Here's the simple fact.



Whenever a Middle Eastern terrorist mentions a name or group, that is all that is necessary to decide that it is the fault of any and every muslim. We attack entire countries.



But white guys? They're always solely responsible for their acts

White men are being radicalized.



They are being radicalized by the rise of fascism and this radicalization is facilitated by every white person who insists on lone wolf narratives.

This radicalization is made easier by every white person who insists there's no systemic racism.



By every white person who is excited to delve into the life and history of white terrorists.



We want to find out what hurt they suffered to make them do this

Brown terrorists on the other hand are always part of a worldwide coalition of evil which can be proved merely by pointing out the existence of Muslims who think America sucks.

A terrorist who sees themselves as fighting an invincible militaristic nation who has rained fire on their families for generations is evil and loves death



A terrorist who is mad that a girl ghosted him or thinks white people are being ethnically cleansed however, he's troubled.

If you argue the radicalization of murderous white men has nothing to do with the burgeoning industry of white male victimhood and the large number of influencers telling white boys and men that Black and Brown people are depriving them of their birthright, then you are helping

If for some reason you believe in the powerful influence of a radical imam with a tiny congregatation, but believe that a presidential administration that publicly validates the fevered grievances of white men with violent rhetoric has no influence then you are helping radicalize

If you believe that the storming of traditional and social media by those who espouse hatred, racism, misogyny and mock the victims of violence and oppression has no effect on the acceptability of white violence then you are aiding and abetting the normalization of this violence

If you espouse the belief that we are post-racism and deny that violence against Black and Brown people is encouraged by every aspect of white American society, then you are providing cover for those who are following racist ideology to its logical conclusion

There are literally billions of dollars and countless hours of time being directed toward convincing white men that they are existentially endangered by Black and Brown people.



And the people pushing these ideas hardest don't even believe them.



Rage is just profitable

This is the self-sustaining, cost-effective elegance of the "alt-right" movement.



It has layers and each layer protects the layer below and gives it deniability.



It thrives on misinformation at each level

Layer 1 - The white public:



The default indifference to the plight and self report of Black and Brown people by general white Americans ensures that any meaningful response to racist violence is minimized

Layer 2 - News and Media:



The centering of the white perspective on domestic and foreign events and the constant caricaturization and vilification of Black and Brown people stabilizes the indifference and even scorn of Layer 1

Layer 3 - Edgelords and Lulz Trolls:



This layer is important. It is the layer that is always flipping back and forth between jokes and seriousness



If you presume they're joking, they're serious



If you take them seriously, they were joking



They provide plausible deniability

Layer 4 - The Layer 3 Fan Base:



This is super key. The fans of edgelords and Lulz Trolls are MULTIRACIAL. Because "It's just jokes" has widespread appeal, there is no need for racial gatekeeping here.



This layer protects the other layers from accusations of racism.

Layer 5 - Alt-media:



The InfoWars and Breitbarts of the world. Using cover from Layers 3 and 4, these groups are responsible for the permanent shift from "just joking" to "this is absolutely happening right now"



Note: This layer doesn't believe what it's saying either.

Layer 6 - The Politicians:



This group feeds like a human centipede off of the manure generated by Layer 5.



They lend the legitimacy of office to the wild conspiracies, racist lies and contorted data manufactured by Alt-media.



They also give it the force of law and policy.

Layer 7 - The Tokens:



Leveraged by the Politicians, these are the occasional people of color, women and gay people given a prominent platform to speak forcefully about how their demographics face no oppression and delegitimize claims of racism, homophobia or misogyny.

Layer 8 - The Suited Nazis:



These are the first line of the hardcore bigots. They are the clean shaven, well-educated, well dressed white nationalists and misogynists who exploit faults in the confrontation styles and arguments of the Left



They are the reasonable rationalists

Layer 9 - The Infiltrated Law:



This constitutes all the concentration of white nationalist power among law enforcement and legal professionals.



This group is used to protect the interests of the Politicians and protect the actions of other layers while brutalizing freely

Layer 10 - Organized White Nationalists:



They use the prominence of the Suited Nazis to spread their propaganda while recruiting disaffected youth to their causes.



Unlike the suited Nazis, these groups don't dog whistle, they yell.

Layer 11 - The Lone Wolves:



These are the killers. They are misogynists, racists. They consume information from the other layers constantly. They frequent the edgelord spaces as well as the white nationalist spaces.



But they are "unconnected to anyone" and disavowed by all

The Final Layer - Trollfarms and Big Data:



This decentralized, non-allegiant group is willing to sell targeted anarchy and widespread disinformation.



They artificially inflate the support of the pathological ideologies and bad actors and muddy facts to undermine truth itself.

As all these layers interact, they create a set of moving targets with completely different strengths and vulnerabilities.



To approach the alt-right system as a monolith is the most obvious and most useless attack and it is the one they hope to engage with.

To fail to distinguish the roles that each of these layers play and to recognize that they all have their own primary motives and mechanisms of action is to mortally misunderstand the nature of the opposition.

It is important also to recognize that it is at no point necessary for all these groups to be aware of their roles or their interaction with other groups.



So confusing edgelords with Nazis for instance, is going to be a swing and a miss.

So yeah. In this situation you have The Lone Wolf who after killing Muslims in their house of worship named Trump, the Politician, Pewdiepie the Edgelord, and Candace Owens, the Token.



The News is minimizing the role of whiteness and the Trollfarms are out in force.

The narrative now from the alt-right machine is that we shouldn't discuss any of this because if we take this moment to inspect how whiteness leads to white supremacists who want non-whites dead, then the terrorist wins.



This is a neatly packaged fallacy.



Don't fall for it.

This fallacy is based on the idea that the thing that creates white supremacists is discussing white supremacy.



You do not create hatred by pointing out hatred. The hatred was already there.



It's been there, bubbling underneath the surface the whole time

Gaslighting is a mainstay of the alt-right. The idea that "you made me hurt you" is a common abuser trope that the alt-right leverages freely.



The idea that racial divisions and the inevitable violence that follows are caused by discussing racism only benefits racists.

You can follow @absurdistwords.

Share this thread

Bookmark

____

Tip: mention @threader_app on a Twitter thread with the keyword “compile” to get a link to it.



Enjoy Threader? Sign up.



Since you’re here...



... we’re asking visitors like you to make a contribution to support this independent project. In these uncertain times, access to information is vital. Threader gets 1,000,000+ visits a month and our iOS Twitter client was featured as an App of the Day by Apple. Your financial support will help two developers to keep working on this app. Everyone’s contribution, big or small, is so valuable. Support Threader by becoming premium or by donating on PayPal. Thank you.



Download Threader on iOS.