Extremist can be define as “A person who holds extreme or fanatical political or
religious views, esp. one who resorts to or advocates extreme action”
(oxford dictionary). When viewed by the common man, their views can be
considered as immoral and misinformed, they don’t generally fit in with the
average people of society and prefer the surroundings of likeminded individuals.
eExtremists can easily find like minded people with the internet as it is so
much easier to connect with people. I can’t fathom why people would want to
hate people simply based on things such as ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation or skin colour. The internet has just made it easier for these
groups to connect, its acted as a gateway for them to share their ideas on a
global scale, as well as recruit new members. Any information posted on the
internet is accessible 24 hours a day from anywhere on the planet as long as
they have a connection, and everyone has the ability to broadcast their ideas
to the world.
Extremist groups were among
the very early users of electronic communication (Gerstenfeld, 2003). Tom
Metzger is the leader of the White Aryan Resistance. In 1985 he created a
computer bulletin board which quickly gathered a loyal following. However,
there are organisations that monitor extremist activities, one such
organisation is The Intelligence Project. While it is almost impossible to
monitor absolutely everything on the internet they do publish a magazine that
informs the public and law enforcement authorities on the current activities
they are investigating.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
counted 926 active hate groups in the United States in 2008. One of these sites
was Aryan Nations. (http://www.aryan-nations.org/).
Aryan nations declare they are “a worldwide Pan-Aryan crusade dedicated to the
preservation and advancement of our Race.” However, I can’t help but to compare
them with the same ideals that Hitler had. The majority of the info on the
website is just purely hateful and disturbing. As mentioned above the internet
can be accessed by anyone, which means anyone can visit that site, even
children.
One of the sites in the reading was the Australian First Part, which I thought nothing of to begin, I had thought it was going to be yelling things at the public to gain them onside. When I delved into some of their supported policies I found that they wanted to reduce immigration and abolish multiculturalism. . Graeme Campbell, their founder, claims that "Australia must remain predominantly white.” For a political party they do hold a lot of extreme views, I find it hard to believe they have a solid following with views like these. While they aren’t as forward like Aryan Nations the message is clear that they are intolerant and slightly racist.
References
Poisoning the Web: Hatred
Online. (1999). Vol. 61 Issue 5http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=7&sid=81a1f4e3-f621-4727-a1eb-e60e91636e1c%40sessionmgr7
Gerstenfeld, Phyllis B.;
Grant, Diana R.; Chau-Pu Chiang (2003) Hate Online: A Content
Analysis of Extremist Internet Sites. Analyses of Social Issues & Public
Policy. Vol. 3 Issue 1, p29-44
No comments:
Post a Comment