This might serve as an explanation
Twenty years ago, I would have agreed with this. But the number of extremists, of various kinds, has certainly grown since then.
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Why would you think that?
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Lots of reasons. For example:
1) Polls, such as Public Religion Research Institute' survey discussed here, show increasing political polarization.
2) Oddball subcultures of many different kinds have grown quite a bit during the past 20 years, thanks to the Internet. Political extremists are no exception.
3) Obvious crackpots like Alex Jones, whose names were known only to very small numbers of people 15 to 20 years ago, became household names in 2016 and afterward, thanks to Trump.
4) The rise of QAnon.
Do you really mean to deny that the number of political extremists has grown?
Regarding neo-Nazism and other forms of out-and-out white nationalism, in particular, see, for example:
- It is happening here: Massachusetts has a growing neo-Nazi movement - GBH 89.7, Boston's Local NPR, May 18, 2022.
- Analysis: The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize - Guardian (U.K.), Sun 3 Mar 2019
- Transnational Neo-Nazism in the USA, United Kingdom, and Australia, Program on Extremism at George Washington University, February 2020
- US neo-Nazi groups on the rise under Trump: report, 02/22/2018
- How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics, Jul 1, 2020.
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
Why would you think that?
Some of us read
https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s894 ... s894is.xml
https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s894 ... s894is.xml
Doesn't do you any good considering most of what you read are lies, based on what you post here.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
1) Polls, such as Public Religion Research Institute' survey discussed here, show increasing political polarization.
2) Oddball subcultures of many different kinds have grown quite a bit during the past 20 years, thanks to the Internet. Political extremists are no exception.
3) Obvious crackpots like Alex Jones, whose names were known only to very small numbers of people 15 to 20 years ago, became household names in 2016 and afterward, thanks to Trump.
4) The rise of QAnon.
Do you really mean to deny that the number of political extremists has grown?
Regarding neo-Nazism and other forms of out-and-out white nationalism, in particular, see, for example:
- It is happening here: Massachusetts has a growing neo-Nazi movement - GBH 89.7, Boston's Local NPR, May 18, 2022.
- Analysis: The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize - Guardian (U.K.), Sun 3 Mar 2019
- Transnational Neo-Nazism in the USA, United Kingdom, and Australia, Program on Extremism at George Washington University, February 2020
- US neo-Nazi groups on the rise under Trump: report, 02/22/2018
- How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics, Jul 1, 2020.
Oh look, a whole slew of organizations with a vested interest in promoting the idea that there are more of these extremists out there, not a trustworthy name among them.
_________________
“The totally convinced and the totally stupid have too much in common for the resemblance to be accidental.”
-- Robert Anton Wilson
Just who the f**k DO you trust, anyway?
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,622
Location: Long Island, New York
1) Polls, such as Public Religion Research Institute' survey discussed here, show increasing political polarization.
2) Oddball subcultures of many different kinds have grown quite a bit during the past 20 years, thanks to the Internet. Political extremists are no exception.
3) Obvious crackpots like Alex Jones, whose names were known only to very small numbers of people 15 to 20 years ago, became household names in 2016 and afterward, thanks to Trump.
4) The rise of QAnon.
Do you really mean to deny that the number of political extremists has grown?
Regarding neo-Nazism and other forms of out-and-out white nationalism, in particular, see, for example:
- It is happening here: Massachusetts has a growing neo-Nazi movement - GBH 89.7, Boston's Local NPR, May 18, 2022.
- Analysis: The neo-Nazi plot against America is much bigger than we realize - Guardian (U.K.), Sun 3 Mar 2019
- Transnational Neo-Nazism in the USA, United Kingdom, and Australia, Program on Extremism at George Washington University, February 2020
- US neo-Nazi groups on the rise under Trump: report, 02/22/2018
- How White Supremacy Returned to Mainstream Politics, Jul 1, 2020.
Are there more extremists or have the few that were around become more emboldened and in some cases gained power due to the factors you listed above? Either way very bad trend.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
SMiLes, i LiVE iN One of the Most 'Backwards' Ignorant Places
in the United States; YeS, in North Florida, 'Matt Gaetz Land' That
Continues to Support Donald J Trump, No Matter How Many Times
He Pulls a 'Revolver on 5th Avenue' As Metaphor For All THE CR8P He
Has Rained Down
on the United States
Since 2015, Entering
Seriously Into American Politics Then
From Childhood Bullying Techniques
Calling Folks Names Like Kids, Who Were
Abused By their "Big Daddy's," On Playgrounds in Schools;
Yep, Usually Where 'Little Man Syndrome' Comes From; Sure,
We May Give 'Great Thanks' to the "Donald's Father" And SADLY
'The Little Boy' Inside Who Will Never Ever Measure Up No Matter
How Much
Hell He Rains
DowN ON EartH For Real...
Obviously, 'The Donald,' Is Not the
Only Human Who Views Reality Similar to this;
Whether it Comes From 'Little Matt Gaetz Syndrome'
or Little 'Majorie Taylor Greene Syndrome' or the "IN Between"
As Modern Science Shows The Dopamine and Adrenaline Generated
By Misery 'Loves' Company of Fear, Anger, Hate, And Associated Up to Violent
Rhetoric, And YucK, Even Violent Actions is Very Addictive Indeed For Those Who
May Have Not Been
Warm and Fuzzy
Loved Much As A Child
And In Other Paths of Life;
True, it often Takes the Place
of the Warm Loving Neurohormone Oxytocin
That Actually Lessens Pain and Anxiety Yet
True, On the Other Hand As Far as Empathy
And Love Goes, Folks Will Warmly Bond Around
A Common Bind of Darkness as Enemy if Those in Authority
Convince Them So, of Value in Binding and Bonding Over Darkness ThiS WaY;
Yes, Like 'the Patriotism' of Killing Hundreds of Thousands of 'Brown Folks' 'Over There,'
If Ya Can Alter the
Enemy of Pilots From
Saudi Arabia Over to
Non-Existent Weapons
of Mass Destruction in Iraq,
To Tear the Country Down and
Rebuild IT For Profit for the Industrial Military Complex
With Cronies in Politics AS High as Dick Cheney And The Such...
In Other Words, This Story And This Explanation is Not New by far by far....
Particularly, As the Folks
Who Have the 'Qanon' And
Such Bumper Stickers Plastered
Over Their Beat-Up Old Cars, Mostly
Living in SCaRCiTY of Poverty too; Seeing
The World As More of Enemy Than FRiEnD;
Often Cold Inside, Just Looking For Some Meaning
And Purpose in Life, Even if it is Darkness to Bond and Bind Over
As Lies
Change
into 'Truth Social' For Them;
True, Often Accompanying Those
Conspiracy Theories Behind the Car
IS THE THREAT OF IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE
THE WAY WE DO YOU ARE GOING TO HELL AND
BURNING FOREVER TOO; Indeed Same Old Story
Just Different
Characters in
The Dark As Lies
Become 'Truth Social'...
Yawn, i've Seen These Folks Get Out of Their Vehicles;
They Are Far From Any Formidable Enemy for the Most Part; Yet
True, Ya Get Relatively A Few REALLY Bad Apples Blowing Up Abortion
Centers And Trying to Usurp Representative Democracy for 'Truth Social' too
Yet Most of them, i Honestly Just Feel Sorry for And Wish i Could Reach Them
On the
Other
Side
of Heaven for Real...
All i Can Really Do is Dance Free For Them...
And if They Ever Give me Any Problems, i Just
Ask them, "Do You Know Jesus," And i Have A FRiEnD Forever;
Particularly, as i often Remember Their Bible Verses more than them...
Yes, Particularly,
Luke 17:21
And John 14:12;
When in 'RoMe,' You
Blend in, You Survive,
And Truly Thrive if You Are Clever Enough to Truly 'Win'...
