I would trace it’s roots back to CasaPound
It would make sense that they were recuiting in places like 4chan considering their background.
I understand you’re desire to talk to them. It’s the natural urge of a decent human being assuming people aren’t irredemable shitheads. And I think it can work, but only for those on the fringes and only if you can peel them away and isolate them long enough that they start having to look elsewhere for support. But if you don’t separate them then you’re not going to get anywhere because you’re the person they get brownie points for attacking. Once they’re away from you the’ll fall back into their support group.
If you’re not sure aboutthis, look again at the video of the guy “renouncing white power” that @wanderfound posted up thread. He was only repentant while he was being threatened, as soon as he was away from the treat his demeanor changed back.
If they’re not on the fringes then you don’t have a hope, because they’re not interested in debate, they just want to win. Whether they do that by shouting you down, making you cry or busting you’re head open their goal is to win and to them you’re either a target or an easy target.
The Vice Charlottesville report is a good example of this.
In other words, it will work only if you’re raising a young kid who is learning stupid shit online. Otherwise, their beliefs are too firmly settled, and you don’t have any control over what they do.
Proper parenting might help, but some of the time and not always.
My first reaction was that that guy was a total pussy, but he’s really no more or less of a pussy than the rest of them. If you try to have a conversation with them, they will deny that they are white supremacists, and they’ll say they’re the reasonable ones, or that they’re just doing it or the lulz or whatever. They only go full Nazi when they are reasonably sure that there will be no repercussions and that they won’t be outnumbered. That’s how they have avoided detection for so long. They dial it back whenever they need to.
The ringleaders of all the overseas terrorist groups are children of privilege. I see this more as a problem of idle wealth goading the vulnerable for violent lulz and a shot at being king of the shithill for a while. I don’t see the situation being much different with white terrorists within our own borders.
I have to agree with the others who are opposed to trying to have a dialogue with white nationalists. They don’t think you’re white, they want you dead. I don’t think you can reason with that, and the history of what leads to WWII in Europe informs me that it’s pointless at best, and dangerous at worst, to try.
Turns out one of the nazis from the Vice video may be wanted by the police and is crying like a baby over it.
I think some of why I am a little less freaked out about this is that I used to live near Stone Mountain.
Play the video to watch the Confederate Leader’s carving come alive during the 4th of July Laser Light Show and Dixie plays!! (Yes, been there, done that - actually one of the best fireworks displays I’ve been to.)
We used to walk in the park every night. Often there were “skinheads” in low-rider trucks (founding place of the modern KKK seemed to attract this crowd), flying the Stars N Bars off the back. It was ominous, I guess, as ominous as a bunch of high school kids who are bored and want to show off their low rider trucks to each other can be. As often as I was there, I never saw them hassle anyone. I suppose the park service had some kind of arrangement with them and kept them in line. To me, they were like the kids who’d hang out at the 7/11 drinking beers in the back of their trucks because that’s the thing you do in a little hick town in the South.
I noticed as I was searching for the videos that the 2017 show didn’t feature, as in previous years, the carving coming alive. So, progress?
So I read a thing on twitter, and I agree with it thus far. Thoughts?
Edit to add: Daniel Dale is a national treasure and you all better appreciate him and give him back to us when this is all over! He’s OURS!
Thanks for letting me talk this through. Sometimes I don’t realize just how messed up it was living in the Deep South. As messed up as Alabama was, living in New Orleans in the 80s was like a trip back in time to the 50s. Then I lived near Stone Mountain and all the Neo Nazi stuff there. It’s hard to describe to people what it was like, even being liberal. I’ve been educating myself today on the group that put on the march and I agree, time to shut this down.
https://scarfolk.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/nazi-anti-bullying-campaign.html
In case anyone’s unfamiliar, Scarfolk Council is satirical.
Thanks for opening this topic. Although I didn’t agree with your opening position, I did appreciate the looking for a win-win scenario and the discussion that followed. That positivity is refreshing, and even if I don’t think it’s pragmatic in this case, I’d like to see more of it.
Strong agreement.
So far in the propaganda fight, the Nazis are repeatedly succeeding. The media and much of the public continue to insist on taking them at face value and granting an unearned assumption of honesty.
Yes they enjoy messing with people’s heads.
Considering these Nazis invented many of the things people attack Hillary for, and are literally a part of Wikileaks… yeah the media war was lost long ago but they literally use Nazis as their source for topics like the Russia uranium deal or making the huge flow charts of people being paid by Hillary to murder/kidnap/invent charges against individuals like Assange. Not to mention the dumb ones like Pizzagate.
Nazis are the original source for a huge chunk of far-right media. The know what they are doing.
God dammit, I ended up stuck in Cracked for hours! Thank god it wasn’t TV Tropes!
Although I did come across an interesting point. Number 1 on this list
is
If You Took A White House Job, The Legal Fees Might Destroy Your Life
Sure, if you’re close to Trump you might get your legal fees covered, but anyone lower down is going to be screwed.
From what I hear, I think it still does, but I think there’s a shorter amount of time devoted to it. And a much longer amount spent on general “USA” and military patriotism (with a far-too-long rendition of “America the Beautiful”), I believe.
I went there a couple of years (ages ago) and it was a great fireworks display and show. Most places the fireworks don’t last that long, but with the laser show, it stretches the whole event out. Plus it’s nice to be on the mountain. The whole thing is super cheesy, but then it’s the 4th of July. I’m glad they are playing down the Confederate thing but it’s so much a part of the park that I don’t know how they get rid of it. Only being out of the South do I see how baked in some of the racism is. Of course, where I live on Long Island there’s hardly any black people, so, problem solved I suppose. I don’t find the North really more tolerant, but at least they don’t have monuments to racism.
Back on the question from the thread title:
Both.
When the state bought to park from the Klan in 58, they had to allow them to hold rallies forever. At some point, the park was privatized and that continued. There was a rally last year. This year, however, the park said no. This is going to get interesting, I think.
Also, it’s important to note that Stone Mountain (and the east side of ATL north of I-20) is now majority black, primarily because many working class people got pushed out of cities like Decatur in the past 15-20 years.