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Virginia Heffernan talks to Andrew Marantz, a writer at the New Yorker, about the many warring factions within the alt-right and how the left should respond to them.

Dont forget about our live show in Austin, Texas, for the Texas Tribune Festival on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Well be live from the Texas Union Theatre with special guests former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas. For tickets go to Slate.com/Live.

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A Taxonomy of the Alt-Right - Slate Magazine

Now that the prefix alt is being thrown in front of anything one opposes, a new study investigates the characteristics of people affiliated with the Alt-Right. The paper offers insight into what this collection of individuals and small movements really thinks about the state of the union.

Two assistant professorsPatrick S. Forscher, in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of Arkansas, and Nour S. Kteily, in the Department of Management and Organizations at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Universityused Amazons mTurk platform, in which people post bulletins to recruit human intelligence for tasks computers cannot perform, for data collection. Members affiliated with the Alt-Right were paid $3 while a comparison group of non-Alt-Right members received $2.

While trusting online replies by self-identifying members of any group is tricky, a two-tier verification system offered at least some semblance of honesty. After discarding a number of responses, the researchers analyzed 447 members of the Alt-Right with 382 non-Alt-Right respondents in the comparison group. While well look more deeply into the methods, this summation from their conclusion is perhaps unsurprising:

Our Alt-Right sample reported high levels of social dominance orientation, strong support for collective action on behalf of White people, and strong opposition to collective action on behalf of Black people they were quite willing to blatantly dehumanize both religious/national outgroups and political opposition groups, reported high levels of the motivations to express prejudice towards Black people, and reported high levels of harassing and offensive behavior.

In last weeks Real Time, Bill Maher mentioned the Alt-Right could not exist without the Internet. Indeed, many groups would not have formed without this powerful device. (Ive previously written about another such phenomena,misophonia.) Forscher and Kteily wanted to better understand if the Alt-Right leaned more populist, focused on anti-globalist and anti-establishment issues, or were truly the products of White Power. It turns out a little of both, with the latter expressed more forcefully.

The Method

In this study, members of the Alt-Right were first asked questions regarding the gap between elites and non-elites, attitudes toward the economy, trust in various media outlets, and notions of supremacy, including social dominance orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) characteristics. Measures of self-reported aggression and extremist philosophies also played a role.

The comparison group described their own political ideologies and feelings on the Alt-Right. Both groups were asked if the Alt-Right is racist. Importantly, they left out comments about Trump and his potential affiliations with the Alt-Right during analysis.

Then they dove into minutia. Respondents had to measure friendships and moral foundation traits, including equality, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity. Intergroup allegiance was rendered, as well ideas about dehumanization. In perhaps the most telling aspect of the study, the famous chimp-to-human evolution drawing was presented. Respondents were asked to identify where along the timeline the following three subgroups were located: Alt-Right members, such as Americans, Europeans, Swedes, and Whites in general; religious and ethnic groups like Arabs, Muslims, Mexicans, and Blacks; political opposition groups, such as Democrats, feminists, journalists, and Republicans who refused to vote for Trump.You can read all the questions asked here.

Image used for the ascent scale anchor points in the study (page 32 of the survey).

Next measured was self-reported aggressive behavior, including online and offline name calling, physical threats, harassment, and willingness to make statements because others find them offensive. Economic issues followed, including perceptions of disadvantage among ten groups. Feelings of in-group and out-group political affiliations were discussed, followed by support for the police, governmental and economic corruption, trust in both mainstream and alternative media sources, and finally, feelings on race-based collective action, such as Black Lives Matter.

The Results

Members of the Alt-Right display low trust in mainstream media and moderate trust in alternative media sources like Breitbart and Alex Jones. They measured at the midpoint on Dark Triad traits, Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and dehumanization of religious and ethnic groups and their political opposition groups. They generally believe some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups.

The Alt-Right scored much higher on motivations and willingness to express prejudice and to harass others. They support the organization of Whites but claim Black Lives Matter has been harmful to the country. Their respect for the police was higher, and they derived more pleasure from dehumanizing othersnon-members were notable for not dehumanizing members of the Alt-Right. The two groups shared similar scores regarding the moral outlooks of their friends (in-group mentality), economic evaluations, and concerns about governmental corruption.

