The Alternative Right in a Global World a Study of the Mindset, Framing and Reach of the Alternative Right and Its Impact on the Socially Acceptable of Today

Home , Angela Nagle, Biological determinism, Kill All Normies

The Alternative Right in a Global World A study of the mindset, framing and reach of the Alternative Right and its impact on the socially acceptable of today

Carmen Mirea Robrahn, 57220 5th Semester Project Module 2 Number of Characters: 46.236 Supervisor: Silas Fehmerling Harrebye Roskilde University, December 2017

Abstract

This assignment investigates the branch of Alternative Right operating in the United States, and their aim of ‘going mainstream’ by challenging the dominant perceptions of what is politically and socially correct. Besides a few additions, the investigation draws on the corresponding literature review of this mini-project. Although the Alt-Right is commonly defined as a digital network, inspiration will be drawn from the field of social movement studies, to clarify its communicative practices constituting its mindset, values and goals. The analysis will be conducted on account of various online documents collected from well-known Alt-Right websites. Furthermore, the examination will provide some insight to the unstable subculture of 4chan Politically Incorrect board, which has become known as an Alt-Right digital hub. The study concludes, that there is no prospect of the Alt-Right going mainstream at this moment, as their framing tactics are too disorganized – especially due to the dissimilarity of the networks. However, the expertise in digital communication amongst its younger adherents, combined with better structured framing techniques, and a continuation of global far-right tendencies can make the future of the international Alternative Right.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1 1.1. From Literature Review to Mini Project ...... 1 1.1.1. New Insights on the Online Alt-Right ...... 2 1.2. Research Question ...... 3 2. Theory ...... 4 2.1. A Short Introduction of Discourse ...... 4 2.2. The Overton Window of Political Possibilities ...... 4 3. Methodology and Strategy of Analysis ...... 5 3.1. Terminology ...... 5 3.2. Frame Analysis ...... 6 3.2.1. The Transformation of Reality Through Framing ...... 6 3.2.2. The Three Main Framing Tasks ...... 7 3.2.3. The Four Frame Alignment Strategies ...... 7 3.3. Collection and Presentation of Documents ...... 8 3.3.1. Alternative Right Websites ...... 8 3.3.2. Digital Hub: 4Chan /pol/ ...... 9 4. Analysis ...... 10 4.1. The National Policy Institute ...... 10 4.1.1. The Detriment of Whites...... 10 4.1.2. Racial Intelligence ...... 11 4.2. The AltRight.com ...... 13 4.2.2. Just for Fun? ...... 15 4.3. The Underground Alt-Right ...... 15 5. Discussion ...... 16 6. Conclusion ...... 17 7. Bibliography ...... 18 7.1. Published Work ...... 18 7.2. Internet sources ...... 19

1. Introduction

1.1. From Literature Review to Mini Project It has become apparent, that the Alternative Right is related to older and broader strings of ideas dealing with what society have been, is and should be. Yet, with distinctive messages of intolerance and hatred its supporters tend to stand out from the crowd. Although its conduct has been largely verbal, the Alt-Right’s participation in the violent clashes at the recent Charlottesville demonstrations illustrated how verbal commitment can turn into action. And it is actions such as these that makes the network visible for the common man or woman, whose paths are unlikely to cross with the digital online forums of the Alt-Right on a day to day basis. As noted in the literature review, many have raised their voices in surprise and disdain of the recent rise of the Alternative Right and far-right politics, asking themselves: what the hell happened…? Others, belonging to the mindset of the Alternative Right might think: that was about time! Presumably, the last stance perceives their behavior to possess a necessary logic, even morality, as can be said for any ideology and is expressed when Richard Spencer with words of determination and pride describes the Alternative Right:

“We are often told, that being an American, or Britain or German, or any European nationality is about being dedicated to a collection of abstractions and buzzwords: democracy, freedom, tolerance, multiculturalism. But a nation based on freedom, is just another place to go shopping; it’s a country for everyone, and thus a country for no one. It’s a country of which we ourselves have become strangers. Man doesn’t live, and man doesn’t die for abstractions like freedom. Man lives or dies for a homeland; for a people and its future; for beauty. For the power of being part of something bigger than oneself. Who are we? We aren’t just white […]. We are part of the people’s history, spirit and civilization of Europe” (Richard Spencer, NPI 2017).

