In the US, the FBI does not publish a list of hate groups, and it also says that "investigations are only conducted when a threat or advocacy of force is made; when the group has the apparent ability to carry out the proclaimed act; and when the act would constitute a potential violation of federal law". The FBI maintains statistics on hate crimes.[2]
Two private American non-profit organizations that monitor intolerance and hate groups are the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)[3] and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).[4] They maintain lists of what they deem to be hate groups, supremacist groups and antisemitic, anti-government or extremist groups that have committed hate crimes. The SPLC's definition of a "hate group" includes any group with beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people—particularly when the characteristics being maligned are immutable.[5] However, at least for the SPLC, inclusion of a group in the list "does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity."[6] According to USA Today, their list ranges from "white supremacists to black nationalists, neo-Nazis to neo-Confederates."[7]
Number of SPLC hate groups per million, as of 2013
According to the SPLC, from 2000 to 2008, hate group activity saw a 50 percent increase in the US, with a total of 926 active groups.[12] In 2019, the organization's report showed a total of 1,020 hate groups, the highest number in 20 years, and a 7% increase from 2017 to 2018. The previous high was 1,018 in 2011, and the recent low point was 2014, when the list included 784 groups. A rise in white nationalist groups from 100 in 2017 to 148 in 2018 was the most significant increase in the 2019 report.[7]
Since 2010 the term alt-right, short for "alternative right", has come into usage.[13][14] This broad term includes a range of people who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of forms of conservatism that may embrace implicit or explicit racism or white supremacy. The alt-right is described as being "a weird mix of old-school neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, anti-globalists, and young right-wing internet trolls—all united in the belief that white male identity is under attack by multicultural, "politically correct" forces."[15]
Four categories which are associated with hate groups' propensity for violence are: organizational capacity, organizational constituency, strategic connectivity, and structural arrangement.[16] The larger an extremist group is and the longer it has existed, it is more prone to engage in violence. Regionally, hate groups which are based in the West and the Northeast are more likely to engage in violence than those hate groups which are based in the South. If a group has a charismatic leader, it is more likely to be violent. Groups that share conflict-based relationships with other groups are more likely to engage in extreme violence. The amount of ideological literature which a group publishes is linked to significant decreases in a group's violent behavior, with more literature linked to lower levels of violence.
The California Association for Human Relations Organizations (CAHRO) asserts that hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and White Aryan Resistance (WAR) preach violence against racial, religious, sexual and other minorities in the United States.[17] Joseph E. Agne argues that hate-motivated violence is a result of the successes of the civil rights movement, and he asserts that the KKK has resurfaced and new hate groups have formed.[18] Agne argues that it is a mistake to underestimate the strength of the hate-violence movement, its apologists and its silent partners.[19]
In the US, crimes that "manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, including the crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; larceny-theft; motor vehicle theft; arson; simple assault; intimidation; and destruction, damage or vandalism of property", directed at the government, an individual, a business, or institution, involving hate groups and hate crimes, may be investigated as acts of domestic terrorism.[20][21][22][23]
Counter-terrorism expert Ehud Sprinzak argues that verbal violence is "the use of extreme language against an individual or a group that either implies a direct threat that physical force will be used against them, or is seen as an indirect call for others to use it." Sprinzak argues that verbal violence is often a substitute for real violence, and that the verbalization of hate has the potential to incite people who are incapable of distinguishing between real and verbal violence to engage in actual violence.[24]
People tend to judge the offensiveness of hate speech on a gradient depending on how public the speech is and what group it targets.[25] Although people's opinions of hate speech are complex, they typically consider public speech targeting ethnic minorities to be the most offensive.
