Open Radicalization - 1

Take a good look at the photos above. They show the process of radicalization to a far right ideology pretty succinctly.

In case you were wondering Joey Gibson is one of the has been one of the more prominent figures in the far right who ends up getting a lot of leeway because he portrays himself as a "classic liberal" or "traditional conservative." He portrays himself as being in favor of traditional masculinity, traditional "family values," entrepreneurism and the like. It's been his "Patriot Prayer" rallies on the West Coast, which have consistently drawn a conglomeration of the most violence obsessed of far right groups. The Proud Boys (who've now had a whole lot of their members locked up on assault or attempted murder charges), neo-Nazis, various other white supremacist groups, anti-government militias,  and a variety of explicitly anti-Semitic and implicitly anti-Semitic conspiracy dedicated groups. He has come to prominence because he has spent a lot of time advocating violent intimidation of people who don't share his views. Gibson is the kind of character who portrays himself as a "meat and potatoes, regular guy whose opinions are dangerous to the (insert minority) agenda to undue traditional values."

This is the kind of thing they use to create the content meant to foster radicalization. "Work is freedom" sounds innocuous, if you aren't familiar with it's other associations. There are people to whom this is immediately familiar. People who are dedicated anti-Semites, and people who are dedicated to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism. This video Gibson posted is going to draw both of those groups, and it's going to draw the kinds of people who aren't yet radicalized, but who definitely favor "strong conservatism" and who love to "trigger the libs."

SO, then you have the comments anywhere this video is posted. For the "trigger the libs" and the dedicated anti-Semites, the argument will be, "That kid doesn't know it says that outside of Auschwitz, and his parents probably don't know either. Hell, Gibson probably doesn't know. You libs and SJW's are always looking for something to be butthurt about, and we all know you hate work." There's a really good chance this kid doesn't know that phrase is on the gate outside Auschwitz. There's a slightly lower chance his parents don't know (his parents may know, because someone taught him the phrase or made the sign for him, but they may have also just picked it up in "conservative circles" without the historical context being communicated). There is no chance Gibson doesn't know this. No one mistakenly stumbles into the amount of racism, anti-Semitism and misogyny Gibson and the many grifter like him claim to "stumble" into.

The game here is to make it seem like Gibson is always being unjustly attacked, not that he's either a moron of such incredible proportions he can not avoid being a racist, anti-Semitic and misogynist of significant proportions every day (which, in fact, takes effort) or that he's purposely being racist, anti-Semitic and misogynist in order to put himself in community with people who hold the same views.

By doing this, the "trigger the libs" crowd, feels some sense of community with him, and with the dedicated anti-Semites who he's signaling to by including the phrase in his video. For the "trigger the libs" crowd, it looks to them like an honest mistake anyone could make. They've now spent fifteen years or so being told SJW crowd is coming to get them, which Fox News and Breitbart and the rest of the "conservative media", including columnists from the likes of the NYT, Washington Post, WSJ, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and nearly every local paper in the country have been relentlessly repeating.

Another argument will be, "They're just being edgy" or "It's a joke." This is almost certain to be said in relation to the "Heil Pritzker" sign. J.B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois, is Jewish. Neither of these arguments should pass muster. Whether it's meant in earnest, in jest or as a malicious prank, it doesn't change that it both belittles the very real dangers of anti-Semitism and helps to normalize it. Of course, then any conversation degenerates into, "We can't even have jokes anymore." It will always come back to the racist, anti-Semite, misogynist or the like being denied something, because some "special interest" finds it offensive. It has to come back to this argument, otherwise it's going to get around to being about the fact that white supremacy in all of it's strains, whether anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anit-Asian (as the entirety of the right has blamed COVID 19 on "the Chinese", it has now brought anti-Asian racial attacks to a new high) or misogyny, is the most violent and dangerous ideology in United States history. It's not just dangerous in the way it has helped foster imperialism, though it is that, it's dangerous to anyone within US borders who does't subscribe to it. 

Hence, a slogan above the gate at Auschwitz becomes something even people who see themselves as "traditionally conservative" begin to defend. 

Now, consider these examples happening thousands of times per day, across the whole of the internet, with millions of participants and passive observers. When you start to understand the scope, it becomes clear why understanding and making clear why "just ignore them and they'll go away" is not just the exact contrary to what history says, but on a basic observational level, completely without rhyme or reason. Keep in mind the far right has become 100% clear they have a very good recruiting pool in angry young white men, and basically any "conservative" online outlet or meeting place.

That's how the photos above come to be a reality. As there have been a number of manipulated photos related to this phrase circulating since the above photo was published, this link will take you to the AP stating their investigation found these to be real.  

NOTE - Demistifying Radicalization is going to be a regular feature of "To All That We Once Loved." If the process of radicalization can be identified, maybe more people can interrupt it as it happens, instead of being unable to see the signs as a friend or loved one becomes radicalized by an increasingly violent and dangerous ideology.