How to stop spread of evil race theories?
With hateful online White nationalist propaganda sparking domestic terrorism, how does civil society counter the message of evil?
That’s our Question of the Week for our readers.
The 18-year-old White man accused of killing 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket Saturday targeted one of the only shops in a mostly Black neighborhood. He had, before the shooting, posted online a screed saying that those who patronized the store were members of a group trying to “ethnically replace my own people.”
Its evil aside for the moment, such a comment is willfully ignorant of our history, considering that most of those innocents murdered in the mass shooting were descendants of enslaved people on whose backs the United States was built.
What are the best ways for Americans of goodwill to shut down the wicked vileness of so-called replacement theory?
Given our grand tradition of free speech, enshrined in our Constitution, how can normal people reason with the ignoble few who would corrupt our legacy of open debate?
Who benefits by spreading widely its message, formerly confined to 4chan and neoNazi corners of the internet? Once-mainstream members of Congress seem to lend support. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, tweeted “@TuckerCarlson is CORRECT about Replacement Theory as he explains what is happening to America.” After the Buffalo shooting, he claimed that he had “never spoken of replacement theory in terms of race.”
Is he correct? Do you think critics are making too big a deal about replacement theory, trying to stifle legitimate free speech? Or are there growing connections between the fringe and powerful electeds? The alleged Buffalo gunman writes that he became attracted to extreme online views such as that immigrants “invade our lands, live on our soil, live on government support and attack and replace our people” out of boredom during the pandemic.
Does the internet amplify the foul and base worse than other avenues of communication, or is it simply the messenger?
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