The alt-right and Hillary Clinton are making this movement seem bigger than it really is

[CaseyJones]

http://rare.us/story/the-alt-right-a...-it-really-is/

Hillary Clinton just said “alt-right” repeatedly on national television.

She shouldn’t have.

In a recent discussion about the alt-right beginning to receive mainstream attention (a concern I’ve also addressed, mostly in conservative and libertarian circles), a friend wrote to me in an email, “I think a movement of maybe 50 people has hijacked the news cycle through a combination of stupidity and opportunism.”

He added, “The left and the alt-right share an agenda of making the alt-right look a lot bigger than it is.”

Without question.

When Clinton’s campaign announced she would address the alt-right movement and its Donald Trump connection in a speech, alt-righters declared that they had arrived. This formerly fringe movement would now get mainstream attention from not one, but both of the major party presidential candidates: Through Donald Trump, tangentially and clumsily, and through Hillary Clinton, directly.

All day Thursday before and after her speech, people asked: What is the alt-right? It’s a number of things. It’s racist as hell, first and foremost. Some call them “hipster Nazis.” They’re anti-feminist and anti-democracy. They focus a lot on masculinity, particularly their own. It’s confusing and really kind of pathetic.

Still, few, if any, would be asking about the alt-right if not for Clinton’s speech.

The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel performed the somewhat difficult task of trying to explain this movement and its origins by citing a few figures, websites and organizations. He listed 15 items, some explicitly alt-right, some related or having some link. It also included defunct organizations and a few dead people.

One of those organizations is the white nationalist website American Renaissance, which had 300 people at their national conference in May. Let’s say they could double or triple that number thanks to Trump and all the new attention they’re getting, having nearly 1000 attendees at their 2017 convention or potentially even more after that.

According to a 2014 study, there are over 12,000 Bronies in the United States. A Brony conference in Baltimore last year drew over 9,000.

A Brony is a grown man obsessed with My Little Pony. Like the alt-right, it’s a confusing and bewildering phenomenon. Well outside the mainstream.

Bronies obviously swamp the alt-right in their numbers, at least at conferences. But most people would still consider this fringe. Maybe Hillary Clinton should advertise Bronies too.

[Origanalist]

Bronies obviously swamp the alt-right in their numbers, at least at conferences. But most people would still consider this fringe. Maybe Hillary Clinton should advertise Bronies too.

Roflmao

[fcreature]

Pfft. Look at the source. Rare must be part of the left wing, establishment MSM. Don't even bother reading the content - it's not worth your time.

/sarcasm

[dannno]

Pfft. Look at the source. Rare must be part of the left wing, establishment MSM. Don't even bother reading the content - it's not worth your time.

/sarcasm

Well it is a pretty stupid article filled with a lot of unsubstantiated bull$#@!.

[Brian4Liberty]

The Alinsky/Obama/Hillary method. They certainly want to make the alt-right as large and ominous as possible. And then they can smear all opponents with the same brush. Riots and burned businesses are an indicator of success to them.

"...dedicated to changing the character of life of a particular community [and] has an initial function of serving as an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions...--to agitate to the point of conflict."