landscapes. He has worked on different series, but they are mostly about the decay of old soviet buildings and the outskirts of the megacities of Russia. A lot of Russian cities have grown a lot in the past and still continue to do so. That’s not bad of course, but they have grown very unorganically, with giant suburbs of nothing but high-rise buildings and no soul.

> Which brings me to this part of my own work. This book is a representation of filter bubbles, they are digital spaces where people are trapped in. Social media algorithms are so sophisticated that they know what you’re interested in, and it will give you only information that you’re interested in. Like this, you’re trapped in a certain filter bubble.

I thought of this filter bubble as an empty space where people come and never leave. The people will never get any new information. And I like to think of them like animals that live in a dark cave, they have no need for eyes because it’s dark anyways, so they have no eyes or are blind. These people don’t need their senses, so they deteriorate.

And this is where my research question comes from. I like this darkness a lot. I’m very into this idea of being trapped in an online world.

Beginning

I started this quest for my research question by writing down all the things that interest me. I just wrote down everything that’s the least bit interesting or provokes some feelings with me. That resulted in about 50 key words.

I made those into a few subcategories, and the most important of those were extremism, how extremism happens and buildings.

Then, I set out to puzzle with the words. Ever since I finished my last project, I have been really interested in 4chan and Incels.

.1 definitions

> 4chan is a popular internet forum. It functions in a way that users can post images and text completely random, and completely anonymous. There are no consequences to your actions. You can’t make an account and everything you post will eventually be deleted forever. It was made in 2004 and still looks like it. It’s very primitive. There’s also almost no moderation.

It’s a barely moderated forum that exists of boards. Some boards are about origami, others are about porn and gore.

Almost everything is allowed here. As you can read on this screenshot on the left you can read that this website is not accountable for what horrible things you might see.

> Then, there’s the INCEL movement. This group is made up of mostly white men with no education or job. They are involuntary celibate and that is where the name comes from. It could be a nice community of people who are together while finding a partner, but instead of that, they band together on their hate for women. They mostly talk negatively about women. That sex is a basic human right and that we owe them that. Or that there are no good traditional women anymore. Also there is a lot of racism and antisemitism which I didn’t put up here because it’s really horrible. But i don’t want to blow over that fact.

> TFW no GF. It’s a documentary that follows a few incels in the United States. The interesting part of the documentary is that it gives the anonymous incels a face and an identity, and I really like that. They say that their exposure to the unmoderated internet was how it all started for them. There, they saw porn and violent videos at a very young age. This, together with failing families and a feeling of no future; they feel let down.

Something a little less amazing about this project is that it leaves out the violence of these men. It talks a little about their graphic tweets, but writes them off as just making jokes. And it does not even talk about all the women that have been abused by incels. I think that should be addressed.

2. Conclusion:

So, what I saw was that these guys surrounded themselves with filth. Their rooms are messy and dark, and their online presence is only about suffering. The idea of being surrounded by filth everywhere in your life is very interesting. It raises a lot of questions about what it’s like to live like that and how you become like that. Also I want to say that this is of course not the case for everybody.

The incel community is something that comes first to mind when talking about extremism online. But there are a lot more communities like this, and at this point I don't want to get too specific yet. I want to look at these guys. How do they interact with each other online and what do they say about themselves?

Also, there’s a lot of influence in these people’s lives of gore, porn and extremist ideologies. Seeing these things all the time and having no break from it, it’s not good. What happens to these men? How do they live their lives? Is there an end in sight?

3. diagrams

a. tree diagram

b. Onion

> and now? I have that research question as the theoretical part. And I want to continue with the question I made now, although it is not set in stone yet.

Also, I want to continue on the visual road that I’ve been working on. So I am going to work on how to connect those two things in a logical way.

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yourtoradorasextendedwarranty · 4 years

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Orange Man Bad

Okay. This is gonna be a long one so buckle up. First and foremost i need to say this in no uncertain terms. I have zero love for the current president. Do i think he’s doing some things right and some wrong? Yeah but that’s how presidents work. You’re not gonna like everything they do. Which leads me in to why i’m even typing this out.

To start out with, I live in the US. Meaning the news many of you hear from our media and yours is likely not fully accurate. So pay attention.

In the early 2000′s things were slowly but surely getting better. Tech was advancing at a blinding pace, Social Media was just really starting to get it’s feet on the ground, Drama was all over TV and YouTube was still the wild west of the internet. Fast forward to Obama getting elected. The first Black president ever in the US. We were making progress in our own way. But fact is not all was well during this presidency. We will come back to that.

Fast forward to 2014, Hyper-progressivism is taking hold in certain circles and one event would happen that set about a chain reaction that would shake our culture for years to come. That event would be the Zoe Post. The spark that lit the fire that was what came to be known as GamerGate. Now let me inform the masses here for a moment. What you are told to believe, by most of the US and World media, is that GamerGate, was a harassment campaign made to drive women and minorities out of gaming. For those of you that don’t know what this was, this was a scapegoat. A well timed, “look over here, there’s nothing to see over there”. Now for anyone with a brain stem, willing to look into the events that led up to GamerGate, you’d know a LOT of people did a lot of digging just to be certain of what was going on. And they found out that there was a LOT of shady things going on in games journalism. The Zoe Post was just the straw that broke the camel’s back for gamers and consumers in general to actually get their head in the game and start paying attention to the shady things games journalist had been doing.

What happened however, was three people took advantage of this to make money. Zoe Quinn, whom had tested out nude modeling and did not feel like continuing, Anita Sarkeesian, an up and coming con artist (See Here), and Brianna Wu an Indie Game maker who saw potential gain for herself and her brand. Now this might seem bias but do your due diligence. Check the sources. Everything pretty much adds up. Now to continue; These three became the modern face of what would later be called 3rd Wave Feminism. Or as most of us know it. Radical Feminism. Reasons being as follows. (Side note: The FBI did a full investigation into threats and other things in regards to GG. What they found was a lot of nothing. Just a bunch of troll account hiding their assholery behind the anonymity of the internet. The entire rest of GG was good people trying to solve a now exposed and exploding problem in games journalism. A problem that was expanded when it was picked up incomplete by mainstream news. Mainstream news that misrepresented the 98% of what was GG. Just gamers that wanted their own journalists to be honest and ethical. That’s literally it. But sure if you don’t believe that, believe the well off journalists that were in front of the bus when this whole incident dropped. Or rather. The boy who cried wolf. Believe the liars if you want but that’s your choice to be or stay ignorant.)

1.It does not seek for equality. It seeks for power over men and other women.Nothing more.

3rd Wave feminism does not care about women around the world. Only empowerment and monetary gain of themselves.

