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As the electoral drama unfolded on the evening of November 3, the nation held its breath. Civil society groups prepared for turmoil, journalists for rapid response and tech companies to stem the spread of disinformation.

In the early hours of the morning, the networked factions that back President Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpFeds charge Staten Island man over threat to Schumer, FBI Pence cancels vacation in Florida: report Romney shoots down serving in Biden Cabinet MORE disparate groups united by their support of the president applauded his premature declaration of victory. Some turned to conspiracy theorists, operating in hives online, to make sense of the unfolding turmoil. Then they amplified the misinformation created in these spaces.

One group associated with such conspiracy theories is QAnon, which has contributed to the spread of misinformation in the 2020 election. The QAnon movement is centered around an individual (or group), referred to as Q, who claims to be part of a secret U.S. intelligence operation, disseminating esoteric propaganda to encourage support for Trumps imaginary crusade against forces of the so-called deep state. It originated from the 4chan, migrated to 8chan, then found a home on 8kun, which are message boards designed to share memes and anime not foster extremism. But their characteristics made them attractive homes for groups ranging from the hacktivistAnonymous collective, the reactionary Gamergate movement to white supremacist terror. They also have been a home for anti-democratic speech and celebrating political violence.

The growth of the QAnon conspiracy is the work of media manipulation by a small group of motivated actors, who move the storyline along across networked platforms. Like networked social movements that have used the internet as an advocacy platform, QAnon followers have managed to create a resilient cross-platform ecosystem of content and influencers that has shuttled misinformation across its various hubs for the last three years. Eventually Trump, who QAnon followers largely support, acknowledged and tacitly defended the conspiracy. As 2020 has shown us, political representation is on the horizon several Q candidates were on ballots across the country, including Marjorie Greene, who won a seat in the House, and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who is facing a runoff election to retain her seat in the U.S. Senate.

In 2020, the limited data we have from polling and critical reporting suggests millions are now aware of and may be on board with this movement. QAnon has become a fully networked conspiracy complex with numerous entry points for new followers, such as breaking news events, celebrity gossip and political intrigue. The movement uses pseudonymity to avoid attribution on social media, distributed amplification to quickly spread disinformation and fostered by fringe alt tech platforms like 8kun and Gab. Sheltered by these platforms known to harbor extremist groups, QAnon punches well above its weight, affecting our media, democratic institutions and public health.

While QAnon is not the alt-right, both movements grew in the same places. QAnon first came to popular attention when its supporters became visible at Trump rallies, and it spread globally during COVID-19 lockdowns. Steeped in ancient antisemitic tropes, QAnon members engage in misguided research, networked harassment of politicians and blind support for Trump. They are not the originators of these conspiracy theories, but the amplifiers often look to Trump himself for tacit recognition, and they rely on social media to grow their ranks.

Social institutions around the world are struggling with anti-democratic movements weaponizing social media. A few people can rapidly deploy disinformation across networks to deadly results QAnon was initially spread by three conspiracy influencers before it was taken up on large platforms. This network of influence is much like fandoms, and mimics the form of activist groups. We see how these methods were used to deadly effect by white nationalists.

After Charlottesville in 2017, platforms finally removed many of the extremists who used their systems to organize the deadly Unite the Right Rally. QAnon, unlike the alt-right before it, is not focused on ethnonationalism, but rather the acceleration of civic decay in the form of political and medical disinformation, including vaccine hesitancy. While the vast majority of QAnon influencers and believers do not advocate violence, some have taken matters into their own hands.

Just as QAnon co-opted the fight against human trafficking with the #savethechildren hashtag, the movement isnt bound to the 2020 elections. On their dock now is Agenda 21, the belief global leaders are plotting a depopulation genocide to favor elites.

How are platforms responsible

The manipulation of social media by unknown actors fundamentally disrupts democratic communication. This lack of identity leads to lack of attribution, leaving our political communication in the so-called new public square of social media vulnerable to both domestic and foreign interference. As power and wealth is consolidated around these platforms, they show us time and time again they are unable to successfully mitigate these campaigns. Now, as we see the impact on electoral politics, we must consider the true cost of disinformation and brace for its continual impact on our democractic institutions long past the elections. Internal leaks from facebook suggest the movement was allowed to grow, unfettered, for far too long despite internal concern.

