Discussion A Former Alt-Right Member’s Message: Get Out While You Still Can

[dawp]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/katie-mchugh

I vaguely remember her, glad she saw the light if she actually did.

she kind of killed her own career tho and I can't say I fell any sympathy in that regard as she did it to herself.

it's a good read anyways.

 

[cytg111]

A must read for @SlowSpyder

 

[pmv]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/katie-mchugh

I vaguely remember her, glad she saw the light if she actually did.

she kind of killed her own career tho and I can't say I fell any sympathy in that regard as she did it to herself.

it's a good read anyways.

Never heard of her, but that actually seems a really interesting article/bio. Very long though...bookmarked for later.

What makes people what they are, politically, is an interesting topic. As is the question of whether there's any way back from something like that (and not just in 'career', even just in general acceptance)

 

[dawp]

Never heard of her, but that actually seems a really interesting article/bio. Very long though...bookmarked for later.

What makes people what they are, politically, is an interesting topic. As is the question of whether there's any way back from something like that (and not just in 'career', even just in general acceptance)

I think you can but it has to be a very public atonement for everything you said and done and be willing to suffer the consequences of the exposure.

 

[thilanliyan]

"She was going broke and could barely afford the expenses incurred by her Type 1 diabetes."

Maybe she finally realized Obamacare wasn't so bad?

 

[zinfamous]

A must read for @SlowSpyder

nope, sounds like she's a smocker.

 

[dank69]

"She was going broke and could barely afford the expenses incurred by her Type 1 diabetes."

Maybe she finally realized Obamacare wasn't so bad?

It's always the case. These people will never change until they are staring death in the face. Half of them will still not change. Death is pretty much the only thing with a chance to trump ego.

 

[soulcougher73]

What up with her eyebrows? Anyways...im continuing to read it lol

 

[Greenman]

That article could also be titled "don't say stupid things".

 

[zinfamous]

That article could also be titled "don't say stupid things".

It's not about saying. It's about believing. You cross a line where just being "ironic" or "funny" eventually becomes belief, the more and more you say it, without being challenged by actual adults.

It's really about the inhuman shit the mainstream right believes today; the inhuman policy that the right supports. That's the actual story.

 

[ivwshane]

It's not about saying. It's about believing. You cross a line where just being "ironic" or "funny" eventually becomes belief, the more and more you say it, without being challenged by actual adults.

It's really about the inhuman shit the mainstream right believes today; the inhuman policy that the right supports. That's the actual story.

I thought the story was about people changing?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Sorry to disappoint you all, but this article is kryptonite to SlowSpyder…….
Slow is probably hiding in his fortress of ineptitude!!!

 

[woolfe9998]

Good article.

For anyone interested in the general topic of people moving away from white nationalism, the story of Derek Black is pretty fascinating stuff. He's the son of Don Black who founded Stormfront and has a deep history with the American neo-Nazi movement. His story of going to a liberal college arrogantly thinking he would change everyone's mind and it ending up being the opposite is pretty gripping.

 

[dawp]

Good article.

For anyone interested in the general topic of people moving away from white nationalism, the story of Derek Black is pretty fascinating stuff. He's the son of Don Black who founded Stormfront and has a deep history with the American neo-Nazi movement. His story of going to a liberal college arrogantly thinking he would change everyone's mind and it ending up being the opposite is pretty gripping.

I'll have to watch that later, I think they would frown upon watching a 40min. vid during work hours

 

[ecogen]

Good article.

For anyone interested in the general topic of people moving away from white nationalism, the story of Derek Black is pretty fascinating stuff. He's the son of Don Black who founded Stormfront and has a deep history with the American neo-Nazi movement. His story of going to a liberal college arrogantly thinking he would change everyone's mind and it ending up being the opposite is pretty gripping.

More proof of colleges being leftist indoctrination institutes. They corrupted this young lad.

 

[Sunburn74]

More proof of colleges being leftist indoctrination institutes. They corrupted this young lad.

You'd prefer he be one of those fine neo nazis marching up and down streets that Trump loves?

 

[dawp]

You'd prefer he be one of those fine neo nazis marching up and down streets that Trump loves?

maybe add the /s tag?

 

[Homerboy]

A must [have somebody read it to him] for @SlowSpyder

FTFY

 

[ecogen]

You'd prefer he be one of those fine neo nazis marching up and down streets that Trump loves?

The fact that I needed an /s is kinda depressing.

 

[woolfe9998]

More proof of colleges being leftist indoctrination institutes. They corrupted this young lad.

