As 2024 Looms, Neo-Nazis Are Returning to the Streets
The majority of the newer neo-Nazi groups are headquartered in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, has repeatedly earned extremist praise for his hardline policies against immigration, LGBTQ rights, and “Critical Race Theory.” Which is why some neo-Nazis, like the Order of the Black Sun, like to wave the DESANTIS 2024 flag at their demonstrations.
Experts say that there’s a direct correlation between aggressive, conspiratorial, and bigoted rhetoric in the mainstream, and how emboldened extremists feel to take action.
Whether it's a spike in hate crimes against Jews after rapper Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) highly publicized anti-semitic rantings, the transphobic account “Libs of TikTok” inspiring anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida, or an angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol after being fed lies by lawmakers about the 2020 election, it’s clear that the fringes, influencers, right-wing media, and GOP are all part of the same toxic soup.
“The fringes are a carnival mirror reflection of the aggression that’s in the mainstream,” said Brian Levin, former director of Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State Univ. San Bernardino and a national expert in hate crimes. “These groups are showing up to where immigrants live, they’re showing up to synagogues and harassing congregants, they’re attacking transgender folks at school board meetings. There’s a mainstream component to all of that.”
For over a year, “grooming” conspiracies have had a chokehold on the entire spectrum of the right, from GOP policy-makers down to QAnon conspiracists. What began as a culture war over teaching kids about acceptance and the LGBTQ community via books or movie characters has ballooned into a full blown moral panic and the neo-Nazis took notice.
A broad constellation of far-right activists around the country have spent the past year showing up to protest outside school board meetings and drag events, including “parents rights” groups like “Moms for Liberty,” and “Gays Against Groomers,” alongside more typical far-right groups like the Proud Boys, Patriot Front—and, increasingly, explicitly neo-Nazi organizations.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7byyd/2...on-streets
The majority of the newer neo-Nazi groups are headquartered in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president, has repeatedly earned extremist praise for his hardline policies against immigration, LGBTQ rights, and “Critical Race Theory.” Which is why some neo-Nazis, like the Order of the Black Sun, like to wave the DESANTIS 2024 flag at their demonstrations.
Experts say that there’s a direct correlation between aggressive, conspiratorial, and bigoted rhetoric in the mainstream, and how emboldened extremists feel to take action.
Whether it's a spike in hate crimes against Jews after rapper Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) highly publicized anti-semitic rantings, the transphobic account “Libs of TikTok” inspiring anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida, or an angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol after being fed lies by lawmakers about the 2020 election, it’s clear that the fringes, influencers, right-wing media, and GOP are all part of the same toxic soup.
“The fringes are a carnival mirror reflection of the aggression that’s in the mainstream,” said Brian Levin, former director of Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State Univ. San Bernardino and a national expert in hate crimes. “These groups are showing up to where immigrants live, they’re showing up to synagogues and harassing congregants, they’re attacking transgender folks at school board meetings. There’s a mainstream component to all of that.”
For over a year, “grooming” conspiracies have had a chokehold on the entire spectrum of the right, from GOP policy-makers down to QAnon conspiracists. What began as a culture war over teaching kids about acceptance and the LGBTQ community via books or movie characters has ballooned into a full blown moral panic and the neo-Nazis took notice.
A broad constellation of far-right activists around the country have spent the past year showing up to protest outside school board meetings and drag events, including “parents rights” groups like “Moms for Liberty,” and “Gays Against Groomers,” alongside more typical far-right groups like the Proud Boys, Patriot Front—and, increasingly, explicitly neo-Nazi organizations.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7byyd/2...on-streets
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