In the chaos that exists between breaking news and verified information, disinformation thrives. Most recently, two individuals associated with the QAnon movement were arrested in Philadelphia for an alleged plot to attack the site of ballot counting. As liberals call for regulation, and conservatives rally around the abolition of Section 230, which governs liability on platforms, we cannot lose sight of what is at stake. Coalitions, like Change the Terms, have long worked to hold platforms accountable by creating model policies on hate speech. While debates about content moderation are about QAnon and Trump right now, it will not always be. The enduring influence of QAnon on political communication is a symptom of how social media platforms remain unable to adapt to evolving use cases, and the only way to counter it is to recalibrate how platforms moderate content, especially conspiracy and medical misinformation.

Brian Friedberg is a senior researcher of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Merging academic methods and Open Source Intelligence techniques, he is an investigative ethnographer, focusing on the impacts alternative media, anonymous communities and unpopular cultures have on political communication and organization.

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QAnon proves internet companies aren't up to the task of defending democracy | TheHill - The Hill

Opponents of an Auckland art exhibition which featured neo-Nazi flags and symbols of white nationalism have received an apology from one of the exhibition's co-facilitators, but say it doesn't go far enough.

The exhibition by Mercy Pictures gallery closed last week, but has come under intense scrutiny by locals and activist group Tmaki Anti-Fascist Action who believe the display, which did not include context or justification, was deeply hurtful.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the group said many of the images used were clearly symbols of oppression, disguised as art.

"We were profoundly troubled by its extensive and uncritical use of neo-Nazi symbols, which is a form of platforming their ideology. We've found this especially frustrating when we and other community groups have put in so much effort to deplatform fascists before and following the Christchurch massacre," they said.

"In addition, we were deeply concerned that the exhibition's introduction was written by British transphobe Nina Power who has also collaborated with the alt-right, as a form of platforming her transphobic and alt-right ideology."

The group was also concerned that neo-Nazi symbols were displayed alongside the Tino Rangatiratanga and Ngi Thoe flags, without permission from tangata whenua.

"I would like to sincerely apologise for the harm and re-traumatisation brought about by the exhibition I played a part in putting together ... I deeply regret the way Mercy Pictures has responded to criticism and the pain that this show has bought about. It was irresponsible of me to assume these symbols and our action in displaying could deny their meanings and histories to extended communities," he said in an open letter.

"I regret in the strongest way possible the display of images and symbols related to terrible violence inflicted upon marginalised communities in the name of art. I recognise now this was a form of platforming fascist symbols. I apologise whole-heartedly for any detraction from the strength, mana and resilience of those people and for any pain that the exhibition caused them."

He also acknowledged that he would not work with Nina Power in the future, and said he would meet with the communities he had harmed face-to-face.

An open letter is circulating online to condemn the exhibition, and demand an apology from the entire company.

The letter also calls for the company to refuse to work with Nina Power in the future, no longer platform fascist and other far-right figures, and to apologise to tangata whenua for displaying their flags without permission.

Mercy Pictures is expected to release a statement.

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'We have put in so much effort to deplatform fascists before and following the Christchurch massacre' - Otago Daily Times

For many years, social media firms like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) courted controversy over accusations that they deliberately censor or otherwise stymie conservative and right-wing voices. In fairness, I can appreciate why big tech firms have a vested interest in cleaning up their content. Frankly, bigotry is bad for business. But this years election cycle has only ramped up contentions over content arbitration, clouding the narrative for FB stock.

Source: Ink Drop / Shutterstock.com

As you know, President Donald Trump garnered notoriety for his constant criticism of fake news and mainstream media suppression of conservative ideologies. Moreover, Republicans havent been messing around, leveling all kinds of accusations against big tech, putting the sectors executives on the hot seat. Now, the common charge is that the underlying business model of FB stock violates in spirit the First Amendment.

I say in spirit because the First Amendment only applies to the government restricting free speech, not private corporations. And before you send me hate mail, please note that Im using private in the sense that these companies are not government entities. I fully realize that Facebook is a publicly traded company.

Essentially, then, the argument is that social media firms are using a constitutional technicality to censor conservative ideas. But if the overall impact results in free speech suppression, wouldnt that essentially be a constitutional violation? Because if were being intellectually honest, social media firms today have unfathomable influence in directing the national discourse.

On the other hand, Im not really sure if conservatives will be able to win the war against big tech, which may seem to bode well for FB stock. Heres the deal nothing is stopping Republican voters from creating their own Facebook or Twitter.

