The Alt-Right Movement Essay Example

Many conservatives are unhappy and dissatisfied with today’s political agenda, causing the term alt-right to be commonly used amongst the far-right. The term became popularized in 2008 when Richard Spencer, a journalist for Taki’s Magazine, developed the term alt right “to distinguish his beliefs from mainstream conservatism.” (Gale, 1). As a result, many conservatives who agreed with his writings labeled themselves as the alt-right. The alt-right heavily exists with conservative values, members of this community are commonly associated with fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, and misogyny. The beliefs in this community stem from white nationalism, their belief is that white culture is being erased. They want to prioritize the preservation of a specific and limited culture: white, male, and European in descent. (Gale, 2). In other words, they believe that other cultures who do not fit into their status quo of white, Christian males, are threats to their ideal society. 

In recent years, the alt-right has used various recruitment tactics to gain new members to their organization. Gaining traction for a group like the alt-right is difficult, as many people today are opposed to racists ideologies that correlate from white supremacy. A statement provided by RTI international concludes that they found that recruitment efforts were focused on people more susceptible to belonging and feeling socially accepted in a group. (Recruitment Tactics, Gale 1). Moreover, extremist groups are aiming to indoctrinate people into their racist motives, focusing on those who yearn to be part of an organization. A notable example of recruitment tactics occurs in US prisons, dating back all the way to the 1950’s. Though, in the early twentieth century, white supremacist groups focused on criminal activities rather than racism. Unfortunately, these groups have started growing as of the twenty-first century. A report from the Anti-Defamation League shows that, “. . .the growth of internet and popularity social media have brought white supremacist prison gangs into closer contact with more white supremacist groups and their literature.” (Recruitment Tactics, Gale 1). Consequently, hate groups have been growing in prisons, targeting people of color and former members of the US military. 

The alt-right has remained on the down-low in the early years, staying primarily on chatrooms like 4chan. But with the recent influx of alt-right activity within recent years, white nationalists have taken to social media apps like Discord, Instagram, and Twitter. Extremists use these apps as a recruitment method for gullible kids, causing a rising concern for parents. An anonymous mother wrote an essay from the Washingtonian Magazine, who wrote an article proclaiming a “. . .struggle to reclaim her teenage son from the grips of alt-right extremists who had befriended him online.” (Gibson, 2). As a result, this caused an outrage of debates and discussions from concerned parents. The main spark of outrage is the inappropriate memes that come across on teenagers' timelines, the memes vary from sexist, racist, and homophobic jokes. An example of this was a looping video of a boy telling how a white person can saying the n-word, or memes referring to young girls as “thots.” (Gibson, 2). 

The alt-right's bigotry has caused acts of violence to go up exponentially. A major act of violence done by white nationalists was the Charlottesville’ Unite the Right rally. The rally occurred in 2017, when hundreds of far-right activists took to the streets, shouting racist terms and stirring violence. According to Joe Phillips and Joseph Yi, the protest was caused by the local officials' decision to rename two parks that were associated with the confederacy, as well as remove a statue of American-Confederate General, Robert E. Lee. (Charlottesville Paradox, 1). The protests carried on for multiple days, white nationalists with confederate flags, Nazi symbols, and racist paraphernalia rallied and spouted racism and bigotry. The Virginia government declared a state of emergency, unsuccessful attempts were made by the police to stop the protests. The violence ended when an alt-right activist drove into counter-protesters, killing Heather Hoyer and injuring nineteen others. (Charlottesville Paradox, 1). Due to the events of Charlottesville, white alt-right members are victimizing themselves, spouting a narrative that the government is targeting ‘non-Privileged’ whites, claiming they are victims of unfair governmental policies, along with feeling like “white history” is being erased. (Charlottesville Paradox, 2). 

After the backlash faced from Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, the alt-right movement was in complete shambles, this meant they had to produce a new way to recruit members. To combat the backlash they faced, the alt-right took to college campuses. Many alt-right members formed groups to protest their ideas. An example of this is the K-State chapter of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth activist group, who has gained prominence from these protests. The campus for the KSU Young Democrats criticized the group, implying that they were “associated with hateful rhetoric. . .” (Thomas, 2). To combat against the controversy, the white nationalist group, the American Identity Movement, has teamed up with Turning Point USA. From these groups, the term “Groyper” was formed. The Groypers hold conferences such as the “America First Political Action Conference,” as well as post racist propaganda on college campuses, in hopes for the alt-right to become more mainstream. Devin Burghart characterizes this movement as “white nationalism for the Zoomer generation.” (Thomas, 3). Though it is unclear that these are white nationalist organizations, it still raises the concern of the alt-right gaining more popularity amongst conservatives and white supremacists.