The events that unfolded in Charlottesville are unquestionably acts of terror committed by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. The beliefs of the alt-right are truly deplorable and antithetical to traditional conservative beliefs of limited government and maximum freedoms.
Any true conservative will be quick to identify the difference between principled conservatism and the alt-right’s unabashed tribalism. However, the mainstream media (MSM) has relentlessly pushed the narrative that any principled conservative is “Alt-right.”
Even Ben Shapiro, one of the harshest critics of the “alt-right” and the alt-right’s number one target on social media according to the Anti-Defamation League, has been lumped in with the “alt-right” by the mainstream media.
This has two troublesome results.
First, some conservatives do not understand that the “alt-right” is more than just an extreme reaction in response to the expansion of political correctness. When the beliefs of the alt-right are continually misconstrued by a biased media, conservatives incidentally end up defending or associating with members of the alt-right.
The second is much more problematic. Hyper-liberal college campuses and cities hardly ever hear the political viewpoints of the right, except for those espoused by the mainstream media. When the media lumps middle-of-the-road political thinkers into the camps of the extreme, constituencies become convinced that evil Nazis have a much larger presence than they actually do.
As the media projects the narrative of a “growing threat,” those who disavow Nazism must polarize their local discourse to combat the uprising. This is happening in real time, at places most sheltered from conservative thought – the colleges and universities across the country.
Students have turned to the alt-right’s social media tactics by creating vile memes and propagating vehement hatred towards conservatives on college campuses.
The memes on a Berkeley Facebook page called ‘UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens’ characterized principled conservative students as the vile white supremacists in Charlottesville.
While some might say these memes are overblown and that the students creating them simply don’t know any better, that is precisely the problem.
The First Amendment grants the right to post this and similar content. However, given the recent history of intense political violence and Antifa targeting conservatives on campus, it doesn’t make it any less troubling.
Students, administrators, and municipal governments of these college towns need to understand the nature of political violence and how these radical groups on the right and the left will twist reality in order to justify their horrendous beliefs.
This type of polarization on chat rooms and college Facebook pages across the country emboldens the radical left to attack individuals painted as alt-right when that couldn’t be further from their identity. This misinformation campaign cultivates a polarized environment and increases the likelihood of politically motivated violence.
The process is cyclical. Acts of political violence are considered reactionary by experts, and an emboldened Antifa only invigorates and grows the alt-right.
The result is more conflict, less discourse, and victimization of moderates.
College communities should respond to these thugs that destroy university property and threaten peers by calling for the return of law and order. This will protect America’s great institutions of higher education and encourage the intellectual discourse we use to have before micro-aggression culture took hold.
