The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Williams: Paranoia over threats unhelpful, at the very least

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Last week, an advertisement for the “alt-right” was found in the Main Library stacks. The advertisement was a black business card with white and purple text. On the front it said, “America was 90 percent white in 1950. It is now 60 percent. Trump was the first step. We’re the next.” On the reverse side was written “Alt-Right,” with the Norse rune “Jera” behind the text.The advertisement is not unique to Iowa City. It has appeared on the Iowa State campus, the Eastern Michigan campus, and in a restaurant in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The University of Iowa was unique in getting the police involved, much to the amusement of a 4chan discussion board.

I hesitate to drag this bit of news back to light. Why not let it remain buried, like the embarrassing, made-up claims of a hate crime that took place this time last year? Why dwell on the perverted fantasies of a trollish minority?

Journalist Douglas Murray has said we shouldn’t give terrorism the oxygen of media coverage. What he meant is that we needn’t help those who feed on public fear by making the public more fearful. Murray thought David Cameron’s labeling of ISIS an “existential threat” to the UK was an absurd overstatement, misleading people about what ISIS is actually capable of doing. Similarly, we needn’t view this piece of cardboard as an existential threat to our community’s survival. (Though one does wonder whether the slogan of “total inclusiveness,” as displayed on the doors to the Theater Building, is blatantly self-incapacitating.)

The alt-right advertisement is a device that preys on fear: fears of a disappearing culture and “race.” We needn’t go into the full details of the conspiracy — and be sure that there is a full-blown conspiracy obscuring the minds of those who swim in the murkier depths of the alt-right — but it is helpful to know what your enemy is thinking. As Sun Tzu said, Know thy enemy.

The conspiracy, in a nutshell, is there is a deliberate attempt to replace white people in America through, among other things, the encouragement of interracial marriage. This is manifest in anything and everything, from progressive immigration policies to the propaganda you see everywhere celebrating the virtues of “diversity,” which, for some, translates as, “white isn’t good; white needs to be replaced.” There are various levels to the conspiracy, but, like all conspiracies, it is not content to point out facts or lack of them, but, crucially, it assigns responsibility to some person or persons. The assumption is always that these people, these master architects, these Gods, act in full awareness of the consequences of their actions.

Imagine being bombarded with these (mentally translated) messages every single day. You’d probably get insecure about being white. After a while, you might even start to believe in some questionable stories you find on the Internet.

There are, undoubtedly, some who believe white people should be replaced, that being white is the devil, that white people ought to cede power wherever they have it. And this vocal minority, and all the “useful idiots” who parrot what they say, are what passes for liberalism in the popular imagination. Just like the left-leaning websites assume everyone who supports Trump is, consciously or unconsciously, a racist.

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