[komerdoor]

Alt-right? How did a term made up on 4chan get so popular and taken seriously (/pol where I saw this term used for the first time). It really has no meaning at all only to find a opposite alternative to (the also misused term) regressive-left. Before last year people did not even identify as such. People that now do identify as such do not even seem legit and behave like actors (the same feeling I have with people like Alex Jones).

Now even people I would call moderate / left-leaning are now called alt-right (a term they do not use for themselves).

[davidgerard]

It wasn't - it was the usual short form of "Alternative Right", a magazine (and now blog) founded by Richard Spencer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Right

[DiNovi]

IMO younger 4channers (18-23 set) that I have met in person strongly identify this way.

It's odd cause 10 years ago 4chan trolled in the exact different direction. Would love to read a book about political reckonings that come from this tiny dark corner of the net.

[komerdoor]

But as far as I now the timeline is as follows (cannot find the 4chan threads anymore, so no proof this time):

- Aug/Sep 2016 (or a short while before that): People made up thr term "alt-right" to be used as the opposite of "regressive-left". People there did not call themselves that.

- Oct 2016: 4chan was mostly busy with all the Wikileaks stuff and I did not see the term used that much.

- Oct (end)/Nov 2016: Some people (not even on 4chan started to call many things that are pro-Trump or "tried to be" objective (non Trump or Hillary) alt-right.

The general message that started to come up at that time: "The alt-right are spreading fake news".

- Dec 2016/Jan 2017: People suddenly started to identify themselves with alt-right.

Update:

Google trends timeline: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%2012-m&q...

[DiNovi]

alt right is from waaaaaay longer ago than September. It's all an out growth of "gamer gate" nonsense. Milo and Cernovich were both "gamer gaters." Bannon ran gaming message boards before Breitbart, where he met Milo. He figured out how to use messaging like his to target these people for less savory purposes.

[komerdoor]

I know the whole movement that got Trump elected started from this but at that time it was as far as I know not called alt-right (because I remember the thread on 4chan were they actually made it up).

Yes, the division between groups (pro/anti) created while gamergate was going on were about the same. On one side people calling for social justice on the other side the people that in a way are against social justice + the ones that did not want to choose a side.

At the beginning gamergate was just about ethics in journalism (mostly in gaming).

[piaste]

From what I saw, "alt-right" had existed for a whole in blogs and webzines, but it really became popular during the Republican primaries.

The Trump and (early on) Carson supporters needed a term to distinguish themselves from the established Republican base, consisting largely of neocons and evangelicals, with their rather different ideological concerns. "Alt-right" offered the vaguely young/edgy and sans-culottesque character they needed.

[DiNovi]

Gamergate was never about ethics in journalism(games reviews being journalism is a whole other thing, but, cmon). It was about being mad because you were undersexed and lonely, and someone offering you a way to channel that desperation into misogyny and a false feeling of control* and community*.

[komerdoor]

Yes I agree. It did not take long before it started getting into a fight not being about game journalism anymore but about more diversity in games, misogyny, racism etc.

[mhneu]

Russian influence has come in too -- the right laid the groundwork by polarizing people to make money (Limbaugh, Bannon). But Russia now influences them.

Example: Cernovich works with Fairbanks who is employed by Russian propaganda site Sputnik.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics...

[LyndsySimon]

I believe the cultural swing of 4chan and related social groups started with Gamergate. They began to see themselves as the enemies of the "SJW" movement, which is closely aligned with the Democrats in the US.

[mhneu]

US Senate has said those groups are being targeted by Russian disinformation. Certainly US polarized environment laid the groundwork, but the alt right is now being manipulated by foreign entities.

Same with Farage in the UK - he's worked with Russia.

See http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/insider-the-alt-right-al... Russia has log bankrolled Europe's far right. http://observer.com/2016/10/putins-support-for-europes-far-r...

[koolba]

I think the opposite would be the Control-Left

[komerdoor]

As far as I know that term was made up a short time after alt-right (luckily it did not get as popular):

https://medium.com/@Roran_Stehl/forget-social-justice-warrio...

[koolba]

If you translate them to commands for a FPS (e.g. Quake), one would be strafing in one direction and the other is firing continuously while spinning in a circle. Both seem apt.