SocProf reviewed Red Pill, Blue Pill by David Neiwert
Review of 'Red Pill, Blue Pill' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
David Neiwert has decades of journalistic experience studying the far right in the US, from his original Pacific Northwest, through the border militia, and now to the latest nationwide trumpian / alt-right iteration of the fascist right. So, he knows what he's talking about. The focus of RPBP is more the new conspiracism that is the emotional / ideological glue binding this fascist movement together. The book was published in 2020 but reads as very prescient after the 1/6 insurrection.
Fascist movements in the US have a long history which Neiwert details in the book (so it's not just Trump), but, of course, previous movements did not have the "benefits" of the Internet and the various social media sites where they have flourished and been able to recruit.
Going through the recent wave of right-wing killings, Neiwert details how the perpetrators were "red-pilled", which led to mass killings (so it's …
David Neiwert has decades of journalistic experience studying the far right in the US, from his original Pacific Northwest, through the border militia, and now to the latest nationwide trumpian / alt-right iteration of the fascist right. So, he knows what he's talking about. The focus of RPBP is more the new conspiracism that is the emotional / ideological glue binding this fascist movement together. The book was published in 2020 but reads as very prescient after the 1/6 insurrection.
Fascist movements in the US have a long history which Neiwert details in the book (so it's not just Trump), but, of course, previous movements did not have the "benefits" of the Internet and the various social media sites where they have flourished and been able to recruit.
Going through the recent wave of right-wing killings, Neiwert details how the perpetrators were "red-pilled", which led to mass killings (so it's not just weird theories). New conspiracism has deadly consequences.
Neiwert also details the main peddlers of the new conspiracism (Infowars, the incel / men's rights segments of Reddit or 4chan).
The book is not just doom and gloom (kinda) as the last and longest chapter details how to combat red-pilling and get red-pilled people back into normie territory (mostly, leave it professional). I will cop to not being super convinced by personality / psychological explanations. I lean much more towards the sociological ones (the "who benefits?" question is always central to me) but the set of 15 steps might appeal to people who have had red-pilled people they care about.
Overall, Neiwert doesn't go through what is already public knowledge but also inserts a lot of information from experts working on radicalization / deradicalization. At the time of the decaying end of the Trump presidency and as he walks away, leaving us with the mess, this is an extremely important and timely book.
Disclaimer: I've been reading Neiwert ever since the olden days of his Orcinus blog and past book, Eliminationists and I'm a fan.