Historian Daniel Goldhagen, discussing antisemitic hate groups, argues that we should view verbal violence as "an assault in its own right, having been intended to produce profound damage—emotional, psychological, and social—to the dignity and honor of the Jews. The wounds that people suffer by ... such vituperation ... can be as bad as ... [a] beating."[26]
In the mid-1990s, the popularity of the Internet brought new international exposure to many organizations, including groups with beliefs such as white supremacy, neo-Nazism, homophobia, Holocaust denial and Islamophobia. Several white supremacist groups have founded websites dedicated to attacking their perceived enemies. In 1996, the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles asked Internet access providers to adopt a code of ethics that would prevent extremists from publishing their ideas online. In 1996, the European Commission formed the Consultative Commission on Racism and Xenophobia (CRAX), a pan-European group which was tasked to "investigate and, using legal means, stamp out the current wave of racism on the Internet."[27]
Misogynist hate groups which target women, particularly those groups whose members mostly consist of young men who include pickup artists, incels and hardline anti-woman groups, are sources of concern to some experts. Using recruitment techniques which are similar to those which are used by far-right extremist groups, they target teenagers and vulnerable young men, their recruitment tactics include the use of methods which are akin to grooming. UK author Laura Bates believes that some of these groups should be classified as misogynist terrorist groups.[54] The Proud Boys, which, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center is known for its misogynistic rhetoric,[55] has been designated as a domestic terrorist group in Canada.[56]
Internet hate groups
Traditionally, hate groups recruited members and spread extremist messages by word of mouth, or through the distribution of flyers and pamphlets. In contrast, the Internet allows hate group members from all over the world to engage in real-time conversations.[57] The Internet has been a boon for hate groups in terms of promotion, recruitment and expansion of their base to include younger audiences.[58] An Internet hate group does not have to be part of a traditional faction such as the Ku Klux Klan.[59]
While many hate sites are explicitly antagonistic or violent, others may appear patriotic or benign, and this façade may contribute to the appeal of the groups.[60] Hate group websites work towards the following goals: to educate group members and the public, to encourage participation, to claim a divine calling and privilege, and to accuse out-groups (e.g. the government or the media). Groups that work effectively towards these goals via an online presence tend to strengthen their sense of identity, decrease the threat levels from out-groups, and recruit more new members.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), in its 2009 iReport, identified more than 10,000 problematic hate and terrorist websites and other Internet postings. The report includes hate websites, social networks, blogs, newsgroups, YouTube and other video sites. The findings illustrate that as the Internet continues to grow, extremists find new ways to seek validation of their hateful agendas and recruit members.
Creators of hate pages and groups on Facebook choose their target, set up their page or group, and then recruit members.[61] Anyone can create a Facebook group and invite followers to post comments, add pictures and participate in discussion boards. A Facebook page is similar, with the exception that one must "like" the page in order to become a member. Because of the ease of creating and joining such groups, many so-called hate groups exist only in cyberspace.[57]United Patriots Front, an internet-based Australianfar-rightanti-immigration and neo-nazi organization formed in 2015[62] has been described as a hate group.[63]
Hateful intergroup conflict may be motivated by "in-group love," a desire to positively contribute to the group to which one belongs, or "out-group hate," a desire to injure a foreign group.[64] Both individuals and groups are more motivated by "in-group love" than "out-group hate," even though both motivations might advance a group's status. This preference is especially salient when a group is not situated in a competitive position against another. This partiality towards cooperative behavior suggests that intergroup conflict might decline if group members devoted more energy to positive in-group improvements than to out-group competition.[65] Groups formed around a set of moral codes are more likely than non-morality-based groups to exhibit "out-group hate" as a response to their especially strong sense of "in-group love."[66]
Intergroup threat occurs when one group's interests threaten another group's goals and well-being.[67] Intergroup threat theories provide a framework for intergroup biases and aggression.[68]
One type of intergroup threat theory, realistic group conflict theory, addresses competition between groups by positing that when two groups are competing for limited resources, one group's potential success is at odds with the other's interests, which leads to negative out-group attitudes.[69] If groups have the same goal, their interactions will be positive, but opposing goals will worsen intergroup relations. Intergroup conflict may increase in-group unity, leading to a larger disparity and more conflict between groups.