John Daniszewski reasoned how one should not let the Alternative Right define itself, since doing so might hinder the clarity of their nature; a notion of which I strongly agree. One need not a magnifying glass to notice how the quotation above exudes allusions and meaning. This is a small and blunt fraction of text that illustrates a perception of unity across borders, on account of communion in a ‘white’ past. This makes the Alt-Right particularly interesting, leading the mind to what Damon T. Berry noted about white nationalism being an imagined racial global community

(Berry 2017:12, 14). It is then interesting to return to the origins of the literature review, namely the heated relationship between nationalists and globalists. As Haidt argued, globalist and liberal voices have contributed to counter-reactions amongst nationalists and consequently the support for far-right politics. This explanation embraces the tendencies of common nationalists, as it were. But the Alternative Right does not fall into this category, as emphasized in the literature review. I would argue that the results of these circumstances (e.g. the presidency of Donald Trump) have created a political atmosphere making it easier for the voices of the Alternative Right to be heard and taken seriously – regardless it being due to public support or furor.

1.1.1. New Insights on the Online Alt-Right The literature review provided insight to the ideological currents argued to have laid the foundation for the uprise of the Alternative Right, and it gave a slight impression of the mindset of the network. However, it merely scratched the surface of the Alt-Right, especially in regards of its digital conduct exerted by its younger supporters. Therefore, I wish to include some new insight on the matter, helpful in illuminating the Alt-Right, namely the work of Angela Nagle: “Kill All Normies: From 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right” (2017). In retrospect, this work should have been included in the literature review, but will be introduced at this point instead, as it provides insight to the field I have not been able to find elsewhere. Nagle present two poles of the Alternative Right. The first, is what she describes as a direct result of “hysterical liberal call-out” (Nagle 2017:11), apparent when everyone could be given the label of sexist or white supremist (the latter of which has been given to Justin Trudeau). This has caused, what Nagle describes as a ‘breeding ground’ for online trolling of liberal sensitivities (ibid.). One of the online hubs known for its Alt-Right ties is the digital imageboard 4chan, that originally was a site for people with a shared interest of Japanese anime cartoons, created by the then teenager, Chris Poole in 2003. The site experiences massive growth, and by 2011, it had reached a monthly of 750.000.000-page views. The site became known for its spread of memes and pranks, and for its extremely misogynist culture while at the same time mocking what were perceived as nerdish ‘beta’ male identities (ibid.:14-15). The anonymity of 4chan “fostered an environment where the users went to air their darkest thoughts” (ibid.:15), often of extremely racist, misogynist, gory and sexual character (ibid). Nagle states, that the result of the anonymous and leaderless online culture has “ended up becoming characterized by a particularly dark preoccupation with thwarted or failed white Western masculinity as a grand metaphor, which has had some ‘real-life’ manifestations” (ibid.:22). In 2014, pictures of what appeared to be a

2 strangled, naked woman was posted on 4chan, along with detailed description and confession of the murder. The police later arrested the woman’s boyfriend. Another incident took place in 2015, where a young man proclaimed in a 4chan post that he intended to start an armed ‘Beta Rebellion’, heavily encouraged with instructions to a mass shooting by the 4chan users. Subsequently, the young man killed nine of his fellow classmates, before committing suicide at a community college in Oregon (ibid.:22-23). The sharing of violent intentions serves as dark examples on how this online culture is not merely ‘for the lulz1’ (ibid.), once more apparent when two of the involved in the shootings of 5 Black Lives Matter protestors in Minneapolis in 2015 proclaimed on 4chan: “We just wanted to give everyone a heads up on /pol/… Stay white” (ibid.:23)2. I would go to the length of arguing, that the darkness found on the 4chan almost makes the statements of Richard Spencer seem benign, let alone Donald Trump who in comparison seem like a progressive’s dream. This consequence is within social movement theory referred to as radical flank effects, which encompass the beneficial effect on the effectiveness and reputation of moderate social movement factions, caused by radical group actions (Truelove & Kellogg 2016:665-666). To relate this to the normalization of the Alt-Right Annie Kelly explained her concerns about, some Alt-Right commentators argue that the Alt-Right will go ‘mainstream’ if it can manage to turn its emotional empathy on, to become “somewhat approachable” (AltRight.com 2017a). Whether it is a realistic outcome, the radicality of 4chan might at least help the (in comparison) moderate branch of the Alt-Right to realize this goal of normalization. The perspectives of the literature review, combined with the new contributions on 4chan leads to the following focus of the inquiry:

1.2. Research Question How are the goals of the Alternative Right expressed through framing, and how does the dynamics between the different fractions of the movement effect its possibilities of ‘going mainstream’?

1 ’Lulz’ is a variety of the abbreviation LOL, meaning “laughing out loud” (Urban Dictionary 2017). 2 /pol/ is a board on 4chan associated with the Alt-Right, that will be investigated in the analysis to come.

2. Theory

This theory chapter will be short, as the literature review laid the theoretical principles and assumptions of this report. The main purpose of this chapter, will be to better comprehend the possibility of the Alt-Right disruption of perceptions of the socially acceptable, with a short introduction to the concept of discourse, and the Overton Window of Political Possibilities, also referred so as the Window of Discourse.