This version of feminism more or less gave rise to the what later became the Women’s March. The leaders of which, were confirmed antisemitic, Pro-Islamist’s whom were friends with the man who wrote the anti jew handbook, Louis Farrakhan.

Told women that wearing giant stuffed vagina’s are somehow empowering, and bleeding all over yourself is giving your finger to the man.

Also, This version of feminism was not about empowerment of all women. Only certain ones. This can clearly be seen due to the deletion of jobs that certain women wanted to be in but others deemed “not appropriate”.

Now explain to me. Where is the female empowerment of taking jobs away from women. Where is the empowerment in telling women what they can and can’t ware. Where is the empowerment in telling women what they HAVE to believe, and do with their lives. You can’t. Because their is no empowerment to anyone other than those whom are setting those standards. That’s NOT feminism. That’s control.

Event’s that followed led to what is now known as #MeToo. This movement started from a good place. There were women whom were not in a good place at all, and whom were taken advantage of, ignored by police and friends, as well as suffering. The lifespan of this movement however outlived it’s stay as soon as the term “Believe all women” became a thing. The creation of this phrase per lack of a better word was sheer ignorance. Because since 2008 forward, the Mainstream media has reported on over 20 cases of false rape. The biggest of which was Duke La cross, where the girl admitted to lying so the guy she was crushing on would not find out she slept with 2 of the three boys indited in the claim. Now understand. I KNOW, there there are women out there that are not believed. I know there are evil men out there that have gotten away with rape. Here is the issue however with the entire MeToo Movement. Early on, it seek’d to wall men who had been raped out. More over it told men that they could NOT be raped. And it also ignored VERY HEAVILY woman on woman rape. The only care MeToo had for a long time was, “FUCK ALL MEN”. And i can likely still find that sentiment on twitter even now with someone who’s profile proudly waves the MeToo Hashtag. Plenty more than likely. (Side Note: This is not me saying don’t believe women. Not at all. Believe your friends and believe your family. But understand something very clearly. People lie. Anyone and everyone, lies. And the reasons they will do it can be next to anything. What i AM saying is do not crucify people until you know they are guilty. And word of mouth is NOT proof.)

Now lets go back a few years prior to this. Islam and blind acceptance of the religion and culture. Now i’m no xenophobe. Nor am i purely anti Islam. I’m just in support of those within the religion who are trying to mellow it out, and stamp out extremists. Here is the problem. When mass immigration started, there was little vetting. As such, many evil people came over with the good people. And they did it in mass often leaving women and children behind in war zones. And often young men between 14-40 whom only knew their culture. This led to several incidents that hyper progressive Europeans do their best to label, “fake news”. Examples: Link1 Link2 Link3

Now I will be the first to stop you RIGHT THERE, before you utter the phrase, “Not all migrants” or “Not all Muslims”. That’s true. It’s not by any stretch all or even most. But it’s enough that have come from a culture of women being subservient to men, more or less, that have come in with NO want to mesh with the culture. Rather, changed the culture of the land into their own. A culture that prides itself on patriarchy. That really evil thing that modern feminism can’t seem to stop griping about. But it’s largely ignored because, “they don’t know any better”. Ok let’s see you get raped by someone that “does not know any better”. I’m 100% positive you’d very much change your tunes then. And that’s not me wishing it on you. As i’d never wish that on anyone, ever. Fact is however this stuff has happened. And it has happened in bulk. With more than a few arrests being made due to CCTV footage. Though several were ultimately leg go because the government didn’t care to prosecute them. This was the same thing that happened a while back in the UK i believe. A sex trafficking ring that was known about for 41 years, but was left almost completely untouched, because the government thought it would be racist to prosecute them, as it happens many young teens tried to tell the police, only to be treated like prostitutes, and threatened with being locked up or charges filed on them. In what world is this ok? It’s not. But this is what happens when you just turn a blind eye because you want to “own” the other side of the political spectrum.

Which brings me not to another event in the past, but something i need to say. I don’t care if you are left, right, center, up, down, slanted or otherwise. YOU, need to learn to make up your own mind, and learn how to do your research. Fact is everyone in the media around the world, Australia, Europe, the US and Canada all have a Main Stream Media bias problem. A hyper left progressive bias problem. And do you know why? Because the more angry and divided the people, the more you give into hate, the more you give into hate, the more you listen to them, mindlessly believing every single thing they say. Without question. Like for example, recently there has been a trend of movies doing poorly. Who does MSM blame? “Alt Right Trolls”. Alt Right being a group of radical racists and homophobes, some of whom are literal nazis. But the number of these individuals is small. Less than a percentage of the world populace. Here is the deal though. They make money from you being angry. They make money from US ALL being divided. That’s the thing though. They don’t actually give a damn about being right. They don’t care if they have the facts. They just want your eyes, on their product. And the more you fall into their trap headlines and clipped videos, false framing etc, the more power you actually give them.

No matter what side you are on, most of us no matter left, right, center, liberal, progressive, conservative, etc, we just want to live our best lives. And trust me i have bones to pick with every side. Why? Because i’m not really on a side. If anything i’m just left of center but i don’t agree with most anyone on anything at this point. Why?

-Liberals are too soft spoken now a days and need to grow a spine, also realize that conservatives are NOT all the same. And neither are all republicans.

Progressives and Hyper progressives are too demanding, childish, irresponsible, hateful and vindictive. They don’t care about collateral damage at all. Nor if anyone gets hurt so long as they can have their way. Not to mention Antifa whom have injured SEVERAL innocent people, AND the fact you’re all actively promoting kids getting danced on by drag queens. Yeah.....you are responsible for that one. A grown man, who dresses like a woman as a career choice, dancing for a young girl. Oh and lest we forget the Drag kid stripping in gay bars for ACTUAL MONEY! IE: You’re fascists.

Conservatives need to stop taking it up the tail pipe and actually put up a fight against the left when they come swinging. Stop playing the “We can’t sink down to their level” game. Because not only are they not playing that game, they are actively participating in corruption and there is little FILED proof because you want to protect your moral high ground. Also also, Rape and Incest are BOTH valid reasons for an abortion. Why? Because the guilt and trauma of either could lead to thoughts of suicide or just as bad death of the baby by the hands of the mother after the birth. So if you are a conservative and believe in having an abortion if the mothers life is at risk? Consider how many rape victims commit suicide.

Alt Right........Just......go play with alligators. Or Vipers. IE you’re all assholes and no matter your intent your all POS whom are not any better than the hyper progressives.

