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Benjamin Wallace-Wells, writing for ''[[The New Yorker]]'', described it as a "loosely assembled far-right movement", but said that its differences from the conventional right-wing in American politics was more a matter of style than substance, saying that "One way to understand the alt-right is not as a movement but as a collective experiment in identity, in the same way that many people use anonymity on the Internet to test more extreme versions of themselves."<ref name="NewYorker"/> |
Benjamin Wallace-Wells, writing for ''[[The New Yorker]]'', described it as a "loosely assembled far-right movement", but said that its differences from the conventional right-wing in American politics was more a matter of style than substance, saying that "One way to understand the alt-right is not as a movement but as a collective experiment in identity, in the same way that many people use anonymity on the Internet to test more extreme versions of themselves."<ref name="NewYorker"/> |
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In an interview with [[MSNBC]], Republican strategist Rick Wilson characterized the alt-right as an online movement of [[Antisemitism|anti-Semites]] and "childless single men who masturbate to anime," noting the "Hitler iconography in their Twitter icons and names."<ref name="darcy"/> |
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Jeet Heer of ''[[The New Republic]]'', discussing the origins of support for [[Donald Trump]], identifies the alt-right as having ideological origins among [[Paleoconservatism|paleoconservatives]], particularly when it comes to restricting immigration and supporting more openly nationalistic trade policies.<ref>{{cite web|title=''National Review'' Fails to Kill Its Monster|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/128176/national-review-fails-kill-monster|work=New Republic|author=Heer, Jeet|date=2016-01-22}}</ref> |
Jeet Heer of ''[[The New Republic]]'', discussing the origins of support for [[Donald Trump]], identifies the alt-right as having ideological origins among [[Paleoconservatism|paleoconservatives]], particularly when it comes to restricting immigration and supporting more openly nationalistic trade policies.<ref>{{cite web|title=''National Review'' Fails to Kill Its Monster|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/128176/national-review-fails-kill-monster|work=New Republic|author=Heer, Jeet|date=2016-01-22}}</ref> |
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The alt-right is a segment of right-wing ideologies[1] presented as an alternative to mainstream conservatism in the politics of the United States.[1] The alt-right has been described as a movement unified by support for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump,[2][3][4] as well as opposition to multiculturalism and immigration.[5]
Although there is no official ideology associated with the alt-right, various sources have linked the alt-right with white nationalism,[5][6][7] white supremacy,[2][5][8] antisemitism[2][5][9] and even self-described fascism.[1] It has also been linked to less extreme policies such as right-wing populism, nativism, identitarianism and the neoreactionary movement.[1][8]
In November 2008, Paul Gottfried addressed the H.L. Mencken Club about what he called "the alternative right".[10][11] In 2009, two more posts at Taki's Magazine, by Patrick J. Ford and Jack Hunter, further discussed the alternative right.[12][13] The term's modern usage, however, is most commonly attributed to white nationalist and self-described "identitarian" Richard B. Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute and founder of Alternative Right.[6][14]
The alt-right lacks an official ideology, and has been described as an "amorphous conservative movement"[15]byMic, and as "loosely assembled"[6]byThe New Yorker. Various sources have stated the alt-right as being composed of elements of white nationalism,[5][6][7][9] white supremacism,[2][5][8] antisemitism[2][5][9] and even self-described fascism.[1][8] The alt-right has also been linked with less extreme policies such as right-wing populism, nativism and the neoreactionary movement.[1] Newsday columnist Cathy Young notes the alt-right's strong opposition to both legal and illegal immigration, and their hard-line stance on the European migrant crisis.[5] Young, writing for The Federalist, also notes that an alt-right website named RadixJournal is pro-abortion as it sees the pro-life position as "'dysgenic,' since it encourages breeding by 'the least intelligent and responsible' women."[16] Adherents of the ideology view mainstream conservatives with ridicule and have been credited for originating and using the term cuckservative.[1][9]
