Dear Media: Please Stop Normalizing The Alt-Right

Source: The Federalist | November 22, 2016 | David Harsanyi

Republicans shouldn’t ‘normalize’ the alt-right, nor should the media imbue it with an outsized importance

Why does the March for Life, a rally that attracts tens of thousands of pro-life Americans to Washington every year, get less prominent media coverage than a fringe neo-Nazi gathering? Because institutional media and white nationalists have formed a politically convenient symbiotic relationship.

For Jew-hating racists, the attention means they can playact as a viable and popular movement with pull in Washington. In return, many in the media get to confirm their own biases, and treat white supremacy as if it was the secret ingredient to Republican success.

Meanwhile, this obsessive coverage of the alt-right not only helps mainstream a small movement, it’s exactly what the bigots need and want to grow.

Check out the coverage of this weekend’s National Policy Institute conference in DC. As far as I can tell, these pseudointellectual xenophobic bull sessions have been going on for years, featuring many of the same names: Jared Taylor and Peter Brimelow, et al. (although they’re now joined by Tila Tequila).

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None of this is to say Trump shouldn’t be called out for his vulgar rhetoric or ideas, some of which gave these people the space they needed. Nor does it absolve Republicans who look the other way when genuine bigotry appears. Yes, GOPers shouldn’t “normalize” the alt-right, and neither should the media imbue the movement with an outsized importance to feed its preferred narrative regarding the election.

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But that’s a generous reading of events. Another reading is that coverage is driven with the cynical purpose of exaggerating the importance of neo-Nazis to tie them to Republicans. The media will now demand the administration denounce white supremacists every time they have a meeting — which itself intimates that there is a connection. Conflating these scary things can create the impression that conservatism is Trump which is Bannon which is Duke which is Spencer.

I’m afraid it’s not that simple. And attempting to make it that simple only weakens legitimate criticism of the president-elect — of which there is plenty.

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