― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
The rise of Neo-Nazism and the so-called “Alt-Right” remained mostly in the shadows until 2016 and the election of Donald Trump; members of the fascist organization have hailed him as a savior who will bring their ideals into the spotlight. This is concerning to some for obvious reasons. After all, Hitler came to power legally as well. As the various names for this movement imply, it is a re-emergence of the Nazi ideology that came to power in Germany in the 1930s and sparked a World War in the 1940s. There are notable differences in the two movements, namely the surge of anti-Muslim sentiment that has accompanied politics in a post-9/11 world. Any person of color seems to be a target of the Alt-Right, as well as feminists, the educated, Democrats, and journalists; the latter of these largely due to President Trump’s repeated lies and falsehoods about the integrity of the media. There is no telling whether the Alt-Right will continue to rise to power with Trump ousted from office or retreat back into the shadows, lurking on the periphery of communities and in dark corners of the web, where it grew in the first place.
Background
The Alt-Right movement gained popularity through online sites that eventually raised them to mainstream media. 4chan in particular is notorious for the rise of the Alt-Right. The site was not originally created for this group to gather, but it became an outlet for members to share their thoughts and opinions. 4chan is purely an internet discussion board for various topics. The Alt-Right came together under the thread /pol/, or politically incorrect. /pol/ was a discussion board meant for political discussion along with other world news discussions, replacing a previous thread under the name of /new/, or 4chan’s previous news thread. (Hawley 2019, p.118). Originally, many people under the /pol/ thread shared strong libertarian views, but in the early-mid 2010s, the thread became highly influenced by far-right ideologies. The contributors to the thread turned to extremist views, allowing a platform for Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists on the site with topics of antifeminism, racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and islamophobia. Many of these users supported Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and continue to grow their far-right views under his presidency. The anonymity of the website allows users to share these views without putting any personal information forth. By having this anonymity, extremists can spread their views easier and with less repercussions. The Alt-Right has spread beyond the platform of 4chan to other sites, but moderators of these sites can quickly shut down any user that brings about offensive material. However, censoring extremists’ views online brings up the controversy of violating the first amendment in the United States, since a lot of views are considered free speech. The Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that hate speech is legally protected