For instance, the alt-right (you can look this up yourself, Im not going to give these organizations oxygen) offers dating websites for white people only. While this notion sounds like something out of the Third Reich, the U.S. government cannot prevent far-right wing organizations from creating a race-based dating site.

Since the opportunity exists for conservatives to create their own platforms, the First Amendment ruckus probably wont work. Still, censorship is probably not in Facebooks or big techs interest and heres why.

In recent years, two stories piqued my interest. First, Tracy Jones article about his challenges rearing his biracial daughter in Japan, and second, the death of Christian missionary John Allen Chau at the North Sentinel Island. I found both narratives to be heartbreaking. But there are also two sides to every story.

Underlining these two seemingly disparate topics is the idea that the American foreigner has the right to assume that their permanent presence is welcome in a land not their own. In Chaus case, the indigenous Sentinelese tribe made it abundantly clear that they did not want the Gospel message. With Jones, some Japanese made it clear (in a far nicer way than the Sentinelese) that he was not appreciated.

Mainstream media coverage was generally sympathetic toward the Sentinelese. Though the indigenous tribe murdered Chau, there was an inherent risk of spreading disease to an uncontacted people group. Further, the Sentinelese expressed their displeasure at every attempt made at contact.

Similarly, the Japanese would probably continue embracing their homogeneity and nationalism had it not been for U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry. For Japan, diversity of ideas and eventually people came at the threat of annihilation.

But the raging hypocrisy is that the Sentinelese murdered Chau, whose only crime was to preach salvation through Jesus Christ. Im sorry folks but thats not worthy of a death sentence; you can just say, no thanks! Yet the media emphasizes that ultimately, the Sentinelese have the right to protect their heritage at any cost.

However, the mainstream media has made it clear that the Japanese do not have that same right. Here, I am deeply troubled when Americans go to foreign countries to promote American-style virtue signaling. I mean, we wouldnt like it if Japanese commentators came to America and called us a bunch of gun-loving loons.

You know what wed say? Our guns, our business, go fly a kite. But in turn, dont the Japanese have the right to say the same thing about race relations in Japan?

But by censoring counterarguments and opposition speech on the faulty, reactionary notion of racism, only one side of the narrative is broadcasted. That feeds into deep resentment, contributing to characters like Donald Trump becoming leaders of the free world. And thats why capricious censorship of any conservative idea, no matter how well-reasoned, may be unfavorable for FB stock. It not only leads to blowback in the worst possible way but its bad for business (just like outright bigotry and racism is bad for business).

Youre losing an audience that is actually much more vocal and voluminous than coastal liberal elites assume. Just look at how close Trump came to winning reelection, even with fake ballots.

I like to consider myself a world traveler, although I havent had much time to do so in recent years. Still, I fondly remember my very brief time in Slovakia.

I was in a rundown part of the country. Honestly, the place looked like a warzone. And scrabbled all over the walls were the numbers 14/88. Thats code for if youre not white, you better run.

Did I find this offensive? Of course! But at the same time, I didnt run around to every Slovak and demand that they accept me. Look, its a white country and they want to keep it that way. Who am I, a foreigner, to demand they accept diversity with open arms?

I tell you this story because racial diversity is not a moral virtue. Its merely a choice: some people embrace it, but others do not. Whats wrong is to assume that those who dont embrace diversity which to be clear is far different from racism or fighting words are somehow morally flawed and must either be punished or censored.

Thats not the American way. And I would argue that its probably not good for FB stock. Again, youre denying voices that have every right to speak. Further, these voices often have hefty wallets. While Facebook can censor, it doesnt necessarily mean that it should.

On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

A former senior business analyst for Sony Electronics, Josh Enomoto has helped broker major contracts with Fortune Global 500 companies. Over the past several years, he has delivered unique, critical insights for the investment markets, as well as various other industries including legal, construction management, and healthcare.

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Facebook Can Censor But Heres Why It Shouldnt - InvestorPlace

We can have Rome again if you break enough BMW windows. -Mike Ma, Harassment Architecture

And finally, the political machinations of the two great tribes slowly spins to a halt America has a president. On Saturday, Joe Biden declared victory after presumably taking Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in the race.

