Paranoia for activism
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Radicalization is a real problem in the United States.
Let’s go about fighting it the smart way, then, the opposite of the approach taken by members of the press and left-wing activists.
As U.S. law enforcement officials work diligently to counter far-right extremism, self-appointed Nazi hunters have indulged themselves in paranoia, wild-eyed handwringing, and enough ratings-driving fearmongering to choke a donkey. Indeed, in their zeal to fight the bad guys, the press and the Left have gotten so far ahead of themselves that they’re now seeing "evidence" of evil in everything from set designs to milk.
Yes, milk.
Last week, for example, the events design company that created the stage for the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida, had to respond to allegations it intentionally created the set to resemble an obscure rune embraced by the Nazis (it is obscure; don’t kid yourself).
Design Foundry told Insider it "had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did."
Of course the group had no idea. Why would the company that designed sets for clients including Google, Target, MSNBC, and the Biden Cancer Initiative torpedo itself by paying tribute to the Third Reich? Furthermore, how does it even make sense to design a Nazi-themed stage whose shape can only be understood from an elevated position? Remember, CPAC’s attendees were seated at eye-level with the stage.
Put more simply, even before Design Foundry denied it designed the CPAC set to look like a Nazi rune, the allegation that it had never made any sense.
But this is about par for the course when it comes to our national conversation about right-wing extremism and white supremacy.
In 2018, the New York Times ran a real news report titled, “Why White Supremacists Are Chugging Milk (and Why Geneticists Are Alarmed).” The article is exactly what it sounds like.
At the same time, newsrooms ran story after story accusing private individuals who flashed the “OK” hand sign of engaging in coded extremist language. As it turns out, the “OK” symbol that members of the press and activist groups attribute to white supremacists began as a joke. Internet trolls thought it would be funny to trick the news media into believing that a universally accepted hand gesture was part of a secret code used by white supremacists (a 2019 New York Times article accusing West Point cadets of flashing the supposedly hateful hand sign even concedes this fact).
The “OK” gesture then became an inside joke among actual white supremacists, which resulted in activist groups and the press declaring the innocuous symbol off-limits for everyone. In other words, the "OK" sign became bad because trolls tricked newsrooms into thinking it was, and actual extremists later adopted it in response to the news coverage. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We’ve been told by the press and the Left that white supremacy symbols include everything from the Betsy Ross flag, obscure tattoos, Hawaiian shirts, the Speaker's gavel, and even the “SPQR” acronym for the “Senate and People of Rome.”
Former FBI official and MSNBC regular Frank Figliuzzi even suggested in 2019 that former President Donald Trump had given neo-Nazis a win when he ordered flags at half-staff until Aug. 8 to mark mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
“The president said that we will fly our flags at half-mast until August 8th. That is 8-8,” Figliuzzi said during an appearance on MSNBC, presumably fashioning a tinfoil hat just out of the frame. "The numbers 8-8 are very significant in neo-Nazi and white supremacy movements. Why? Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet and to them, the numbers 8-8 together stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’ We’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk at 8-8. No one is thinking about this.”
The problem with the Figliuzzis of the world is that they take a serious issue (radicalization) and obscure it with confusion and paranoia, increasing the likelihood that many of the people they’re trying to reach will go on ignoring both them and the matter at hand.
What happens if large numbers of extremists also enjoy ice cream and going out to the movies? Should we expect a New York Times headline that reads, “Why White Supremacists Are Eating Ice Cream (and Why Geneticists Are Alarmed)”? That’s a one-way ticket to being laughed out of the room. Meanwhile, radicalization continues apace.
A thing is not part of the white supremacist structure by virtue of the fact that white supremacists use it. By seeing evidence of evil in everyday things, the Figliuzzi method of activism turns the issue of extremism into a punchline. Furthermore, it tends to ensnare innocent people who understandably have no idea that their Hawaiian shirts are considered problematic or that the "OK" hand sign is coded language.
Radicalization poses a real threat to the people of the U.S., especially as our communities become increasingly splintered and our politics bitterer and more polarized. Right-wing extremism is real. White supremacy is real.
So, let’s address these problems the right way, cool, calm, and collected. In other words, the opposite of what we’ve seen from the press and the Left these past few years.