ABSTRACT:
In the past decade, people associated with what is known as the alt-right have employed a strategy similar to that of progressive, antiracist satirists to advance a decidedly white supremacist, anti-Semitic, misogynist, and deadly serious agenda. As this article documents, the alt-right weaponizes irony to attract and radicalize potential supporters, challenge progressive ideologies and institutions, redpill normies, and create a toxic counterpublic. Discussing examples of satiric irony generated by the extreme right alongside those produced by the (often mainstream) left, this article pairs two satirical memes, two activists use of irony, two ambiguously satirical tweets, and two recent controversies pertaining to racism and satire so as to illustrate how people with very different political commitments employ a similar style with potent effects. Of particular significance are reverse racism discourses, including white genocide, and the increasingly complicated relatio
Why The New York Times Was Wrong To Fire Lauren Wolfe
January 25, 2021
New York Times editor Lauren Wolfe was fired by the outlet last week after a tweet saying that the sight of Joe Biden arriving in Washington DC gave her chills and another that called Donald Trump petty. The Times has been roundly condemned for the decision, and I will add to that condemnation, but for a bit of a different reason.
The problem with firing Wolfe for making her political leanings so blatantly obvious is that the political leanings of 95 percent of The New York Times staff are also blatantly obvious. Wolfe is not going to be replaced by someone who is actually unbiased; she will be replaced by someone with exactly the same bias but who keeps it better hidden.
Why banning harmful online speech is a slippery slope
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The mob attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, instigated by President Trump in the hope of thwarting or at least delaying the certification of President-elect Joe Biden s election victory, was unquestionably one of the most shameful episodes in the political history of the United States. Ironically, the failed insurrection may well be the beginning of the end of Trumpism. But the fallout from these tragic events could also include a far less welcome development: a rush to regulate, quash, and banish a wide range of expression regarded as potentially dangerous.
of The Federalist; Dasha Nekrasova and Anna Khachiyan of Red Scare; and Dan Bongino.
Schaffer was removed from Facebook and Instagram, and Red Scare and its hosts were yanked from Twitter, as was Bongino. The move to an alternative social media platform,
Parler, has been hindered by Google and Apple app stores refusing to carry the app, and by Amazon nuking Parler s servers.
The mob of leftist journalists demanding the ouster of other journalists is a horrifying trend, but it s
all in the name of social justice. Many demanded the removal of President Donald Trump s accounts from Twitter, and
now that Twitter has banned him permanently, they rejoice in the squashing of free speech. As Ngo told me,
Sarah Jeong, the New York Times reporter who made headlines in 2018 for antagonizing white people, has branded conservative journalist Andy Ngo "dangerous" and called for his censorship on Twitter. In a tweet posted on Jan. 9, Jeong cited a.