Symbolic threat theory proposes that intergroup bias and conflict result from conflicting ideals, not from perceived competition or opposing goals.[70] Biases based on symbolic threat tend to be stronger predictors of practical behavior towards out-groups than biases based on realistic threat.[71]
Realistic group conflict theory and symbolic threat theory are, in some cases, compatible. Integrated-threat theory recognizes that conflict can arise from a combination of intergroup dynamics and classifies threats into four types: realistic threat, symbolic threat, intergroup anxiety, and negative stereotypes.[67] Intergroup threat theories provide a framework for intergroup biases and aggression.[68] Intergroup anxiety refers to a felt uneasiness around members of other groups, which is predictive of biased attitudes and behaviors.[72] Negative stereotypes are also correlated with these behaviors, causing threat based on negative expectations about an out-group.[73]
According to the 7-stage hate model, a hate group, if unimpeded, passes through seven successive stages.[74][75] In the first four stages, hate groups vocalize their beliefs and in the last three stages, they act on their beliefs. Factors that contribute to a group's likelihood to act include the vulnerability of its members as well as its reliance on symbols and mythologies. This model points to a transition period that exists between verbal violence and acting out that violence, separating hardcore haters from rhetorical haters. Thus, hate speech is seen as a prerequisite of hate crimes, and as a condition of their possibility.
Hate group intervention is most possible if a group has not yet passed from the speech to the action stage, and interventions on immature hate groups are more effective than those that are firmly established.[75] Intervention and rehabilitation is most effective when the one investigating a hate group can identify and deconstruct personal insecurities of group members, which in turn contribute to the weakness of the group. Perhaps most critical to combating group hate is to prevent the recruitment of new members by supporting those who are most susceptible, especially children and youth, in developing a positive self-esteem and a humanized understanding of out-groups.[76]
Conceptual criticism
The concept of hate groups has been criticised as being arbitrarily and incoherently defined, as hatred can be promoted against a theoretically unlimited number of groups yet only a select few protected characteristics are included. Choosing to designate specific groups as hate groups but not others thus becomes a rhetorical device to pathologize certain groups as deviant rather than a coherent concept. Hate groups are tracked by groups such as the SPLC and ADL, but the lack of a clear definition means these measures run the risk of simply being the opinion of private organisations.[77][78][79]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs. The SPLC was founded by Morris Dees, Joseph J. Levin Jr., and Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery.
Black supremacy or black supremacism is a racial supremacist belief which maintains that black people are inherently superior to people of other races.
The National Alliance is a white supremacist, neo-Nazi political organization founded by William Luther Pierce in 1974 and based in Mill Point, West Virginia. Membership in 2002 was estimated at 2,500 with an annual income of $1 million. Membership declined after Pierce's death in 2002, and after a split in its ranks in 2005, became largely defunct.
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group, and is known for its public protests against gay people and for its usage of the phrases "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It also engages in hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people, and other Christian denominations. The WBC's theology and practices are widely condemned by other Christian churches, including the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, and by politicians and public figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama.
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American white supremacist organization. Founded in 1985, it advocates white nationalism, and supports some paleoconservative causes. In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind".
White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw, Indiana, and it was also incorporated as a business. In 1993, the group expanded into Canada.
VDARE is an American far-right website promoting opposition to immigration to the United States. It is associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and the alt-right. Anti-Immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia describes VDARE as "one of the most prolific anti-immigration media outlets in the United States" and states that it is "broadly concerned with race issues in the United States". Established in 1999, the website's editor is Peter Brimelow, who once stated that "whites built American culture" and that "it is at risk from non-whites who would seek to change it".
Volksfront, also known as Volksfront International, was an American white separatist organization founded on October 20, 1994, in Portland, Oregon. According to Volksfront's now defunct website, the group described itself as an "international fraternal organization for persons of European descent." The logo of Volksfront was the Algiz rune, a common rune used as a neo-Nazi symbol common among other organizations such as National Alliance. Volksfront had approximately 50 members in the United States split between four chapters designated as Pac-West, Central States, North East, and Gulf-Atlantic, and an additional 50 members dispersed in other countries including Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Spain. The goal of the movement was to create an all-White homeland in the Pacific Northwest. The flag of Volksfront was based on the Nazi flag in the colors of black, white, and red with the Volksfront logo and the slogan was "Race Over All" implying that race mattered over everything else. In August 2012, the United States branch of Volksfront announced their dissolution via their website. Citing harassment and investigations by the authorities, the group said it was disbanding.