Long story short? We stand divided. We stand divided because we let the news control how we see the world. And many of us can’t form opinions for ourselves so we latch on to others. Others that don’t actually care about you. They only care about using your voice as a megaphone to project their own. How does that benefit you? It doesn’t. Stop being so damn divided. Stop judging the other side of the argument before you even hear it purely because you think you already know what it is. OPEN YOUR DAMN EARS. Hate breeds hate. And you can never fight hate with hate because it becomes and endless cycle of only hate. And then it won’t ever stop. Also you need to realize....closing your ears and screaming “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA” does not make you right. It makes you a dick. People are NOT the politicians that “represent them”, just like the Politicians are not the people they aim to supposedly represent. Conservatives are more chill now than they have been in years. But progressives actively chase them out of spaces, and then wonder why they are up in arms. Maybe it’s because you call them all buzzwords that are not true, you protect monsters just to “own the cons” and often turn a blind eye to your own sides wrong doings. (Side Note: An example of this is the huge Ellen controversy when she was seen with G. W. Bush. Everyone said he was a war criminal and should have been put in prison or worse. You know who makes plenty of public appearances and next to no one criticizes? Obama. The man who build your “Concentration camps”, the man who STARTED the parent child separation policy. The man who is responsible for MORE INNOCENT DEATHS in the middle east than most of the previous presidents combined. Do you have any idea how many innocent women and children died in his drone strikes?! If anything Bush was an idiot who was controlled by Chaney. And the VP is also in active control of the Military at any given time. And i hear constantly. “Oh i’m not excusing Obama but we are not talking about him”. Yeah you POS. No one EVER talks about him. No one EVER holds him to the standard they hold Bush to. Do you know why? Because he’s a Democrat. And if people criticized him, they have to admit THEY are the ones that put him in office. They’d have to admit THEIR side is not right. Fuck right off.)

Lets just to Trump as he is the title of this thing. The news will NOT leave him alone. It was Russia for 3.8 years and for the next little bit it’s been Ukraine. And they did the same thing to Tulsi Gabbard when she ran. “Russian Asset”. Sound familiar? Well if it doesn’t it’s the same BS they pull when they say, “This movie did poorly because of alt right white men” It’s the same sentence, different context. It’s an excuse to slap someone down because “Alt right” “white man” “Russia”, and other bullshit are all words and phrases that make people LOSE THEIR SHIT. They don’t even need proof. All they need is one finger to point at the target and blam. All hands on deck to destroy anyone and anything pointed at, no matter who or what it is. None of you actually care about a cause. You care about hurting others. You care about bullying. And before any of you get uppity and go, “well they bully, and they hurt”. When and where did it become ok to become your enemy. And if they really are doing that, do NOT, meet them head on as if doing the same thing as them is somehow ok. Malcom X Justified raping black women as practice for when they’d do it to white women. Are you going to justify rape now? Because if not then sit your ass down and realize who and WHAT you are becoming. That bully you bitch about. That bigot with hurtful opinions? You are becoming them. You are just trying to justify it by saying, “Oh well they deserve it”. So what if they do? When did YOU become judge, jury, and executioner?

And that’s my issue. Trump might be a loud, ignorant, obnoxious, troll. But a lot of the things we’ve been told by the media that he’s done...is blatant shit framing, and flat out lies. Trump is polarizing because no one can actually control him. He can’t keep secrets, and he won’t shut up. Which is still better than Obama AND Bush. Because we hear more or less everything. Or rather, we would if the media would stop talking about fake stories. Why not talk to conservatives about the lack of the wall they wanted. Or how Trump has put crap gun laws in motion. Or maybe, talk about how even though the economy was amazing, pre corona, Trump is still an idiot. You don’t bring anyone to your side by screaming at people. And you certainly don’t do it by berating them. Main stream Media and Social Media have not helped this division and have only made the problem worse. Listen. Love. Learn. You might not like what someone has to say, but let them say it. Listen to people and TRY to understand why they are saying what they say. Even if you don’t learn, and even if you still don’t agree, you will have walked away with a better understanding as to WHY. And the WHY, in everything is what’s most important. The world can’t grow from a what. Nor from a who. Only from a fundamental understanding of WHY.

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allofbeercom · 6 years

Text

‘Call me a racist, but don’t say I’m a Buddhist’: America’s alt right

They present themselves as modern thinkers of extremism. But the US far right, discovers Sanjiv Bhattacharya, have the same white supremacist obsessions

Every few weeks, William Johnson, the chairman of the white nationalist American Freedom Party (AFP), holds a lunch for members, the goal being to make America a white ethnostate, a project that begins with electing Donald Trump. This week, its at a grand old French restaurant called Taix, in Echo Park, Los Angeles an odd choice on the face of it. Echo Park is a trendy hood. Its hipster and heavily Hispanic. In fact, given the predominance of Latino kitchen staff in this city, it may be wise to hold off on the Trump talk until the food arrives.

About three months ago, Johnson begins, I was talking to Richard Spencer about how we need to plan for a Trump victory. Spencer is another prominent white nationalist he heads the generic-sounding National Policy Institute. I said: I want Jared Taylor [of American Renaissance] as UN Ambassador, and Kevin MacDonald [an evolutionary psychologist] as secretary of health and Ann Coulter as homeland security! And Spencer said: Oh Johnson, thats a pipe dream! But today, hed no longer say that, because if Trump wins, all the establishment Republicans, theyre gone They hate him! So whos left? If we can lobby, we can put our people in there.

Around the table five young men, roughly half Johnsons age (hes 61), nod and lean in. They all wear suits and ties, address the waiter as sir and identify as the alt right, the much-discussed nouvelle vague of racism. Are you guys familiar with the Plum Book? Johnson asks. Its plum because of the colour, but also because of the plum positions there are 20,000 jobs in that book that are open to a new administration.

So we need to identify our top people! says Eric, one of the men at the table.

Just anyone with a college degree! Johnson says.

Right. Eric is practically bouncing in his seat with excitement. We need to get the word out. We are the new GOP!

A whiter future: pro- and anti-Trump supporters clash outside Trump Towers in New York. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Its not every day that a brown journalist gets to sit in on a white-nationalist strategy meeting. But these are strange times. Racism is trending. Like Brexit, Trump has normalised views that were once beyond the pale, and groups like the AFP have grown bold. Their mans stubby orange fingers are within reach of actual power, so maybe its time to emerge from the shadows at last.

I first met Johnson in May after he signed up as a Trump delegate before being swiftly struck off by the campaign when the press found out. Hes a surprising figure. An avid environmentalist, fluent in Japanese and, in person, not the bitter old racist Id expected but rather a jolly Mormon grandfather, bright eyed and chuckling, a Wind in the Willows character. Eric is even more unexpected. Tall and impassioned, he came to racism via hypnotherapy, of all things. He sells solar panels for a living and practises yoga. Together with his friends Matt and Nathan, who are also here at lunch, he runs an alt-right fraternity in Manhattan Beach a beer and barbecues thing. Theyre called the Beach Goys. Were starting a parody band, he beams. Weve found a drummer!

