Young Radicals: How the Alt, Far-Right Target Children
Below are some examples of rightists radicalizing or attempting to radicalize young people on the Internet. My intention is not to frighten others, but to raise awareness about this pressing issue…
1. On January 1, 2018, Big14Red announced Stormfront.org’s Youth Essay Contest, which entails a 500–700 word paper on the “current ‘war’ on Confederate statues and the ongoing erasure of White history.” An autographed copy of David Duke’s “My Awakening” is one of the contest prizes.
2. On December 10, 2017, an anonymous user asked 4chan’s politically incorrect forum about how they “plan to red pill their children,” or convert them to the cause of right-wing movements. Dozens of users replied with racist memes, images of Adolf Hitler, and personal stories about their kindred. One user responded, “Start at a very early stage so it will feel normal to them, before you know it they find any other way view weird.”
3. On December 31, 2017, Taz2120 posted a link to a video titled “The Lion — White Genocide” in Stormfront.org’s Youth forum. Images and clips of the Star of David, riots, smiling young white people, and Nazi Germany’s military campaign during World War 2 are rapidly shown throughout and are accompanied by dramatic music and voice-over narration.
The video was uploaded by “John Doe” on PewTube and suggests that social disorder in the West is the fault of the Jewish people and people of color. That it is the duty of white people, the Lion, to rise up against the “jackals” as Adolf Hitler once did in the 20th century. The video ends with a quote by the dictator: “For our people… We will struggle and fight… And never lose faith.”
4. On December 27, 2017, annjee and Carolina_girl discussed how they attempted to red pill their young family members on the Daily Stormer’s The Goyim Know forum.
annjee wrote that she showed her nephew a picture of Adolf Hitler in a Santa costume “just to see his reaction.” Her nephew supposedly asked her who the person was, to which annjee replied, “That’s Adolf Hitler and he did nothing wrong. He’s a hero.” The child apparently looked “confused” and the female supremacist “decided not to pursue right then and there.”
However, Carolina_girl advised, “I am red pilling my children fully, but with other [people’s] kids you really got to watch your step.”
5. On October 7, 2017, retona1488 initiated a conversation about radicalizing young family members on The Right Stuff forum. The user recounted three incidents in which he/she attempted to “red pill” his/her adolescent brother.
Kat_LeCarre, apparently a mother, responded with her own experience: “I’m raising my kids with a very blatant ‘The Jews killed Christ’ narrative. Also, my husband and I are always saying racist shit in code.”
She continued, “Eventually they will figure out the code, hopefully past the age where they would just blurt out racist memes in school.”
6. On January 2, 2018, Andrew Anglin posted an article titled “I Don’t Especially Care If Logan Paul Makes Fun of Suicides” on his neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. Anglin argued that children being “totally desensitized to imagery of dead bodies” via Paul’s recent controversial YouTube video in which he filmed and openly mocked a suicide victim is “not a bad thing, in my opinion.”
Readers on The Goyim Know forums reacted to Anglin’s piece, with most disagreeing with the author because of Logan Paul’s “kike” (Jewish) ancestry. Some, on the other hand, mulled the idea of red pilling the YouTuber.
Responding to a question about how Paul could be red pilled, Aleph proposed messaging the Internet celebrity that “SJWs are this way and are only attacking him because he’s White.”
SomeSJWGoy expanded on the prospect: “Heck we should contact every famous/large audience person and see how many get red pilled.”
7. On January 8, 2018, Groyper by the Pussy, a Twitter account associated with The Daily Stormer, quoted a recent tweet by PewDiePie and wrote, “frog whistle from /ourguy/.”
The post was in response to the YouTuber’s announcement that he had recently finished reading a dystopian novel called “Brave New World.”
Co-opting legitimate brands and creating trends is a tried and true tactic for the alt-right and far-right movements, especially for Andrew Anglin’s The Daily Stormer. Indeed, the practice has proven to attract national attention to Anglin’s website and has forced companies to publicly denounce him and his cause.
However, by claiming that PewDiePie is covertly “our guy,” Groyper by the Pussy, who is most likely Anglin himself, is also trying to convince his audience that even the YouTuber, whose audience is mainly adolescents and young adults, agrees with his views. Furthermore, the unwanted endorsement may also normalize extremist beliefs in Anglin’s young followers’ minds as they seek acceptance and confirmation from the world.
And who better to receive it from than a young vlogger who has been embroiled in racist controversies in the past?
8. On July 29, 2017, 18-year-old sXe SSkinhead announced the creation of a “white nationalist [Kik] chat” on Stormfront.org’s Youth forum. The user established rules against “infighting over religion,” “jackass-ery,” and homosexuality.
