Not two weeks after Andrew Anglin, founder of the Internet’s most trafficked neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, argued that “character purity” for members of the radical right comes second to “ideological purity,” his theory is being put to the extreme test.
There have been some big changes for white nationalist leader Richard Spencer –– a posh townhouse in Alexandria, Va., and a new website, Altright.com, staffed with a cadre of well-known leaders of the radical right.
Notorious Internet troll Chuck Johnson, who was banned from Twitter for requesting donations to “take out” a Black Lives Matter activist and was once called “the most hated man on the internet,” is recommending candidates to serve in President-elect Trump's administration.
The entire racist radical right may be working to rebrand under the “Alt-Right” banner, a meme-crazed digital wing of the white nationalist movement known for online harassment campaigns. But they haven’t managed to get over the infighting and hypocrisy that has riddled the movement for decades.
Ann Coulter, an infamous far-right attack dog who has spent years attacking the left, was at the Christmas party of a racist anti-immigration group earlier this month — the second such event she has attended since September.
Richard Spencer seems to have given up on putting a spin for reporters on what happened during the National Policy Institute conference last month, when his supporters responded to a toast by throwing stiff-arm Nazi salutes to the stage with cries of “Hail Trump!”
In the media maelstrom that followed, Spencer was quick to dismiss criticisms that his suit-and-tie class of racists had gone full-on Nazi by claiming the salutes were simply a misunderstood expression of “exuberance and irony.” But it’s almost impossible to believe that now.
Reporting on organized white supremacy comes with a myriad of challenges. We confront those challenges on Hatewatch daily with varying degrees of frustration and success. And we have watched with sympathy –– and, yes, at times frustration –– as reporters and editors have grappled with white supremacy rebranded as the “Alt-Right.”
This is the fourth update in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s effort to collect reports of bias-related harassment and intimidation around the country following the election. This update spans the period from November 9 to December 12.
Riding the wave of attention following the annual conference of the white nationalist National Policy Institute (NPI), and the spike of media attention towards the white supremacist subculture termed the ‘alt-right’, its founder, Richard Spencer, appeared last night at Texas A&M to further spread his racist ideology.
Amidst continuing outrage over a lack of content-policing on its platform, Twitter on Tuesday announced new steps to take on hate and bigotry online.