Since it's too long for most of you to watch, I'll say that was fascinates me about it is the mechanism of his conversion. It was a combination of anger towards him by the students and also others reaching out to him. He didn't talk about his beliefs at school, but because of his famous father having been Grand Wizard of the KKK, some students figured out who he was, and there was a social media eruption where the student body agreed to never even look at him, to treat him as a non-person.

He felt so isolated that when the two other students who are in the video decided to be friendly toward him, he was receptive. The Jewish guy invited him to attend his family's Sabbath dinner. The Jewish family knew who he was, wouldn't discuss his beliefs, but treated him with kindness. He went every week for months. The woman decided to start talking to him about his beliefs and their pseudo-scientific basis. She was calm but persistent. Eventually, he realized that he'd been wrong his entire life. Renounced his beliefs, and his whole family.

It was a version of good cop, bad cop, writ large.

 

[ecogen]

Since it's too long for most of you to watch, I'll say that was fascinates me about it is the mechanism of his conversion. It was a combination of anger towards him by the students and also others reaching out to him. He didn't talk about his beliefs at school, but because of his famous father having been Grand Wizard of the KKK, some students figured out who he was, and there was a social media eruption where the student body agreed to never even look at him, to treat him as a non-person.

He felt so isolated that when the two other students who are in the video decided to be friendly toward him, he was receptive. The Jewish guy invited him to attend his family's Sabbath dinner. The Jewish family knew who he was, wouldn't discuss his beliefs, but treated him with kindness. He went every week for months. The woman decided to start talking to him about his beliefs and their pseudo-scientific basis. She was calm but persistent. Eventually, he realized that he'd been wrong his entire life. Renounced his beliefs, and his whole family.

It was a version of good cop, bad cop, writ large.

That's actually pretty interesting, but unfortunately I don't see how this approach can be applied in a larger scale. Helping individuals is great and is obviously worth pursuing but this is a systemic problem and it requires a systemic solution. What that solution may be is still a really hard thing to determine though.

 

[fleshconsumed]

The fact that I needed an /s is kinda depressing.

I'm not sure /s would be very useful. I posted /s post a few days ago and clearly marked it as such, and I still got an upvote from Felix thinking it was a genuine comment in defense of Trump LOL Poe's law trumps any /s tag.

 

[ecogen]

I'm not sure /s would be very useful. I posted /s post a few days ago and clearly marked it as such, and I still got an upvote from Felix thinking it was a genuine comment in support of Trump LOL

I mean, he's a Trump supporter. Your expectations for him were way too high.

 

[woolfe9998]

That's actually pretty interesting, but unfortunately I don't see how this approach can be applied in a larger scale. Helping individuals is great and is obviously worth pursuing but this is a systemic problem and it requires a systemic solution. What that solution may be is still a really hard thing to determine though.

I think since individuals vary so much in their core personality, approaches will vary from person to person. Derek is evidently a social person who didn't like feeling isolated, so when a couple students wanted to reach out, he was receptive. And he's smart and thought of his beliefs as scientifically based, so her approach of showing him studies contradicting his beliefs worked for him. Derek admits, however, that most people in the movement are unreachable, and that you really have to focus on stopping it from spreading to others.

He suggests focusing on the people the movement is trying to recruit: conservatives. Take someone with a little racial resentment who doesn't doesn't think of himself as racist. The white nationalists are looking for such people, and they will try to gradually nudge them toward more and more extreme positions. He thinks those people are reachable. Unfortunately, mainstream conservatism is so far into its own insular bubble right now that I don't think it's going to work for most of them. If you aren't one of them, they won't listen to you.

What we really need to do on the larger scale is not give them a platform to spread their ideas. Derek says that whenever they go on TV interviews, they see it as an opportunity to spread their beliefs to conservatives. They say things like, we don't hate other races, we're just celebrating our own heritage like the other races are. Media should never be giving these people these kinds of opportunities. Liberals may not see a problem because they immediately see the toxicity of the ideas, but conservatives may not see it that way and they can be lured.

 

[ecogen]

What we really need to do on the larger scale is not give them a platform to spread their ideas. Derek says that whenever they go on TV interviews, they see it as an opportunity to spread their beliefs to conservatives. They say things like, we don't hate other races, we're just celebrating our own heritage like the other races are. Media should never be giving these people these kinds of opportunities. Liberals may not see a problem because they immediately see the toxicity of the ideas, but conservatives may not see it that way and they can be lured.

I largely agree with this, and thank god that deplatforming these clowns is actually starting to pick up steam lately. The best way, as always, is to make the platforms they use see them as threats towards their bottom line.