2.1. A Short Introduction of Discourse In short terms, a discourse can be understood as the ‘structured totality’ conceived by articulatory practices in which signs are fixed and defined by their differential positions to other signs (Laclau & Mouffe 2002:52-53; Jørgensen & Phillips 2002:26). As “possibility of perception, thought and action depends on the structuration of a certain meaningful field” (Laclau 1993 in Torfing 1999:84), how we see, think and do will be influenced by already existing patterns of meaning of the object or subject at hand. For example, when Richard Spencer announces the words ‘Hail Trump’ (Berry 2017:199), the majority will undoubtedly shiver by the thought of Nazism. At least, this association was caught by his audiences who responded to the words with the infamous Nazi salute. However, for a person with no knowledge whatsoever of the Second World War, the salute might seem innocent enough. Discourses will always be constructed through the exclusion of certain meaning, and consequently all identity is constructed in the exclusion of the other/outside, that threatens the fixation of the identity (Jørgensen & Phillips:59): “To be something is always not to be something else” (Laclau and Mouffe 2002:82). Thus, all signs within a discourse can be understood as fixed meaning defined by its differential positions to other signs (Jørgensen & Phillips:26).

2.2. The Overton Window of Political Possibilities

Annie Kelly have argued, that the Alternative Right has the potential of pushing the Overton Window of socially acceptable discourse thus leading to the normalization of its premises (Kelly 2017:69, 76). That this statement is expressed with some alarm is both an acknowledgment of the (at least potentially) impact of the Alternative Right, as well as a value judgment of the ‘socially acceptable’ of this present. This notion also implies that the Alt-Right is currently outside the window of discourse considered acceptable. Perhaps not surprisingly, the same has been said for

Donald Trump and the uprise of far-right dispositions across the globe, and consequently many have resorted to the Overton Window for explanation; a concept that deserves a short elaboration. Despite its recent rise of popularity, the concept was developed on the think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy by its creator Joe P. Overton in the mid-90s, and has later become known as the Overton Window of Political Possibilities. The concept can be understood illustratively, by imagining a yardstick representing the full spectrum of policy actions for a specific issue - on each end of the stick lies the extremes (Mackinac 2017). The Overton Window represents the part of the policy actions that are possible, and only the actions within this realm will reach success. The Mackinac argument, is that if one (in this regard a think tank) wishes to succeed with an idea or goal that lies outside the window, one should ‘shift the window’ of the political possible. One way of doing so, would be by educating the public on the policy at hand, and creating vision about the future such policy could imply, with research, facts and involvement of people in these ideas (Mackinac 2017). This concept entails, that a normalization of the Alt-Right premises would be possible by shifting the Overton Window in their favor, thus changing the course of their success.

3. Methodology and Strategy of Analysis

This chapter will provide an overview of the methodological and analytical framework of this report, along with the reflections and realization I have reached in the making this report. Initially, the empirical data of this report will be presented, followed by the strategy of the analysis to come.

3.1. Terminology Claus Leggewie argued that the identity right is best be understood as weakly structured networks of networks, and that there has been, and still is, a reluctance to call authoritarian and anti- emancipatory phenomena social movements, regardless of their formal correspondence to the concept (Leggewie 2017:390). In the literature review I referred only to the Alt-Right by name, or as a digital network. This was a direct result of the linguistics of the literature on the subject, whereas I have later concluded ‘movement’ to be a fitting term too. I do however concur to the refrainment of the social movement label as I believe it can lead towards normalization of the Alt- Right premises, as warned by Kelly and Daniszewski. Lastly, I wish to emphasize that the appendices and analysis of this report will contain language of offensive nature. This is merely a reflection of the Alt-Right platforms; I do not support this kind of language.

3.2. Frame Analysis Frame analysis is a useful and flexible tool for understanding actors construct of broad meaning, through discursive elements. It emphasizes the relationship between ideas and meaning, and how this can come about through action and mobilization (Crespy 2016:106-108). I consider this approach important when examining the Alt-Right that, perhaps due to its lack of organizational structure, consists of many different ideas not always in complete coherence. It is also interesting to investigate whether the movement can mobilize without a hierarchical leadership structure, if this is even an interest of theirs. Frame analysis shares a similar framework to discourse analysis, as both approaches illumine social interactions, fundamental for the investigation of social movement practices. The main difference, is that rather than illumining the emergence of social phenomena, frame analysis focus on strategic constraints and opportunities of mobilization (Caiani & della Porta 2011:184; Lindekilde 2014:234). I also believe the potential of the Alt-Right shifting the Overton Window, to be highly reliant on their framing tactics. The following section will present the framing approach from the perspectives of sociologists Robert Benford and David Snow, and with help from political and social scientist Lasse Lindekilde.