We found some evidence for the populist portrayal, as Alt-Right supporters expressed suspicion of mainstream media and trust in alternative media. Interestingly, we found little evidence that this populism extended to economic issues: Alt-Right supporters were more optimistic about the current and future states of the economy than non-supporters.

The authors recognize limitations. As a cross-sectional study, this paper only speaks to correlates rather than causes of Alt-Right membership. They only measured a subset of potential variables, leaving out anxiety about social status and other markers. As their recruitment process was through convenience sampling, the dangers of self-reporting are apparent, including people lying about their affiliations.

One of the more interesting aspects of this paper is the authors belief that members of the Alt-Right sometimes begin with populism and get pulled toward supremacism as they befriend more White Power advocatesagain, in-group mentality. This makes sense given how tribalism is expressed in many aspects on both sides of this study.

But no, that does not give credence to the notion that both sides are to blame for incidents like Charlottesville. This paper clearly shows increased levels of hostility and aggression as well as willingness to harass and dehumanize on the Alt-Right. Perhaps most sadly, though, is that both sides do express distrust in the government and economic forces ruling America. A united effort could produce substantial change, but so long as the tribes battle that seems impossible.

robert-sapolsky-us-vs-them-thinking-is-hardwired-but-theres-hope-for-us-yet

In his book, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, Robert Sapolsky writes:

Almost by definition, you cant have a society with both dramatic income inequality and plentiful social capital. Or translated from social science-ese, marked inequality makes people crummier to one another.

Bigotry, ethnocentrism, and oppression speak to our lowest, basest instincts. The biological mechanisms of out-group hostility played an important role in human development, but that time is over. So long as the fighting remains aimed at other ethnicities instead of the forces stoking nationalist flames, progress is impossible.

There are arguments amongst evolutionary biologists about whether evolution is gradual or has sudden jumps and fits. As this paper shows, we need a serious social jump right now, biology be damned.

--

Derek is the author ofWhole Motion: Training Your Brain and Body For Optimal Health. Based in Los Angeles he is working on a new book about spiritual consumerism. Stay in touch onFacebookandTwitter.

View original post here:
Who Is the Alt-Right? Researchers Build a Psychological Profile - Big Think

Rep. Maxine Waters delivered a mic-dropping speech at the Black Girls Rock! award show on Tuesday night, thanking her supporters and sternly reminding her critics that she is a strong black woman who will not be intimidated.

Waters, who was recognized as the honoree for the shows social humanitarian award, began her speech by underscoring the importance of safe spaces like Black Girls Rock!, which celebrates the beauty and magic of black sisterhood, and reiterated why representation matters.

For much too long, black girls have not reached their full potential but now things are changing, she said, going on to credit women including TV mastermind Shonda Rhimes, director Ava Duvernay, and astronaut Mae Jamieson for inspiring countless women. All of these fabulous women who are inspiring so many young girls and showing them that they too can be successful, they are certainly examples of what is possible, she said.

Waters then expressed gratitude towards the black women who have showered her with support in her efforts to call out President Donald Trump and his wrongdoings.

In recent months, Waters has consistently called for Trumps impeachment, citing his temperament, lack of experience and embrace of racismas reasons why he is unfit to lead. This has made her a target for attacks from right-wing politicians and white supremacist supporters.

However, countless women of color have rallied around Waters, including activist Brittany Packnett, who started the viral #BlackWomenAtWork hashtag in March to call out the disrespectful ways public figures, like former Fox News employee Bill OReilly, have treated Waters.

I know that if it was not for the love and respect shown to me by black women, those right wing, ultra conservative, alt-right haters would have me believe Im too black, Im too confrontational, Im too tough and Im too disrespectful to them but I know I am simply a strong black woman, Waters said.

We have power, we have influence, we can do things that others have told us we cant do, she added, before sending a stern warning to critics. If you come for me, Im coming for you.

Waters, who said she is grateful for the millennials who have openly embraced and supported her take on Trump, didnt leave the stage without reminding the audience of the power of speaking out and taking action.

Whether its the president of the United States of America or any of his cabinet members, we will say to them, we will resist you, she said. We will not allow you to damage this country in the way youre doing.

We will not allow you to take us backwards, she added. Not only will we resist you, we will impeach you!

