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ABSTRACT
The “alternative right” or “alt-right” is a quintessentially twenty-first century phenomenon: a radicalized far right ideology that is proliferated and disseminated almost exclusively online with members drawn from all over the world. This paper argues that online debates within alt-right online communities about the acceptability of alt-right language and imagery are claims-making exercises that constitute examples of bordering processes. These debates establish cultural borders around online communities and foster new virtual geographies of counter-hegemonic movements of the far right, that transcend and challenge the role and relevance of the physical border as a container for these movements. The paper concludes by placing these findings within current theoretical framings of the a-territorial border, with particular attention to what implications these have for the Pacific Northwest.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 On sites like reddit and voat, frequent commenters and posters are tagged as “top contributors”, whose comments can be given extra weight or consideration in discussions. Not all online communities have such labels, but long-term participants and frequent posters are often recognized by other members through informal accolades for their contributions.
2 A “meme” (sometimes called an “image macro”) is an online artifact used to convey large amounts of information using a blend of text and images. Memes are ubiquitous in online spaces; many smartphones now feature meme databases and .GIF (short video or animation clips) for users to attach to conventional text messaging. Understanding specific memes and their proper usage is a gatekeeping mechanism in some communities; a person is not truly a part of the community unless and until they are conversant in the community’s favorite memes.
3 A cliché in online communities is that “the Internet never forgets”; anything that goes up on a cacheable website remains searchable for quite some time, and this holds true for materials posted and then later deleted. Even after a user attempts to remove material from the internet (by deleting posts or even by deleting user accounts), there remains a window of time where other users can still access archived versions of those posts by downloading earlier “snapshots” of the website in question. These tools are also useful for sociologists who engage in research online, as it allows them a way to track changes to posted material. Archival tools allow sociological investigators to take snapshots of these discussions and save them for later investigation, to freeze them and protect them from subsequent alteration or deletion.
4 Since its adoption sometime around 2013 or 2014, the triple bracket’s use has expanded to serve as a signal that whatever has been enclosed in these “echoes” is a) an enemy or ideological opponent, and b) fair game for attacks. In the online version of the “Culture Wars”, these attacks range from sending grotesque, shocking, or offensive messages, images or videos to targeted individuals, to death threats or threats of violence, to “swatting”, the practice of sending armed tactical teams and law enforcement to a person’s home under false pretenses. These tactics are no longer an uncommon, fringe occurrence. Any researchers who have decided to attach their names to investigations involving online communities (among other things) are opening themselves and their families up to this sort of intimidation (West Citation2015).
5 Trolling is the practice of writing deliberately inflammatory comments designed to elicit outrage from one’s targets. Trolls often know they are being offensive or hurtful; indeed, that is usually the point. An example of trolling behavior would be finding the comment section on a blog or article about the Holocaust and posting a comment saying, “Hitler did nothing wrong”. The point of the comment is to anger, offend and hurt the targets.
6 Doxxing is the practice of collecting personal information of opponents, including addresses, phone numbers and email addresses/passwords, which are then posted online. Users are encouraged to use the information to harass, bully, and even threaten other users. Most websites have a zero-tolerance policy regarding doxxing, but many groups associated with the alt-right do little else.
7 “ … is the barricade on which the youth in struggle for its identity stands.”
8 QAnon, also called the “Great Awakening”, or even “The Storm” is a growing conspiracy on the far right and within alt-right networks. First established on the website 4chan, the conspiracy alleges that President Donald Trump is fighting a secret war against the forces of the “Deep State”, a hostile shadow-government run by Hilary Clinton, John Podesta, George Soros, and a host of others. In addition to opposing President Trump, these figures are also thought to be involved in child-sex trafficking and murder. In some versions of the conspiracy theory, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his wide-ranging investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential elections are part of President Trump’s overall strategy to counter the forces of the Deep State. Though initially a fringe movement, the QAnon conspiracy theory has grown to the extent that its members are routinely spotted at alt-right rallies and increasingly at rallies attended by the President.
9 A common expression in the Warhammer universe is “An open mind is like an open fortress, with its gates unbarred and unguarded.”
10 A forum raid is a kind of direct action in online spaces, where members of one online community flood the comments sections or discussion threads of another community (usually an ideological opponent) with negative or off-topic comments designed to derail discussions or harass users.
11 In online parlance, a “shitpost” is a specific species of post in a discussion thread or comment chain. Shitposts are inane, off-topic, or vulgar – sometimes obscene – and are often used as a means of shutting down discussions or even entire comment sections. Shitposts are a common element of raids.
12 The brute facts being that online networks require physical servers and processing centers to operate, which are subject to the laws of whatever jurisdiction controls the land they are located on.