This means, of course, that I was wrong not by a little bit, but by a lot. By multiple states, in fact. I messed up Arizona, and most importantly, Philadelphia, and that was my downfall. I wont dwell on it publicly, except to say that things were very, very close. Minute adjustments over a long enough timeline can lead to massive changes in the whole, and at the very least, I was close. Close enough for government work, as my dad says, and ironically, this was some of the most important government work that you can be wrong about. And thats, Gump-like, all I have to say about that.

America has always been shaped by inflections points, by moments in time weve made hard decisions about who we are what we want to be, Biden said in his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware. There was an overwhelming call for a return to normalcy in Bidens speech, something that was echoed in his demands for bipartisanship among both camps Trump and Biden supporters.

Just like that, a race that had stretched into the wee hours of the night with little consensus, and allegations of cheating on both sides, was over. Joseph Robinette Biden, a man with the middle name of a fancy French boy, is the 46th president of the United States. Hes taking office in the middle of a pandemic. There are foreign enemies on both sides amassing power and baying for blood. Hes now in charge of running a country where two political parties have split Americans into factions, each focused on absolute annihilation of the other.

Right-wingers want Biden-voters crucified, their blood watering the tree of liberty or something. Left-wingers want Trump-voters imprisoned in some techno-hell a self-righteous I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Harlan Ellison may be spinning in his grave at this very moment, but nevertheless, I persist, to paraphrase the noxious lexicon of Elizabeth Warrens ill-fated campaign.

What a horrendous sh*tshow its almost enough to make one not believe in the integrity of elections anymore. Accusations of cheating continue to rock the airwaves, and Trumps refusal to officially accept the results only gives credence to conspiracists, hell-bent on finding evidence to support ballot-trashing or forging.

There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief, theres too much confusion, I cant get no relief.-Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower

What a profoundly stupid world. How deeply weve sipped from the cup of neoliberalism that Joe Biden, hey-jacking his way into senility, seems to be Clark Kent reincarnated. Establishment Dems creamed their collective jeans at Bidens win, calling it a win for normalcy. Baudrillard was right this is a pure simulacrum, with no relationship to any reality whatsoever.

The fundamental willingness for Biden voters to accept this profoundly stupid, self-serving candidate on the grounds that hell bring normalcy back to the White House simply illustrates the fantasy theyve deluded themselves into believing.

Not to be black pilled on main, to borrow the 4chan parlance, but the political situation in which weve found ourselves embroiled cant be solved by electing someone who embodies the establishment in his every action. The DNC threw unique, progressive candidates (like Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard) under the bus to advance the careers of establishment libs like Pete Buttigieg (who Alfred E Neumann-ed himself into abysmal poll numbers), Elizabeth Warren (who eventually shot herself in the foot with a 23andMe test) and yes, like Joe Biden, whos been part of the establishment for his 47-year political career.

Even Bidens progressive policies accomplish nothing and in fact, may dig America into a deeper hole. His support for such deeply flawed policies as the Paris Climate Accords will cripple us economically, and solve nothing in terms of climate. His support for the Affordable Care Act is essentially a farce healthcare will stay, as it always has, expensive and inaccessible for most Americans. Taxes are going to skyrocket for middle-class Americans, with little perceived benefit.

This is to say nothing of his VP, a woman who embodies neoliberal transparency. Kamala Harris, the first Black female vice president, is this token figure for Dems to wave around Weve got a minority candidate, and everything is right with the world!

Its all simulacrum, and Harriss fascist prosecutorial history doesnt matter to these people. What matters is appearance, the concept of being progressive without actually taking steps to make that happen. Identity politics has fractured the political paradigm, degrading discourse and ensuring that nothing will ever really change. The military commander drone-striking an Iraqi village may use they/them pronouns, but the white phosphorus will still be white phosphorus.

With full clarity, I mean every word of what Ive said, in whatever context youve interpreted it. If you take this as the rantings of some caffeine-crazed armchair revolutionary, go ahead. If you assume this is the manifesto of some profoundly disturbed alt-right Proud Boy, take it as that. If you think I should see someone or be on some kind of medication, youre probably right.

Regardless, everything Ive said here is true. It was on everyones lips Tyler and I just gave it a name, in the words of Palahniuk. Biden is president, and to you, that may mean the lesser of the two evils took office but in politics, there is no lesser evil. Theres only evil, in all its octopus-like, super-PAC forms.

