Objectification is generally perceived as a derogatory term that is both morally and socially problematic due to it reducing a human being to the status of a commodity stripped of their humanity. Entwined with the Kantian notion that treating another as an instrument is unethical, objectification has been primarily applied to the sexual realm by… Continue reading “Sexual objectification, epistemic objectification, and the far-right”
Toxic masculinity and masculine insecurity are easy targets for promoters of self-radicalization, leading more young men towards violence. Of the one hundred and thirty-three incidents of far-right terror carried out by individuals in the United States since 1995, all but one were perpetrated by men (SPLC, Terror From The Right). On a global scale, when… Continue reading “Toxic Masculinity and Lone Wolf Radicalization”
The far-right party’s behaviour has been very controversial, to say the least, in many aspects concerning women’s issues. On the 3rd of September, 2019 a political delegation from Iran visited the Spanish congress. The Iranian protocol dictated that men could not shake hands with women. Because of these requirements, the far-right party VOX announced that they… Continue reading “VOX and the rhetoric of gender violence”
On August 3, 2019, an armed gunman killed 22 and wounded 24 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Media reaction was swift, naming the act far-right violence due to the killer’s “anti-immigrant screed” and decision to target shoppers in a predominantly Hispanic area. Less than 24 hours later, a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio… Continue reading “The Psychology of Radical Right Violence: Social Dominance Orientation and the Cases of El Paso and Dayton”
It is more than 8 years since the massacre at Utøya and this year many local authorities ‘forgot’ to mark the 8th anniversary of the Utøya and Olso terror attacks, maybe because they were busy with the local elections. In the meantime, survivors continued to receive death threats and the political assault has still not… Continue reading “Frp in Norway – the end of the party?”
Violent language — even language that only gestures toward violence — creates its own effects and its own momentum, which it cannot always control. In February 1909, a strange new manifesto appeared, first in the Bologna-based Italian- language newspaper Gazzetta dell’ Emiliana, and then in French in Le Figaro. Readers of the declaration might have… Continue reading “When Angry Words Become Violent Actions”
How is public money disproportionately helping far right parties? The far right is generally more successful today than at any other point in recent history. The chart below shows the average vote-share of far-right parties in 20 ‘advanced democracies’. In the past 70 years, their share of the vote has dramatically increased. Yet even with… Continue reading “Funding the far right”
Last Sunday’s elections saw far-right party Vox doubling its seats to become the third largest political force in the Spanish parliament, in line with other European far-right parties. Catalonia, immigration and Franco are some of the reasons why. Spain seems to be experiencing a déjà vu, as socialist party PSOE has won the elections but… Continue reading “The end of Spanish exceptionalism”
The Nazis of my generation grew up. They have kids now. But they still carry the hate of their teenage years. On the day the Berlin Wall fell, as it happened, I almost died. Constipated from too much chocolate, I battled for my life in an east-Berlin hospital with my panic-stricken mother at my bedside,… Continue reading “30 years after the Berlin Wall fell, the far right has come of age”
An analysis of YouTube comments and tweets finds that anonymity online leads to the spread of fake news, conspiracy theories, and hate. In 2019, I was asked by the Commission into Countering Extremism to provide my insights into the role of extremism online and whether conspiracy theories about Muslims were leading to hate; both online and offline.… Continue reading “How Fake News Can Lead To Online Islamophobia”