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What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

washingtonian.com

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Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#151

Post by apo »

Very well written piece. The most thought-provoking part is how the author links the ham-fisted behavior of the school administrator with the path her son followed.

The truth of the charge isn't the problem. The problem is how due process flies out the window when the charge is leveled.

Both accusers and accusees suffer from the same lack of due process. Its very tempting for other party to seek revenge that can lead to truly awful consequences.

Still, I can't help but wonder if the author isn't ascribing too much significance to the episode. The lives of teens are very full and extremely complex. They rarely reveal to parents everything that's happening to them.

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#152

Post by [deleted] »

cyberpunk wrote: post #108
tootahe45 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Serious question: can you give an actual example of this because I can't think of a single one. A lot of commentators without thinking seem to call the nazi's a 'left' party -- I assume because of the word socialist in the party name -- there are many books on the history of the nazi party, and reading any of them should be enough to clear anyone of this misapprehension.

[deleted]

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#153

Post by thrower123 »

Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #128
GreaterFool wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unmoderated quickly devolve into toxic pool of "I don't actually care about what you're saying, I'm just going to downvote/report you". And it works! No discussion can take place just self-reinforcing feedback loop (ironically that's what the author describes in the article!). Moderated platforms are no better because then one is at the mercy of the moderator. What are we to do? I like to discuss anything and everyth…

Downvotes aren't "I don't like you / your idea". Obviously some people use them that way, but ultimately they're about public moderation. I downvoted your comment. I can explain why if you like. It's not because "I don't really care about what you're saying", and it's not right to be so dismissive. There are substantive reasons. First, you set up a strawman: Why are Americans so obsessed with Nazis? There are two imp…

> the rise of right-wing ideology in America has been so sudden and pervasive that it strains credulity that anyone would be surprised that the issue gets lots of attention

Has it really been sudden? The actual Nazis and Klansmen are still bumbling around, selling guns and meth like they always have. There aren't actually very many of them, and they are stupid and nasty, but largely harmless in the grand scheme.

What is different is that the scope of the definition has grown such that a kindly Canadian psychology professor, a gay Jewish talkshow host, a Somalian lobbyist/politician, and a feminist philospher can be painted with this all-encompassing Alt-Right brush.

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#154

Post by vzcx »

closetohome wrote: post #147
GreaterFool wrote: post #8

Why are Americans so obsessed with Nazis? I mean, I'm from Europe and I don't recall growing up worrying about everyone being a secret (or overt) Nazi, which, unless promptly punched in the face, would somehow take over. WWII and Nazis destroyed Europe. Are Europeans worried about Nazis? Not as far as I can tell. Yet all I see from American news is Nazis this Nazis that. Can someone explain?

Portions of our far-right literally wear Nazi regalia. If it weren't for that, we'd probably be less concerned.

Don't worry about the LARPers. There are so few of them, they are so dumb, they have so little power, and they never will.

Worry instead about those quiet ones out there reading old and problematic books: the free spirits, burning forth, ready to smash all our tablets of values.

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#155

Post by SkyAtWork »

dTal wrote: post #46
GreaterFool wrote: post #8

Why are Americans so obsessed with Nazis? I mean, I'm from Europe and I don't recall growing up worrying about everyone being a secret (or overt) Nazi, which, unless promptly punched in the face, would somehow take over. WWII and Nazis destroyed Europe. Are Europeans worried about Nazis? Not as far as I can tell. Yet all I see from American news is Nazis this Nazis that. Can someone explain?

In most of Europe WW2 was just a terrible ordeal. In Germany it's a source of great shame. But the US? WW2 was the making of modern America. The US was catapulted into a world leader position, and got to feel like a badass hero doing it. And WW2 was the US's first major overseas conflict. Nazis are the archetypical "enemy without".

Oh goodness, there were 4.7 million US soldiers in the first world war - out of a US population of 102 million at the time. Surely that must be major?

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#156

Post by chii »

bytematic wrote: post #65

That was a great article, I think this is a big problem right now. I'm not sure how I would handle it as a parent. Two things that stood out to me were the principal/officers at the public school and how they dealed with that situation, or even the girl that reported Sam. I wonder if they know what they created. Also this part: "I liked them because they were adults and they thought I was an adult. I was one of them,…

Every kid goes thru the phase where they want to be acknowledged, and their views verified by others (despite that they don't actually know their own views, and is still absorbing).

Those who would want to prey on this can take advantage. It's the role of the parents and public institutions like schools, to teach right from wrong.

In this story, the school failed, but the parents tried and got lucky. But you can imagine the story could have easily gone the other way.

Re: What happened after my 13-year-old son joined the alt-right

#158

Post by deanCommie »

alexandercrohde wrote: post #126
ip26 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the author & son are alluding to the middle-aged man holding the poster, which I should hope is obviously nowhere near the same as antifa.

Well, I don't know if I think a middle-aged man who goes to a rally to hold up a sign saying "NO TRUMP. NO KKK. NO FASCIST USA," is progress over the alt-right. To me it's the exact same thing -- an overly zealous person who takes politics as a tribal game and has no sincere intention of changing anybody's mind.

"KKK" and "No KKK" are exactly the same thing?

FFS...can we stop with the false equivalence? When one side is preaching intolerance, and the other side preaches intolerance to intolerance THEY ARE NOT BOTH EQUALLY INTOLERANT.

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