The USA Alt-Right and its efforts to halt "deconstruction of white European" culture; My take
Hillary Clinton Denounces the ‘Alt-Right,’ and the Alt-Right Is Thrilled, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/us/politics/alt-right-reaction.html, dated Aug. 26th 2016. [To know more about Clinton's speech, readers may want to read my blog post, Trump's Immigration Town Hall; Clinton's speech against Trump and Alt-Right, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.in/2016/08/trumps-immigration-town-hall-clintons.html, dated Aug. 26th 2016.]
A small extract from the NYT article above, "The alt-right claims to support the preservation of white culture in the United States, and many of its members want to see an overhaul of the entire political system. However, its views are widely seen as white supremacist and anti-Semitic."
The article quotes a Richard B. Spencer. First some info. about him from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer:
Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is an American writer, publisher, and self-described "identitarian" known for promoting white supremacist views. He is president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think-tank, and Washington Summit Publishers, an independent publishing firm.
Spencer advocates for a white homeland for a "dispossessed white race" and calls for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" to halt the "deconstruction" of European culture.
---end wiki extract ---
The NYTimes article above states that Spencer is credited with coming up with the term alt-right. A quote of his provided in the article has the following phrase, "... alt-right — nonviolent activists seeking social change, largely through a vibrant internet presence — ...".
Ravi: Hmm. I have now been active on social media, in an individual capacity, for around five years - active on my blogs from Sept. 2011 (around five years) and on Facebook from Mar. 2015 (around one and a half years). On some matters, especially matters related to an examination of claims made by a splinter group of Sathya Sai devotees about a so called chosen communicator of Sathya Sai Baba, my blog and Facebook pages seem to have become a kind of reference resource. Search engine results seem to be a significant source of traffic to my blog, as per blogger stats and Google Webmaster analytics information. [I could not find a way to check stats for my Facebook posts - I do not use Facebook Page feature which seems to have stats & analytics. Maybe I should start using Facebook Page feature.]
So I have personally experienced the ability of social media even when used by a single individual like me to influence opinion on some matters related to Sathya Sai devotee community.
That the USA Alt-Right, according to Mr. Spencer, is largely using the Internet (including social media, I guess) for its goals comes as no surprise to me. It is free or very low cost (one pays for the Internet connectivity and device (computer/phone); hosting a website & having a domain involves some small cost) and gives one the ability to interact (or potentially interact) with like minded people who are eager about the like minded cause (activists/potential activists for the cause) and who are connected to the Internet.
Quite fascinating to see how the Internet and social media in particular is a tremendous enabler for all kind of activist inspired & led movements today. Of course, I must say that I have strong disagreement with any white supremacy groups including any peaceful ethnic cleansing plans of theirs (I am brown and live in India but have brown relatives and brown and white friends in the USA; I had interactions with a very few blacks in the USA; Hopefully I will get to interact with more of them over social media now).
But I have no issues with Spencer or others peacefully trying to maintain (halt deconstruction of) and propagate what they view as white European culture. Please note that I have lived in Belgium (around 15 months) and Netherlands (around 2 months), and visited London (U.K.), Germany and Sweden in the second half of 1980s and early 1990s, and interacted with many Europeans including some from less materially prosperous then (and perhaps now) Eastern Europe. I have noticed a lot of cultural and attitude differences between white Europeans in these places, across regions and countries, between rich and working class, very well educated and not so well educated, devout believers of some Christian sects and atheists/agnostics ...
And then there are the differences between white Europeans and white Americans (USA whites). I have lived in the USA for a total of around 2 years in the second half of 1980s and early 1990s in New England and in California. There were very large differences in culture and attitude between white USA Americans that I interacted with and the white Europeans that I had interacted with.
So, to my mind, it is not as if there is one grouping, even a loose grouping, of white European culture today that will encompass a vast majority of whites in the world today (Europe, USA and elsewhere). I say elsewhere, as in India, I know of a white lady former neighbour of mine in Puttaparthi (Sathya Sai Baba devotee) who was originally of English nationality but recently acquired Indian citizenship/nationality (after a long process, I guess). I welcomed her to the Indian citizen community :-).
But if Mr. Spencer and others do have a view of such European white culture which they perceive to be under threat (of deconstruction), I think they surely have the right to non-violently make all the efforts they want, to preserve and propagate such European white culture (as per their view), as long as they don't break the law of the land.
