Tag Archives: the Bulwark

Doxxing Nazis

A recent essay from The Bulwark defended the act known as “doxxing”–revealing the identity of people who make controversial (or in this case, horrifying and hateful) assertions online.

Anyone who follows such matters can hardly be unaware of the steep rise in the magnitude of online hate, much of it facilitated by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. The essay repeats some of the tweets Musk has promoted, and notes–quite accurately– that “this isn’t winking and nodding. It’s goose-stepping.”

The essay began by noting that the Texas Observer had doxxed four Twitter users who had authored those “goose-stepping” posts, and defended the publication’s decision to unmask those individuals.

“Doxxing” has long had negative connotations. Supposedly it’s a bad thing.

I’ve never understood that.

My general view is that if you say things in public, you are accountable for your words. It’s fine to hide behind anonymity, but no speaker should reasonably expect that to be absolute. If someone pulls the mask off, the speaker has no grounds to cry foul.

Musk isn’t the only prominent person to follow and amplify explicitly neo-Nazi posts. According to the article, Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky follows three neo-Nazi accounts and GOP Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers follows two, while the account belonging to Sebastian Gorka, former and future deputy assistant to Donald Trump, follows one of the most “out there” neo-Nazis and Chuck DeVore, an executive at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, has retweeted at least one post from that account.

Which leads to my first point: Nazism/white supremacism has been mainstreamed to a degree that many people may not quite realize. This stuff isn’t just buried on obscure message boards or circulating via photocopied handouts. It’s just out there. And the social stigma about interacting with it is shrinking by the day.

The author then makes an important point about the anonymity offered by these internet platforms:

None of these four wadbags would have been willing to say this stuff out loud if they’d had to have their names attached to it.

It was only the warm blanket of anonymity that permitted them to enjoy the fruits of liberalism while secretly poisoning liberal society.

Liberal societies require robust codes of social stigma precisely because you can’t legislate morality. Morality has to emerge from the society itself. How does that happen? It’s not because of laws. It’s because of social mores.

If you walk around your neighborhood wearing a Nazi t-shirt and shouting “Sieg Heil!” at people, no one will talk to you. The people at the coffee shop won’t serve you. Steady employment will be difficult. Good luck finding a date.

Internet anonymity allows people avoid social stigma by leading dual lives. This is toxic.

I have been one of those people who enthusiastically welcomed the Internet, believing in its multiple social benefits. And those benefits are very real. But we are now seeing the downsides–the ability of small groups of disgruntled, resentful, bigoted and hateful individuals to connect with others who share their anti-modern, anti-American world-views.

The Nazis–“neo” may be a misnomer–can now connect to and make common cause with other fringe groups, including the emerging White Christian Nationalists, in an effort to disrupt and reverse an increasingly inclusive culture. They want to take America “back” to a time when straight White Christian males were dominant.

Although I wouldn’t call it “doxxing,” exactly, an important film that sheds light on “Christian” Nationalism is “Bad Faith,” and for those interested in seeing it, it will be presented by Indianapolis’ Common Cause chapter at the Kan-Kan Cinema on January 8th. You can get tickets here. (Common Cause chose the date because that is the day that Micah Beckwith–Indiana’s own White Christian Nationalist– and his fellow travelers take office.)

These allied fringe movements represent a minority of Americans, but gerrymandering, the Internet and social media have allowed them to gain power vastly disproportionate to their numbers. They have captured the GOP, and they are a significant part of Trump’s base. In order for the rest of us to counter them, we need to engage in our own form of “doxxing.” We need to make them truly visible to the millions of Americans who simply haven’t noticed.

Most of us don’t follow people on Twitter/X. Unfortunately, most of us don’t follow the news, either–especially political news. (That’s why so many Americans who do follow the news were shocked by Trump’s election–surely no one who understood what he was could vote to put him in the Oval Office.)

We need to shine a very bright light on these anti-American movements. Call it “doxxing.”

Comments

When Partisanship Overwhelms

When I was researching various aspects of American polarization for my most recent book, I came across Lilliana Mason’s all-too-accurate summary of the role political identity currently plays. Mason, a political scientist, argues that “A single vote can now indicate a person’s partisan preferences as well as his or her religion, race, ethnicity, gender, neighborhood and favorite grocery store.”

Partisanship has increased to the point that parents today disapprove more strongly of their children marrying across party lines than across racial or religious ones.

Political scientists tell us that Democrats and Republicans like each other a lot less than they used to because people today have “sorted themselves” into parties of the like-minded–their partisan affiliations reflect their attitudes on race, religion and ethnicity, as well as economic and social policy.

More troubling is the fact that close identification with a political party actually changes ideological commitments–today, when a political party takes a position, partisans who originally felt otherwise fall in line.  They don’t change parties; they don’t even demur. They change their original positions.(Think about the  acquiescence of Republican lawmakers and voters to policies of President Trump, like tariffs and family separation, that are wildly at odds with longtime Republican positions.)

Obviously, intellectually honest people don’t allow partisanship to trump (no pun intended) their beliefs. Their numbers aren’t large, but I give big props to the “never Trump” Republicans and former Republicans like Charlie Sykes. Sykes was a talk radio conservative who teamed up with Bill Kristol in 2018 to establish a conservative site called “The Bulwark.” The Bulwark argues–along with people like Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe” and GOP strategist Rick Wilson–  that Trump has blatantly violated foundational conservative principles, from foreign policy to federal deficits, that were once deemed basic to Republican identity.

In a recent article written for the Bulwark, Robert Tracinski argues that today’s excessive, arguably fanatical partisanship has overtaken rationality. He begins by pointing to Rush Limbaugh’s obvious hypocrisy in ignoring characteristics in Trump that he excoriated in Democrats.

“That Limbaugh is being a complete hypocrite is a trivial observation,” Tracinski asserts. “If a Democratic president had been caught doing this, of course Limbaugh would be screaming for his impeachment with equal volume and ferocity. What is more interesting is the rationale he offers: a simple appeal to hatred of the opposition — as a justification, as an inducement, as an end in itself.”

But the fact that Trump isn’t a Democrat, Tracinski stresses, doesn’t make him a good president. And Limbaugh, he adds, is typical of all too many Republicans who are more interested in partisanship than conservative principles.

“Conservatives have sold their souls for the sheer pleasure of partisan hatred,” Tracinski laments. And it’s not going to be easy to break this spell.”

Tracinski also lambasts Sen. Lindsey Graham in his piece, noting that as much of a Trump sycophant as he has become, he was “left out of the loop” when Trump decided to withdrawn U.S. troops from Syria.

“But why should Trump have consulted Graham?,” Tracinski asks. “He’d already sold his soul. He’d already indicated that he will back Trump no matter what; so, why should Trump bother to inform him about future compromises that will be required? This is where everyone will end up eventually.”

Hatred of “the other” takes many forms. When your partisan affiliation becomes the most important aspect of your identity, loyalty to your political tribe overwhelms everything else–common sense, the values you espouse, the obvious evidence of betrayal.

Reasonable Americans watch the embarrassing spectacle that is Donald Trump and find it difficult–if not impossible–to understand how anyone could continue to support this pathetic, ignorant, self-absorbed child-man. Tracinski may have solved the conundrum: the “base” isn’t supporting Trump so much as they are defending their identities–and indulging their hatred of their tribal opponents.

Unfortunately, tribal warfare is inconsistent with democratic self-government.

Comments