An Alt-Right Makeover Shrouds the Swastikas-NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/us/alt-right-national-socialist-movement-white-supremacy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
A small but determined political organization in Detroit began to worry that its official symbol was a bit off-putting. With the group’s central philosophy suddenly finding traction in the daily discourse, appearances mattered.
So in November, as the country’s divisive presidential campaign became ever more jagged, the National Socialist Movement, a leading neo-Nazi group, did away with its swastika.
...
According to Jeff Schoep, the movement’s leader, the decision to dispense with the swastika was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream.”
Let us pause.* Not even two years ago, white supremacists like Mr. Schoep would rant from the fringe of the fringe, their attention-desperate events rarely worth mention. Today, though, the Schoeps of America are undergoing a rebranding, as part of the so-called alt-right: a grab bag of far-right groups generally united by the belief that white identity has become endangered in what they deride as this era of dangerous diversity and political correctness.
The deceptively benign phrase “alt-right” now peppers the national conversation, often in ways that play down its fundamental beliefs, which have long been considered intolerant and hateful. The term’s recent prevalence corresponds with the rise of President-elect Donald J. Trump; alt-right leaders say his inflammatory statements and Twitter habits in the campaign energized, even validated, their movement.
...
New, coded slurs have emerged. Fewer pointed hoods, more khaki pants.
...
James Edwards, a far-right talk radio host who describes himself as a “European-American advocate”...interviewed the president-elect’s son Donald Trump Jr. this year...
Race is the uniting factor, Mr. Edwards wrote. “One fundamental element of the Alt-Right that brings the disparate factions together is the awareness of the reality of race and the need for European Americans to have organizations and spokespeople that explicitly advocate for our unique group interests.”
...
The news media often debated whether to cover their sparsely attended rallies, considering that any attention might grant the groups a veneer of legitimacy.
[And then along came Trump. And they should NOT have covered him.]
...
Then came Mr. Trump, [I just SAID that.] whose opening gambit as a presidential candidate included his promise to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he called rapists and criminals. The alt-right raised its collective head to listen.
“I’d been waiting to hear those words from a mainstream political candidate all my life,” said Gerald Martin, a retired public-school teacher from Dallas who grew up in a family that opposed desegregation.
As had been my brother.
Okay, enough.
The article comes with this image:
I did not see this at the beginning. However, owing to the heavy correspondence between my racist Trump-supporting brother and me at the start of 2016, I saw this long before most people did. If it hadn't been for that correspondence I would have been clueless almost as long as The New York Times was.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/10/us/alt-right-national-socialist-movement-white-supremacy.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
A small but determined political organization in Detroit began to worry that its official symbol was a bit off-putting. With the group’s central philosophy suddenly finding traction in the daily discourse, appearances mattered.
So in November, as the country’s divisive presidential campaign became ever more jagged, the National Socialist Movement, a leading neo-Nazi group, did away with its swastika.
...
According to Jeff Schoep, the movement’s leader, the decision to dispense with the swastika was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream.”
Let us pause.* Not even two years ago, white supremacists like Mr. Schoep would rant from the fringe of the fringe, their attention-desperate events rarely worth mention. Today, though, the Schoeps of America are undergoing a rebranding, as part of the so-called alt-right: a grab bag of far-right groups generally united by the belief that white identity has become endangered in what they deride as this era of dangerous diversity and political correctness.
The deceptively benign phrase “alt-right” now peppers the national conversation, often in ways that play down its fundamental beliefs, which have long been considered intolerant and hateful. The term’s recent prevalence corresponds with the rise of President-elect Donald J. Trump; alt-right leaders say his inflammatory statements and Twitter habits in the campaign energized, even validated, their movement.
...
New, coded slurs have emerged. Fewer pointed hoods, more khaki pants.
...
James Edwards, a far-right talk radio host who describes himself as a “European-American advocate”...interviewed the president-elect’s son Donald Trump Jr. this year...
Race is the uniting factor, Mr. Edwards wrote. “One fundamental element of the Alt-Right that brings the disparate factions together is the awareness of the reality of race and the need for European Americans to have organizations and spokespeople that explicitly advocate for our unique group interests.”
...
The news media often debated whether to cover their sparsely attended rallies, considering that any attention might grant the groups a veneer of legitimacy.
[And then along came Trump. And they should NOT have covered him.]
...
Then came Mr. Trump, [I just SAID that.] whose opening gambit as a presidential candidate included his promise to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he called rapists and criminals. The alt-right raised its collective head to listen.
“I’d been waiting to hear those words from a mainstream political candidate all my life,” said Gerald Martin, a retired public-school teacher from Dallas who grew up in a family that opposed desegregation.
As had been my brother.
Okay, enough.
The article comes with this image:
I did not see this at the beginning. However, owing to the heavy correspondence between my racist Trump-supporting brother and me at the start of 2016, I saw this long before most people did. If it hadn't been for that correspondence I would have been clueless almost as long as The New York Times was.
On February 29 I received an email from my brother, the text of which is below. It was under the subject heading "Okay Now Seriously." Late that same night I published the email, anonymized as "from friend Blair," with the images below.
"In your heart don't you want to see what exactly a Trump presidency would be like.
"Come on, try a little LSD expand your horizons. Try some quinoa, try some kale, eat a raw oyster, live a little before it is too late.
"Can you imagine holding your 6 year old grandson and telling him, yes I was there when Donald Trump was elected president. Let me tell you how it was. And then write your ending to that scene.
"I am so fearful of that lunatic, but am willing to give it a try."
*"Let us pause:" good writing there.
"Are you so much stuck in the status quo that you don't want to even dip your toe into the unknown. I know Trump is more than dipping your toe in, but it sure would be interesting.
"Come on, try a little LSD expand your horizons. Try some quinoa, try some kale, eat a raw oyster, live a little before it is too late.
It was the penultimate paragraph that began the paradigm shift for me. (And, which the image at the beginning of this post and above the Times article immediately reminded me.) But, it did not complete the shift. (Thus, the images of perplexity that accompanied the post.)
It was not until sometime a little later, the end of March, into April maybe, that the scales fell from my eyes. I remember it was (yet another) email from my brother criticizing (yet again) the Black Lives Matter movement. I became exasperated and replied (and to his black friend who had been copied on his email) something like, "Why do you keep sending me this shit? I know you don't give a damn about black people, brown people, any other people but white people."
It was not until sometime a little later, the end of March, into April maybe, that the scales fell from my eyes. I remember it was (yet another) email from my brother criticizing (yet again) the Black Lives Matter movement. I became exasperated and replied (and to his black friend who had been copied on his email) something like, "Why do you keep sending me this shit? I know you don't give a damn about black people, brown people, any other people but white people."
Writing in exasperation sometimes clarifies matters, it do. Writing that, sending that, reading what I sent, clarified matters for me, it did. I think that was the paradigm shift moment. After that, I was no longer was open to other interpretations of Trump and Trump supporters.
That latter email did come back, however. Maybe a month before the election my brother, still sore over it, sent me a text message that included a photo of him and his biking friends, a couple of whom were black. The accompanying text was something like, "In case you still think I hate all black people." That led to an extended text message discussion of racism and his racism in particular. Finally, he asked me to stop, I was being "very offensive." I did stop. I blocked his phone number and email address to end all communication with him.
