The Consequences of Right-Wing Extremism on the Internet

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The Internet has provided the far-right fringe with formerly inconceivable opportunities. Online, racists, anti-Semites, and anti-government extremists can reach a much larger audience than ever before and can more easily portray themselves as legitimate.

Anyone using the Internet may inadvertently be exposed to hate online. When uninformed or easily influenced people ? particularly children ? come across hate propaganda, they can fall prey to its deceptive reasoning and adopt hateful beliefs themselves, sometimes going so far as to act on what they have read.

Gauging the affects of online hate on this vast population of Internet users presents enormous difficulties. No reliable measurement has been taken of the number of Internet users who find and read hateful material online. Nor can one safely generalize about the ways in which this material affects the beliefs and actions of those who read it. Yet there is a subset of this enormous group of Internet users about whom substantial information does exist: known, active, right-wing extremists.

Though the number of active right-wing extremists is relatively small, the harm they can cause is significant. By spreading their views, racists, anti-Semites, and anti-government "patriots" encourage and sustain prejudice in the mainstream. In addition, these extremists are often ready to break the law in support of their beliefs.

The Internet has provided the means for extremists to create an "electronic community of hate." In the Internet age, extremists are no longer isolated from others who share their beliefs. Now, they can communicate with thousands of their compatriots with the click of a mouse, from the comfort of their own homes. Just as it has benefited millions of ordinary people, the Internet has profited, connected, and inspired extremists in previously unimaginable ways.

 

[SixFive]

huh

I don't see how u can keyhole right wing extremists here. Let's call a spade a spade. A racist is a racist. If there is a right winger that is a racist, that certainly doesn't mean that all racists are right wingers. That's like saying that all kiddie porn producers and watchers are left wing first ammendment nuts.

I would argue that there's plenty of bad stuff on the internet to go around. Really, how healthy is it for kids to be able to find porn so easily??

The internet has become a medium for lots of bad stuff and a way for bad people to communicate. I don't see why right-wing is thrown in there.

 

[ferdville]

Nefarious use of the internet stretches far beyond the danger that theoretically right wing extremist groups gain credibility and legitimacy just because they are on the internet. This would only apply to those too ignorant to think for themselves. Of course, this comprises a rather large portion of the population today. The proliferation of computer use in schools has made this type of hate mongering somewhat easier, but only the most backward school districts would not have extremely severe filtering devices. In addition, before embarking on any use of the internet, any responsible teacher has already made it crystal clear to students that just because it is on the internet, it is not accurate. My students are the worst of the worst and they grasp this concept easily. They realize that anyone can open a website and say whatever they like. Now what they do on their home computers is another story, though the vast majority of my students, low socio-economic level that they are, do not have computers. Those that do have computers often do not have an internet service. However, I can tell you that for every 1,000 students that use the internet, 999 of them will access the vast array of porn sites long before they are drawn to such fringe elements as you mention. Or they will download music. Hopefully, you are equally concerned about some of the porn sites that celebrate masochism, sadism, bestiality, and the like. Hopefully, you are equally concerned about the tremendous amount of drug information on the net, including recipes for creating meth and the like. Hopefully, you are equally concerned about the sites that deal with weaponry, amd making your own weapons, including bombs. The last thing I want to do is stick up for anyone involved in the "right wing fringe" or the left, for that matter. But, if one is going to lambast the internet, let's look at the whole picture. Almost everything that has been invented can be used in a negative fashion. The internet is no different.