What should we call the alt-right — and how I shifted from europhobe to europhile

This is how I shifted from being anti-EU to pro-EU, back in the day:

Having started from a default position of unthinking Tory euroscepticism (upbringing, etc. — I didn’t know any other way of thinking), I got more extreme in my views — more anti-EU — when confronted about them by left-liberal friends who thought I was wrong.

What changed my opinion was not being told I was wrong, or being called a europhobe, a xeonophobe, a reactionary, or anything else confrontational.

What changed my mind was reading the Spectator one day, seeing an idiotic europhobic article in it, and realising, “Christ —this is idiotic… But this is what *I* sound like… If these people I agree with are morons for holding these opinions, maybe I’m a moron for holding these opinions?”

It was that realisation that started me down the path from europhobe to europhile. I realised by myself — not because I was confronted or told.

Which is why I think it’s better — in the long turn — to subtly persuade, over time, and without being direct, rather than confront. (Though confrontation does have its place in the long-running path to changing people’s opinions. I’ll return to that sometime, no doubt…)

Hence this thread on the recent concerns about whether the use of the term alt-right is hiding what the alt-right actually is: