Richard Spencer's "End of History" Speech: Are Trump's Supporters Fooling Themselves? Part 2

Should we listen to the Alt-Right? Or ignore them? Or suppress them?  

I think we need to know what they are saying. I suspect that too few of Mr. Trump's supporters understand what the Alt-Right is really like, because they haven't listened. Liberals don't appreciate the danger that the Alt-Right poses to our republic, because they haven't listened.

 

The Alt-Right Wants Your Pity

Although Richard Spencer’s “End of History” speech ended with an exaggerated metaphor of doom and hope, it began with the self-pitying complaint that social media hosts were refusing to sponsor Alt-Right information; he complained about "social networks that are suppressing free expression.” This brings up a larger question of free speech. Is our Republic strong enough to tolerate wrong opinions, even opinions that are as mistaken and evil as Spencer’s? In the wake of the Charlottesville demonstrations, which directly resulted death, allegedly at the hands of a neo-Nazi sympathizer, GoDaddy.com threatened to delete the Daily Stormer’s website. Furthermore, a private agency hacked the Daily Stormer; it is now (speciously) headlined “The World’s Most Genocidal Republican Website.” So, yes, people really are trying to suppress their free expression.

Thomas Jefferson, LOC

Mr. Jefferson’s Opinion

In his First Inaugural Address, President Thomas Jefferson said, “If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” His words are much-needed now. A great many Americans, who now call themselves the Alt-Right, have made it clear that they wish to alter our form of government, an alteration that they justify by specious appeals to the Constitution, but whose real purpose is to subvert Americans’ rights. So, yes, the Nazis, the KKK, Richard Spencer, and any other persons or groups should be allowed to abuse the First Amendment by spewing out falsehood and hate to their hearts’ content. (There is an argument that privately-owned organizations like GoDaddy have a right, subject to their contractual obligations, to decide what they will broadcast. Personally, I want to know what the Alt-Right, the Nazis, and so forth have to say.)

We Need to Hear Both Sides, Even if One Side Is Really Bad

Decent people around the world reject the Alt-Right and its philosophy. Nevertheless, in a larger sense, as I have said before, it is important for people who are learning things to be exposed to both sides of controversial issues. Tens of millions of Americans sympathize with white nationalism. The best way to defeat them, is, following Jefferson’s wisdom, to point out their errors. This can only be done if people recognize what they stand for. The sanitized term "Alt-Right" makes it easy to miss the point. The only way to understand the depth of their wrongness is for us to fully understand their message.

Here's the Proof: The Case of the Southern Baptist Convention

Let us, for example, consider the recent controversy at the Southern Baptist Convention. The Convention’s Resolutions Committee rejected a proposition criticizing the Alt-Right, saying that it was “inflammatory.” This was a difficult question for them, for White Evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump in the 2016 election, and the Alt-Right supports Trump.

An attempt to gain reconsideration of the motion failed. The resulting controversy, however, quickly led the convention to consider a revised resolution. One factor is that, according to Pastor Charles Hedman, extremist right-wing groups had been passing out racist information in the convention center’s vicinity. Liberty Baptist University professor Karen Swallow Prior tweeted: “#SBC17: if you don’t think Christians ought to condemn the Alt-Right, then you need to see their disgusting emails that fill my inbox.” Yes, that’s right, one reason that the Southern Baptist Convention finally did the right thing is that the right-wing groups used their First Amendment rights to promulgate their opinions specifically and clearly; this caused the good people at the Convention to wake up and realize the threat that they faced. If the Alt-Right had been suppressed, the Convention might not have understood how evil its philosophy really was. Previously, they had pretended to themselves that the Alt-Right wasn’t so bad. 

When all was said and done, the Southern Baptist Convention ultimately passed an even more inflammatory motion, whose key passage was:

RESOLVED, That we denounce and repudiate white supremacy and every form of racial and ethnic hatred as of the devil.

Be sure to read the full text.