To trudge to the polls every four years in the hopes that the lesser evil gets elected is this profoundly depressing, degrading facet of our political machine, that the party elites hope no one ever questions or challenges. If you can frame your dark-magic, dark-money ghoul as the shining hope for American democracy, in contrast with Baphomet himself Orange Man Bad f*ck, you can get away with anything!

Drone strike a Yemeni wedding? In the name of democracy. Pass a crime bill jailing thousands of Black men, for tenuous connections to non-violent drug crimes? As long as weve got a gay mayor in South Bend!

You see, the Democrat, in his many forms, doesnt care about results. He cares about image, and that, friends, is the dividing line that determines how the American political machinations will roll and will continue to roll until Gabriel blows his horn, or Hunter S. rises from his grave or Henry Kissinger croaks his last.

By the way, none of this is a tacit endorsement of Trump by any means. Many of the problems with the 46th president are exhibited by the 45th as well, with significantly less slick political coaching. To argue, however, that Biden is this incredible improvement on the Donald, is a view so divorced from reality that its almost laughable. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, sings The Who.

Its been an eventful four months since I began this column, and I like to think Ive provided some kind of new voice in the political sphere. Its debatable as to whether I missed anything important if Id had the time and energy, I would have taken a closer look at the Senate races, maybe, or talked a little about Washingtons gubernatorial race. Whatever. It doesnt matter at this point.

The point of political writing is to try to put some sense on what is functionally a nonsensical business. You can spend billions to try to predict the stock market, or flip a coin for millennia and never get above 50 percent accuracy, but all of those pointless activities would get you closer to an accurate end product than political predictions.

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it, Tommy Lee Jones said in Men in Black. Say what you will about the directorial prowess of Barry Sonnenfeld (and given Wild Wild West and Nine Lives, Ill probably tend to agree with you), but that quote sticks in your craw for a reason. Politics is Hollywood for ugly people, the saying goes. In politics, objective good is a byproduct, and certainly not something to be strived for.

I would hope that I havent ruined any potential shot at a career in these columns (though a position in Pete Buttigiegs cabinet is probably off the table) because Ive tried to earnestly speak my mind. Authenticity in writing is something I strive for, more so than snappy one-liners or coordinated groupthink. But in the end, I think my writing is probably more of a composite of all the people I admire and respect for their views and ability to express them. If you see Hunter S. Thompson or Felix Biederman, or even, God bless him, P. J. ORourke reflected, youre probably not wrong.

Now it ends. Biden is president, it seems, for good or for evil. Thank you for reading.

Were trapped in the belly of this horrible machineAnd the machine is bleeding to deathThe sun has fallen downAnd the billboards are all leeringAnd the flags are all dead at the top of their poles.

-Godspeed You! Black Emperor

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OPINION: Countdown after the 3rd: I have no mouth and I must scream - The Daily Evergreen

One among a sea of unfortunate consequences of the last four years is that ordinary people have heard of many political figures who once would have been relegated to the fringe. Theres Mike Cernovich, a self-styled provocateur and meme creator who is an InfoWars regular. Theres Richard Spencer, the white nationalist leader who became especially notorious during the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. And theres Lauren Southern, a YouTube personality and anti-immigrant activist who famously supported the Defend Europe group, which opposes search-and-rescue operations for refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

These three individuals are the focus of White Noise, an excellent new documentary from Daniel Lombroso, a journalist at the Atlantic. The film paints a portrait of the past few years of their lives, but more than that, it subtly exposes how much of the internet-fueled alt-right is driven by a desire to get rich, become well-known, and draw acolytes. Lombroso spent several years tagging along with Cernovich, Spencer, and Southern, attending their events, letting them talk, and quietly allowing them to do the work of unraveling their own arguments.

I recently spoke with Lombroso about how he secured this access, what he learned, and how its changed him. Our conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

How did you get connected with these subjects?

I started covering the alt-right as a reporter at the Atlantic way back in 2016, before the figures in the film were especially well known. It started with a series of short documentaries. I was actually the guy who caught a roomful of people breaking out into Nazi salutes [in 2016], which was a pivotal journalistic moment that solidified the alt-right as fundamentally a white nationalist and potentially a neo-Nazi movement.

So, I was covering the alt-right in short documentary form. I did a profile on Richard Spencer back before he was, you know, essentially synonymous with David Duke the way he is now.