In the United States, the patriot movement is a term which is used to describe a conglomeration of non-unified right-wing populist and nationalist political movements, most notably far-right armed militias, sovereign citizens, and tax protesters. Ideologies held by patriot movement groups often focus on anti-government conspiracy theories, with the SPLC describing a common belief that "despise the federal government and/or question its legitimacy." The movement first emerged in 1994 in response to what members saw as "violent government repression" of dissenting groups, along with increased gun control and the Clinton administration.
Stormfront is a neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web's first major racial hate site. The site is focused on propagating white nationalism, Nazism, antisemitism and Islamophobia, as well as antifeminism, homophobia, transphobia, Holocaust denial, and white supremacy.
White power music is music that promotes white nationalism. It encompasses various music styles, including rock, country, and folk. Ethnomusicologist Benjamin R. Teitelbaum argues that white power music "can be defined by lyrics that demonize variously conceived non-whites and advocate racial pride and solidarity. Most often, however, insiders conceptualized white power music as the combination of those themes with pounding rhythms and a charging punk or metal-based accompaniment." Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, National Socialist black metal, and fashwave.
The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC), formerly known as the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge, is an American organization of Black Hebrew Israelites. Its headquarters are in New York City, and in 2008 had churches in cities in 10 US states. They are not to be confused with Israel of God (IOG) or Israel The Church of Christ (ICOJ), Which are separate denominations of Black Hebrew Churches who believe in multicultural/multiethnic Messianic Judaism, and overall do not align with zionism. The ICGJC is the second largest Black Hebrew Israelite organization in the United States, the first being the Israel United in Christ.
A Voice for Men, also known as AVfM, AVFM, or AV4M, is a United States–based for-profit limited liability company and online publication founded in 2009 by Paul Elam. It is the largest and most influential site of the men's rights movement. Its editorial position is strongly antifeminist; it frequently accuses feminists of being misandrist.
Wolves of Vinland is a Norse neopagan group based in the outskirts of Lynchburg, Virginia. In 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center added the Wolves of Vinland to its list of hate groups.
The Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) was a neo-Nazi political party active in the United States between 2013 and 2018, affiliated with the broader "alt-right" movement that became active within the U.S. during the 2010s. It was considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center's list.
Identity Evropa was an American far-right, neo-Nazi, neo-Fascist, and white supremacist organization established in March 2016. It was rebranded as the American Identity Movement in March 2019. In November 2020, the group disbanded. Leaders and members of Identity Evropa, such as former leader Elliot Kline, praised Nazi Germany and pushed for what they described as the "Nazification of America".
Patriot Front is an American white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. Patriot Front's aesthetic combines traditional Americana with fascist symbolism. Internal communications within the group indicated it had approximately 200 members as of late 2021. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group generated 82% of reported incidents in 2021 involving distribution of racist, antisemitic, and other hateful propaganda in the United States, comprising 3,992 incidents, in every continental state.
References
Notes
↑ "Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines", Uniform Crime Reporting: Summary Reporting System: National Incident-Based Reporting System, U.S. Department of Justice: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Revised October 1999.
↑ Katel, Peter (2009-05-08). "Hate Groups". Vol.19, no.18. CQ Researcher. pp.421–48. See "The Year in Hate" Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2009.
↑ Chermak, S.; Freilich, J.; Suttmoeller, M. (2013). "The organizational dynamics of far-right hate groups in the United States: comparing violent to nonviolent organizations". Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 36 (3): 193–218. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2013.755912. S2CID55870656.
↑ 1999 Developing Hate Crime Questions for the National Crime Victim Survey (NCVS) p. 1 "Sections & Interest Groups"(PDF). Archived from the original on May 12, 2003. Retrieved 2008-01-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
↑ Sprinzak, Ehud, Brother against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination (New York: The Free Press, 1999)
↑ Cowan, G.; Hodge, C. (1996). "Judgments of hate speech: the effects of target group, publicness, and behavioral responses of the target". Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 26 (4): 355–71. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1996.tb01854.x.
