I've mentioned the website Breitbart.com earlier in this thread.
But I'm not sure I've brought up the phenomenon called the "Alt-Right."
(the two have a connection, which I will get to at some point.)
But things have been shifting rapidly in American politics this last week or so,
and now,
with the naming last week of Steve Bannon
as Donald Trump's campaign CEO,
this Alt-Right/Breitbart thing has sortuv burst into the open.
I mean, burst into the open in terms of mainstream Americans or most Americans.
Those on the far-right will likely have been aware of the Alt-Right and Breitbart for some time now.
I was one of those who'd never heard of The Alt-Right before a few days ago.
Even Breitbart...just on the edge of my awareness.
The reason I bring this up is
that it, likely, is pertinent to the topic at hand here.
I can't go deeply into it now, but I just wanted to put a few thoughts out there.
Previously I've wondered about Andrew Murray's strange ramblings on the June Herb Doctors' show.
Lot of agitation and dark warnings linked to very little substance or specifics.
Makes me feel strongly that something was being withheld.
I had pretty much settled on the strong possibility he was talking about
the need to support Donald Trump for President
without coming out and saying so.
I still think that is likely the case,
but all this information about The Alt-Right and Breitbart and Steve Bannon
throws new light on the case.
In reading about and listening to in-depth radio and tv shows about those subjects,
some things become clear.
One of them involves "political correctness."
This is one of the topics Andrew was kinduv ranting about on the show.
I had previously seen "political correctness" as a kind of dog-whistle for Donald Trump.
I still think this is the case,
but as I learn more about The Alt-Right and Breitbart
I have come to see that "political correctness"
is a very pronounced rallying cry for The Alt-Right and Breitbart.
And the reason it is such a big rallying cry for that political spectrum and that media outlet
is that it signals all kinds of ideas involving race.
I mean, to put it simply, many of the fans of Brietbart
and many of those within The Alt-Right movement
feel very constrained and enraged by what they call "political correctness."
They long ardently to be able to say things like,
-white people and/or white culture is superior
-black people are inferior
-Muslims need to be banned
-Mexicans are polluting the U.S. culture
-Jews are dangerous
etc, etc, etc, etc.
The Alt-Right wants to be able to say those things, and not to be encumbered by "political correctness."
If you think I am stretching the truth in that last paragraph,
just head on over to Breitbart.com
and look through the associated forums.
Or do a little research into The Alt-Right.
Pretty soon you won't even need to dig
because all this stuff is just now boiling over into plain sight in the mainstream media.
But back to:
Andrew Murray and The Alt-Right and Breitbart
and "political correctness."
I still think Donald Trump was at least an elephant in the room in that Herb Doctors show.
But there may have been another elephant bumping around behind the scene, unspoken:
Breitbart and The Alt-Right.
It may be that Andrew's ranting about "political correctness" was a tip-off to his familiarity with
and perhaps alignment with
those two political phenomena.
And if that is the case, I can't dismiss the possibility that the nature of Andrew's sympathies
may run beyond just anxieties about "freedom of the press" and "authoritarianism"--
other topics he bandied about, again with almost no specific connections or context.
In that show, as I have said, Andrew did mention "The New World Order."
So there was a glimpse, perhaps, into a conspiracy theory right-wingerism,
which would make sense
when you put that together with things he said on the January show--
where he talked about the wonders of Lord Christopher Monckton
and the "lies" supporting global warming.
But Andrew also said something, in the June show,
about how his former country--the UK--had been going down the tubes
for the last 15 years
and how
"at least when I moved here to the U.S., I adapted to the rules of this country,
and drove on the right side of the road" (an approximate paraphrase there from memory).
And those remarks point us in the direction of Muslims.
Now, one can surely have worries about immigration without being a racist.
And I hope this is the case with Andrew.
But, if one espouses stuff which tracks very closely with Breitbart and The Alt-Right,
and if one warns, as Andrew did, of American blood needing to be shed, and soon, or else our freedom of the press could be destroyed,
and if one says, "I like some things about Donald Trump"...
...well, I simply can't rule those darker suspicions off the table.
And, of course, all this possibly attaches itself to Dr. Peat,
who agreed to be on the show,
who did not object at all to anything Andrew said,
and who did, in fact, jump in to speak out against Hillary Clinton, Trump's adversay.