3.2.1. The Transformation of Reality Through Framing Frame analysis has its roots in the sociological work Erving Goffman (1974), who explored the mechanisms of which reality is framed in everyday communication and interaction, and provides an interpretive approach for illumining social interaction and the construct of meaning within communicative practices of social movements (Crespy 2015:106; Lindekilde 2014:197-200). Framing analysis emphasizes the deliberate and strategic use of language and, can be understood very literally as frames that “borders of reality in a certain way” (Lindekilde 2014:201). Elaborately, what is then accentuated and concealed from the portrait relies on its framing, that “transforms aspects of social reality, for example from routine grievances or misfortunes to injustice in need of action” (ibid.:202). In this regard, movement actors are perceived as signifying agents, who consciously applies certain frames with the goal of mobilizing their supporters and demobilizing their opponents. Hereby, “framing becomes a strategic attempt to guide the activation of particular discourses and repertoires of understanding with the purpose of mobilizing consensus” (ibid.:203).

3.2.2. The Three Main Framing Tasks Benford and Snow emphasizes three core framing tasks, all of which must be attended to at once for social movement actors to achieve their goals: diagnostic, prognostic and motivational framing. Diagnostic framing involves the identification of a specific problem, to which a causality and/or blame is being linked. By the prognostic framing, a solution to the problem identified is proposed, i.e. through goals, strategies and tactics. The purpose of these two framing tasks are mobilization through shared consensus. The aim of the third task, motivational framing, is to bring about collective action based on the shared consensus created by the diagnostic and prognostic framing processes (Lindekilde 2014:207-208). When the individual frames are connected in a complementary and harmonious way, ‘frame alignment’ will occur. Successful execution of frame alignment can be used as a strategic measure to ensure ‘resonance’ of the frame’s content, ensuring that the messages appeal to its audience.

3.2.3. The Four Frame Alignment Strategies Social movement actors can make use of four frame alignment strategies in their framing activities: Frame bridging, frame amplification, frame extension and frame transformation. Frame bridging involves “linking of two or more ideologically congruent but structurally unconnected frames regarding a particular issue or problem” (Benford & Snow 2000:624). Elaborately, the given problem can be related to other movements or individuals, thus creating stronger resonance of one’s message (ibid.). Frame amplification comprises the amplification, “idealization, embellishment, clarification, or invigoration” (ibid.) of certain existing beliefs and values. Frame extensions involves the willingness of the movement to extend the boundaries of frames, to encompass the concerns, sentiments and interests of potential supporters (Benford & Snow 2000:624; Lindekilde 2014:209). Lastly, frame transformation refers to the process of a fundamental modification of existing frames, thus “changing old understandings and meanings and/or generating new ones” (Benford & Snow 2000:624).

3.3. Collection and Presentation of Documents Through online text-based documents, I will to investigate the communicative and strategic framing practices of the Alternative Right. I wish to examine the Alternative Right associated with Richard Spencer, and relate it to the more disorganized and uncontrolled 4chan forum described by Angela Nagle. In this section, the reflections made during the collection and processing of the documents will be introduced.

3.3.1. Alternative Right Websites Two Alt-Right webpages have been chosen for their association with Richard Spencer, to ensure that the analysis only covers the network associated with Richard Spencer, thereby avoiding digressions from the movement covered thus far. The first site chosen www.nationalpolicy.institute, which is the foremost focus of analysis, is the National Policy Institute (NPI) of which Richard Spencer is President. The National Policy Institute is think tank with the purpose of informing and spreading messages and ideologies related to the Alt-Right. In their own terms, it is described as a “independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States and around the world” (The National Policy Institute 2017) and “a central and indispensable component of the international Alt-Right” (ibid.). The documents collected from the site, stems from its blog section and contains of 11 blog posts amounting to Appendix B, on a total of 134 pages total. Each blog has a clear theme, which helps give an overview of the blog. The NPI is rather static, limited in quantity and rarely updated, making manual achieving of the documents effortless. The second site www.AltRight.com of which Spencer is co-creator, will be included to put the results from the National Policy Institute into the perspective of a more interactive and updated Alt-Right. Here, articles are posted several times daily, making achieving of greater difficulty. Therefore, I have listed the headlines of all articles posted from July to December 2017, from the Culture and Perspective sections of the sites, in order to gain insight on the key issues of the Alt- Right not mentioned on the National Policy Institute, that focuses strongly on racial matters. The content of this site can be contributed to by both internal and external writers, described as “the best writers and analyst from the Alt-Right, in North America, Europe, and around the world” (AltRight.com 2017).

