27-08-2023, 04:20 PM
Now reading fear, Byron C Clarke, about the rabid right here - these are seriously unbalanced people. And yet, I keep laughing since the nonsense they somehow manage to believe is so very off the wall it is laughable. Some of them are definitely loony tunes.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programme...n-aotearoa
"In Fear: New Zealand's Hostile Underworld of Extremists, Christchurch activist Byron C Clark traces the roots of the occupation to the re-emergence of the alt-right.
A video essayist on YouTube, Clark began his "deep-web" research into extremist groups and the spread of misinformation after the mosque terrorist attacks in 2019.
Receiving death threats is "pretty regular", Clark says.
Clark told Saturday Morning he had to be careful to not go down the "rabbit hole" while researching and not see these groups and people within them as bigger or more threatening than they really were.
"They certainly try and portray themselves as if they represent the people, that they are the true voice of the people."
While only a small fringe of people in society, Clark said it was important not to ignore them as they could still have a big influence of politics and be disruptive - as the country saw during the Parliament occupation early last year.
He began paying attention to alt-right groups around 2016, but after the 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch, he began researching more seriously.
While there were women in these movements, it was predominantly men, he said.
"Why they've become such a big part of this movement is a resentment of women, of the LGBT community, of immigrants, of indigenous people, they believe that these groups are now the ones who are privileged."
Clark said it was a combination of economic marginalisation and resentment of people they saw as moving ahead of them that encouraged "a lot of young men to get involved in reactionary political movements".
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programme...n-aotearoa
"In Fear: New Zealand's Hostile Underworld of Extremists, Christchurch activist Byron C Clark traces the roots of the occupation to the re-emergence of the alt-right.
A video essayist on YouTube, Clark began his "deep-web" research into extremist groups and the spread of misinformation after the mosque terrorist attacks in 2019.
Receiving death threats is "pretty regular", Clark says.
Clark told Saturday Morning he had to be careful to not go down the "rabbit hole" while researching and not see these groups and people within them as bigger or more threatening than they really were.
"They certainly try and portray themselves as if they represent the people, that they are the true voice of the people."
While only a small fringe of people in society, Clark said it was important not to ignore them as they could still have a big influence of politics and be disruptive - as the country saw during the Parliament occupation early last year.
He began paying attention to alt-right groups around 2016, but after the 2019 terrorist attack in Christchurch, he began researching more seriously.
While there were women in these movements, it was predominantly men, he said.
"Why they've become such a big part of this movement is a resentment of women, of the LGBT community, of immigrants, of indigenous people, they believe that these groups are now the ones who are privileged."
Clark said it was a combination of economic marginalisation and resentment of people they saw as moving ahead of them that encouraged "a lot of young men to get involved in reactionary political movements".
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)