Between them they represent two poles of a racist spectrum, young and old. And judging from this lunch, its the millennials who are the more extreme. Johnson wants white nationalists to appear less mean and he finds the JQ, the Jewish Question, archaic. But Eric loves the meanness of the alt right. Were the troll army! he says. Were here to win. Were savage! And antisemitism is non-negotiable. In fact, hed like to clear up a misnomer about the alt right, propagated by the Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, who is often described, mistakenly, as the movements leader. Milo casts the alt right as principally a trolling enterprise, dedicated to attacking liberal shibboleths for the lulz theres precious little actual bigotry. But Eric insists otherwise. Yes, they like to joke, they have memes, theyre just as funny as liberals have I heard of their satirical news podcasts, the Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation? But make no mistake, the racism is real. Eric especially enjoys The Daily Stormer, a leading alt-right news site, which is unashamedly pro-Hitler.

What unites Johnson and Eric is what they describe as the systematic browbeating of the white male namely all this talk of privilege, the Confederate flag, Black Lives Matter and mansplaining. But beyond that, its the looming extinction of the white race. This is the language they use. Also: Diversity equals white genocide. The alt right loves to evoke genocide while harbouring Holocaust deniers. Their point is that white people are melting away like the icecaps, and they have a primal drive to stop it. In 2044, non-Hispanic whites will drop below 50% of the US population. The generation of the white minority has already been born, Eric says. Look at South Africa and Rhodesia. Thats where were headed. Total disenfranchisement.

Mexican activists on the campaign trail. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

I want to reassure him that his Brown Rulers will be gentle and that slavery isnt so bad when you get used to it. But its not me they want to hear from, its white people. This is the white nationalists burden the very people theyre trying to save are the ones who most fiercely oppose them. The only group I cannot get along with is white people, says Johnson. Because white people hate white people who like white people.

A couple of days later, Johnson is at his cluttered desk in downtown LA, nattering merrily in Japanese to a woman in Tokyo. He gets lots of media requests these days, but especially from Japan. Theres an uncanny connection between Japan and white nationalism in America. Jared Taylor, white nationalisms foremost intellectual, is another fluent speaker. Its an ethnostate and its deeply nationalist, he says. And they have resisted the pressure to admit refugees. I say: God bless them!

For his part, Johnsons racism was shaped in Japan. He grew up in Eugene, Oregon, a state founded as a white utopia, in a modest Mormon home, back before the LDS church gave black people the priesthood in 1978. But it was his two-year mission to Tohoku, Japan, that turned him. As he went from door to door, locals would opine on the greatness of white America. They had an inferiority complex after the war, so we were treated like celebrities, he says. Oh, it was just the funnest time! A few years later, while working in Japan as an attorney, he wrote a book advocating the repatriation of all non-whites with appropriate reparations, because I thought America was going to collapse unless I did something. When he returned to LA, he sent a copy to every congressman. He was 32.

Clearly things didnt work out as planned. His forays into politics floundered and then his offices were bombed. So he retreated from activism for nearly 15 years, only returning in 2009 to form the AFP just in time for the rise of the alt right.

We head to his 67-acre ranch near Pasadena, a hilly lot backing on to a national forest. I asked to meet his family, but his wife refused, so we tour the farm instead his persimmon orchard, his horses and ducks. And there on his pick-up truck is a stencil of Jimi Hendrix. My daughter likes to paint, he says proudly. None of his five children are white nationalists, though they have promised to marry within the race.

Youre a white supremacist with a black artist painted on your truck, I tell him. And he flinches. Thats the meanest, most hurtful swearword there is. Just because I say different races have different strengths doesnt mean I think Im superior. He doesnt like racist either. Its a pejorative. I prefer race realist.

But its not my reality, Bill. Im sticking with racist.

Well, OK. But people who embrace racist are mad at everybody. I get along with people. You cannot function in Los Angeles without encountering other races, so I look for areas of similarity and agreement. Its important to treat everyone with the highest respect on a micro level.

I thought America was going to collapse unless I did something: William Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party, at home on his ranch near Pasadena. Photograph: Barry J Holmes for the Observer

On a macro level, however, darkness falls multiculturalism is doomed, the different races will never get along, and our only hope is Balkanisation: separate territories for separate tribes. And whatever accelerates that transition is welcome, even racial strife. I dont think friction is a good thing, he says, but it would help facilitate the split that is necessary.

We stop to feed his alpacas. Theres a brown one, a black one and a white one, standing peacefully together against the chicken wire fence.

See Bill, theyre getting along.

He laughs. I wish people were like alpacas.

Im with Eric at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan Beach where he lives, an upscale, white neighbourhood in the South Bay. He clears space on the table and grins. OK, you ready? Your first tarot card reading with the Hitler Youth!

Its been an odd afternoon. We walked along the beach and I asked about his gmail address which includes the number 1488, a potent number for white supremacists. The 14 stands for the 14 words coined by the late David Lane of the group The Order: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. And the 88 refers to HH (H being eighth in the alphabet) or Heil Hitler. Eric sighed. OK, but this stuffs hard to talk about, he said. It depends how red-pilled you are.

Alt-righters love talking about the red pill. Its a reference to The Matrix blue-pilled people bumble through a life of illusion, while the red-pilled have seen the truth and theres no turning back. Like all conspiracy theorists they see the hidden hand that guides all things, but for the alt right that hand is Jewish. The red pill is classic antisemitism, rebooted for a younger generation. As we walked, he laid it out the banking, the media, the globalism. We passed games of beach volleyball and family picnics, while he explained why the Holocaust was exaggerated and Hitler got a bad rap.

A nation without colour: William Johnson speaking at an AFP conference in 2013.

Have you noticed that kombucha isnt as fizzy as it used to be? he asks, along the way, because Eric isnt your average Nazi. He trained as a spiritualist. He has taught meditation. He brought his tarot cards in case I wanted a reading.

Dont tell me its the Jews, I tell him. He laughs. You said it, not me!

In the late 70s, the Klansman David Duke swapped his hood and robes for a suit and tie, and took white supremacy out of the cross-burning fields and into the boardroom. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the alt right in similar terms, as Racism 2.0, a rebranding for the digital generation. Its a trendy reboot alt right makes white supremacy sound like an art collective. And Eric, the kombucha Nazi, just takes it a step further into the aisles of Whole Foods. Hes a locally sourced, wild-caught bigot high in omega-3s and antisemitism. It makes him more sinister in some ways, and more harmless in others. As Nazis go.

