I could not be prouder of ThinkProgress (TP) as I read their note to ThinkProgress editors. And that is why they will be one of my go-to sources going forward. The media company posted an article titled “ThinkProgress will no longer describe racists as ‘alt-right’” that is a must-read.
First TP tells the truth that David Duke, Richard Spencer, and their ilk are trying to disguise.
So you might wonder what, if anything, distinguishes the alt-right from more hidebound racist movements such as the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan. The answer is very little, except for a bit of savvy branding and a fondness for ironic Twitter memes. Spencer and his ilk are essentially standard-issue white supremacists who discovered a clever way to make themselves appear more innocuous — even a little hip.
TP then explains that they will no use the term alt-right in most circumstances. Then they define “white nationalist,” “white supremacist,” and “neo-Nazis” explaining under what context each will use them.
With that in mind, ThinkProgress will no longer treat “alt-right” as an accurate descriptor of either a movement or its members. We will only use the name when quoting others. When appending our own description to men like Spencer and groups like NPI, we will use terms we consider more accurate, such as “white nationalist” or “white supremacist.”
“White nationalist” refers to a specific ideology held by many of those who adopt the “alt-right” label. A white nationalist is someone who believes the United States should be governed by and for white people, and that national policy should radically advance white interests. White supremacists are a broader and more inchoate group, composed of those who believe in the innate superiority of white people.
We will describe people and movements as neo-Nazis only when they identify as such, or adopt important aspects of Nazi rhetoric and iconography.
Maybe some in the mainstream media could learn something here. So far they have been used by Donald Trump and many of the deplorables that surround him.