Thread by @latenitenoah

1/Here's a brief thread about the American alt-right, and how they think.

Understanding the mindset of the alt-right is a very difficult task. It's like understanding an alien intelligence. But I think I've gleaned a few insights.

2/There were always racists in America. And there were always people worried that Hispanic immigration, etc. would dilute our national culture.

So why the fury now, especially when Hispanic immigration, and immigration in general, have fallen so much?

3/Was it the 2012 election? The Obama presidency? Gay marriage? The demographic shift to a majority-minority country? All of these at once?

Probably. But I also think we underestimate the importance of recent events in Europe.

4/For many Americans, their ancestral countries or continents remain an important touchstone of their identities. This is true for some African-Americans and Asian-Americans. And although we tend to ignore the fact, it's true for some % of European-Americans as well.

5/To some % of white Americans, Europe remained in their minds as an ethnic homeland that they could always go back to if they needed. A place where everyone's faces would look like theirs, and everyone would share similar traditions and religion.

6/But large-scale Islamic immigration to Europe has shattered that mental image. Both because of the perception that "Europe isn't Europe anymore", and the blunt fact that European leaders were *willing* to invite lots of Muslims in.

7/The sense that the European ethnic/cultural "homeland" has fallen to invaders makes alt-right types feel orphaned. It makes them feel like America is their last outpost - a final bastion of European ethnicity and culture that they need to defend at any cost.

8/To those European-Americans who *don't* have that strong emotional connection to Europe - and I'd say we're solidly in the majority - this idea seems alien. And to those who don't see Islamic immigration to Europe as an invasion, it seems wackadoodle.

But it's real.

9/So now we have a subset of white people who A) care about having a white homeland somewhere in the world, and B) no longer feel that such a white homeland exists. And are freaking out, trying to turn America into a white homeland instead.

10/They'll fail, of course, but their outburst will damage our country before it's done. And I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done to help them feel better.

Of course, I realize most of my readers will not *want* to help them feel better...

11/An American "whitopia" would be a dystopia. America is far too diverse already for it to ever be a white ethnic homeland. noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/an-ame…

But the alt-right feels like this (doomed) effort is their only chance. And that's dangerous. (end)