3.3.2. Digital Hub: 4Chan /pol/ The last source of documentation will be gathered on the 4chan forum Politically Incorrect, abbreviated merely as /pol/. This will be done with the purpose of investigating the relation between this digital subculture, and the general Alt-Right. The webpage requires neither login or registration of its users, who mostly goes under the name “Anonymous”. This makes it very difficult to decipher the population of the 4chan forums, although there are country flags besides the usernames, giving at least a slight impression of the locality of the users of given statements. Generally, the construct of 4chan makes a complete overview of the content of the site impossible. The site consists of the following categories, each with up to 14 sub-boards: Japanese Culture, Video Games, Interests, Creative, Other, Misc. (NSFW), and Adult (NSFW). The last two categories have the ‘Not Safe for Work’, meaning that their content is not appropriate for the common workplace. It is under the Miscellaneous-category the board politically incorrect /pol/ is found – which is known as an Alt-Right platform. Initially, I wished to make use of the automatically achieving tool HTTrack, but the structure of 4chan made this difficult, and I could not find a tool able to process the content of the specific 4chan board of investigation, without following various links and forums with no relevance. Therefore, the collection of content was done manually, but with the help of the browser extension NVivo Capture, allowing webpages to be saved as pdf directly from the web browser and imported to NVivo. The content of /pol/ is dynamic, and the collection of threads and posts was made by several independent random selections. This has resulted in Appendix C and D, total of 490 pages. From this collected material, a word frequency table (Appendix E), and a word cloud have been created for illustrative purposes. The Word Frequency Query has been conducted on the 45 most frequent words of the documents, with the minimum length of 4 letters, to avoid the site’s many abbreviations. The grouping has been done with stemmed words, thus including not only “white”, but also, “whiteness”, “whites” and so on.

4. Analysis

4.1. The National Policy Institute I wish to begin this analysis with the investigation of core framing elements of the blog section of the Alt-Right think tank The National Policy Institute (NPI).

4.1.1. The Detriment of Whites The National Policy Institute, is primarily focused on the diagnostic framing of the existence of a set of issues, related to very specific ideas of racial differences. The main problem emphasized, is related to what Annie Kelly argued the ‘white victimization’ of the Alt-Right (Kelly 2017:73). This is expressed in continuous attempts of proving the systemic deprivation of whites. Generally, the white male is considered the subject of ‘reverse discrimination’, which is argued to have become a major issue and “the law of the land” (Appendix B:2) of contemporary American society. It is argued, that affirmative action policies and quotas with the purpose of employment equity benefits minorities and women on the detriment of “the more efficient non-minority contractor” (ibid.), who as a result is unable to compete. These arguments rely on the conception that the ones benefitting from the affirmative action, are not really disadvantaged. This is exemplified, when it is stated that 70 percent of the American population are considered underprivileged, and that “in the government’s eyes the son of an unemployed White Detroit auto worker is more privileged than the daughter of a Manhattan surgeon of color” (ibid.). Thus, by diagnostic framing, the disadvantaged are blamed for the deprivation of the white worker. There appears no explicit prognostic framing offering solutions on how to end this problem. Of course, the solution would be to get rid of affirmative action policies, but the focus of the text seems occupied with proving the existence of reversal discrimination in the first place. To support these arguments several graphs and statistics are introduced, as exemplified below:

This illustration has the purpose of demonstrating an increase in federal contracts awarded to women and minorities, which is considered harmful. The credibility of the statistics is not high, as they contain both spelling errors and, as the text below the illustration shows, are “unpublished statistics sent to the author” (ibid.:4) - by whom is left to the unknown. The concern of the welfare of whites is further emphasized on the issue of immigration of non- whites to European countries3, considered to contribute to the eradication of the European people, culture and traditions. Thus, immigration is framed the problem, and non-whites as the ones to blame. In this regard, it is argued that unless:

“a new moral theory of difference can be formulated to support an ideology and legal framework that both justifies and enables its self-preservation as a unique biological entity in their own homelands, the White race faces complete erasure from the Earth” (ibid.:98).

This ‘new moral theory’ could be a prognostic framing solution to the problems emphasized, if it entailed some tactical and strategic goals – however, these are not suggested. This concern is emphasized further by a comparison between immigrant Muslims in Europe and Mexican immigrant in the United States, forming “their own structures in parallel with the indigenous authority” (ibid.:94); an example of frame bridging, possibly to the European Alt-Right movement, or just white Europeans in general.