Then I returned to my day job as a video producer at the Atlantic, covering all sorts of issues, but really carving out a niche around fundamentalism. I did a piece on far-right Christian media called Church Militant. I did a piece on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and spent two weeks there.

Then Charlottesville happened. It was eight months after the Nazi salute excerpt that went viral, and it was a pivotal moment for a million reasons. In the newsroom, we knew we had to do something deeper. So, I immediately circled up with Jeff Goldberg, the editor-in-chief [at the Atlantic], and Kasia [Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg], who ran Atlantic Studios. All of us had always wanted to do a feature. I think we didnt know when it would happen or what it would be about, but right away when Charlottesville happened, and when Trump failed to disavow white nationalists, we knew that this had to be the story.

So that was three years ago, and its evident in the film that several years elapse from the beginning to the end. What was it like to stick with them for so long?

I spent three years reporting out the film, beginning with Richard, then meeting [Mike] Cernovich, and then eventually getting access to Lauren [Southern]. She was the hardest and actually took eight months to negotiate access to. And for me, shes the most pivotal to the film. She is a female face of racism, and she embodies such blatant contradictions.

The Atlantic was really great about giving me space. I basically work alone as a reporter and a filmmaker, so Im a one-man band. I shot the film and directed it and co-produced it.

I started by reporting and filming with maybe 20 or 30 subjects on the right. It became clear to me pretty quickly that I didnt want to just amplify a fringe voice, someone who wasnt relevant, and make them relevant by giving them the credibility of the Atlantic. I quickly decided, along with Jeff and Kasia, that it had to be these three figures, because they have followings in the millions and a tremendous amount of influence. Cernovich can start a meme from his laptop in Orange County, and a few days later, its coming out of [Sean] Hannitys mouth on Fox News and then eventually the presidents mouth.

It was a slow burn. After Charlottesville, I spent two or three months all over the country. By October or November of [2017], we were planning on those three [subjects]. And it took until May of the following year, eight months later, for Lauren to sign on.

From there, I just tracked their stories very closely. For Richard, its a little more than three years; with Mike and Lauren its more than two. At its core, White Noise is a follow film. To do that right, you need time. And thankfully the Atlantic gave me the space to do that.

This film struck me as a portrait of what it takes to be a grifter today, or at least it explains the social and financial rewards inherent in taking extreme positions on the internet.

Daniel Lombroso

Theyre opportunists, theyre hucksters, and I would say its fair to say theyre grifters, too. Its tricky, because they do believe what they say Cernovich a little bit less than the other two, but they definitely believe it enough to say it.

But, theyre also in it for the fame and for the money. I think Cernovich is the most extreme example of this. He starts the film very comfortable using the term alt-right. When that term becomes a little bit more toxic after Charlottesville, he says, Fuck the Nazis, and gets away from them and re-brands. And then at the end of the film, you see hes selling supplements and lifestyle regimens.

Lauren is really interesting. She knows what her package is. She is very articulate, and she can use her looks, and shes very convincing and on YouTube, thats the sort of thing that works. It almost feels Stalin-esque, like old Russian propaganda stuff; if you look down the barrel of the lens and say something thats convincing, it feels true. And shes able to back it up with pseudo-science thats usually not accurate.

Their motivations are so mixed, and at its core, thats what the film seeks to expose. The real power of the alt-right is that theyre selling a narrative, that they understand life, and that if you feel lost or depressed but follow them, youll be connected to the great history of white civilization.

By allowing you to sit with the subjects for so long, the film lets you see how mixed their motivations really are. They have a vested interest. They want to be famous. They want to get rich. And they are constantly contradicting the things that they believe.

A challenge in this era seems to be figuring out how to write about these folks without aestheticizing them, without talking wonderingly about the clean-cut neo-Nazi. The film shows that a lot of what theyre doing is essentially leaning on an appealing aesthetic. Theyre presenting a picture to people of who they could be. Are there special challenges in presenting that in film, which is a visual medium?

We didnt want the film to glorify them in any way. That influenced everything from the scene selection to the shot selection. We had very spirited conversations about everything from the way we cover the subjects down to shot-level decisions. We screened for diverse audiences and built a really diverse team around the film.

What theyre doing is fundamentally aesthetic. Theyre so obsessed with their appearance that it is obviously part of the story. I think its our responsibility as journalists to cover that ethically and responsibly, and to be highly critical. I think the film does that.