Read this article:
Maxine Waters Warns 'Alt-Right Haters': 'If You Come For Me, I'm Coming For You' - HuffPost

President Donald Trump stepped on stage in Phoenix on Tuesday night with something clearly eating at him. Minutes into his style rally, we learned what: It wasnt the white supremacists and KKK and neo-Nazis who threw the nation into chaos and allegedly killed a woman in Virginia last week thats bugging him. Or the intractable 16-year war in Afghanistan that he just announced hes revving up again.

Its the media.

Trump spent nearly a third if not more- of his 90-minute rally rehashing his public remarks in the wake of Charlottesville, Virginia, and complaining that he was widely criticized for them. In fact, about the only time he mentioned the racial tensions and violence stirred up last week was in the context of defending himself.

The president was so frustrated with media coverage of him, he printed out copies of some of the remarks he gave in the wake of the violence. He read them aloud to the crowd, pausing to express total disbelief that the tone of coverage wasnt more positive.

I love the people in our country the people. All of the people, he said at one point, waving his remarks around. It says: I love all of the people of the country. I didnt say I love you because youre black, or I love you because youre white, or I love you because youre from Japan or youre from China or youre from Kenya or youre from Scotland or Sweden. I love all the people of our country. By the way folks, this is my exact words. I love all of the people of our country.

. . . And then they say: Is he a racist!

Clearly, Trumps lashing out against Charlottesville coverage was premeditated. And the fact that the media, of all things, was the dominant theme of his first trip back to Arizona since winning the state by more than three points underscores two truisms about Trump:

1. He cares about the coverage he receives. A lot.

2. He blames the media for nearly all of his problems as president.

Actually, Trump didnt just blame the media for HIS problems on Tuesday. After one of the worst weeks of his tumutlous, halting presidency, he stretched that attack line and blamed the media for the NATIONS problems.

In one speech he:

Accused the media of turning a blind eye to gang violence

Accused the media of trying to take away our history and heritage (re: Confederate statues states and cities are taking down after Charlottesville).

Accused the media of giving platform to hate groups (The only people giving the platform to these hate groups is the media itself.)

Called journalists sick people

Said this: You would think they want to make our country great again. And I honestly believe they dont.

And said the media is the source of division in our country.

If you want to discover the source of our division in the country, look no further than the fake news and the crooked media, which would rather get ratings and clicks than tell the truth, he said.

What Trump failed to mention (another Trump truism: He leaves out context and facts when it suits him) is that the country isnt divided over the medias coverage of his remarks.

Its divided over the white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville to prevent the tearing down of a Confederate statue and got violent. And its not divided over how the president responded. A majority of Americans, 56 percent, dont approve of the president equating these people with counterprotesters, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Nor do key members of Trumps own party approve of the way he handled it. The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said after Trumps press conference where he backed off denouncing white supremacists.

I do believe that he messed up in his comments Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said at a CNN town hall on Monday. When it sounded like moral equivalency, or at the very least, moral ambiguity, when we need extreme moral clarity.

And white supremacists DO feel emboldened by the president.

Heres one of them, Richard Spencer, chiming in during Trumps tirade on the media:

Trump has never denounced the Alt-Right. Nor will he, Spencer tweeted.

Trump went to Phoenix with other chips on his shoulder, too. He didnt mention them by name, but he made a big show of hinting at his unhappiness with Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, R, for writing a book equating the Republican Partys relationship with Trump to a pact with the devil, and with Sen. John McCain, R, for casting a surprise no vote that sunk Republicans health-care bill.

One vote! Speak to your senator. Speak to your senator, Trump said, also making a big show of the fact that he was following advice not to call out Flake and McCain by names.

He called on Senate Republicans, again, to just get rid of the filibuster so they can pass legislation with 51 votes instead of 60. (Republicans hold 52 out of 100 seats in the Senate, which means the Senate is a major hurdle to Republicans agenda.)

But all of that came second, in Trumps worldview, to the coverage he received after Charlottesville. That, of course, is likely to earn him more criticism and negative coverage. Its likely Trump wont be able to let that go, either.

And Trumps all-out war against the media continues

More here:
Analysis: Trump has no intention of denouncing the alt-right; he had every intention of escalating his war with the ... - The Denver Post

Jason Kessler, an organizer for the Unite the Right Rally, was interrupted by counterprotesters on Aug. 13 as he tried to give a news conference. (Elyse Samuels,Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

On the day after a white nationalist rally rocked Charlottesville,Jason Kessler stood behind a bank of microphonesand introduced himself as the organizer of the Unite the Right protest that had sparked the violence in the city.

