Introduction: The Where and When of Radicalization
Summary
The introduction explains the connection between anti-government/anti-democratic beliefs and practices, exclusionary and dehumanizing ideologies, the importance of perceived existential demographic threats and conspiracy theories, and apocalyptic fantasies that combine to produce the broad spectrum of belief and action on the far-right. Added to this discussion is the extreme far right expectation that there will be (or needs to be) an apocalyptic race war in the future. For some, they believe that violence should be used to accelerate this civil war, as the only way to achieve their idealized goals is to destroy the current system and rebuild from scratch. Part of this discussion includes the argument that while not all far right individuals and groups believe in all the same things, or prioritize some ideas over others, interaction or engagement with some far-right beliefs and practices may bring people into contact with more extreme individuals and beliefs. This interaction/engagement includes potential collaboration and cooperation between individuals in different spheres of the far-right.
The chapter discusses the “rising threat of far-right white supremacist extremism in the United States and globally” (p.22). The chapter ends with a discussion of why focusing on the influence of far-right and white nationalist groups on youth is so important, as young adults are more vulnerable to adopting these views and if they engage in violence, youth are more likely to re-engage in violence even if previously detained. Young adults are just beginning to form their own political opinions and interaction or engagement with far-right beliefs and practices can influence their adult political perspectives and can contribute to mainstreaming far right ideas.
Comprehension Questions
1. Why do far-right adherents support anti-government/anti-democratic beliefs? Why do they generally support authoritarianism over democracy?
2. What examples of dehumanizing language does the author discuss? Can you think of other examples of dehumanizing or exclusionary language?
3. How does the far right combine perceptions of demographic changes with conspiracy theories? Why are conspiracy theories appealing to some people?
4. What is accelerationism and how do extreme far-right groups/individuals translate apocalyptic fantasies into action through accelerationism?
5. What comparisons can be made between far-right calls for violence or justification of violence and their dehumanizing language?
6. The use of the far-right label is explained by the author – discuss the benefits and drawbacks to this label, as well as some of the comparable labels that are used in other contexts and their costs/benefits.
7. Why do we need to be particularly concerned about young adults’ interaction with far-right beliefs and practices? What makes young adults particularly vulnerable?
Discussion Questions
1. What information is new to you?
2. How often have you seen or heard information that intersects with the far-right beliefs/ideologies explained in this chapter?
3. If you have seen/heard beliefs/ideological language that fits the far-right spectrum, where did you see/hear it?
4. If you have heard some of this information before, were you more likely to see/hear it in some spaces than others (i.e. see it on social media, hear it from certain people?
5. Can you think of examples where young adults may get caught up in things that may not be good for them? How is addressing these types of issues similar or different from addressing youths becoming involved in far-right beliefs?