How is the media affecting white nationalists?

As we have discussed numerous times in class throughout the semester, the majority of white nationalists groups believe that the Jewish people are plotting against them and are intentionally making them look bad in the media. The specific topic for this post is how "racial genocide" plays into my topic. Well in the world of the white nationalist the media is one of, if not the biggest threat to their race. They believe that one of the main causes of miscegenation is Television. Miscegenation or "race mixing" is the number one threat to the existence of the white race. White nationalists feel that the white race is endangered and that the "Jews" in control of the media are trying to influence younger generations with channels like MTV, BET, VH1 and many others. The white nationalists understand that when people live in the same city and neighborhoods that 'race mixing' is bound to happen and they feel that the media and "jews" are fueling the fire more than anything else. Attached is a cartoon we analyzed in class that I feel related very well to this topic.

As you can see in the captions the "Electric Jew" is "brainwashing" the "pure" white children into "race mixing" and idolizing the black entertainers. They believe the children who watch MTV and stations like it will see black men with money, fame and beautiful women and aspire to be like them including dressing like them, talking like them, and race mixing like them. It is obvious that whoever drew this cartoon feels that the Jewish population controls the entertainment industry and the entertainers themselves are almost like their puppets. Ultimately everything is fed to the white children who are then convinced that black athletes and entertainers are superior to white ones. When in reality media is ever evolving and at this time rap and hip hop are at the top of the entertainment world. We have talked extensively about miscegenation and I know I am repeating myself but this is the number one threat to the white nationalists and the media is enemy number 1. As we think about this I would like to make a specific example and I think a perfect one would be rap artist Marshall Mathers better known as his stage name Eminem. Mathers is a white rapper who is probably one of the most well known rappers of the last decade. I think he is the worst fear of the white nationalists. A white male who fell in love with something that had been predominately black. He has a cult like following and  those from all races like his music. It fits right into our topic as he is a public figure and perhaps a role model of sorts for many underprivileged children. Most of Eminem's entourage is African american and he talks and dresses like a "black" rapper would. This is the fear of the white nationalist movement that the white youth are enjoying and finding success in "non-white" activities which leads to miscegenation and perhaps the "downfall" of the race. We could find many more examples of  how white nationalists feel they are shown in a bad light and that  minorities are shown as a thriving community. In the end the white supremacist groups feel that they are now the minority and the media is to blame.

stormfront forum

As I was browsing through stormfront to find a blog that related to my specific topic I stumbled upon a forum that had a video attached to it. I saw that it was from ESPN and it instantly made me think of the ESPN news story we watched in class. I have attached the video below.

     

I have noticed many times as well as the discussions we have has in class that white nationalists have a big issue with the media in general but specifically ESPN. Since they feel that the media is run by the Jewish population they feel that ESPN is deliberately making false news stories that are uplifting for the black community and thus causing the white population to either feel guilty or give respect to the black population. From what I have read on this video's comment section the white supremacists feel that this is taking another thing away from them and that everyone is disrespecting the accomplishments of the white man. As I see it and I'm sure most of the people in this class would agree this is just uncovering another interesting part of history but to the white nationalists it is just another fictitious tale about the achievements of the black man.  As I read through the first few blog posts for this video and even the posts that were on the YouTube website there were many people saying that this story was fabricated and kept referencing that there is no "ice" in Africa. I am not sure if they missed the part of the story that said these were American born black people that had escaped the south and made their way north and on up to Canada or not but it is pretty closed minded to actually believe that the CHL isn't at least partly responsible for modernizing the game of hockey. Many also made reference to the NFL and NBA and how they are black dominated sports and that the NHL is the only sport that "they have left". Since the sport is predominately white they can't believe that African Americans helped to mold the sport. In addition to the bloggers on stormfront questioning the validity of the story and the book "Black Ice" some posters also call out the writers for being Jewish and have no evidence to back it up even if it were true. It is interesting that most bloggers say that they didn't think any black people lived in Nova Scotia it's as if they just refuse to accept history and would rather rewrite it in their own one sided ways. White Nationalists would rather deny the fact that other races helped to form a sport instead of enjoying the fact that it exists and that it is more entertaining because of everyone that has contributed to it.       

History

We can date white nationalism back many generations even centuries, however to find a history on the media pertaining to white nationalism is much more difficult being how broad the subject is. I think the most logical starting place to explore is the movie titled "Birth of a Nation". The filming of this extremely controversial film was started in 1914 and used many innovative filming and musical techniques to make the film more entertaining then most films before it. In 1915 the silent film debuted and was a huge success as it followed the life of two families throughout the civil war and reconstruction period in American History and probably most famously it dramatized the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. It was also the first film to be shown in the white house and President Woodrow Wilson was supposedly quoted as saying, "... like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." Some have argued that this is not an accurate quote of President Wilson however this was a common thought throughout white America. So why were President Wilson's quote and the movie in general so controversial? The movie featured the KKK as a heroic force saving white women from the grasp of the "evil" black man (the black actors in the movie were actually white men in face paint). The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was founded in 1909, recognized the inaccuracies in the film and protested its release in many different locations. The film tricked the general public into fearing the black race, which led to more and more violence. The power of the media had taken hold and just as it does today convinces the general public of stories that aren’t necessarily accurate. The key to most of the medias power is in the presentation of the material. Lets think about this in terms of what we see on TV today. Many white nationalists believe that MTV, BET, VH1…etc are brainwashing the white youth and presenting blacks and other races in a way that convinces white children to imitate them. These channels are very entertaining and “cool” for the youth of America to watch and discuss. The way a white nationalists thinks would then have them justify that the black man is the problem for drug addiction and violence in the community and sadly this tends to lead to violence.  This film was groundbreaking technologically speaking and since the film was visually appealing a lot of the inaccuracies were overlooked. To this day the KKK use the film as a recruiting tool for young white males. The film spawned a sequel a year later and a remake many years later. I think we can credit this film with inspiring later forms of white nationalist media such as stormfront.org a white nationalist blog and a white nationalist version of YouTube. The media in general is a very powerful tool for the white nationalist movement with its power to help recruit and falsely educate the white youth.

I have attached a short trailer of the movie.

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About this Blog

My focus for this blog will be white nationalism in the media. I will be focusing on what we see in mainstream television and movies for example Gangland and American History X. Also I will explore how although these extreme groups may be the face of racism and hate they may not actually be the biggest problem when it comes to the subject. Racism is all around us and most of the people who harbor the most hate are hiding in plain sight. As "normal" people it is comforting to think that the "crazy" racists are not in our community however this may not be as true as we think. I hope to find out what factors in the media can cause hatred and the effect it has on us from a young age and into adulthood.