Core Post 2 – Maggie Roberts

Core Post 2 – Maggie Roberts

I am struck and disturbed by how Donovan, Dreyfuss and Friedberg describe Dylan Storm Roof’s ideological path to massacre: “a descent into white supremacy” (38).

How is a racist created? Yes, all people—especially white people—internalize racist biases and ideologies, and it is up to the individual, as well as communities to actively deconstruct these harmful tendencies. However, this interpolated partiality is not what I am referring to in this post’s initial question.

How is a racist, like Roof, born? What conditions need to be in place for someone so young to contain such vitriolic hate for difference? This construction of a monster is commonly understood as something that is formed by nature and direct social conditions, but somewhat predetermined. Racists all live in rural areas, have racist parents, friends and family members and racists lack education—they dwell in ignorance…don’t they?

Donovan et, al., on the other hand, paint a much more likely and troubling portrait of how racists come to be: they fall into it. What’s worse? Technology facilitates this descent, nurturing it, propagating it and putting these racists-to-be in contact with other, more dangerous users.

As the chapter explains, “Roof was not in any real way a member of Roger’s [the creator of The Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist web page] community, but just an unknown member of his audience” (39). This case implies that one does not need to actively engage with these online hate groups to be molded by their vial politics, one just needs to be funnelled into their channels, infected by their venom, red-pilled.

Such a distinction between engagement and exposure becomes increasingly potent, when considering the fact that these alt-right internet subcultures begin to bleed out from their obscure corners and into the open web (12). These cultural hemorrhages materialize in very real and lethal ways—such as the storming of the capital on January 6, 2021 (10).

Criminals like Roof are likely, in some way, predisposed to violence or contain a penchant for evil. Additionally, my intent is not to suggest that the internet is a purely conservative force which perverts the minds of today’s youth. However, there is something to be said for the way in which social media algorithms allow for harmful and intolerant rhetoric to flow, bursting from their expanding virtual pockets and infecting “normie” timelines, feeds and news (14). Roof’s crimes are not an isolated or individual incident, but instead represent the failures of social media and technological culture in stopping the bleeding before we are run dry.

References:

Donovan, Joan, Emily Dreyfuss and Brian Friedberg. Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.