It just makes more sense and seems less online than vidya games, also that was the year I started avoiding comment sections cause of all the racism

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I certainly think it's a big one. Personally, I would also add that the refugee crisis(es) in Europe that happened around that time and a little after were also huge. While the alt-right has gone mainstream, it definitely started out in the white nationalist / stormfront circles. For Europeans, it's obvious how that would become a starting point for the rise of the alt-right. And in the US, white nationalists here pay close attention to European news, and I would go as far as to say that in my observation, they care even more about what happens in Europe vis-a-vis race issues than they do the US.

    • GVAGUY3 [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah, this I noticed is when Atheist circles started to go really fashist when it was just standard NeoCon, which led me to have a weird Islamophobic phase because I was an internet atheist at the time (still am atheist tho, just a socialist)

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Don't sleep on Dark Money involvement as well. Koch brothers and their ilk were still spending a lot of money on think tanks and non-profits before the tea party came onto the scene.