1y ago

Far-right extremism is thriving in rural areas. Here's what it looks like in Upstate NY

www.northcountrypublicradio.org Far-right extremism is thriving in rural areas. Here's what it looks like in Upstate NY

When we set out to look at far-right extremism in Upstate New York, we had a few basic questions. First, we wanted to know the status of the far-right movement here. What do people believe in? What groups and militias have been active? We found that all...

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240118131456/https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/49046/20240115/far-right-extremism-is-thriving-in-rural-areas-here-s-what-it-looks-like-in-upstate-ny

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1y ago

Far-right extremism is thriving in rural areas. Here's what it looks like in Upstate NY

www.northcountrypublicradio.org /news/story/49046/20240115/far-right-extremism-is-thriving-in-rural-areas-here-s-what-it-looks-like-in-upstate-ny

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People are desperate, angry, and feel like they have nothing to lose. Because regardless of who is in office, they never help. And people who feel.like they have nothing to lose, are going to act like they have nothing to lose.
Soooooooo many of our issues could be solved with the bare minimum social systems in every other developed country
Billy Bob ain't going to try and overthrow the government if he feels the government is looking out for him, even if he's still a racist piece of shit, he's now got something to lose if he fucks around.
Just like with other terrorists, the best way to fight them is figure out why people are joining their organization and then fix whatever issue makes people do it. It's a lot easier to prevent an extremist than to fix one after
- It's not that simple. Racist folks in America don't care they are poor as long as minorities are even poorer. That's a huge part of Republican politics, that's why they vote for Trump. Trump doesn't promise them they will have better lives. It's all racist dog whistles promising them they will still be on top, they will be the 'better' race. That's why they oppose all sensible policies, because they will try to fix inequality and inequality is what they want.
  And I don't think there's a simple fix for this. Many countries have this issue (UK, France) and the more progressive policies you try to push there the stronger the push back is. In the end it usually goes farther right until something terrible happens...
  
  This needs to be repeated. It sounds ludicrous that someone could be so petty and cruel, but it's true. Conservative politics is the ideology of natural hierarchies. It doesn't matter how bad white folks have it, as long as those damn black folks can't use the same drinking fountain as them!
  
  It’s not that simple. Racist folks in America don’t care they are poor as long as minorities are even poorer
  True, but they wouldn't push to keep other races down just so they're below them so they can feel better about their own problems. Or at least wouldn't be pushing so far down.
  They wouldn't have as many problems to blame on other races either.
  It's not like anything besides 100% solving racism is a waste of time. And keep in mind, this is just a positive side effect to actually helping everyone...
  It's like turning down a free steak because the potatoes isn't big enough....
  
  They’re turning down the free steak because the [insert ethnicity/whatever difference here] person might get one too.
- People are desperate, angry, and feel like they have nothing to lose. Because regardless of who is in office, they never help.
  We have ONE party that loves and needs division and desperation so they block anything that makes lives easier. The GOP needs riled up, angry people to get elected to "fix things" - that is why nothing changes - witness their immigration strategy.
  
  Yeah, but it's not just racist hillbillies that feel like they have nothing to lose...
  That's a lot of Americans these days. And they make up a lot of the 1/3 that don't vote.
  So the other party could sweep elections for decades if they start doing all they can.
  FDR only lost two states in 1936. Because people trusted FDR to actually try and help them.
  Even tho his push for universal healthcare for stopped by moderate Dems, he still kept getting elected. Because just trying is enough for American voters
- It's a lot easier to prevent an extremist than to fix one after
  Yes it is.
  But it takes time to get positive results, and far too many people are too short sighted to do anything when the "return on investment" is a generation away.
  Every time I've seen those type of program started, the following government cuts them and claims it was a waste of money because it hasn't shown results yet, even though it's only been a year and you can't make signifignat change to people's lives that quickly.
  
  It's not a generation away tho...
  It's not like extremism sits off to the side like a 5gallon bucket and once it's full someone knocks it over.
  It's like a garden hose. Turn the faucet down even a little has an immediate effect because it's adding less water immediately.
  Every day we lose an American to this extremist shit. Even publicly trying to fix shit and failing would have an immediate effect.
  You're other point has to deal with alternating parties.
  If we went back to FDR style Dems that consistently put in work to help Americans, Republicans wouldn't be winning anything.
  FDR only lost two states in 1936, it's incredibly effective, we just stopped doing it.
- I agree with you. It's a catch 22 it though. When you live in a state run by shit birds, they cut off the fed from helping you in every way they can, meanwhile holding their little town hall events and talking to press saying stuff like: ‘the fed doesn't care about American citizens, they're too busy sending aid to [x country] to fix their problems’ and with the very same breath saying how cool it is that they conned the left into giving their state the most funding this year, but the media doesn't hold them accountable anymore and further push the issue "for fear of losing access" to them. The big secret, and the key to the issue in my opinion, is that the media is bought by billionaires who are no longer accountable to reality when reporting the news, the regulatory bodies in this country have been eroded to shit by capitalists, the now obligatory talking point: Citizens United, and that nobody is going to swoop in to save this awful mess from imploding into fascism any time soon. You all need to take personal safety measures; arm yourselves, and train with your weapons in whatever way you can safely afford. These fuckers are coming for us all, and they'll have the full support of a dictatorship soon enough, if we aren't able to get out the vote. UNITE!
- That sounds a lot like socialism and we can't have that commie trash here!
  Murica!
  /s
- And for some reason they think they have more in common with Billionaires than socialists, make it make sense.
  
  They’re mentally defective. Can’t overcome their lizard brains shouting “OH MUH GAWD THE COLORDS!!!1!”. No ability to think abstractly.
- Exactly. Likewise, the greatest way to fight the "war on terror" would've been through legitimate support and education, but that would not have enriched the US fossil fuel and MIC oligarchy, or pleased the bloodthirsty neanderthals who refuse to support and educate their own neighbours, so it's a non-starter — now, here we are, and everything's worse.
- It's such a viscous ugly circle in the US though. I think really piss poor education in a lot of these rural areas is largely to blame. These thugs are by and large incredibly stupid people. The people that want to help fix the rural education systems are made to look like their enemies though, they are literally voting against their best interests. The GOP thrives off denying quality education and manipulating the feeble minded. Stupidity breeds hate and fear, and guess what, they have propaganda to play on those secondary features as well. You could try to give these people money and education and they would slap it out of your hand, call you a commie fag, and feel they did the right thing. We shouldn't stop trying, but it's really hard to help someone that shuns the help being offered.
- Are the people who join these groups typically struggling workers? The Jan 6 mob seemed to be mostly relatively well-off small business owners and the self-employed. Who else has time to do all this stupid shit? And all that money to waste on guns and LARPy gear?
  
  Exactly. Broke people can't just up and travel to DC for a week. Where I live we have 3 downtown restaurants owned by J6ers. 🙄
- Then why don't these assholes vote for people who actually propose things to help them?
  Regardless of whether they can even be passed with a broken Congressional system, the Republicans they're supporting don't even pay lip service to helping anyone anymore. They don't promise support, they actively destroy the support, they spit on the very idea of support. Routinely
  And yet these people go to the polls for them.
  We are loooooong past the "economic anxiety" excuse.
- Billy Bob can’t string together 5 functioning neurons and synthesize that he’s being manipulated by intelligent people who would watch the world burn for that sweet dolla dolla bill. Give him a $100K welfare check and he’d behave exactly as he does now, the marionette that he is.

113 comments