↑ Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans the Holocaust (Knopf, 1996), p. 124.
↑ "About Westboro Baptist Church". God Hates Fags. Westboro Baptist Church. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved June 18, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
↑ Schafer and Navarro (2002); Williamson and Pierson (2003)
↑ Moody, M., "New Media-Same Stereotypes: An Analysis of Social Media Depictions of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama", 'The Journal of New Media & Culture (2012).][permanent dead link]
↑ McNamee, L.G.; Peterson, B.L.; Pena, J. (2010). "A call to educate, participate, invoke, and indict: understanding the communication of online hate groups". Communication Monographs. 77 (2): 257–80. doi:10.1080/03637751003758227. S2CID143387827.
↑ Halevy, N.; Weisel, O.; Bornstein, G. (2012). ""In-group love" and "out-group hate" in repeated interaction between groups". Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 25 (2): 188–95. doi:10.1002/bdm.726.
↑ Halevy, N.; Bornstein, G.; Sagiv, L. (2008). ""In-group love" and "out-group hate" as motives for individual participation in intergroup conflict". Psychological Science. 19 (4): 405–11. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02100.x. PMID18399895. S2CID6869770.
↑ Parker, M.T.; Janoff-Bulman, R. (2013). "Lessons from morality-based social identity: the power of outgroup "hate," not just ingroup "love"". Social Justice Research. 26 (1): 81–96. doi:10.1007/s11211-012-0175-6. S2CID144523660.
1 2 Stephan, W.G.; Stephan, C.W. (2000). "An integrated theory of prejudice". Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination: The Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology: 23–45.
1 2 Riek, B.M.; Mania, E.W.; Gaertner, S.L. (2006). "Intergroup threat and outgroup attitudes: a meta-analytic review". Personality and Social Psychology Review. 10 (4): 336–53. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_4. PMID17201592. S2CID144762865.
↑ Sherif, M., & Sherif, C.W. (1969). Social psychology. New York: Harper & Row. pp.221–66.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ McConahay, J.B. "Self-interest versus racial attitudes as correlates of anti-busing attitudes in Louisville: Is it the buses or the blacks?". Journal of Politics. 441: 692–720.
↑ Kinder, D.R.; Sears, D.O. (1981). "Prejudice and politics: Symbolic racism versus racial threats to the good life". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 40 (3): 414–31. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.40.3.414.
↑ Ho, C.; Jackson, J.W. (2001). "Attitudes toward Asian Americans: Theory and measurement". Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 31 (8): 1553–81. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02742.x.
↑ Eagley, A.H.; Mladinic, A. (1989). "Gender stereotypes and attitudes toward women and men". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 15 (4): 543–58. doi:10.1177/0146167289154008. S2CID145550350.
1 2 Schafer, J.R. (2006). "The seven-stage hate model: the psychopathology of hate groups". Cultic Studies Review. 5: 73–86.
↑ Sternberg, R.J. (2005). The Psychology of Hate. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association. pp.61–63.
↑ Tetrault, Justin Everett Cobain. "What’s hate got to do with it? Right-wing movements and the hate stereotype." Current sociology 69, no. 1 (2021): 3-23.
↑ Purington, M. S. (2017). Assessing the reliability and accuracy of advocacy group data in hate group research, James Madison University
↑ Chokshi N (2016) The year of ‘enormous rage’. The Washington Post. Available at: www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/02/17/hate-groups-rose-14-percent-last-year-the-first-increase-since-2010/.
Dudley, J. Wayne, '"Hate" Organizations of the 1940s: The Columbians, Inc.', Phylon, Vol. 42, No. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1981), pp.262–274 (JSTOR)
Jessup, Michael The Sword of Truth in the Sea of Lies: The Theology of Hate, Google Print, p.165-p.166, in Robert J. Priest, Alvaro L. Nieves (ed.), This Side of Heaven, Oxford University Press US, 2006, ISBN0-19-531056-X
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