Can someone actually tell me WHAT the alt-right is? I mean, besides the general "whatever the left says it is".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-right
Beliefs
The alt-right has no formal ideology, with the Associated Press stating that there is "no one way to define its ideology."[33][34] There is no formal organization and it is not clear if the alt-right can be considered as a movement; according to a 2016 description in the Columbia Journalism Review: "Because of the nebulous nature of anonymous online communities, nobody’s entirely sure who the alt-righters are and what motivates them. It’s also unclear which among them are true believers and which are smart-ass troublemakers trying to ruffle feathers."[24] Many of its own proponents often claim they are joking or seeking to provoke an outraged response.[3] Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker describes it as "a label, like 'snob' or 'hipster,' that is often disavowed by people who exemplify it".[35]
It has been said to include elements of white nationalism,[1][2][3] white supremacism,[29][5][6] antisemitism,[1][2][16] right-wing populism,[3] nativism,[18] and the neoreactionary movement.[20] Andrew Marantz includes "neo-monarchists, masculinists, conspiracists, belligerent nihilists".[35] Newsday columnist Cathy Young noted the alt-right's strong opposition to both legal and illegal immigration and its hard-line stance on the European migrant crisis.[36] Robert Tracinski of The Federalist has written that the alt-right opposes miscegenation and advocates collectivism as well as tribalism.[37] Nicole Hemmer stated on NPR that political correctness is seen by the alt-right as "the greatest threat to their liberty."[12]
Commonalities among the loosely-defined alt-right include a disdain for mainstream politics as well as support for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.[3][38]
While the label of white nationalism is disputed by some political commentators including Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos,[39] prominent alt-right figures such as Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer and Jazzhands McFeels of Fash the Nation have embraced the term as the core philosophy their movement is based on.[40][41] In response to a Washington Post article that portrayed the movement as "offensiveness for the sake of offensiveness", Anglin said "No it isn't. The goal is to ethnically cleanse White nations of non-Whites and establish an authoritarian government. Many people also believe that the Jews should be exterminated."[42][43]
Milo Yiannopoulos claims that some "young rebels" are drawn to the alt-right not for deeply political reasons but "because it promises fun, transgression, and a challenge to social norms."[44] According to the New Yorker, "testing the strength of the speech taboos that revolve around conventional politics-of what can be said, and how directly", is a major component alt-right identity.[44] The beliefs that make the alt-right perceptible as a movement "are in their essence not matters of substance but of style", and the alt-right's tone may just be concealing "a more familiar politics."[44]
You Can’t Whitewash The Alt-Right’s Bigotry
The alt-right movement counters the toxic culture of the left with a toxic brew of its own: a mix of old bigotries and new identity and victimhood politics adapted for the straight white male.
Who’d have thought that in 2016, we would be discussing whether mainstream Republicans and conservatives should be nicer to white nationalists? Yet here we are.
The debate is, of course, about the “alternative right,” suddenly propelled into visibility by its fervent embrace of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. Recently, it was the subject of a long, sympathetic article by Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos at Breitbart.com, the Trump-loving site that some, including ex-Breitbart writer Brian Cates, have long accused of courting the alt-right. (For the record, I have had a cordial professional relationship with both authors, have been on a panel with both of them and have appeared twice on Yiannopoulos’s webcast.)
In a nutshell, the article argues that, while the alt-right does have some actual—but, worry not, utterly irrelevant!—white supremacists and neo-Nazis in its ranks, it is mostly a loose alliance of maverick intellectuals, traditionalists who feel unrepresented in the mainstream political establishment, and cheeky young rebels who post racist slurs and memes just to annoy the pearl-clutching guardians of political correctness.
While this taxonomy of the alt-right is interesting, it is ultimately—as it were—a whitewash, full of far-fetched arguments and misleading claims that consistently downplay this movement’s ugly bigotry.
See, what I *don't* see - and the other sources I've looked up regarding the "alt-right" concur - there doesn't seem to be a cohesive philosophy or set of beliefs other than being provocative.
Nothing lines them all up. If you ask "what do they believe?" you won't even get a list of ideas they're "supposed" to believe (because conservatives, liberal and libertarians are 'supposed' to believe some things, but don't always).
I'm right there with you Sam. I looked it up early on and was still scratching my head. Just some more BS that the elite media establishment created to give a name to something that they were trying to identify, but couldn't because it was so vague. Guess what? Still vague.
Do provocateurs object to provocative labels? Likely not, so Nazi's they are! :shrug:
When calling folks racist doesn't work, resort to violence.
Just some more BS that the elite media establishment created to give a name to something that they were trying to identify, but couldn't because it was so vague.
Left me clueless too...don't feel bad.
The term Nazi certainly does provoke certain reactions out of people, and provocation is apparently the unifying factor of the "alt-right". Therefore, the alt-right likely does not object to the term Nazi because it furthers their cause to provoke a group of people.
Left me clueless too...don't feel bad.