Hmm, Nazi. Like Johnson, hes squeamish about terms. Warriors against political correctness can be awfully sensitive. Its such a slur, he says. But come on hes a Hitler apologist. OK, fine, he says. Just dont say Im a Buddhist, because Im actually more into Norse and Celtic mysticism now.

Itll come as no surprise that someone whod rather be called a Nazi than a Buddhist has a strange story to tell. Originally from a well-off white suburb of Chicago, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue music. Then one day, in the gym of his condo building, he met a guru figure well call Frank. A spiritualist and businessman, Frank introduced Eric to New Age mysticism and Japanese Buddhism. And it was under Franks guidance that Eric moved to LA to study hypnotherapy and began a career giving readings and tarot shows at a psychic bookshop. Frank, he says, was his mentor and best friend. But then Eric took a turn. He radicalised himself. He left the New Age life, finding it too feminine, and spiralled down a sinkhole of conspiracy theory. He and Frank have been estranged ever since. Frank is black.

By the book: author Ann Coulter. Photograph: Aaron Davidson/Getty Images

Today, Eric still meditates and practises yoga. His weeks are spent like David Brent, as a travelling salesman, driving around meeting his solar energy clients. His weekends, however, are all about the Beach Goys, which now has 15 members. Last week, they went on a hike to the Murphy Ranch in the Pacific Palisades, a decrepit old property that was originally built as a refuge for Hitler after the war. Next week is their first band rehearsal. Erics going to play guitar and sing. And this is the future he wants not a plum job with the Trump administration. I dont see myself as a bureaucrat, he says. I want to take the Beach Goys national. I want to inspire people.

It could happen. Trump has unleashed something in America. Johnson wont reveal the AFPs membership numbers Maybe we want to appear bigger than we are? but Eric insists the alt right is on the march. Were growing with every hashtag, every BLM protest, every city that becomes a Detroit, or a London, he says. Were everywhere! Were the guy next to you at yoga, the barista at Starbucks… Its like Fight Club for supremacists, a deeply unsettling thought (which is why Eric loves it).

But his delight in being a secret Nazi detracts from the seriousness of it all, the white genocide stuff. Hes having too much fun. And I wonder, as we finish our beers, if it will pass for Eric, this Nazi phase. He just doesnt seem that threatening. Then he starts up about a race war, that old white-supremacist chestnut. Because behind the trolling veneer, the alt right is more traditional than alt. What Eric believes is vintage racism, the same old wine in a new ironic cask. And Tony Benns words ring as true as ever: Every generation must fight the same battles again and again.

Our civilisation is at war and we need to secure our people, Eric says. We must seize power and take control. And the idea that we can do this peacefully is probably not realistic.

We get along well enough, Eric and I, but he has the same micro/macro discrepancy as Johnson. And at a macro level, there is only despair and division. I do not advocate violence, but I will give my life for my blood and for the honour of my ancestors.

He thrums the tarot cards in his hands, his voice getting more animated. We accept the game thats being played. We accept that the lion and the gazelle are competition. But they dont have to hate each other. Thats just how we view it.

He shrugs. Its scary. The world is scary. This is not a game for children.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/call-me-a-racist-but-dont-say-im-a-buddhist-americas-alt-right/

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vegankween · 7 years

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So you hate it when those things happen to white people right? All of those I listed were done to white people and were major movements made by the liberal community. It doesn't erase the things that happen to POCs, but there's a dynamic in America that exists where you can literally censor an entire race of people and get support from major media outlets, academia, and society. How are we going to triumph the issues of POCs when it's acceptable to victimize anyone else?

Are you the one who sent me, “How do you feel about Mocking skin color, locked off of college campus grounds, not included in their peers SJW safe spaces (lol), thrown out of vehicles by mobs and beaten, being dragged into fires, hunted down by rioters, shot by politically fueled gunmen, targeted by music television shows as being subhuman or belonging to a barbaric race of people, your political rallies being shut down despite being a fellow advocate for a political agenda, or kidnappings/ torture that are racially motivated?”

You sound like a white person who had their feelings hurt. Yes all of these things can happen to anyone, but ayo reality check, it happens more frequently to PoC BECAUSE of white people. Quit your reverse racism bullshit.

1. Mocking skin color: Having a PoC say you look like mayo doesn’t even come close to centuries of discrimination, slavery, and basically all racist as fuck antics from white people to colored people. White people are called crackers because historically, y’all used a fucking WHIP to beat slaves and the noise whips make is a “cracking” sound. You got nicknamed after being violent landowners who abused slaves, now compare that with the N word. Please.

You guys spend centuries making brown skinned people feel hideous about their skin tone and round noses. So much that the ENTIRE world considers European features the most beautiful.

2. Locked off of college campus grounds? What instance? I could probably give you several of white colleges profiling and discriminating against black kids. Are you talking about all black colleges? That’s THEIR space and they deserve it. White people have had everything. White people have either segregated themselves from PoC or took what belonged to them. Now when black people have a place of their own, y’all feel like you gotta take that too.

3. Not included in SJW safe spaces: Some safe spaces are for specific people. A safe space for black, latino, asian, native america, etc, is not a safe space for a white person. Same goes for people in the LGBT+ community. Why would a white person need to be in a PoC safe space???? Just by being white you’re pretty fucking safe. lol.

4. “Thrown out of vehicles by mobs and beaten, being dragged into fires, hunted down by rioters, shot by politically fueled gunmen, targeted by music television shows as being subhuman or belonging to a barbaric race of people” Weird. This all sounds like things the KKK does to PoC here in the United States. I’m not going to say it doesn’t happen to white people, but I am going to say that when it happens, it’s not because you’re white. A black man is beaten by mobs for no reason other than his skin color. Give me the names of at least fifteen countries were white people are killed by PoC and were historically slaves to PoC, if ya can.

Your reverse racism rhetoric is weak because in the history of… ever… white people have always been the dominate race, labeling anyone who doesn’t look like casper the friendly ghost subhuman. That being said, there is a huge problem with Antisemitism. Jews also deserve place a safe. But if you’re a hetero, non jewish white person in America, you need to put on your big boy pullups and get over it because you are NOT a target of racism.

Also, yeah no. The media sucks the white man’s cock. Don’t get me started on how the media is toxic towards PoC. Example, the west nile virus. It killed millions within the continent of Africa and there was little coverage. Six white people die in the Unite States and everyone shits a brick.

Artists of color that talk shit about white people in their songs are motivated by institutionalized discrimination towards their race and are using their talent to speak up against it, like J. Cole (which btw his new album is FIRE).

