It’s been a big month for the alt-right movement. Earlier in August, the Southern Poverty Law Center added the alt-right to its list of extremist groups, describing it as essentially white nationalism for the Reddit generation. On Thursday, news broke that Hillary Clinton planned to give a speech condemning alt-rightist who have united behind Donald Trump.
Alt-rightists aren’t very happy about this state of affairs, and they’re attempting to defend themselves on Twitter with the hashtag #AltRightMeans.
The tag is trending, but not for the reasons conservative kiddos hoped. It’s been hijacked by people opposed to the alt-right’s central tenets (which, according to the SPLC, are “white ethno-nationalism” and unironic use of the word “cuckservative.”)
#AltRightMeans a group of boys who wanted to redefine their bigotry by starting a hashtag only to see it co-opted and made a mockery of 😂😂
— Pastor Ben (@BenjaminPDixon) August 25, 2016
If you look at the hashtag now, you’ll see an anti-Hillary Clinton tweet from Prison Planet
#AltRightMeans pointing out that a woman who accepts hundreds of millions from a country that treats women like crap isn't a "feminist".
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 25, 2016
But you’ll mostly see people mocking the hell out of what the SPLC describes as the alt-right’s main constituency, “anonymous youths who were exposed to the movement’s ideas through online message boards like 4chan and 8chan’s /pol/ and internet platforms like Reddit and Twitter.”
https://twitter.com/keisertroll/status/768840103078821888
https://twitter.com/charles_kinbote/status/768829158445223936
#AltRightMeans My dwarf hamsters Tetsuo and Heydrich live in a habitrail made of stiffened gym socks.
— crisp mattman (@cushbomb) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans We must secure the existence for our waifus and a future for white Ghostbusters.
— crisp mattman (@cushbomb) August 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/kept_simple/status/768821751178461184
https://twitter.com/AbiWilks/status/768805149808754688
#AltRightMeans tweeting about how Hitler might have been on to something from behind a Pepe the Frog avatar.
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) August 25, 2016
#AltRightMeans the fellas from 4chan finally found a way onto Twitter without feeling the same rejection they felt everywhere else in life
— Pastor Ben (@BenjaminPDixon) August 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/jimpjorps/status/768827876607201282
https://twitter.com/Coregan/status/768829842435534848
https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/768831386258112513
https://twitter.com/borgmamel/status/768832591571005440
#AltRightMeans We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white My Little Pony erotic fanfiction writers
— artie bucco fancam (@mokepoke) August 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/LOLY2K/status/768835339519610880
https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/768838837384704000
This is but a sampling of the myriad humorous owns on a hashtag intended to make the alt-right look more palatable and less like something out of the SPLC’s Extremist Files. #AltRightMeans is overrun with good owns. The ownage is flowing forth in immense, frothy waves and nothing can dam it.
But it’s not as if the alt-right was doing itself any favors in terms of convincing the mainstream population it’s not a racist enterprise. These tweets are pretty representative of the effort to defend white nationalism:
https://twitter.com/Writeonright/status/768779653536321536
https://twitter.com/agreeandamp/status/768775476563308544
https://twitter.com/WaltBismarck/status/768774317521776641
https://twitter.com/TheFaceman99/status/768768492048965633
https://twitter.com/AltRightInfo/status/768765457981726721
We fight against globalism! We r proud of America & there r more nationalist than liberals! We fight for the freedom of USA #AltRightMeans
— DawnG (@dawngpsalm63) August 25, 2016
Huh.
Then again, what’s in a name? “Calling them the ‘alt-right’ does obscure the fact to the general public that they are white supremacists, mostly,” Marilyn Mayo, a research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said in an interview. “And getting rid of that term, ‘alt-right,’ may clarify things for the general public.”
The alt-right has come under attack this week from both Democrats—via Hillary Clinton—and the GOP establishment. Now that they’re in the spotlight, they have a crucial opportunity to polish their message and make it as acceptable as popular to the U.S. mainstream.
Let’s check in on how it’s going:
https://twitter.com/_Cooper/status/768491585499762688
Hmm.