I‘m sorry, did I say “helpful?” I meant “so convoluted that the diagram-maker eventually gave up drawing lines between boxes because even he couldn’t figure out how all these things allegedly relate to each other.”
I should note that in addition to being a mess, this diagram is also complete bullshit, and that “Cultural Marxism” only exists in the fevered imaginations of neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, #Gamergaters and Bernard Chapin? For an actual history of “Cultural Marxism” as a boogeyman of the far right, see here. For more lovely “Cultural Marxism” infographics and memes, several of which do include “Le Happy Merchant,” see my earlier post on the subject.
Oh, ok. Here (after the jump) is a crapload of BONUS images I found by searching for “cultural marxism,” this time on Twitter. [CONTENT WARNING: All the bigotries, actual pro-Hitler Tweets, cartoon semi-nudity.]
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/561162949771796480
https://twitter.com/KSWhiteChick/status/558844948507021312
https://twitter.com/ofugidsabenis/status/555965219194040324
There is nothing wrong with white pride, white love, and white culture. Stop #CulturalMarxism and #WhiteGenocide. pic.twitter.com/r6WzOzIjnJ
— Andy Williams (@AndyWilliam1975) January 23, 2015
He said communism & marxism was Evil, Political correctness Multi'CULT' urism, cultural Marxism also soul destroying. pic.twitter.com/YKyLKgRPRb
— )))Wolfseig((( (@OdinnMitUns) January 22, 2015
Smashing cultural marxism pic.twitter.com/2gfNpKdBtN
— )))Wolfseig((( (@OdinnMitUns) January 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/555877869771960321
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/555818340061421569
https://twitter.com/OccidentalApple/status/555418219796635649
https://twitter.com/SuperKaosIzHere/status/554807204050518017
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/560287993597288448
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/555783240456613888
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/556970290375557122
Note: This last image, as you’ve probably gathered, is not an actual SPLC poster. A Google image search shows that pretty much the only people who’ve posted it online have been right-wing asshats. For example, this guy, who regularly posts images even worse than the ones I’ve got here.
H/T — @jason_a_w on Twitter, for posting the convoluted diagram, sent to him by someone who thought it actually made sense, and maistrechat, for linking to Jason’s Tweet in the comments here.
As a norwegian I must profusely appologize for that horrid, almost 70 year old, propaganda poster! It’s truly embarrasing. Yours sincerely, Kathrine
A whole series, actually.
@emilygoddess
Yup, the Feminist Party got a whopping 3.12% of the vote.
Sometimes I see people online claim the most fantastical things about Sweden. I’ve seen people say if you criticize feminism in Sweden you will be arrested immediately. I’ve seen claims that parts of Sweden are ruled by Sharia law. Once I even heard someone say because of communism (whut?), all Swedish gas stations (whut?) are closed on the weekends (whut?).
It’s amazing the things people say when they think nobody will bother with fact checking.
Yeah, MRAs like to use Sweden as an example of a terrifying matriarchal dystopia. Hence my really lame attempt at a joke.
I love the internationality of the Internet. I’ve been on discussion fora where some American neoconservative nitwit starts pontificating about those “Nordic socialist hellholes” only to have actual Scandinavians turn up and say “What hellholes? We like it just fine. In a lot of respects, we feel sorry for you Americans.”
Even if you look at that as unions strong-arming the workers to get their money…
…Libertarians are 100% in favor of strong-arming people to get their money! It’s their favorite thing to do!
Hey, the gas stations were closed on weekends.
40 years ago.
I guess 4 decades behind the times is pretty good for retrograde talking points.
@Scarlettathena
Thanks for sharing your close encounter with “John Galt”. <<< In happier days I had no idea what that name meant.
In 2006-2007 I became involved with a supposed anti-war group that I would find out later was a front for spreading reactionary , anti-semite material while pretending to be lefty liberal SJW types. It gradually came out that not only was every active leader connected in some way to Big L libertarian or reactionary politics, but the women who invited me was completely aware of this, even while presenting herself as a liberal mom with radical leanings.
I'm glad your John Galt was sincere. Unfortunately, I know for a fact, thanks to work done by the anti racist network, the group that I was involved with was a con and they knew what they were doing: going out of their way to recruit leftists as their "shield". They knew, contrary to public statements, they were NOT a liberal anti war group and therefore shouldn't have pretended to be one. But I guess "Join us and help us push repackaged anti-semite conspiracies" really doesn't bring the bodies in.
These people had the most elaborate confidence games and justifications. And they were quick to suggest the government was watching them when things didn't quite go their way.
But they were also sloppy. I was very new to the Internet, but I soon learned to Google things, especially information that was not adequately explained. Many times this didn't help, because reactionary spam dominated the "air waves" so to speak. And the group, while having a history back to 2004, wasn't observed to be blatantly sleazy then. But one member had information about his disruptive actions on the local Indymedia newswire and it was very easy to find. (This included being kicked out of a lefty radio station for screaming c*unt at a female volunteer) And so I started asking questions. Then it got—weird.
An elaborate social engineering scam was used to deflect criticisms, playing off the idea that "agents" might be observing/infiltrating the group. Since they were pretending to be an anti-war group it's not quite as ridiculous as it sounds. People first were friendly, then tried to manipulate, sometimes sounding like they had information about conversations I had, but not with them. I would ask my so called friend, the lefty liberal mom who claimed to be an experienced activist, and she'd shrug like she had no idea. When the subject of agents came up, she'd be all, "Hmm, maybe?" But when the subject of seriously investigating this more came up, she'd either laugh it off, or act like it's no big deal or it's just crazy people.
In retrospect, to someone reading this cold, it looks pretty bloody obvious I was being conned, but it happened over a series of 8 months and it's not so obvious when dodgy events are separated by days or weeks. And how many times does anyone pretend to be your friend to con you politically? Just money, sure, but to sell an ideology?
I broke off contact with my “friend” when it was too obvious the new personal information the so called “enemy/agents” had could have only come from a close source. This was during a time the racist connections to the group’s activities and networks became more and more clear and I was one of the people demanding answers.
It took several months to years afterward to get proof there were never any agents/crazy people. They were all working together, from the beginning. And two of them have direct connections to the national Libertarian Party… that go to the top.
Oh, and they also had an MRA. My “friend” told me he was for “men’s abortion rights”. I’d never heard of such a thing. If I knew what I know now….
I never saw or heard evidence of this on the list. But, months later, I caught him posting MRA/men’s abortion rights bs on forums. But AFAIK he NEVER expressed these ideas in person. You would never guess, he played the radical lefty to the hilt. So how did she know?
Many people might be too embarrassed to admit they were conned for months. Unfortunately for them, what ever embarrassment I might have is dwarfed by my rage that people collaborating with Nazi sympathizers dared to drag me into their political cesspool. I’ve hated Nazis since I knew what one was. Too many libertarian “celebrities” have associations with Nazi apologists for me to ever give them the benefit of the doubt again.
blog.voyou.org/2007/09/23/scratch-a-libertarian-find-a-nazi/
splcenter.org/blog/2013/04/26/ron-pauls-new-organization-reportedly-stacked-with-extremists/
The result is I have a strong ANTI-liberatian bias, even though I have a couple lefty lib friends. I never trust anyone active in Libertarian politics. I try to give individuals the benefit of the doubt, but that only gos so far if you’re part of a group that supports a man who made millions selling racist newletters for years and then lied about it.
Okay, Libertarian rant over.
@katz
“…Libertarians are 100% in favor of strong-arming people to get their money! It’s their favorite thing to do!”
Yes! But only when you are the rich Galtian genius!
@BHV
Wow! What a story!
I suspect the John Galt I had contact with of being racist. When some story about a white cop and a black man, he would always ask “What about black-on-black crime?” It was my first exposure to this question/technique of shifting race problem. He always pretended he liked black people and his son-in-law was supposedly black (who knows? It’s the internet, so that could be all ‘cool story bro’).
@Scarlettathena
The thing is, after researching similar groups–cults or with cultlike tactics–I have to remind myself I’m LUCKY. I got away. I was able to see it was a fraud and have proof– which is occasionally need to make take down requests and other reports–FBI, website hosts, etc–because my personal details are still posted online with vicious lies.
A couple years ago one of the idiots stalked me in a grocery store–and was escorted for the rest of his shopping experience by management. They bank on the hope you’ve internalized enough of the bullshit, especially the agents bit, that you’ll be too scared to talk to someone who can shut them down.
That has not worked out well for them. Unfortunately, by the time you KNOW its a con and can prove it, most of the statutes of limitations have run out for the stuff they’ve done. At least now it’s only a stubborn handful who won’t delete anything on their website. After the anti racists got through with them, they organize mostly in secret now. I think they invited Christopher Bollyn to speak last–just Google him. At least they’re no longer pretending not to be racist…
Re: John Gault
You’re right, it is the Internet, but that’s how these people start. There was a lot of that sea lioning on the list. I, too, was new to it. There were a couple people dismissing concerns as PC, and the PC police. I thought this was in good faith, but it’s just cherry picking news for obscure stories to support the idea the New World Order Police State is at hand. I can’t tell if your guy was racist or lying, but now that dynamic would be enough to send flags he was part of the Tea Party Borg(before the tea Party, but still) and wasn’t planning to leave the collective anytime soon.(hindsight 20/20 etc)
Off the top of my head, there seem to be several goals to sealioning fringe talking points on an email list dedicated to activists:
1. Identify people who are allies.
2. Draw out people with SJW sympathies(didn’t use SJW then, but it’s the same thing)
3. Try to infect them with propaganda
4. Failing that, try to drive them away
If the person is new to the list and fails to find a following, they’ll go away.
If they’re a long time list member and supported by the owners, they’ll get nasty or have friends post rudely to drive you away.
Either of those things are legal, if not civil. It’s when a fringe political list has moved to organize and recruit in person it can get nasty. Because now you know who THEY are. They need to discredit you, say your crazy, etc.
A topical example of these dynamics one only has to look at Gamergate. They are using exactly the same playbook fringe cult-like groups use to spread propaganda and control members.
I’m glad you didn’t get entangled with Gault any further than an online exchange. 😉
@BVH
It’s so good you figured it out! I shouldn’t be surprised at this scam, but I don’t think I would have thought ill of people.
Yeah, my encounters with Galt were on an atheist forum. All of his posts were apocalyptic about the fall of the US, hyperinflation, Obama as tyrant, and so on. I really just wanted to explore his rationale. One thing that’s good about internet discussion is you don’t have to answer posts right away whereas in a discussion, you feel pressure to answer. Also in person exchanges with people I know have gotten heated and that doesn’t help the thought process! It was interesting to ask questions, consider his answer, ask follow-up, pose questions and scenarios and see.
I don’t know how many right-wing enterprises are sincere and how many are scams. Maybe there are some of the left, but I feel like all these right-wing media personalities have a schtick attached to ad revenue, sometimes online content you pay for, books. Basically, the movement seems to be into merch at this point.
Good chatting with you!
@Scarlettathena
There’s definitely a money making aspect to many fringe right movements.
Re: Athiests
I’m not one, but I used to be a fan of Thunderfoot. You can imagine my disappointment, and in the general skeptic community after Elevator Gate, etc.
Sigh….
Nice chatting too!
I’ve always been under the impression that “genocide” was a noun, not a verb.
KaraLora
I love it too, as an American (Is there a better term for that? I’m actually not fond of it due to continent names). We don’t get much culture ’round these parts, so I’ve learned quite a bit from the good ol’ Internets.
So thank you to all my friends who don’t live in the United States for giving me such vital knowledge!
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* (◕‿◕✿)/ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Better term than American? There’s always Yankee if you don’t mind being flippant and sorta self-deprecating. Other than that…not really. “United States” doesn’t lend itself well to coining adjectives.
Lol, oh the “what to call myself besides American?” question! Always fun! Once this plays out more I’ll explain what I mean, but for now… USian? Merkin? (Yeah, no. That’s definitely got another meaning!)
For extra fun — are we from: America, the US, or the USA?
One of them is that colonial powers deliberately sought to destroy, hide and minimize evidence of the achievements of African people to maintain the narrative. The brouhaha about the Great Zimbabwe back then was precisely because it was something unmistakably African, too magnificent to fit in their theories and too big to destroy,
In reply to sff9:
It is a rather poorly designed chart. I mean, the box between Cheap Labour and Corporations and Taking Debt and International Banks doesn’t seem to have any direct connection to either. Unless cheap labour gives money to conditions like poverty?
And that box “Military Spending… computers, internet, satellites, moon” What does that have to do with anything? Is it supposed to be examples of bad things?
And a flow chart works better if you can avoid crossing lines. There are definitely ways to arrange it so as to eliminate crossing lines.
@ Karalora – Yankee? That might work for me, but anyone from the Southern United States would sooner burn Atlanta again than call themselves Yankees.
David Futrelle,
I’m amazed by all this stupid. Its hurting my brain.
seraph4377
Yeah, that does have a bit of a history here in the States.
Argenti
I always either say US or USA. I’ve learned to avoid “America”, because it has been brought to my attention that that could mean North America or South America, and as far as I know, we (thankfully) don’t own all of that.
I s’pose I could always go by “Californian”? Since that’s the state I’m from. I don’t know if everyone’s aware that that’s a state in the US though…
I try to go with: “I’m from the (United) States”. The part in parentheses being optional.
Well, we certainly act like we’re our own country sometimes.
Just out of curiosity, are there any cultures, extant or historical, where an objective observer could really say the power balance was skewed towards women?
I live overseas and get asked where I’m from a lot–I almost always say I’m Californian, because that has a different (and more accurate) connotation than saying I’m American. Also I sound rilly, rilly Californian.
I don’t know if you could say there was ever a culture with a ‘power balance…skewed toward women’; I think you could say some cultures are more patriarchal/based on power than others; cultures that are not as patriarchal tend to be more egalitarian, rather than ‘skewed toward women’. A couple of examples of less-patriarchal cultures are the Iroquois Confederacy and possibly Minos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#Women_in_society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_civilization
But all cultures past and present lie somewhere on this spectrum, and many older cultures, including Sumeria and eighteenth century England, are actually further away from the traditional patriarchal power structure with respect to the position of women than we tend to appreciate. See Graeber’s Debt: the first 5000 years–I can’t recommend this book enough!–for the former, and my writing for the latter :)–I wish I could give you a good reference or two but can’t off the top of my head; maybe I’ll come back later and post some if I can think of anything concise. Unfortunately and surprisingly although many historians are aware of the ‘return to the parlour’ in the early nineteenth century this doesn’t appear to be a subject anyone’s taken on directly. I remember reading a quote from a young man in the early nineteenth century saying something like ‘my mother would go down to the pub on an afternoon and smoke her pipe and do business…but my wife will never do that.’.