For the purpose of research - school philosophy project, yayness - I have been having to spend a lot of time at Stormfront lately. For those erstwhile Dopers who don’t know what it is, it’s a site dedicated to white supremacists. I’m not going to link to it, because the last time someone did that here, the mods broke the link, but you can find it easily enough if you really want to, and trust me, you don’t.
Anyway, I was most interested in why people of my age decide to become white supremacists, so I spent a lot of time lurking on the Stormfront Forum, reading the messages posted by young people, whilst trying to be non-judgemental. It didn’t take me long to find my way around, as the board uses the same software as the SDMB, although that did creep me out further.
And now I’m done, and I’m back, to the familiar grey of the SDMB, with the familar buttons to press (New Thread! Yay!) and even though I’m a lurker here too I suddenly have a longing to tell everyone here, be they Conservatives or Liberals, Democrats or Republicans, male, female, black, white, purple, I love each and every one of you for not being a white supremacist.
Welcome back. And do tell, what was your project and what did you learn? I have no desire to visit the site, but I’d like to know what you came away from it with.
It was a general religious studies project. I don’t do it for GCSE, it’s one of those you-have-to-do-this-because-the-government-say-so things, and you had to do something on extremism of some sort. I wrote a couple of sides on the guiding principles of these people, and learnt they seem to believe very passionately in their cause, which is probably their most significant redeeming feature. They also seem to have a developed sense of community, as if you attack one person, the whole group takes it as a personal affront.
Can you tell I’m quoting directly from my essay?
But seriously, I think I know my enemy a little better now, which is something, and I value the Dope even more, which is something else.
Welcome back. Stormfront is a reality disconnect. In talking about it with Biggirl a few weeks ago, we noted that one disturbing aspect was that they had portions of their message board devoted to real life problems, where people swapped tips on how to make your lemon meringue pie come out right. I guess Nazi wives had to deal with stains on clothing and the grocery budget. Surreal.