5. “How are we going to triumph the issues of POCs when it’s acceptable to victimize anyone else?” Well to triumph the issues of PEOPLE OF COLOR, we are going to need white people to stop killing us!!!! And to stop discriminating against us!!!!! And to elect us more into government offices!!!!! Allow us to have more representation in the media!!!!!!

Maybe once Muslims, Black people, Latino/a people, etc can walk outside of their house without fear of being labeled a terrorist or thug we can sit down and talk about your white feelings.

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bountyofbeads · 6 years

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‘Stop the words of hate,’ rabbi urges leaders after synagogue massacre. Trump keeps tweeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/29/stop-words-hate-rabbi-urges-leaders-after-synagogue-massacre-trump-keeps-tweeting/

‘Stop the words of hate,’ rabbi urges leaders after synagogue massacre. Trump keeps tweeting.

By Tim Craig, Avi Selk, Shawn Boburg, Andrew Tran and Amy Wang

October 29 at 11:42 AM ET, Washington Post, Posted 10/29/2018

PITTSBURGH — At the end of a weekend that redefined concepts of religious hatred in the United States, a grieving Rabbi Jeffrey Myers directly linked Saturday’s massacre at his Tree of Life synagogue to the rhetoric of U.S. politicians.

“It starts with speech,” Myers said to loud applause at a Sunday-evening vigil attended by two U.S. senators. “It has to start with you as our leaders. My words are not intended as political fodder. I address all equally. Stop the words of hate.”

Two hours after the rabbi’s speech, President Trump absolved himself of responsibility and once again blamed others for the nation’s troubles.

“The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday night. “Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!”

The rest of the week will be marked by funerals for the 11 people killed inside Tree of Life, and very likely more debate over whether the aggressive political language that has defined Trump’s presidency had any role in fueling the gunman’s radicalization.

Robert Bowers, “onedingo,” and Trump

At the center of everything is Bowers: a 46-year-old truck driver with few apparent friends, and who left almost no impression on neighbors near his small apartment just outside Pittsburgh, which investigators finished searching Sunday.

A law enforcement source told The Washington Post on Monday that investigators recovered three handguns and two rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition after executing a search warrant at the residence. That’s in addition to at least four weapons recovered at the synagogue.

“We would have small talk, but he just seemed like a normal guy, and that is the scary part,” Bowers’s next-door neighbor Kerri Owens told The Post.

Bowers appears to have led another life under the online alias “onedingo,” posting on an uncensored social media platform called Gab that is an online haven for extremists.

Signing his posts with Bowers’s name, onedingo compared Jews to Satan and complained that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement cannot succeed so long as Jews “infest” the country. He also posted slurs against women who had relationships with black men, repeatedly referenced nooses and hangings, and used the n-word nearly 20 times.

The White House press secretary has called Bowers “a coward who hated President Trump because @POTUS is such an unapologetic defender of the Jewish community and state of Israel.” The Gab posts suggest a feeling closer to disillusionment with the president, whose daughter converted to Judaism, but who is often accused of stoking anger, hatred and even anti-Semitism in his political rhetoric.

In February, onedingo posted a meme of a Monopoly Chance card with superimposed images of Trump dragging Hillary Clinton to jail.

In May, he wrote that he did “not vote for Trump nor own or ever even worn a maga hat.”

In October — as Trump was repeatedly tweeting about a caravan of refugees and migrants heading through Central America toward the U.S. border — onedingo began to complain about a Jewish group’s efforts to hold Shabbat dinners for refugees.

The group “likes to bring invaders that kill our people,” he wrote hours before the Pittsburgh massacre. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

The attack, the deadliest on Jews in U.S. history, targeted a synagogue that is an anchor of Pittsburgh’s large Jewish community, about a 25-minute drive from Bowers’s home. Police and FBI investigators say Bowers walked in during Saturday morning services with an AR-15 rifle and three Glock pistols, and spent the next 10 minutes or so gunning down any worshipers he came across.

Myers, the rabbi, said at Sunday’s vigil that he was praying with a dozen early worshipers when the gunman appeared at the door.

“I ran through the back of the sanctuary, up the stairs,” he told an NBC reporter afterward. “I went up into the choir loft. I heard him execute my congregants. I didn’t watch. I couldn’t watch it."

Police pursued Bowers in a running gun battle to the third floor the synagogue. When they captured him, according to a federal complaint, the quiet man who had left no impression on his neighbors ranted and raved like his online persona.

“They’re committing genocide to my people,” Bowers allegedly told police. “I just want to kill Jews.”

Hate speech

On Saturday, Trump said the massacre was an “evil Anti-Semitic attack” and “an assault on humanity.” But he has said little about Bowers, and shown little interest in joining a national debate about whether the country’s hostile political climate or loose gun regulations helped enable the attack.

Trump suggested Saturday that the synagogue should have had armed guards — as he has done after other mass shootings. Then he tweeted about a baseball game, called one of his political rivals a “crazed and stumbling lunatic,” and by Monday he was once again stoking fears about the migrant caravan, calling it “an invasion of our Country.”

In between, the president assured his followers that the “great anger in our Country” was the fault of “The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People.”

Democrats on Sunday said Trump’s incendiary attacks on rivals have created fertile ground for those inclined toward extremism.

So did Abraham Foxman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League, which recorded a massive spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017 — the first year of Trump’s presidency.

"Trumpism legitimized the bigots to come out of the sewers and gave them a platform to play on,” Foxman told the Jerusalem Post. “He has said the right things on antisemitism this week. But he needs to change the rhetoric he uses to explain his policies, which gives millions of bigots a rationale for their bigotry.”

Since the shooting, more than 25,000 people have signed an open letter to Trump in support of 11 Jewish leaders who said the president would not be welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounced white nationalism.

Pittsburgh city Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, whose district includes the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, attended the Sunday night vigil and said she sensed not just overwhelming grief, but also weariness and, in some, a desire to turn anger into action.

“It was a more general frustration of, ‘When is this hateful rhetoric going to stop?’ and that [our discourse] seems to be further inflamed by elected leaders,” she said, without naming anyone in particular. “When will the hate end? When will we be able to come together as a country?”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.During a television appearance Monday morning, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway responded to another request for the president to stay away from Pittsburgh from Lynette Lederman, the former president of Tree of Life synagogue, who has said she considers Trump a “purveyor of hate speech.”

“I know that she’s very grief stricken, I can imagine, and my heartfelt condolences go to her and everybody in that congregation regardless of politics,” Conway said on CNN. “Many people are welcoming the president to go there and to help heal.”