The Young Folks Came Through in Voting in the Last Election;
They Are The Future, Eventually 'Old Bumper STickers' Lose THeir Print...
And to Be Clear, Of Course We Had Similar Folks in About 7 Percent of the
'Black Lives Matter Protests' Before The January 6th, 2021, Insurrection at the Capitol;
Go Figure, Humans Are Similar and Different As Far As Bad And Good Apples, All Around;
Yet, Let's Also Face it; Yes,
It's A Fact, Some Humans
Are More Ignorant and
Less Educated Than Others;
Yet, Let's Also Face It, Some Folks
Have Been Spoon-Fed Similar CR8P in Church
From Childhood too; OH Yeah, One More 'Thing,'
Science Shows Modernly That Humans Are Not Particularly
Rational at Core...
This Life 'Thingy'
is Much More oF An
Art Than Science; Yep,
Get All Rigid About IT,
And Honestly, Ya May Have
Little Clue About The Heaven oF iT,
The Hell oF iT, Or The VAST, VAST, IN BETWEEN GRaY
SHaDE AReAS
Of Purgatory
AND
PASTeL COLORS
TOO THAT MOST
FOLKS HAVE NO WAY TO 'VIEW'...
True, i Surely Don't Have A Grasp on All the
Explanations, And If Anyone 'Thinks' They Do;
Perhaps, 'They' Could Use A New Prescription of Glasses, Hehe,
To Drink Clearer
Water Out oF For ReaL...
In Other Words, "Always Room to Improve"...
Yet It's True, "People are Alike All Over," It Seems to me too...
And i Ain't Gonna
Lie, i'm Living
in An
'Ivory Tower'
Just Coming
Down From the
'Mountain' to Dance
And Sing For Free..
Sadly, Some Folks
LiVE WHeRE THeRE Are No 'WiNDoW' Views...
Indeed, It's A Long Held 'PRiSoNeR Tradition' of 'Humans'... True...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIZ04AGTjHc
_________________
KATiE MiA FredericK!iI
Gravatar is one of the coolest things ever!! !
http://en.gravatar.com/katiemiafrederick
But it's consistent with what I already know, from both my own personal experiences and the experiences of people whom I know, such as my boyfriend.
For example, in 2015 to 2016, my boyfriend (who was then a Republican) had two online friends who became early Trump supporters -- and who, at the same time, either became much more bigoted or felt much freer to express their bigotry than before.
This experience convinced my boyfriend and me that the rise of Trump was a major threat to the social and political fabric of the U.S.A. -- and we began worrying about this before anyone in the mass media sounded the alarm, and before anyone in the mass media thought that Trump could possibly win the Republican nomination. It was obvious to us that the rise of Trump was enabling bigotry. It was also obvious that the rise of Trump was very likely to enable the growth of right wing extremism, given Trump's habit of retweeting stuff from right wing extremists.
In any case, it should be obvious to everyone that the U.S.A. as a whole has become much more politically polarized over the past 10 years or so. I cited a poll showing this, but we don't really need a poll to tell us this. Almost everyone here on Wrong Planet who lives in the U.S.A. has personally experienced the increasing polarization. Depending on our own political views and on where we live, some of us complain about the right wing getting more extreme, while others (such as you) complain about the left wing getting more extreme, while still others complain about the increasing difficulty of having a conversation about politics generally without it turning into a shouting match. All, in their own way, attest to the increased polarization all around.
Another relevant fact that should be obvious to everyone on WP is the rise of QAnon and related grand conspiracy ideologies. We've seen evidence of that right here on WP, in the form of people here actually advocating these ideas. And I'm sure many of us have seen this elsewhere too.
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
It's the mob mentality. They feel emboldened if they think others will stand behind their bigoted thoughts.
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,622
Location: Long Island, New York
The Trump phenomenon has accelerated bringing extremism to the fore, not only the obvious anti black racism, but the anti white racism of all whites are privileged racists type.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman