What is the American "alternative right"?

NOTICE: I wrote the following description of the “alt right” several years ago, back when the movement was more hazy, and still in the process of being defined. Circa late 2016, the consensus in the media and mainstream politics seems to be that the ideology is best understood as a white nationalist movement, and I agree with this conclusion. Ownership over the name “alt-right” has now been pretty firmly claimed by white nationalists, and I believe the era of it being a broad term capable of describing a diversity of beliefs has ended. Below is my description of the alt-right as I perceived it as existing circa 2014.

The "Alternative Right," or more commonly, the "alt right" is a diverse assortment of people, mostly online, who identify as right-wingers but consider themselves either opposed to, or profoundly alienated from mainstream American conservatism — usually because they view it as being too liberal, or preoccupied with the wrong issues.

The "alt right" exists mostly in the form of an archipelago of blogs, podcasts, and social media accounts, many of which center around a single pseudonymous commentator. The ideologies espoused by "alt right" types can vary greatly, but broadly speaking includes certain sorts of extreme libertarians, immigration critics and "race realists" (basically intellectual racists and anti-semites), "neo-reactionaries" (who argue against democracy, human rights, and other manefestations of modernist philosophy), and anti-feminists, including some of the "Men's Rights" crowd. But there is also a more generic or moderate flavor of alt right thought that may not fully embrace any of the above agendas, but still be sympathic to their contrarian messages of skepticism towards prevailing conventional wisdom on matters like race, gender, and party politics.

A lot of alt-right commentary tends to be more easily defined in terms of what it opposes than what it supports. Its main subjects of scorn tend to be out-of-touch, left-wing elites in politics, business, academia, and the mainstream media who they believe to be actively ruining society through their aggressive embrace of feminist, multicultural, and post-modernist ideas. I would say the alt right is primarily about cultural issues, and less interested in economic policy or public policy in general. Views on foreign policy tend to be all over the place, and the topic is often engaged with mostly as a prism for understanding (and critiquing) foreign cultures.

The alt right is an interesting, creative, growing intellectual movement within broader American conservatism. It appears to be led, and most enthusiastically supported by young white men, who could rise to become an important force within Republican politics and Republican-aligned media. Already we are seeing some "mainstream" conservative publications and institutions — particularly Brietbart and the American Enterprise Institute — coming under greater sway of the alt right, as a new generation of young, web-savvy conservatives begin to rise to prominance within them. Alt right fans are passionate and energized, and represent an attractive demographic of readers, activists, contributors, consumers, and voters for any savvy conservative leader to harness.
 
At the same time, much of the alt right is defined primarily by their alienation from mainstream American politics and philosophy, with some corners possessing unapologetically hostile views towards American society and even America itself. And of course, as mentioned, there is a very real faction of the movement that is unapologetically racist, and thrives on cruelty disguised as a rejection of political correctness.

It will be interesting to watch the future of this movement, where it ultimately goes, what it ultimately becomes, and which ideas ultimately define it.

As an American I’ve always seen the “alternative right” as a group of people that have been disenfranchised and harbor a lot of anger about our relatively recent political environment. The way the left and especially the “alt left” acted after our election is truly stomach turning. The only time I’ve felt ashamed of being an American is when I heard they will revoke your right to free speech at a University designed to teach people how to think for themselves, simply for not agreeing with what they have to say. Your’e excuse cannot be “This guy is going to make us so mad we will hurt him and others”…then the event gets cancelled for security reasons?! People need to understand that we all have our own opinions (most of us: technically not MOST i guess) and the “alternative right” to me could be something completely different than it is to someone else. For some people it depends on their personal experience’s and for some people its all about what they see on almost any mainstream media outlet. Our media is actually getting closer to Russia, China, North Korea. Not because it is being controlled by our but it is being controlled by a group of people with the same agenda, and they are working together. Even things like NPR are VERY lib these days.

Are you curious about the “American Alt Left”?

It’s a term made up by Milo (that scamp) last March to describe neo-conservative trolls. Basically reddit energized by meth or 4Chan chilled out on tranquilizers. Their natural prey are Tumblrs, vegans, or any other weak, cucked SJW. (Hipsters are fun to play with, but not very filling.) They will mess with your mind and love to play the part of contrarian in arguments. (trolling)

People who aren’t politically correct - who actually despise political correctness. People who are economic conservatives, but very libertarian in their social views.

Right now I’m torn between accepting the alt-right brand with pride or to continue to be a Despicable Vulgarian.

Despicable Vulgarian just sounds so much cooler. I’m going to have to stick with that.

Ever heard of Atlantic charter? Well if you agree with that - eg. right of people for self-determination, than you really shouldn't have any peoblem with alt-right. It's a movement that recognises white people as a separate entity in US in contrast to Blacks, Asians, Latinos etc. Divide between groups is both cultural and genetic. Movement recognises right of other separate groups to their own identities and well-being but is opposed to them using Whites as their own ATM for wellfare money and also as a scapegoat to all their problems. Is short, it's a reaction to mass immigration and identitiy politics played by the left against Whites. It's an immune response of White people to the threats which might end their own existence as a race.

The American Alternative Right” is yet another liberal framing of their opposition with a view to marginalization.

As simple as that . Psychological framing and fracturing the opposition. It is a bit like the racist supporters of slavery (aka the Democrats) who suddenly claimed that all racists magically jumped across the aisle during the 60s and joined the Republican party during the civil rights movement, thus providing a clean slate for the Democratic party that up to the 60s was the most racist platform since the civil war in this country.

One of the most important ideas of the alt-right is IQ differences between different racial groups. The average IQ of white Americans is 100. The average IQ of black Americans is 85. The average IQ of Mexican Americans is 92. Alt-right followers believe that the country will be dumbed down by low IQ immigrants and blacks who are unable to be successfully integrated and employed in a modern technological society.