4.1.2. Racial Intelligence The argumentation of white and European superiority relies heavily on IQ and historical progress, and has the purpose of emphasizing the white racial identity, which considered a “means of self- protection” and an important part of American culture (Appendix B:85). Studies of intelligence tests from the 1920s are used to support this argument, ranking the intelligence of ethnic groups (ibid.:83). That ‘Orientals’ are on top of the list is described as puzzling, since “the European peoples [pioneered] the industrial revolution and made virtually all the intellectual advances in science, mathematics, and technology during the last five hundred years” (ibid.): An argument of frame amplification of the idea and pride of European greatness, that unsurprisingly favors Europeans. For instance, lower IQ of Southeast Europeans compared to Northern and Western Europeans is excused with poor nutrition during the communist rule (ibid.:84). In contrast, the IQ of American Indians are considered surprisingly high, due to the “generally poor social and

3 America is considered a country of European heritage.

11 economic performance of these peoples” (ibid.:84) – i.e. unemployment, drug addiction, alcoholism, personality problems and a generally demoralized state of being, which “makes it difficult to believe that their ancestors built the empires of the Incas, Mayas and Aztecs” (ibid.:85).

4.1.3. The Enemies of the Alt-Right The most significant diagnostic framing revolves around the Jewish People, who are considered a great threat to the societies in which they reside, due to fixed ideas of peculiar traits that enable them to extort “influence on politics and culture [in the modern world] channeled through the media and through elite academic institutions” (ibid.:10). This emphasizes the anti-elitist characteristic of populism stressed by Mudde and Müller. The corrupt elites are predominantly associated to the Jewish people, who are accredited the following personality traits: ethnocentrism, high intelligence, psychological intensity and aggressiveness – of which are forms a presumed dominant and hostile behavior (ibid.:9, 18-21). The hyperethnocentrism is argued to be strengthened by external markers such as traditional clothing, which is tied to the need for homogeneity. Homogeneity in society is linked to peace, where multiculturalism is a ‘superficial harmony’ where “conflict often lurks just beneath the surface” (ibid.:11). This, combined with a male-dominated culture and mentality of uniqueness, is ascribed as being what makes the group strong, which emphasizes an ambiguous relationship with the Jews, who are both admired, feared and despised all at once, due to these ‘qualities’. In addition to the dominant diagnostic framing, these traits explicitly point to the prognosis that these threatening personality traits are goals of which to aspire if one wishes to obtain the ‘dominance’ of the Jewish people. History is used to support the ‘reality’ of the Jewish influence by arguing they have been “central to all the important events of the twentieth century” (ibid.:9), e.g. as “an important focus of National Socialism in Germany” (ibid.). Not only is the heavily charged word Nazism avoided, but it even gives the impression of the Holocaust being self- inflicted. The historical references are also an example of frame amplification, drawing and invigorating existing beliefs and values accredited the events of history to the present. Another group of which blame is ascribed, is African Americans described to be a dichotomy to the ‘white community’, as the “elephant in the room” (ibid.:28) apparent to the ‘rational mind’. The Hurricane Katrina is used as an example of the “violence that blacks unleash when law and order breakdown” (ibid.). The argument is, that ‘blacks’ will rape and murder in such situations, where ‘whites’ will pull together to rebuild their neighborhoods. It is argued that blacks simply are of lower intelligence, due to their genetic origin (ibid.:32). Other than savage nature, African

Americans are believed of inferior intelligence, due to sub-Saharan descent. It is argued, that African Americans are of higher intelligence than sub-Saharan Africans, due to them having 25 percent European genes, and thus “Afro-Americans with more European ancestry and lighter skins have higher IQs than those with darker skins” (ibid.:86). Thus, the European/white genepool is considered a determining factor for one’s intelligence. African Americans are also argued to possess “psychopathic personality” traits, while being morally imbecile. As a result, hereof, this group is considered more inclined to violent behavior, irritability and aggression, due to their race (ibid.:87-88). Moreover, they are described as irresponsible parents, reckless and incapable of monogamous relationships (ibid.:88, 89). Like African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are considered morally inferior to whites. It is argued, that the political left’s search for social justice and the ‘radical egalitarianism’ of the conservatives, combined with political correctness and multiculturalism, have led to the racial issues of Western societies of today (ibid.:29): “All it takes is a little common-sense and some fortitude to admit that race is a fact of human affairs and that racial differences are embedded in human nature” (ibid.:30). It is argued that liberals dominate the debate and that the conservatives allow them to do so (ibid.:36). In this regard, it is stated that the use of the word “racist” is used by leftist groups to “stifle discussions of controversial issues” (ibid.:33). This leads the mind to the argument made by Jonathan Haidt - that globalists have been too quick to shout racist to the common nationalists. The NPI might include itself in this category for the convenience, but clearly appears belong to the kind of people who “see their race or bloodline as the thing to be protected, and [making] up the deeply racist subset of the right-wing populist movement, including the fringe that is sometimes attracted to neo-Nazism” (Haidt 2016:50). Conclusively, the overall framing purpose of the National Policy Institute blog is to establish a specific truth of racial superiority, thus living up to its white nationalist reputation.

