clips of different types of historical and contemporary media that helped to perpetuate white nationalist ideals and beliefs
Birth of a nation full movieBirth of a nation trailer
Amos and andy (blackface)
save the white race
White genocide
Race is more than color
Johnny rebel
Johnny rebel again
Monday, October 3, 2011
History
White nationalism and its ideology have been apart of media since its creation. Books, movies, posters, music have all been used to simultaneously prop up white culture/people as the best and (intentionally or otherwise) put down non-white culture/people. For example the movie Birth of a Nation (1915), depicts the Ku Klux Klan as the protectors of the south from mobs of animalistic blacks (who were played by white actors in blackface). The movie was used as a recruitment tool and is considered a major factor in the increase of klan membership at the time of its release. Depictions like this were common and considered normal by mainstream society, despite the obvious misrepresentation. In fact, blackface and other racially insensitive depictions were popular genres of entertainment for many years. Its important to note that a large portion of the material was not made by what we would consider racists or white nationalists and may have not been intended to harm or insult. Nevertheless the quantity and popularity of such images still helped to normalize white nationalist ideals and reinforced stereotypes in the minds of Americans. The civil rights movements along with protests led to the decline of such blatantly racist material (or at least the social acceptability of such images) in mainstream America.
The invention of the internet and radio have enabled white nationalists and supremacists alike to share their views with the world and each other, without the restrictions of mainstream social norms. These are especially dangerous as there is no real regulation on them and has allowed for creative distortion of facts to mislead and deceive people. Websites like Metapedia and Stormfront are major perpetuators of white nationalist ideals and have been used to gain a sort of psuedo-credibility for those unaware of the biased nature of the sites. The internet has also allowed for newslettters and chatrooms and pretty much any other kind of communication to be abused to spread the ideology, unhindered, and easily accessible by children and young adults who may be influenced by the sites.
As technology advances our ability to communicate, white nationalism and the people who believe in its ideology will find ways to exploit that communication to expand and perpetuate the ideology as they have done with every medium. I have linked several examples of historical as well as contemporary examples of the different types and forms this biased propaganda can take to show the variety as well as the scope of the problem. Hopefully the more aware we become of the ways in which white nationalists and their supporters spread their ideology the more we can avoid and eventually eliminate it.
The invention of the internet and radio have enabled white nationalists and supremacists alike to share their views with the world and each other, without the restrictions of mainstream social norms. These are especially dangerous as there is no real regulation on them and has allowed for creative distortion of facts to mislead and deceive people. Websites like Metapedia and Stormfront are major perpetuators of white nationalist ideals and have been used to gain a sort of psuedo-credibility for those unaware of the biased nature of the sites. The internet has also allowed for newslettters and chatrooms and pretty much any other kind of communication to be abused to spread the ideology, unhindered, and easily accessible by children and young adults who may be influenced by the sites.
As technology advances our ability to communicate, white nationalism and the people who believe in its ideology will find ways to exploit that communication to expand and perpetuate the ideology as they have done with every medium. I have linked several examples of historical as well as contemporary examples of the different types and forms this biased propaganda can take to show the variety as well as the scope of the problem. Hopefully the more aware we become of the ways in which white nationalists and their supporters spread their ideology the more we can avoid and eventually eliminate it.
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