Analysis by Kyle A. Lohmeier
Among the many annoying things this past election cycle has brought us is a growing, new-ish political movement known as the Alt-Right. While it’s easy to blame the individual people who have decided to identify with this inherently racist and statist movement for doing so, it’s not entirely their fault alone. In fact, the wholesale obnoxiousness of the Social Justice movement is responsible, in large part, for giving rise to the so-called Alt-Right movement, which is exactly as annoying, just in different ways.
In reality, the two are mirror images of one another – the Alt-Right is the Newtonian physics equal-and-opposite-reaction to the Social Justice movement. Whereas the Social Justice movement preaches tolerance and acceptance to the point they’ll scream at you and try to have you silenced for possessing a contrary view, the Alt-Right preaches racial hegemony and “peaceful ethnic cleansing.” While the Social Justice Warriors believe they can shame and shout-down anyone not willing to accept their theory as to how there’s 35 different genders, the Alt-Right is more interested in defending their interpretation of western civilization, specifically as it applies to white folks.
While the Alt-Right’s origins go back as far as 2008, when Richard B. Spencer coined the term, it’s only been in the last two or so years that the movement came to most people’s attention. Looking at some of the earlier writings attributed to the movement, it’s not hard to see why. In 2010, Spencer and others created a website called Alternative Right and maintained it for a few years where it served as a platform for white nationalist ramblings. One piece, posted in 2012 was called “Is Black Genocide Right?” Contributing editor to Alternative Right and author of the piece, Colin Liddell, thinks so in no uncertain terms.
“This is the race that history and the present example of South Africa proves is least able to take care of itself; a race that has contributed almost nothing to the pool of civilization and which even shows little inclination to stay within the bounds of that civilization; a race that also seems to harbor a potent inferiority complex and savage hatred towards the creators of that civilization,” Liddell wrote.
In the four plus years since, as the Social Justice movement gained adherents and media attention, the Alt-Right has moved in lock-step. The more noise Black Lives Matter makes, the more rioting they engage in, the more the ranks of the Alt-Right swells. The more campuses that get shut down by noisy protests over gender-neutral pronouns, the more young people find themselves sharing Pepe the Frog memes. When some “women’s studies graduate student” tells a male college freshman that he’s a potential rapist simply by virtue of being male, quite likely another member of the Alt-Right was just minted.
And, worse yet, and over his muted protestations, the Alt-Right has embraced Donald Trump as something of a savior. Obviously, the idea of deporting Mexicans and then building a wall along the border; banning Muslims from entering the country and creating a registry of ones already here appeal mightily to the alt-Right. That Trump will likely accomplish none of those things doesn’t seem to be detracting from the air of “legitimacy” having the president-elect “on their side,” lends them, at least in their minds. Even worse still, is the fact that the Alt-Right is also occasionally associated with anarcho-capitalists, which is, of course madness, but is nevertheless the fact. This misidentification seems to come from a misreading of Hans Herman Hoppe’s notion of “Covenant Communities” from which communists would have to be “physically removed” to preserve the cohesion of the anarcho-capitalist community. It’s really just the “physical removal” part of it the Alt-Right likes, as they definitely like their rules and rulers and wouldn’t eschew either – meaning they most certainly aren’t anarchists.
The Alt-Right has no use for Libertarians either, as they’re “too-liberal,” because of that whole Non-Aggression Principle thing they hold so dear. It kinda gets in the way of being able to rationalize genocide. As it should. Individual liberties, as far as the Alt-Right is concerned, apply only to white people.
While the pundits and journalists and even members of the movement itself struggle to pin down exactly what the Alt-Right’s essential beliefs and positions are, the commonly-agreed upon themes are of white nationalism, a rejection of “political correctness” (so, they’re right about one thing), “men’s rights,” and general xenophobia. Viewed in a vacuum, the Alt-Right appears to be just another way of saying “neo-Nazi,” and really that term wouldn’t be far off the mark. Viewed in the larger societal context of its origination on up to today, and it’s clear that it is, more than anything else, a reaction to the Social Justice movement.
So, if the Left is as interested in making the Alt-Right movement go away as I am, the only option they really have is to disavow their own crazies. For the Democratic Party, this would have two benefits; it would reduce the allure of the Alt-Right to the many millions of Americans who are put off by the craziness of the Social Justice movement. That Hillary was thought of as the queen of Social Justice Warriors is why she lost the election, ergo distancing themselves from their own deplorable basket-cases will only help Democrats win back the middle of America that they lost. The part of the country where the majority of people, most of them lucid and fairly normal, live.
Free meme!
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