But I'm not sure I've brought up the phenomenon called the "Alt-Right."
(the two have a connection, which I will get to at some point.)
But things have been shifting rapidly in American politics this last week or so,
and now,
with the naming last week of Steve Bannon
as Donald Trump's campaign CEO,
this Alt-Right/Breitbart thing has sortuv burst into the open.
I mean, burst into the open in terms of mainstream Americans or most Americans.
Those on the far-right will likely have been aware of the Alt-Right and Breitbart for some time now.
I was one of those who'd never heard of The Alt-Right before a few days ago.
Even Breitbart...just on the edge of my awareness.
The reason I bring this up is
that it, likely, is pertinent to the topic at hand here.
I can't go deeply into it now, but I just wanted to put a few thoughts out there.
Previously I've wondered about Andrew Murray's strange ramblings on the June Herb Doctors' show.
Lot of agitation and dark warnings linked to very little substance or specifics.
Makes me feel strongly that something was being withheld.
I had pretty much settled on the strong possibility he was talking about
the need to support Donald Trump for President
without coming out and saying so.
I still think that is likely the case,
but all this information about The Alt-Right and Breitbart and Steve Bannon
throws new light on the case.
In reading about and listening to in-depth radio and tv shows about those subjects,
some things become clear.
One of them involves "political correctness."
This is one of the topics Andrew was kinduv ranting about on the show.
I had previously seen "political correctness" as a kind of dog-whistle for Donald Trump.
I still think this is the case,
but as I learn more about The Alt-Right and Breitbart
I have come to see that "political correctness"
is a very pronounced rallying cry for The Alt-Right and Breitbart.
And the reason it is such a big rallying cry for that political spectrum and that media outlet
is that it signals all kinds of ideas involving race.
I mean, to put it simply, many of the fans of Brietbart
and many of those within The Alt-Right movement
feel very constrained and enraged by what they call "political correctness."
They long ardently to be able to say things like,
-white people and/or white culture is superior
-black people are inferior
-Muslims need to be banned
-Mexicans are polluting the U.S. culture
-Jews are dangerous
etc, etc, etc, etc.
The Alt-Right wants to be able to say those things, and not to be encumbered by "political correctness."
If you think I am stretching the truth in that last paragraph,
just head on over to Breitbart.com
and look through the associated forums.
Or do a little research into The Alt-Right.
Pretty soon you won't even need to dig
because all this stuff is just now boiling over into plain sight in the mainstream media.
But back to:
Andrew Murray and The Alt-Right and Breitbart
and "political correctness."
I still think Donald Trump was at least an elephant in the room in that Herb Doctors show.
But there may have been another elephant bumping around behind the scene, unspoken:
Breitbart and The Alt-Right.
It may be that Andrew's ranting about "political correctness" was a tip-off to his familiarity with
and perhaps alignment with
those two political phenomena.
And if that is the case, I can't dismiss the possibility that the nature of Andrew's sympathies
may run beyond just anxieties about "freedom of the press" and "authoritarianism"--
other topics he bandied about, again with almost no specific connections or context.
In that show, as I have said, Andrew did mention "The New World Order."
So there was a glimpse, perhaps, into a conspiracy theory right-wingerism,
which would make sense
when you put that together with things he said on the January show--
where he talked about the wonders of Lord Christopher Monckton
and the "lies" supporting global warming.
But Andrew also said something, in the June show,
about how his former country--the UK--had been going down the tubes
for the last 15 years
and how
"at least when I moved here to the U.S., I adapted to the rules of this country,
and drove on the right side of the road" (an approximate paraphrase there from memory).
And those remarks point us in the direction of Muslims.
Now, one can surely have worries about immigration without being a racist.
And I hope this is the case with Andrew.
But, if one espouses stuff which tracks very closely with Breitbart and The Alt-Right,
and if one warns, as Andrew did, of American blood needing to be shed, and soon, or else our freedom of the press could be destroyed,
and if one says, "I like some things about Donald Trump"...
...well, I simply can't rule those darker suspicions off the table.
And, of course, all this possibly attaches itself to Dr. Peat,
who agreed to be on the show,
who did not object at all to anything Andrew said,
and who did, in fact, jump in to speak out against Hillary Clinton, Trump's adversay.