And you are missing the mark if you ignore it, because the appeal of the alt-right is to upper-middle-class, highly educated white kids in New York and LA. Its hardly about the white nationalism. Its about the community. Its about a clique. Its about the way you look and dress, and the way you say, Hello all of their interesting codes of communication, different kinds of ways they communicate online but also in the physical sphere. Thats pretty fundamental to understanding the movement.

In the film, you see that in various ways. In the conference at the beginning, when Richard says, Hail Trump! we really dwell on the fact that theyre young. He says, Stand up if youre under the age of 30, and the whole room stands. Most of those kids went to college I interviewed a lot of them and they are educated. They have a very clear aesthetic. You might call it Hitlerjugend, 20th-century fascism, but its like suit and tie, and they all have a haircut that they call the fashy.

Laurens package is all about her image. I have a story on this; shes very conscious of her image and she uses it. She very consciously uses it. Shes an intelligent person and knows how to be convincing, but she knows the package shes selling and uses it to maximize her effect and her influence.

There are really dangerous ways to cover that. I mean, there was a botched profile early on I dont want to call out who wrote it that really dwelled on Richard being a dapper white nationalist. Weve seen all sorts of iterations of that. I think it just comes down to being very, very careful, from the shot selection to the way you talk about the subjects. But their aesthetic is really fundamental to the whole project, in the way it always has been for fascist movements.

So much about fascism is about the myths and legends that the look of it calls to mind.

Exactly.

Sometimes when Im watching a documentary, I feel like Im just reading a magazine article. So one thing I appreciate about White Noise is how skillfully you use the visual medium to reinforce and undercut what people are saying out loud, or to get at elements that you couldnt easily capture in a piece of writing. Ill never get over the look on Cernovichs face when he is hawking skin care products.

Or in the car wash. Hes sitting, depressed, going through a car wash.

Are you looking for those images as you shoot?

When people watch a movie, they want to see a movie. What Im really looking for are quiet, telling moments that dont require dialogue. What destroys most Hollywood films is exposition, or saying something in dialogue that you would never say in real life, just to set up the audience. Thats the bane of everything I wanted to do. In the edit, I was trying to find ways to set up and say things that are very subtle.

Im always looking for ways to let the subjects hang themselves. For instance, in one scene, Richard says very proudly, Im bigger than the movement which is insane for a million reasons. And then five minutes later in the film, which was the following day in real life, he gives a speech in a school of agriculture, and six people are there, maybe 10.

This is my first feature, but Im always looking for visual ways to tell the story and to stay subtle. I think thats ultimately a lot more powerful than a talking head or someone telling you, This is a racist movement. Cernovich is a grifter. I think its much more revealing when you just see him putting on facial serum and talking about how thats his latest pivot.

Theres a bit where Lauren is watching a video of herself talking, and shes sitting with another woman who is side-eyeing her the whole time. It felt like that scene encapsulates something else the film shows: the kind of bubble that your subjects built around themselves to elevate their importance. Richards statement is a good example of that. They know theyre influential, but they also have surrounded themselves with people who keep saying Youre influential to them.

Did you get a sense of that while following them around? Were there times where you were, like, Wow, your sense of reality is so far from reality?

Absolutely. Theres so much disinformation on the far right. People just casually joke about things like Pizzagate, which is just false. Theres not even a basement at Comet Pizza, where [according to the disproven Pizzagate conspiracy theory] there was allegedly a pedophilia ring in the basement.

But all of them have a sense of inflated importance. I think thats because they very intentionally surround themselves with yes men, or with people who play to their ego.

Richard is the most obvious example. Hes constantly followed by mostly younger kids in their 20s, college kids or kids right out of college, who have this dated but modernized fascist aesthetic. On a typical day, especially when Im not filming and just sitting with them, theyre pouring him whiskey and buying him dinner and theyre fulfilling his every command. He has the air of a cult leader.

With Lauren and Mike, its to a lesser extent. This might be surprising to people, but Mike is sort of a father figure to people in his sphere. In that alpha-male section of the alt-right, called the manosphere or whatever, people really trust Mike and turn to him for advice. So, when Lucian Wintrich who we ultimately played down a little bit, hes a far-right provocateur who started the Twinks4Trump meme went through a breakup, Mike was one of his first calls. He wanted Mikes advice. I think thats what sets apart Mike from the other two characters: In his world, people really trust him, and that might be surprising.