“This will be like a ‘hang-out’ or ‘chill-out’ space,” wrote sXe SSkinhead. He ended his post with the number 88, which is supremacist code for “Heil Hitler.”
9. On December 23 and 25, 2017, anonymous members of 4chan’s politically incorrect forum discussed combating the mainstream media by “red pilling” young people.
“Red pill the youth before they have their minds brainwashed by the mainstream,” advised a 4chan user. Attached to the post was a quote by Adolf Hitler: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the Future!”
“Since the media is going away and giving to the Internet,” wrote another user, “do your part and red-pill the now-teenagers on every platform.” This time, the user attached an image of Hitler holding an infant.
“You gotta do your part in counter-propaganda; it’s the only way.”
10. On November 5, 2017, 14-year-old Nefarious88 asked Stormfront.org for advice in “dealing” with his parents, who strongly disagree with his far-right views.
“So I’m 14 and have been interested in [national socialism] for two years now, an[d] [white nationalism] for one,” explained the young user.
He had recently begun drawing National Socialist-inspired art, especially swastikas, which “pissed” his liberal-minded mother off.
“I’m scared I might rock the boat too much… Any suggestions?”
Three days later, Merlin, a Stormfront.org administrator, encouraged the adolescent to “keep up your interests in private” but to cease drawing swastikas “where she can see them please.”
On the other hand, wasabi guy advised Nefarious88 to “stay away from [National Socialism]…the fact remains, Adolf Hitler killed more Whites in a such a small period of time than any other figure in history.”
The older user concluded that “any White Nationalist that cares about all White suffering, and not the select few Whites Hitler didn’t harm, cannot possibly support Hitler.”
11. On January 6, 2018, the Catholic Memes Facebook page published a pro-Crusades meme linked to alt-right inspired forum threads.
The meme depicts a “crusader feels” cartoon, who is distressed that Muslims are apparently once again threatening Christian Europe.
The image concludes, “A thousand years later your ancestors piss on your grave and bend over for the very people you traveled through hell to stop.”
The meme has also been found in alt-right inspired forum threads.
On August 31, 2016, the meme was posted in “Crusader picture/meme thread” on PoliticsAndWar.com. One of the memes in the thread claims that “Islam is not a religion of peace.”
Another reads, “Make the Holy Land great again,” with an image of President Donald Trump as a Crusader.
On September 24, 2017, the meme was also posted in an ar15.com forum discussion titled “LOL Crusader Memes,” again accompanied by alt-right inspired images that glorify Crusaders.
12. On July 12, 2017, disgrace12 invited young Stormfront.org members to listen to his podcast, Radio Wehrwolf.
The user wrote: “I remember playing on stormfront at 15 and trying to figure out new music and ways to be a activist. Here’s your chance to learn!”
Three days later, Michael Bone thanked the original poster: “I was looking for something like this, thank you! Listening to one right now.”
13. On January 13, 2018, Andrew Anglin affirmed the purpose of his neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer: to radicalize children.
“My site is mainly designed to target children,” Anglin said on a supremacist radio show, as cited by Newsweek.
Anglin also spoke about how the alt and far-right movements utilize memes to “indoctrinate” young people.
“Our goal has to be to give this [ideology] to teenagers and even before teenagers,” the neo-Nazi troll proclaimed.
“We have created a movement among the youth that we’re not even able to gauge the size of.”
14. On January 16, 2018, LonelyNaziSwede of The Goyim Know forum started a discussion about an article that covered The Daily Stormer’s target audience.
Users condemned the author of the Newsweek article, Michael Edison Hayden, and shared over a dozen Nazi-themed memes and images.
“Good!” wrote Nationalist4UK. “The purpose of DS is to red pill many young people as possible.”
Supposed young users also chimed into the discussion.
“I’m 11 AND A HALF!” wrote nyashmyash, to which mystery replied with an image of Adolf Hitler and Hitler Youth.
“it’s true, i literally turned 11 the day i found this site. spooky,” wrote another user.
mystery also reflected on The Goyim Know’s role in his radicalization: “I was 15 when i started looking at this site and am now 16 and posting stuff.”
15. On February 16, 2018, Blitz03 complained to Stormfront Youth members that his “gay liberal brother” confronted him about his white supremacist views.
“He dismisses me as a racist and homophobe… What should I do?”
Merlin, a forum administrator, advised Blitz03 to “throw that liberal buzzword ‘tolerance’ in his face,” and to “let him fume.”
“Your brother is confused and mentally ill,” wrote shane1334. “I know that you may feel some kin to him… as much as it may hurt you, you need to cut your ties with this degenerate and stick with your White Christian brothers…”
“Drop him,” another wrote.
“Had to disown my own libtard commie brother years ago. Some people are completely FUBAR (****ed Up Beyond All Recognition).”
