Common discourse tactics of the "Alt"-Right
Common discourse tactics of the "Alt"-Right
Having risen out of obscure boards on 4chan and Reddit, the alt-right is a right-wing extremist movement that’s mostly decentralized. Despite this, they have become incredibly pervasive, not through logical argument, but through operating in a way that makes spotting and opposing them particularly tricky. This post shall act as a brief look into some of the tactics they employ, and how leftists can effectively counter them.
- The Lulz
- Never On The Defensive
- I Decide What You Believe
- Whataboutism
Anyone else having trouble reading the thing?
Seems like they made "under construction". It's probably temporary.
Here's a mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20250214200832/https://therainbowspectator.wordpress.com/2025/02/12/common-tactics-of-the-alt-right/
Thanks!
The article matches my experiences.
I knew a guy, not MAGA, but a self-identified libertarian, with very bigoted and bad takes (racism, misogyny, general lack of empathy). His responses for being called out or criticized were:
- This is a joke
- You are too stupid to understand the joke
- The joke I made is supposed to be making fun of people who say the same offensive things seriously (except the joke has no hint of irony or self-awareness)
- You are too stupid to understand the point I am making
- You don't know stuff about life
- You lack EQ to understand my situation
- General insults about intelligence
- Why are you being an asshole to me?
Eventually, I also figured out that the only way to win is not to play the game. Shame, we were good friends back in the day.
They don't deserve an argument, only mockery.
Innuendo Studios on YouTube has a great playlist explaining many Discourse tactics of the alt right:
Yeah, this is my go to. Though, I'm not certain how the earlier ones stand up.
As someone with a lot of experienced interacting with the alt-right IRL (at work 😞) I gotta say, this is very accurate. Their methodology has become transparent to me, but I can't get others to see it as it happens. When I argue with them in front of a centrist, I am painted as unreasonable for taking them seriously (1), for always defending my points while they speak lies with confidence (2), for believing the crazy shit the other guy says I believe (3), and for being just as bad as them (4).
It's absolutely infuriating that these tactics work so well.
I find it best just not to engage with them at all. I know the argument can be made that it's for the benefit of other readers, but that's best done in a top-level comment imo