{"id":137474,"date":"2021-03-01T07:39:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T15:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=137474"},"modified":"2021-03-01T07:46:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T15:46:41","slug":"from-misfits-to-manifestos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=137474","title":{"rendered":"From Misfits To Manifestos"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sure the Pied Piper<\/a> was regarded as funny until kids started disappearing.<\/p>\n

In his book released Sep. 19, 2017 by Columbia University Press, political scientist George Hawley wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Similarly, although there is a connection between the Alt-Right and earlier white-nationalist and white-supremacist groups, and some of those groups and their supporters have engaged in violence and terrorism, I am not implying that the Alt-Right is a terrorist movement. At the time of this writing, I am aware of no acts of physical violence directly connected to the Alt-Right\u2014online harassment is another story, but I believe we should make a distinction between threatening tweets and real-world bombings, assaults, and murders. This is not to say that racist violence is not a real threat in contemporary America. We have, as just one example, the chilling case of Dylann Roof, who murdered nine parishioners at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Yet Roof\u2019s manifesto suggests he was more influenced by older white-nationalist writers and organizations, such as the Council of Conservative Citizens (the offspring of the Citizens Councils that once flourished in the South during and following the civil-rights era) and Harold Covington\u2019s Northwest Front, than by the Alt-Right.1 It is possible that the Alt-Right will morph into something more dangerous and tangible in the real world,2 and for that reason vigilance is necessary.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Times have changed. Back in 2016, the Alt-Right were regarded as merry pranksters. Now they’re regarded as dangerous. The Sydney Morning Herald reports Jan. 27, 2021<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Neo-Nazis go bush: Grampians gathering highlights rise of Australia\u2019s far right<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were 40 white males, many with skinheads, some chanting \u2018white power\u2019. That is intimidating for anyone, let alone the young Asian families sharing the barbecue space,\u201d he says…<\/p>\n

They were once widely dismissed as little more than disorganised attention-seeking misfits spruiking racist political manifestos, but Australia\u2019s policing and security agencies are increasingly concerned about the capacity of a group adherent or lone wolf feeding off social media posts to commit an act of domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n

The 2019 terror attack by an Australian on a mosque in New Zealand that left 51 dead served as an ideological rallying point for some far-right groups, and a reminder of the potential consequences of underplaying the potential threat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sure the Pied Piper was regarded as funny until kids started disappearing. In his book released Sep. 19, 2017 by Columbia University Press, political scientist George Hawley wrote: Similarly, although there is a connection between the Alt-Right and earlier … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-right"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t