Culture Warlords

Reads more like a memoir than an actual in-depth exploration of white supremacy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and there was certainly a lot of background in there, but I feel like there was a lot more to unpack. The last chapter, "We Keep Us Safe", is as relevant as ever and is probably the most important part of the book.

"Sifting through the details and observing the not-stop puerile nature of their speech, it can be easy to wonder what the point of decoding all of this hate is. Isn't it just hate? Aren't these just losers pontificating and arguing on the internet.

The thing about hate though, is that it metastasizes. The thing about channels that are filled 24 hours a day with stochastic violence, testosterone filled megaphones shouting for blood is that sooner or later, someone is going to take them up on it. From Robert Bowers to Anders Breivik to Brenton Tarrant, racist networks have proven over and over again that the steady dissemination of murderous propaganda leaves a trail of blood behind it.

And when that happens, being able to trace, isolate, and identify these ideologies means that racists can hide behind slippery code words or private vocabularies. In identifying their inspirations and their ideological and theological motivations we give them less room to operate in the shadows. We less room to be the mysterious nightmare creatures they so long to be."

Talia Lavin writes beautifully and passionately to protect the people she loves from meaningless violence. Her work decoding white supremacy is worth your time: slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1487029116