Lauren is going through a transformation in the film, and ultimately, its an incomplete one. Shes always doubting herself. She gets her validation online, and I think the moment you mentioned is a really good example. Everythings mediated through screens. Shes in Moscow, watching herself speaking in London through a screen, and then Brittany, whos jealous of her, is side-eyeing her watching herself.

Lauren derives a lot of her confidence from comments, and she obsesses over negative comments and things that dont go her way. Thats been hard for her, and continues to be hard for her. I think part of it is just that she was so young when she got into this, and this is all she knows. Its all shes ever known.

That attention bubble seems so warping. I had the feeling watching White Noise that I had watching the two documentaries about Steve Bannon thatve come out in the last few years, or that I have every time I read one of those explosive interviews that Isaac Chotiner does at the New Yorker. I wonder, why on earth would these people talk to a journalist or filmmaker, or let cameras follow them around? What do you think is the character trait or quality that makes a person willing to have a filmmaker follow them around for a few years when they know that person is is not sympathetic to their views?

Part of it is narcissism, and that comes across pretty clearly in the film. The other is that I work really small. I shoot alone, Im a one-man band, and that helps neutralize them. Theyre all willing to sit and give a quote here and there. But its sort of a misconception that the alt-right wants attention theyre happy to give you a quote here and there, or sit for an interview, as long as theyre in control. This sort of unvarnished, all-access thing was incredibly difficult to achieve. And I think part of the reason they did it was that I was genuinely curious, and I kept coming back.

But part of it was their narcissism. I think they thought that they could outsmart me, that if they only depict a positive part of their life for instance, Cernovichs sunny, southern California life that could help redeem him or rewrite his public image.

Part of it, too, especially with Lauren Im a little bit older than her, but Im around her age, and we grew up experiencing a lot of the same things. So there are enough reference points in common that, when youre spending hundreds of hours off-camera just killing time in an airport or getting lunch, theres enough to talk about to kind of get them to that place where theyre willing to open up.

In the film, you see many of the juiciest moments. But all documentary filmmakers know that you spend hours and hours to get people to that point. The three minutes of Russia in the film was a 10-day trip. It was that way across the board.

You said you covered fundamentalism in the past. Is there an overlap between fundamentalism and this topic?

Theres absolutely overlap. Extremism allows you to feel like youre part of a historical narrative. You feel like youre living for the past and for the future, that youre part of something larger than your mundane, day-to-day, even boring experience.

I dont mean to conflate these things because they are different, but you see that with far-right evangelicals. In the Church Militant piece, I interviewed a bunch of interns who were working at this far-right media company, and it was the same narrative. One of them said, I was lost for years and years and years, wandering in the darkness, until I met Michael Voris, the person who started Church Militant. Its the same narrative.

With Israeli settlers again, I dont mean to conflate the situation there with white supremacy! but theres this feeling that in settling the West Bank theyre writing the next chapter of Jewish history. Thats a lot more fun, in a way, than just being a person who will die and everyone will forget you.

So, there is this gravitas to it. At its core, its the same appeal a profoundly emotional or even metaphysical appeal.

So you spent three years in the alt-rights world. How did the experience change the way you think about American politics?

I dont know that I was ever nave enough to think that we lived in a post-racial America, but I was probably a little bit more hopeful going into the project, and now Im a lot more cynical about the whole thing. The film is an unsympathetic eulogy to the alt-right. You see the figures fall off at the end, but their ideas are now so clearly part of our discourse. Theyre on Fox News every night. There are newer influencers coming up who are saying things a whole lot worse. Tucker Carlson is now the highest-rated person on broadcast TV and hes saying things that I heard Richard say three or four years ago.

Its been very depressing to see the scale of white nationalism and conspiracy in both American and especially European politics, and I just dont see it going away. I think its wrong to think that if Trump loses the election, its done and its over, because even if a section of his base lost, theyre still there. There are still kids who are finding these videos on YouTube and being radicalized by them.

In the way we talked about radical Islam, for better or for worse, as being a defining issue of the late 90s and early 00s, I think white domestic terrorism and white nationalism are issues were going to be dealing with for a long time.

White Noise is available to digitally rent on platforms including Apple TV and Google Play; see the website for details.

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White Noise documentary: Why the alt-rights power is in the narrative it sells - Vox.com