4.2. The AltRight.com The AltRight.com is a clear continuation of the logics and framing of the National Policy Institute, while differing on some accounts. For once, the website is much more interactive and updated. It discusses and describes a wide variety of topics, of both national and international significance, thus broadening the scope of the Alt-Right. Anybody can contribute to the content of the website by sending writing samples to the editors of the website. This makes it possible for the adherent of the Alt-Right to participate to the direction and composition of the Alt-Right directly whilst staying anonymous, as all identification needed is a short description of oneself and a pseudonym

(AltRight 2017b). That anyone can contribute, gives the site a ‘younger’ sound, with the use of internet slang and meme-references. Where the NPI focused on creating ideas and evidence, mainly of biological determinism, the AltRight.com relates the values and beliefs of the Alt-Right to current events and popular culture, such as movie reviews and celebrity references (ibid.). I believe that this, along with the design of the webpage and its daily updates, to be valuable for the mobilization of the Alt-Right supporters, as well as the recruitment of new ones.

4.2.1. Women in the Alt-Right Initially, I wish to elaborate a bit on an Alt-Right concern not elaborated much upon on the National Policy Institute, namely the role of women in the movement. This comes to show through several articles on assumed and suggested female behavior, some being a direct reaction to the accusations of the movement being against women. It is emphasized, how it is women acting in certain ways who are considered harmful. Such a woman is referred to as ‘THOT’, meaning “that ho over there” (Appendix A:6), suggesting she has a ‘non-ladylike’ behavior. Women should not be offended by this term, it is maintained: “See, no man gets up in arms about other men being called cuck – which is the direct male equivalent of THOT – and uses the opportunity to decry anti-male sentiments of the Alt-Right” (ibid.). This logic, resemblance the reverse discrimination emphasized on NPI, showing the incapability of acknowledging discrimination of females or non- whites, who are perceived inferior to the white male – ironically enough, the exact perception that makes these groups underprivileged. The suggestions to how females should behave are highly patriarchal, relying on historical idealized gender conceptions. However, that certain women are ‘allowed’ a place in the movement, (at least rhetorically) illustrates slight frame extension. Nevertheless, the movement strongly opposes feminism, framed an issue that deprives the white male and supports political correctness and liberal hysteria. The prognostic framing of this issue provides guidelines for female behavior, for example by the article: “Three Ways to Become a Better Woman – Always strive to improve yourself within the framework of your naturally given gender role, and thus your natural role in society and the community” (ibid.:4). Similar articles can be found for males, “5 Steps to Become a Real Man – The West today faces a number of serious problems. Finding solutions to these problems requires real men” (ibid.:5). Thus, a main framing strategy is to emphasize how the issues of today are caused by the white man becoming weak, letting emancipated women and ethnic minorities cause trouble. The solution is these problems is first off, to overcome ‘white guilt’ and reclaim one’s identity.

4.2.2. Just for Fun? I wish to emphasize perhaps the greatest difference between AltRight.com and the NPI. The latter argued for white superiority and the imbecility of non-white with utmost seriousness, to which the AltRight.com writers tend to stand in contrast. Take the following example: “I love fantasizing about RAHOWA4 as much as the next goy. But for me, that’s all it is, a funny fantasy, more a meme than any concrete vision” (ibid.:16). This writer argues that the future entails a cultural war between ‘BadWhites’ and ‘GoodWhites’ (also referred to as Anti-White Whites), “framed in terms of a war for […] which values will dominate society going forward” (ibid:17.). Here, the problem is elitist whites with a taste for multiculturalism and immigration, because it does not affect them personally. I believe that this kind of framing makes the Alt-Right much more edible than the excessive biological determinism of the NPI (although it still very much exists).

4.3. The Underground Alt-Right This section of the analysis will differ a bit from the prior, as it will revolve around general experience with spending substantial amount of time on 4chan. The purpose is to reflect on a branch of the Alt-Right, neither as visible nor organized as the National Policy Institute and the AltRight.com website; the Politically Incorrect board on 4chan. The users of /pol/ differ substantially from the Alt-Right websites, as it is practically impossible for a person who does not normally spend time on such sites to fully understand what is spoken about, and with what intension. The users incorporate extremely racist remarks into prankish frames and imagery of which the seriousness is sometimes hard to decipher. Much of the content from the downloaded threads, could just as well be in a complete different language, and I believe, that this inaccessibility is what makes this segment of the Alt-Right a particularly valuable to the movement. Where people such as Richard Spencer functions as the public face of the networks and the subject of much commotion, the radical digital hubs can thrive in relative peace, due to their anonymity and peculiar structure.