Funerals and court

Bowers was reportedly released from the hospital Monday after being shot by police before his capture. He is scheduled to appear in federal court before Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

He faces at least 23 state charges, including homicide, attempted homicide and aggravated assault against police officers. He faces an additional 29 federal charges accusing him of civil rights and hate crimes.Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania have begun the process of seeking the death penalty for Bowers, a Justice Department spokesperson said Sunday. The process is typically lengthy, involving input from relatives of the victims before the final decision is made by the attorney general.

Funerals for the 11 victims are also expected to begin this week, though it’s unclear whether the criminal investigation will delay them.

The dead included a 97-year-old woman, a husband and wife, and two brothers.

Selk, Boburg, Tran and Wang reported from Washington. Kayla Epstein in Pittsburgh and Mark Berman, Alice Crites, Sari Horwitz, Annie Gowen, Wesley Lowery, Julie Tate, John Wagner and Matt Zapotosky in Washington contributed to this report.

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topsolarpanels · 6 years

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‘ Call me a racist, but don’t say I’m a Buddhist ‘: America’s alt right

They present themselves as modern intellectuals of extremism. But the US far right, detects Sanjiv Bhattacharya, have the same white supremacist obsessions

Every few weeks, William Johnson, the chairman of the white patriot American Freedom Party( AFP ), holds a lunch for members, the goal being to stimulate America a white ethnostate, a project that begins with electing Donald Trump. This week, its at a grand old French eatery called Taix, in Echo Park, Los Angeles an odd choice on the face of it. Echo Park is a trendy hood. Its hipster and heavily Hispanic. In fact, given the predominance of Latino kitchen staff in this city, it may be wise to hold off on the Trump talk until the food arrives.

About three months ago, Johnson begins, I was talking to Richard Spencer about how we need to plan for a Trump victory. Spencer is another prominent white patriot he heads the generic-sounding National Policy Institute. I said: I want Jared Taylor[ of American Renaissance] as UN Ambassador, and Kevin MacDonald[ an evolutionary psychologist] as secretary of health and Ann Coulter as homeland security! And Spencer said: Oh Johnson, thats a pipe dream! But today, hed no longer say that, because if Trump wins, all the establishment Republican, theyre run They detest him! So whos left? If we can foyer, we can set our people in there.

Around the table five young men, roughly half Johnsons age( hes 61 ), nod and tilt in. They all wear suits and ties, relating to the waiter as sir and identify as the alt right, the much-discussed nouvelle vague of racism. Are you guys familiar with the Plum Book ? Johnson asks. Its plum because of the colour, but also because of the plum positions there are 20,000 jobs in that volume that are open to a new administration.

So we need to identify our top people! says Eric, one of “the mens” at the table.

Just anyone with a college degree! Johnson says.

Right. Eric is practically ricochetting in his seat with exhilaration. We need to get the word out. We are the new GOP!

A whiter future: pro- and anti-Trump advocates clash outside Trump Towers in New York. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Its not every day that a brown journalist gets to sit in on a white-nationalist strategy meeting. But these are strange days. Racism is trending. Like Brexit, Trump has normalised views that were once beyond the pale, and groups like the AFP have grown bold. Their mans stubby orange fingers are within reach of actual power, so perhaps its time to emerge from the darkness at last.

I first gratified Johnson in May after he signed up as a Trump delegate before being swiftly struck off by the campaign when the press found out. Hes a surprising figure. An avid environmentalist, fluent in Japanese and, in person , not the bitter old racist Id expected but instead a jolly Mormon grandfather, bright eyed and chuckle, a Wind in the Willows character. Eric is even more unexpected. Tall and impassioned, “hes come to” racism via hypnotherapy, of all things. He sells solar panels for a life and practises yoga. Together with his friends Matt and Nathan, who are also here at lunch, he operates an alt-right frat in Manhattan Beach a brew and barbecues thing. Theyre called the Beach Goys. Were starting a parody band, he beams. Weve discovered a drummer!

Between them they represent two poles of a racist spectrum, young and old. And judging from this lunch, its the millennials who are the more extreme. Johnson wants white patriots to appear less mean and he discovers the JQ, the Jewish Question, archaic. But Eric loves the meanness of the alt right. Were the troll army! he says. Were here to win. Were savage! And antisemitism is non-negotiable. In fact, hed like to clear up a misnomer about the alt right, propagated by the Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos, who is often described, mistakenly, as the movements leader. Milo casts the alt right as principally a trolling enterprise, dedicated to assaulting liberal shibboleths for the lulz theres precious little actual intolerance. But Eric insists otherwise. Yes, they like to gag, they have memes, theyre just as funny as liberals have I heard of their satirical news podcasts, the Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation ? But build no mistake, the racism is real. Eric especially enjoys The Daily Stormer , a resulting alt-right news site, which is unashamedly pro-Hitler.

What unites Johnson and Eric is what they describe as the systematic browbeating of the white male namely all this talk of privilege, the Confederate flag, Black Lives Matter and mansplaining. But beyond that, its the looming extinction of the white race. This is the language they use. Also: Diversity equals white genocide. The alt right loves to provoke genocide while harbouring Holocaust deniers. Their point is that white people are melting away like the icecaps, and they have a primal drive to stop it. In 2044 , non-Hispanic whites will drop below 50% of the US population. The generation of the white minority has already been born, Eric says. Look at South Africa and Rhodesia. Thats where were headed. Total disenfranchisement.

Mexican activists on the campaign trail. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

I want to reassure him that his Brown Rulers is likely to be gentle and that bondage isnt even worse when you get used to it. But its not me they want to hear from, its white people. This is the white patriots burden the very people theyre trying to save are the ones who most ferociously oppose them. The only group I cannot get along with is white people, says Johnson. Because white people detest white people who like white people.

A couple of days later, Johnson is at his cluttered desk in downtown LA, nattering blithely in Japanese to a woman in Tokyo. He gets lots of media requests these days, but especially from Japan. Theres an uncanny connection between Japan and white patriotism in America. Jared Taylor, white patriotisms foremost intellectual, is another fluent speaker. Its an ethnostate and its deep nationalist, he says. And they have resisted the pressure to admit refugees. I say: God bless them!

For his part, Johnsons racism was shaped in Japan. He grew up in Eugene, Oregon, a nation founded as a white utopia, in a modest Mormon home, back before the LDS church dedicated black people the priesthood in 1978. But it was his two-year mission to Tohoku, Japan, that turned him. As “hes been gone” from doorway to door, locals would opine on the greatness of white America. They had an inferiority complex after the war, so we were treated like celebrities, he says. Oh, it was just the funnest hour! A few years later, while working in Japan as an attorney, he wrote a book advocating the repatriation of all non-whites with appropriate reparations, because I thought America was going to breakdown unless I did something. When he returned to LA, he sent a transcript to every congressman. He was 32.