Commonalities shared across the otherwise loosely defined alt-right include disdain for mainstream politics and strong support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign,[3][4] with BuzzFeed reporter Rosie Gray noting that the alt-right is largely based online and benefits from riding on the coattails of Donald Trump's candidacy.[17]
Although some conservatives have welcomed the alt-right, others on the mainstream right and left have attacked the movement as racist or hateful,[5][18] particularly given the alt-right's overt hostility towards mainstream conservatism and the Republican Party in general.[1][17] David French attacked the alt-right as "wanna-be fascists" and bemoaned their entry into the national political conversation.[19] Some sources have connected the alt-right and Gamergate in multiple ways, such as Milo Yiannopoulos' supportive articles on Breitbart.[16][20][21][22] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Breitbart has become the dominant outlet for alt-right views.[23]
The alt-right has been praised by Benjamin Welton of The Weekly Standard, who described the group as a "highly heterogeneous force" that refuses to "concede the moral high ground to the left".[1] Proponents are said to use humor and websites such as 4chan to promote their ideas.[24]
Benjamin Wallace-Wells, writing for The New Yorker, described it as a "loosely assembled far-right movement", but said that its differences from the conventional right-wing in American politics was more a matter of style than substance, saying that "One way to understand the alt-right is not as a movement but as a collective experiment in identity, in the same way that many people use anonymity on the Internet to test more extreme versions of themselves."[6]
In an interview with MSNBC, Republican strategist Rick Wilson characterized the alt-right as an online movement of anti-Semites and "childless single men who masturbate to anime," noting the "Hitler iconography in their Twitter icons and names."[4]
Jeet Heer of The New Republic, discussing the origins of support for Donald Trump, identifies the alt-right as having ideological origins among paleoconservatives, particularly when it comes to restricting immigration and supporting more openly nationalistic trade policies.[25]
Ian Tuttle, writing in National Review, states that "The Alt-Right has evangelized over the last several months primarily via a racist and antisemitic online presence. But for Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos, the Alt-Right consists of fun-loving provocateurs, valiant defenders of Western civilization, daring intellectuals—and a handful of neo-Nazis keen on a Final Solution 2.0, but there are only a few of them, and nobody likes them anyways."[26] Bokhari and Yiannopoulos describe Richard B. Spencer, founder of Alternative Right, and Jared Taylor, founder of American Renaissance, as representative of intellectuals in the alt-right, while Tuttle says they are "by definition" racists.[26]
One characteristic of the alt-right is its supporters use of racist, antisemitic, or white supremacist memes to advance or express their beliefs.[2][8][9] An example of this is triple parentheses or "echoes," an antisemitic shorthand used to identify and target Jews online, which originated on the blog The Right Stuff.[2][7][9][15] The prevalence of such memes has lead some commentators to doubt whether the alt-right itself is a serious movement rather than just an alternative way to express traditionally conservative beliefs.[6][8][9] Cathy Young, writing in Newsday, called the alt-right "a nest of anti-Semitism" inhabited by "white supremacists" who regularly use "repulsive bigotry".[5] Likewise, Chris HayesonAll In with Chris Hayes described alt-right as a euphemistic term for "essentially modern day white supremacy."[27] Similarly, BuzzFeed reporter Rosie Gray describes the alt-right as "white supremacy perfectly tailored for our times", saying that it uses "aggressive rhetoric and outright racial and anti-Semitic slurs", and notes that it has "more in common with European far-right movements than American ones."[17] Yishai Schwartz, writing for Haaretz, described the alt-right as "vitriolically anti-Semitic", saying that "The “alternative” that the alt-right presents is, in large part, an alternative to acceptance of Jews", and warned that it must be taken seriously as a threat.[28] In May 2016, Travis Andrews of the Washington Post reported that white supremacists from the alt-right had begun calling Taylor Swift an "Aryan goddess".[24]
According to vlogger, and proponent of the ideology, Paul Ramsey, the alt-right are not neo-Nazis and the ideology is simply a "nationalist struggle against globalism",[17] however, Rosie Gray states that some supporters of the ideology hold historical revisionist beliefs such as Holocaust denial.[17]
Professor George Hawley of the University of Alabama suggested that the alt-right may pose a greater threat to progressivism than the mainstream conservative movement.[29]
