learntoquestion ltq discussions

People in general are very opinionated and once Trump became president, it opened doors for people who were more right winged to voice their opinion. In the past, there were hardly any times where you would see white nationalists take heavy extremes such as these events in 2017 and 2021. Both events were driven by the desire and the fact that they wanted to be recognized. Either it was for attention, publicity, or to prove a point, it had a horrible outcome. It was poorly executed but the result that was wanted, was given to them (attention). The response from the police force in Charlottesville was disappointing too because they just stood there and did nothing. It mimicked and was similar to the response from authorities at the Capitol riot in 2021. That correlation really shows how much we have not learned or developed as a society to resolve or control these kinds of outbreaks, which is incredibly disappointing and gives me no hope to believe that anything major will change. The worst part is that these problems were never fully addressed. They should’ve been broad-casted nationally and then addressed in court or brought to the attention of state governors. Instead, the media coverage was limited and the problems that occurred were never fully resolved at both events.

I would categorize the events that happened in Charlottesville as unfortunate and unresponsive. It was as a result of hatred and they were mainly motivated by their condescending ideologies. They used fear and numbers as a motive to gain control because they know they’re outnumbered. This relates back to the idea of “white extinction” as well. It is entirely possible that the neo-nazi white nationalists believe in that theory so they use their “numbers” as a reflection against it.

Emily Gorcenski uses “us” frequently throughout the documentary to refer to people who believe and advocate for the same things as the speaker. “Them” is used as an isolation, to refer to the people who the speaker does not associate with. I think events like ones that happened in Charlottesville and the Capitol are extremely likely to recur but I agree with Augustus_Gloop when they say we must remain respectful to one another regardless. Despite disagreeing with each other, I think it’s important to have an open mind and try to treat each other with respect. While it sounds insensitive and impossible, it is definitely possible to reach a middle ground.

There’s no real way to explain why these people believe and operate the way they do, whether they had been conditioned to believe this way or if it’s out of malice. I believe the beliefs were driven by fear and insecurity. White supremacists indulge in repulsive ways of thinking including but not limited to racism, antisemitism, homophobia due to the fact that they enjoy feeling superior. Without such vile concepts, there would not be something differentiating their “we” and “they”. This was best phrased by JnjerAle, that the “we” is white supremacists and the “they” are the targets of their hate. Ultimately, their insecurity of becoming replaced or equal as anyone else is what spews these hateful thoughts and compels them to attempt to further their beliefs.

However, the reason why they feel that they are able to express their hate is largely due to the fact that they feel comfortable to do so. They have many external influences which have led them to enact these plans and hate crimes. Due the internet, white supremacists have easy access to people who may share the same wretched ideologies as them, because as lil breezy put it “on the internet…someone could post the most outlandish idea, and there is bound to be one person who agrees.” and that one person increases as it reaches more publicity which allows for more of them to connect and thus communicate and formulate plans. To respectfully disagree with drakefan02, I don’t quite think that the right wing extremists aren’t seeing enough opposition because I think they are well aware of it, but rather they feel that they have enough support to feel comfortable in expressing their bigotry. The other main element would be the “corruption” of law, I’m not sure if that’s the best way to phrase it, but to continue, once they noticed how they did not face opposition from neither the police nor Trump, they took that as support or at least not overwhelming opposition, which transpired the misplaced confidence they had to plan and carry out their violent protests and hate crimes.

I think it is almost definite that something like this will happen again, due to the increasing rise of the internet, they will be able to continue communicating and carrying out their detrimental plans. There likely will not be enough resources or time for such warped ideologies to change for the majority of white supremacists which will only allow them to continue, especially if enabled whether it be from others or no opposition from important law figures. There will always be bigotry, unfortunately, it’s just a matter of trying to minimize it to the best possible extent. However, that’s easier said than done.

I agree with their assumptions, racism is rooted into our society. Things we hear everyday could have racial undertones and we just don't know. This brings to mind specifically the formerly Aunt Jemima syrup, I personally had no idea the racist origins of the name until they were changing it but it goes to show how ingrained it is in our society. Liz from California talks a lot about her travel experiences as a black women. She mentions feeling like an object on her travels as people would stop and stare and take photos. She ended one of her trip early because of it. I found it really interesting that when she went to East and South Africa as a Nigerian women she felt free for the first time but later learned of the racial segregation that happened there too. There aren't many places where people of color can go and truly feel free. I was shocked to read that public schools in Texas changed their curriculum to omit slavery, the KKK and Jim Crow. These are extremely important parts of history that continue to effect people today and now its not even being taught. People should be outraged that the young minds in these schools will grow up with no sense of racial injustices back then and now.

Why? Why was this happening? And what did it portend for the future? (Yes, 2017 was a few years ago now but as you might imagine, it’s easy to draw a line from Charlottesville to what happened on January 6, 2021 and the ongoing polarization in this country.)

I honestly can’t give a definitive answer as to why it is happening. I can speculate reasons such as President Trump's 2016 election, outcries against police brutality, call to social reform, Colin Kaepernick offending white patriotism, and the list of potential reasons goes on. In general I cannot give a definite answer to the question: “why was this happening”... the general growing and resurfacing of racist, homophonic, and anti-semitic ideologies is a wonder to me as well. While watching the video, I too cannot understand what the driving motivation truly is behind the bigotry. One of the men in the video mentions Trayvon Martin and how black people do basically: “stupid and savage things unlike white people”. I cannot understand how generalizations and misinformation plagues the minds of these people. It truly is a social and physiological illness. That needs to be evaluated and re-evaluated or even eventually destroyed.

How would we describe the phenomenon that seems to be at work in Charlottesville? What’s motivating the different folks protesting there and why do they see the world as they do?

The individuals at Charlottesville are motivated by hate, fear, and unchecked history. They hate other people who do not fit into their, in simple words, weird, perception of the world. I mean the audacity of Europeans to bring millions of slaves to the Americas, benefit from the fruits of others labor, and then a few generations down the line complain about how many African-American, immigrants etc. live in our multiethnic country. Weird. They hate that people are drawing attention to the problematic history of the US. They hate the challenge to their traditionalism, like peopel not standing for the pledge or the national anthem, or refusing to have statues of slave owners, and people no longer wishing to celebrate fourth of july. They are also fearful that the traditionalism they love so much is slowly being replaced by modern values and ideas. They fear that their population is on a decline as more and more people intermingle. They fear they will lose the benefits they have in society (even though some of them deny the existence of white privilege). Lastly they are motivated by their unchecked history. They continually reference movements from the past and events that they deem honorable (that clearly weren’t). Overall, I could care less about the motivation, while I think everyone should be “educated” I feel as if these people (the one in the video) are too far removed from centrist society, too far right, and too deeply accustomed to their faith to be “saved”. I can only hope that they way they see the world influences less than it should.

Do you think something like this—or worse than January 6, 2021—could happen again?

Yes. I say this because we live in a country where (typically white Americans) lack a worldly perspective and have become too accustomed to “american freedom”, so much so that they lack compassion, empathy, and the ability to understand others. This country is so individualistic that it's not shocking when people protest wearing a mask, despite millions dying from covid. Simply said, yes. We do not check our fellow citizens (the ones spewing alt-right hate) enough. If the police won’t step in (as we saw in the video) then what makes one convinced that other “authority” figures will either. It's ridiculous and unfortunate.