For a long time, I’ve kept an eye on far-right online forums in order to get a sense of what their discourse looks like. Knowing what language people use online helps to pick up on dog whistles that these people drop in offline conversation, which I find important as a minority in the U.S. One trend that I’ve been seeing more of recently is the rise of explicitly anti-Semitic language conspiratorial thinking. These spaces have always been inherently anti-Semitic, however previously discourse like this was couched in more vague, general talk about “the cabal” and “the deep state”. Since Kanye’s Twitter episode, I’ve been seeing more and more posts like the one attached, in which this vague speak has replaced “the deep state” with the Jews. The comments section contain a slew of Holocaust denial, anti-Jewish conspiracy, and a lot of other features of fascist dialogue that you would expect. And while sites like 4chan have always been explicitly anti-Semitic, I’m seeing it leak into other online spaces that you previously weren’t seeing this kind of language used. I’m concerned with this trend. Im worried that what we’re really seeing here is the rise of explicit anti-semitism as a gradually more normalized talking point for the right. These small steps may seem insignificant in the moment, it’s easy to write them off as a bunch of crazies online saying crazy things, but they always seem insignificant until it’s too late. As material conditions worsen in this country, it’s going to be easier for opportunistic politicians to point people’s frustrations toward a scapegoat, rather than the systemic issues that are actually the source of their issues. As the smartest people on the internet, I wanted to get this community’s take on this.
Amount of countries that have done genocide/massacre/pogrom/deportation of Jews. Fascists take it as proof that Jews are the bad ones somehow.