Clearly things didnt work up as schemed. His forays into politics floundered and then his offices were bombed. So he retreated from activism for nearly 15 years, merely returning in 2009 to form the AFP merely in time for the rise of the alt right.

We head to his 67 -acre ranch near Pasadena, a hilly lot backing on to a national forest. I asked to meet his family, but his wife refused, so we tour the farm instead his persimmon orchard, his ponies and ducks. And there on his pick-up truck is a stencil of Jimi Hendrix. My daughter likes to paint, he says proudly. None of his five children are white patriots, though they have promised to marry within the race.

Youre a white supremacist with a black artist painted on your truck, I tell him. And he flinches. Thats the meanest, most hurtful swearword there is. Just because I say different races have differing strengths doesnt entail I believe Im superior. He doesnt like racist either. Its a pejorative. I prefer race realist.

But its not my reality, Bill. Im sticking with racist.

Well, OK. But people who espouse racist are mad at everybody. I get along with people. You cannot function in Los Angeles without encountering other races, so I look for areas of similarity and arrangement. Its important to treat everyone with the highest respect on a micro level.

I believed America was going to breakdown unless I did something: William Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party, at home on his ranch near Pasadena. Photograph: Barry J Holmes for the Observer

On a macro level, however, darkness falls multiculturalism is doomed, the different races will never get along, and our only hope is Balkanisation: separate territories for separate tribes. And whatever accelerates that transition is greeting, even racial strife. I dont suppose friction is a good thing, he says, but it would help facilitate the divide that is necessary.

We stop to feed his alpacas. Theres a brown one, a black one and a white one, standing peacefully together against the chicken wire fence.

See Bill, theyre get along.

He laughs. I wish people were like alpacas.

Im with Eric at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan Beach where he lives, an upscale, white neighbourhood in the South Bay. He clears space on the table and smiles. OK, you ready? Your first tarot card reading with the Hitler Youth!

Its been an odd afternoon. We walked along the beach and I asked about his gmail address which includes the number 1488, a potent number for white supremacists. The 14 stands for the 14 terms coined by the late David Lane of the group The Order: We must procure the existence of our people and a future for white children. And the 88 refers to HH( H being eighth in the alphabet) or Heil Hitler. Eric sighed. OK, but this stuffs hard to talk about, he said. It depends how red-pilled you are.

Alt-righters love talking about the red pill. Its a reference to The Matrix blue-pilled people bumble through a life of illusion, while the red-pilled have watched the truth and theres no going back. Like all conspiracy theorists they ensure the hidden hand that guides all things, but for the alt right that hand is Jewish. The red pill is classic antisemitism, rebooted for a younger generation. As we walked, he laid it out the banking, the media, the globalism. We passed games of beach volleyball and family barbecues, while he explained why the Holocaust was exaggerated and Hitler got a bad rap.

A nation without colour: William Johnson speaking at an AFP conference in 2013.

Dont tell me its the Jews, I tell him. He chuckles. You said it , not me!

In the late 70 s, the Klansman David Duke swapped his hood and robes for a suit and affiliation, and took white dominance out of the cross-burning fields and into the boardroom. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the alt right in similar terms, as Racism 2.0, a rebranding for the digital generation. Its a trendy reboot alt right builds white domination sound like an art collective. And Eric, the kombucha Nazi, just takes it a step further into the aisles of Whole Foods. Hes a locally sourced, wild-caught bigot high in omega-3s and antisemitism. It attains him more sinister in some manner, and more harmless in others. As Nazis go.

Hmm, Nazi. Like Johnson, hes squeamish about terms. Warriors against political correctness can be awfully sensitive. Its such a slur, he says. But come along hes a Hitler apologist. OK, penalty, he says. Just dont say Im a Buddhist, because Im actually more into Norse and Celtic mysticism now.

Itll come as no surprise that someone whod instead be called a Nazi than a Buddhist has a strange story to tell. Originally from a well-off white suburb of Chicago, he moved to Las Vegas to pursue music. Then one day, in the gym of his condo house, he met a guru figure well call Frank. A spiritualist and businessman, Frank introduced Eric to New Age mysticism and Japanese Buddhism. And it was under Franks guidance that Eric moved to LA to study hypnotherapy and began a career giving reads and tarot demonstrates at a psychic bookshop. Frank, he says, was his mentor and best friend. But then Eric took a turning. He radicalised himself. He left the New Age life, detecting it too feminine, and spiralled down a sinkhole of conspiracy hypothesi. He and Frank have been estranged ever since. Frank is black.

By the book: author Ann Coulter. Photograph: Aaron Davidson/ Getty Images

Today, Eric still meditates and practises yoga. His weeks are spent like David Brent, as a travelling salesman, driving around gratifying his solar energy clients. His weekends, however, are all about the Beach Goys, which now has 15 members. Last week, they went on a hike to the Murphy Ranch in the Pacific Palisades, a decrepit old property that was originally constructed as a refuge for Hitler after the war. Next week is their first band rehearsal. Erics going to play guitar and sing. And this is the future he wants not a plum job with the Trump administration. I dont find myself as a bureaucrat, he says. I want to take the Beach Goys national. I want to inspire people.

It could happen. Trump has unleashed something in America. Johnson wont uncover the AFPs membership numbers Perhaps we want to appear bigger than we are? but Eric insists the alt right is on the procession. Were growing with every hashtag, every BLM protest, every city that becomes a Detroit, or a London, he says. Were everywhere! Were the guy next to you at yoga, the barista at Starbucks … Its like Fight Club for supremacists, a profoundly unsettling thought( which is why Eric loves it ).

But his delight in being a secret Nazi detracts from the seriousness of it all, the white genocide stuff. Hes having too much fun. And I wonder, as we finish our brews, if it will pass for Eric, this Nazi phase. He simply doesnt seem that threatening. Then he starts up about a race war, that old white-supremacist chestnut. Because behind the trolling veneer, the alt right is more traditional than alt. What Eric believes is vintage racism, the same old wine in a new ironic cask. And Tony Benns terms ring as true as ever: Every generation must fight the same combats again and again.

Our civilisation is at war and we need to secure our people, Eric says. We must seize power and take control. And the idea that we can do this peacefully is probably not realistic.

We get along well enough, Eric and I, but he has the same micro/ macro discrepancy as Johnson. And at a macro level, there is only desperation and division. I do not advocate violence, but I will give my life for my blood and for the honour of my ancestors.

He thrums the tarot cards in his hands, his voice becoming ever more animated. We accept the game thats being played. We accept that the lion and the gazelle are competitor. But they dont “re going to have to” dislike one another. Thats just how we view it.

He shrugs. Its scary. The world is scary. This is not a game for children.