I must also say that my life has been greatly enriched by, and I have many fond memories of good times with, the many white people (and a few black people) that I have interacted with in Europe, USA and in India. I do have a positive view of many aspects of the various kinds of "white culture" that I have had the pleasure and privilege to associate with, in my stays in Europe and the USA.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank nytimes.com and Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website (very short extract from nytimes.com) on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
A small extract from the NYT article above, "The alt-right claims to support the preservation of white culture in the United States, and many of its members want to see an overhaul of the entire political system. However, its views are widely seen as white supremacist and anti-Semitic."
The article quotes a Richard B. Spencer. First some info. about him from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Spencer:
Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 11, 1978) is an American writer, publisher, and self-described "identitarian" known for promoting white supremacist views. He is president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think-tank, and Washington Summit Publishers, an independent publishing firm.
Spencer advocates for a white homeland for a "dispossessed white race" and calls for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" to halt the "deconstruction" of European culture.
---end wiki extract ---
The NYTimes article above states that Spencer is credited with coming up with the term alt-right. A quote of his provided in the article has the following phrase, "... alt-right — nonviolent activists seeking social change, largely through a vibrant internet presence — ...".
Ravi: Hmm. I have now been active on social media, in an individual capacity, for around five years - active on my blogs from Sept. 2011 (around five years) and on Facebook from Mar. 2015 (around one and a half years). On some matters, especially matters related to an examination of claims made by a splinter group of Sathya Sai devotees about a so called chosen communicator of Sathya Sai Baba, my blog and Facebook pages seem to have become a kind of reference resource. Search engine results seem to be a significant source of traffic to my blog, as per blogger stats and Google Webmaster analytics information. [I could not find a way to check stats for my Facebook posts - I do not use Facebook Page feature which seems to have stats & analytics. Maybe I should start using Facebook Page feature.]
So I have personally experienced the ability of social media even when used by a single individual like me to influence opinion on some matters related to Sathya Sai devotee community.
That the USA Alt-Right, according to Mr. Spencer, is largely using the Internet (including social media, I guess) for its goals comes as no surprise to me. It is free or very low cost (one pays for the Internet connectivity and device (computer/phone); hosting a website & having a domain involves some small cost) and gives one the ability to interact (or potentially interact) with like minded people who are eager about the like minded cause (activists/potential activists for the cause) and who are connected to the Internet.
Quite fascinating to see how the Internet and social media in particular is a tremendous enabler for all kind of activist inspired & led movements today. Of course, I must say that I have strong disagreement with any white supremacy groups including any peaceful ethnic cleansing plans of theirs (I am brown and live in India but have brown relatives and brown and white friends in the USA; I had interactions with a very few blacks in the USA; Hopefully I will get to interact with more of them over social media now).
But I have no issues with Spencer or others peacefully trying to maintain (halt deconstruction of) and propagate what they view as white European culture. Please note that I have lived in Belgium (around 15 months) and Netherlands (around 2 months), and visited London (U.K.), Germany and Sweden in the second half of 1980s and early 1990s, and interacted with many Europeans including some from less materially prosperous then (and perhaps now) Eastern Europe. I have noticed a lot of cultural and attitude differences between white Europeans in these places, across regions and countries, between rich and working class, very well educated and not so well educated, devout believers of some Christian sects and atheists/agnostics ...
And then there are the differences between white Europeans and white Americans (USA whites). I have lived in the USA for a total of around 2 years in the second half of 1980s and early 1990s in New England and in California. There were very large differences in culture and attitude between white USA Americans that I interacted with and the white Europeans that I had interacted with.
So, to my mind, it is not as if there is one grouping, even a loose grouping, of white European culture today that will encompass a vast majority of whites in the world today (Europe, USA and elsewhere). I say elsewhere, as in India, I know of a white lady former neighbour of mine in Puttaparthi (Sathya Sai Baba devotee) who was originally of English nationality but recently acquired Indian citizenship/nationality (after a long process, I guess). I welcomed her to the Indian citizen community :-).
But if Mr. Spencer and others do have a view of such European white culture which they perceive to be under threat (of deconstruction), I think they surely have the right to non-violently make all the efforts they want, to preserve and propagate such European white culture (as per their view), as long as they don't break the law of the land.
I must also say that my life has been greatly enriched by, and I have many fond memories of good times with, the many white people (and a few black people) that I have interacted with in Europe, USA and in India. I do have a positive view of many aspects of the various kinds of "white culture" that I have had the pleasure and privilege to associate with, in my stays in Europe and the USA.
Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me voting in these elections.
[I thank nytimes.com and Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website (very short extract from nytimes.com) on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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