WHITE NATIONALISM

Modern threat of white nationalism Emerging ideology threatens youth of America with a violent, hateful and dangerous belief structure

Ben Grantonic grantben000@hsestudents.org

Over the summer, the Bloomington’s farmers market shut down for two weeks. Schooner Creek Farm, a seller at the market, was accused of being associated with white nationalist group Identity Evropa. This shows us an uncomfortable truth: the rise of white nationalism in America.

White nationalism is a set of political thoughts that white people are a singular race and that they must maintain a white national identity via a white ethnostate, a hypothetical concept of a nation consisting of only one race. Though in practice, white nationalists primarily advocate for limited non-European immigration, holocaust denial and segregation. This modern form of white nationalism has its origins in message boards, most notably 4chan and 8chan, both imageboards with little rules which allow for the growth of these ideologies. On a 4chan post entitled “Fixing the Alt Right” posted on Aug. 13, 2017, it laid out its doctrine of a gradual shifting of political acceptance to include their more radical beliefs. This creed is also very sneaky, hiding their “power levels” in an effort to make their beliefs more palatable.

White nationalists are not as fringe as they once where. They are increasing in prevalence in mainstream politics. In the Midwest, we have such lovely groups as the American Nazi Party, and, as mentioned earlier, Identity Evropa (now rebranded as the American Identity Movement).

They are also far more “professional” than racist groups of the past. Your Richard Spencers are far more professional looking wearing suits and sporting a nice haircut compared to skinheads and Klan members. They act more like politicians than violent gangsters. This makes them much more palatable to the average American conservatives, especially young straight white men, whom they target with their propaganda.

According to the CIGNA U.S. Loneliness Index, Gen Z is the loneliest generation, so it is logical that young people are looking for a sense of belonging. These white nationalist groups offer to fill that void, at least for straight white boys. They are even self-described as “fraternities.” This ideology as a whole offers the idea of a “white race,” which, for some young men, may also fill that need for belonging to a greater extent. These young men are willing to die for this sense of belonging, as made clear by events in El Paso and many other places across our nation.

White nationalists have adopted the use of the Internet as a recruiting platform. This includes YouTube videos, webcomics and notably “edgy” memes.

On YouTube, there is a problem with white nationalists blending in with normal conservative style pundits. People like Stefan Molyneux and the now banned Alex Jones make clickbait videos that draws in people to listen to their often anti-semitic, racist and pro-white nationalist conspiracy theories. This allows them to radicalize young men slowly and often without the victim realizing it. Though YouTube has taken action recently by removing altright and white nationalist creators. There is also an entire community of alt-right webcomic “artists.” The community primarily centered around one creator, Stonetoss, whose comics promote anti-semitic conspiracy theories, homophobia, transphobia and all around abhorred beliefs. His friends are almost exactly the same, with varying quality of art (it is mostly offensively bad). Memes have also played an important role in the popularization of this thought. Memes like FrenWorld, a now banned subreddit that used baby talk (yes, really) and Pepe The Frog dressed as a clown to spread racist beliefs and anti semetic conspiracy theories. Other memes and meme groups have been used to spread White Nationalist and adjacent ideologies.

White Nationalism is an ideology that is fueled by ignorance and vulnerability, so we must educate ourselves and others to help stop its spread. We must reach out to others when we see them falling into this trap and give them your kindness and educate them.

Also, white nationalism falsifies itself as patriotism, it is not. Our greatest strength here in the U S of A is the diversity of our people. It is an important. if not the most important element to our democracy. White Nationalism, and ideologies like it, are unamerican and go against the fabric of our democracy.

So, when you see somebody falling into the trap of White Nationalism, do the real American thing, and show them your kindness and understanding. White Nationalist protestors at the “Unite the right rally” on Aug. 12, 2017. Photo by Anthony Crider