Screams and boos drowned out Kesslers voice as he tried to addressthe deadlyunrest that had engulfed the Aug. 12 rally. The news conference was ultimately shut down; police officers, whom Kessler accused of not doing enough to stop theviolence, rushed him to safety as angry counterprotesters chased himaway.

Now, Kessler is scorned not only by those who screamed at him outside Charlottesville City Hall on the day after the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer.

Far-rightfigures have since distanced themselves from Kessler, as well, an indication that his fairly new allegiance with the loosely organized alt-right abruptly endedafter a broadside against Heyer was tweeted from Kesslers account nearly a week after she died.

[Watch: Charlottesville counterprotesters shut down a white nationalists news conference]

Kessler, meanwhile, seemsto have disappeared from public view.

Im not talking to reporters right now, he said Monday when reached by The Washington Post, before hanging up.

His Twitter account appears to have been deleted. His blogand that ofUnity and Security for America, a conservative group he founded, are also gone; so is that groupsFacebook page.

Last week,Kessler told Fox Newsthat he was in hiding because he was hit with a stream of death threats after the bloodshed in Charlottesville.

Condemnation poured in over the weekend after Kesslers account tweetedinflammatory remarks about Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who was killed when a car allegedly driven by a Nazi sympathizer plowed into a group of counterprotesters.The disavowals suggested that the alt-right, a movement that blossomed on social media and the Internet, may besplintering online after the disaster in Charlottesville.

[The road to hate: For six young men, Charlottesville is only the beginning]

Heather Heyer was a fat, disgusting Communist. Communists have killed 94 million. Looks like it was payback time, read the tweet, which linked to a Daily Stormer article that disparaged Heyer.

Richard Spencer,a leader of the alt-right, which seeks a whites-only state, slammed Kessler, saying attacking Heyerwasmorally dubious and beyond reckless.

Its just the exact wrong thing that anyone should be saying at this point, from a moral perspective and from a strategic perspective, Spencer told The Post on Monday. This woman did nothing wrong. She might very well have disagreed with the rally, but she did absolutely nothing wrong.

Spencer added: I oppose communism as much as anyone, but historical payback is ridiculous. I dont know what he was thinking.

On Twitter, Spencer urged othersto stop associating with Kessler.

It was a sentiment shared by otherswho took to social media to slam the Unite the Right organizer.

Assuming this is a real tweet and his account was not hacked, I will no longer attend or cover events put on by Jason Kessler. Very gross,tweetedJames Allsup, a budding alt-right figure who resigned as head of Washington State Universitys student GOP group after participating in the Charlottesville rally.

Tim Gionet, another prominent alt-right figure who is known online as Baked Alaska,said that insulting Heyer is terribly wrong and vile,tweeting:We should not rejoice at the people who died in Charlottesville just because we disagree with them.

Before going underground, Kessler acknowledged that the tweet sent from his account was offensive, though he did not say that he had written it.

I repudiate the heinous tweet that was sent from my account last night. I have been under a crushing amount of stress & death threats, Kessler wrote Saturday on social media,according to the Los Angeles Times. Im taking ambien, xanax and I had been drinking last night. I sometimes wake up having done strange things I dont remember.

[Lets party like its 1933: Inside the alt-right world of Richard Spencer]

The Times reported that a self-proclaimed hacker and Internet trollsaid on the social media service Gab that he had hacked Kesslers Twitter account.The Post has notconfirmed the veracity of that claim.

The alt-right movement grew through blogs, online message boards and social media accountscreated by followers who believe that white identity is under attack by multiculturalism and political correctness,according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Spencer reserves the National Press Club in Washington at least twice a year for a gathering of alt-right followers, noted the SPLC, whichdescribesthe alt-rights self-proclaimed leader as a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old, a kind of professional racist in khakis.

Kessler, like Spencer, attended the University of Virginia. According to the SPLC, he organized the Unite the Right rallyafter Spencer made headlines in May by leading a torch-bearing eventin Charlottesville.

The SPLC describedKessler as a newcomer to the white nationalist scene.Known in Charlottesville as a local conservative blogger, hepublished an articleon Nov. 24 calling the citys vice mayor, Wes Bellamy, a blatant black supremacist and led anunsuccessful petitiontoremove Bellamy from office.Kessler said he hadunearthed offensive and homophobic tweets written several years ago byBellamy.