4 Abbreviation of ‘racial holy war’.

This illustration displays some of the most frequently used words on the 4chan /pol/ documents gathered. In this respect, 4chan contrasts the more formal and edited NPI, and the language of the /pol/ is harsh and aggressive. The word ‘white’ has the highest frequency in the documents, with a total occurrence of 734, followed by ‘people’, ‘fuck’, ‘right’, ‘nigger’, ‘women’, and so forth (Appendix E). This, combined with the words ‘jews’, ‘muslims’ correlates with the diagnostic frames of the NPI documents. The 4chan board relies on the same perceptions as already introduced, but differ in their harsh approach to these topics, often masked with irony and ridicule. When users do not ‘get’ the jargon of the site, they are called out as ‘newfags’ (ibid.:73). This often happens when people are considered politically correct, or asks questions considered stupid. The members of the board do discuss political issues and share ideas on different topics and events. However, most of the threads are compilations of random trolling and memes of racist and misogynist character.

5. Discussion

Some valuable concerns were raised in the literature review and I strongly believe that the Alt- Right’s goals of making it into the socially acceptable discourse should be taken seriously. What Damon Berry referred to as a global racial community have been underlined, as the nation state seems to bear little importance, compared to the global white community of people wishing to live out this identity. The extend of the networks is not easily ascertained, but the tools for transnational communication and mobilizations are surely present, and the AltRight.com indicates commitment from all across the globe. The analysis demonstrated, how Spencer’s Alt-Right mainly operates with diagnostic and prognostic framing tactics. Despite the motivational framing being absent, collective action has been carried out by Spencer and the Alt-Right, e.g. at

Charlottesville. However, as the Alt-Right is largely based on anonymity and online conduct, I do not believe that walking the streets will be the desired course of collective action for most in support of the network. On the contrary, in a digitalized and global world, I believe the aim of shifting the Overton Window in the favor the Alternative Right worldwide, can be exerted in the comforts of home.

6. Conclusion The purpose of this study has been to investigate the goals, dynamics and driving forces of the Alternative Right operating in America, through their online communicative practices. By investigating the framing strategies of the networks, I have reached the conclusion that the relationship between the somewhat organized Alt-Right of Richard Spencer and the unstructured and almost chaotic digital hub ‘Politically Incorrect’ on the imageboard 4chan, is of large significance. I will argue, that the existence of this possibly ironic segment of the Alt-Right benefits the general and serious goals of the movement, by its insight of online communication and the its constant online activity. However, due to the generally weak framing practices of the movement, I do not see the network becoming mainstream in the nearest future. I do however see the potential of a shift of the Overton Window of what is considered socially acceptable, and I will recommend further and more in-depth studies of the matter, with a greater focus on social movement theory and the possibilities of global mass media, as this report have merely stretched the surface of the Alternative Right.

7. Bibliography

7.1. Published Work Benford, R.D.D. & Snow, D.A.A., 2000. Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, pp.611–639.

Berry, D. 2017. Blood and Faith: Christianity in American White Nationalism. New York: Syracuse University Press.

Caiani, M. & della Porta, D., 2011. The elitist populism of the extreme right: A frame analysis of extreme right-wing discourses in Italy and Germany. Acta Politica, 46(2), pp.180–202

Crespy, A., 2015. Analysing European Discourses in Research Methods in European Union Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Haidt, Jonathan. “When and Why Nationalism Beats Globalism.” The American Interest, vol. 12, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1–8.

Jørgensen, M. & Phillips, L. J., 2002. Discouse Analysis as Theory and Method. London: Sage Publications.

Kelly, A. (2017). The alt-right: Reactionary rehabilitation for white masculinity. Soundings (66): 68-78.

Lindekilde, L., 2014. Discourse and Frame Analysis: In-Depth Analysis of Qualitative Data in Social Movement Research, in Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Nagle, A., 2017. Kill all normies, the online culture wars from Tumblr and 4chan to the alt-right and Trump, Winchester: Zero Books.

Torfing, J. 1999. New Theories in Discourse, Laclau, Mouffe and Zizek, Blackwell Publishers,

Truelove, Emily, and Katherine C Kellogg. “The Radical Flank Effect and Cross-Occupational Collaboration for Technology Development during a Power Shift.” Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 4, 2016, pp. 662–701.

7.2. Internet sources The National Policy Institute (2017). Who Are We: https://nationalpolicy.institute/whoarewe Accessed: December 2, 2017.

The Alternative Right (2017a). About AltRight.com: https://altright.com/about-altright-com/ Accessed: December 16, 2017.

The Alternative Right (2017b). Submissions: https://altright.com/submissions/

Mackinac Center for Public Policy (2006). An Introduction to the Overton Window of Political Possibilities: https://www.mackinac.org/7504 Accessed: December 10, 2017.

Urban Dictionary (2017). Definition, lulz: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lulz Accessed: December 17, 2017.