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Kill All Normies
Book

Kill All Normies

Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right

Zero Books, 2017 Mehr

automatisch generiertes Audio
automatisch generiertes Audio

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Eye Opening
  • Background

Recommendation

Leading up to Donald Trump’s election to the Oval Office, online networks such as Reddit and 4chan emerged as crucibles for new forms of right-wing ideology. In this deep dive into the nether world of Internet society, media critic Angela Nagle tracks the connections between these Internet subcultures and the mainstream that powered Trump’s rise. Nagle catalogs the contributions of 4chan incels, Tumblr cry-bullies and alt-light celebrities to the culture wars that not only brought a Twitter troll to the White House but also caused a radical shift in the range of acceptable political discourse. Nagle’s book seems to suffer from a rushed production – some topics lack sufficient development, and sentences sometimes loop erratically. Still, the book makes important arguments about the ways liberal identity politics contributed to the rise of the online right, how trends in sexual behavior patterns may tie into white nationalism and why counterculturalism represents a dangerous ideal. getAbstract recommends Nagle’s often entertaining and sometimes horrifying book to readers looking for valuable insights into political power in modern America.

Take-Aways

  • During the decade leading up to the 2016 American presidential election, cultural trends playing out in online social networks exerted strong influences on electoral politics. 
  • During the early 2010s, an aggressive liberal identity politics developed on Tumblr that spilled over into mainstream platforms and American campuses. 
  • On 4chan forums, a misogynistic, racist culture flourished that fueled and promoted the online alt-right.

About the Author

Angela Nagle has written cultural criticism for The Baffler, Current Affairs, The Irish Times and other journals.


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