[Charlottesville violence prompts black U-Va. athletes to reflect on their experience]

Hefounded the nonprofit Unity and Security for America, whichcalls fordefending Western Civilization. He also sought to establish himself as the lone dissenter in the capital of the resistance that is Charlottesville,as declared by the citys mayorshortly after President Trumps inauguration.

Kessler found an ally in U.S. Senate candidate Corey A. Stewart, a darling of the alt-right who made several public appearances with the local blogger. In February, Stewart, then a GOP gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, attended Kesslersnews conferenceabout an effort tooust Bellamy from office.

A few days ahead of the Charlottesville rally, Kesslertold The Post, The genesis of this entire event is this Robert E. Lee statue that the city is trying to move, which is symbolic of a lot of other issues that deal with the tearing down of white peoples history and our demographic replacement.

White nationalists were met by counterprotesters in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, leading Gov. Terry McAuliffe to declare a state emergency. A car plowed into crowds, killing one person and injuring 19 others. (Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)

But shortly after the rally turned violent, Kessler came under scrutiny from right-wing websites. Rumors about his political leanings and loyalty to far-right ideologies have since circulated online.

[A neo-Nazis rage-fueled journey to Charlottesville]

Some, including DC Whispers, pointed to suspicions that Kessler was involved in the Occupy movement and was a supporter of President Barack Obama. The website also said Kessler did not become a white nationalist until after Trump was elected.

Who is this guy? Is this a mistake or is he indeed a liberal gone racist? Is he a plant and this whole thing a set up to pit Americans against each other? Lots of questions and very, very few answers, wrote a bloggerfor Rightwing News.

Kesslertold Snopesthat he supported and voted for Obama in 2008 but became disenchantedwiththe administration andDemocrats. He said that hehad attended an Occupy rallyin Charlottesville in 2011 but found that his views didnt align with those of the protesters.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Kessler tweeted in November that many alt-right followers used to be liberals. He also said that he voted for Trump in the primary and general elections.I like Trump more than I did Obama, he wrote on Nov. 6. My Trump enthusiasm is through the roof. I like people who push the edge.

Spencer said that he met Kessler briefly several months ago. Kessler really jumped on the bandwagon after the success of the Charlottesville torch rally in May, Spencer said.

He also criticized Kesslers handling of the Unite the Right rally. Law enforcement officers canceledthe event afterthe clash between rally attendees and counterprotesters.Hes not a very good organizer. Its haphazard, Spencer said. I was skeptical of the whole thing. It took on a life of its own.

Nevertheless, Spencer attended the rally. Aflierlisted him as one of the featured speakers, along withKessler, Gionet (a.k.a. Baked Alaska) and Michael Hill, president of the Southern pro-secession group League of the South. Spencertold The Post days before the eventthat he was concerned about violence, but he said he worried it would come from antifascists, or antifa, activists.

In terms of organization maybe theres some incompetence, Spencer said Monday of Unite the Right. Everyone has to make mistakes, and we learn from them.But disparaging Heyer and rejoicing in her death should not be condoned,he said.

Eli Mosley, an organizer for the white separatist group Identity Evropa, said in aTwitter threadabout Kessler that in the future, event organizers will face extreme vetting like never before to ensure this doesnt happen.How, exactly, such vetting would occur for a movement with no formal membership, no formal leadership structure and mostly online followers, is unclear.

After Charlottesville, Spencersaid, future demonstrations should be tightly focused and organized by people he trusts.This is a serious movement, hesaid of the alt-right,a term he coined. And we need serious people leading them.

Kessler has maintained that he did nothing wrong in Charlottesville.

He told Fox Newslast week that he had never metJames Alex Fields Jr., 20, who was charged with second-degree murderin the deadly crash. Kesslersaid he met with police before the rally and went over safety plans. He also said he had not received calls or visits from police or federal investigators.

Asked by Fox about Heyers death, Kessler said, simply: No comment.

READ MORE:

A running list of companies that no longer want the Daily Stormers business

I was wrong: U-Va. newspaper editor says he was naive about alt-right

See the original post:
The man who organized the Charlottesville rally is in hiding and too toxic for the alt-right - Washington Post