Reader Question: Loving the Alt-Right

You always talk about love. Aren't you supposed to love the Alt-Right, too? -Anonymous
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I've had a few messages from "Anonymouses" (Anonymi?) lately, and this was the nicest (and best spelled) of the bunch, so we're going to answer this one, partially in hopes that this will stay a family friendly show.

Yes, it is true, I harp on and on about the importance of loving one another. It's a key part of my theology it applies to everyone. I will admit I am not the best at actually following through, but yes, I am supposed to love members of the alt-Right as much as any other subset of humanity.

But what exactly that means isn't quite so clear cut as people seem to think.

The Alt-Right has a fascinating (and horrifying) mindset in which they feel that they are free from the consequences of their actions. They march with torches in Charlottesville and are "surprised" that people don't take kindly to it, or that businesses do not want to have employees who are viewed, nationally, as racists. They harp on endlessly about the First Amendment and rarely in cases where the First Amendment applies, but nearly always to make the point; "What I am saying should not have negative consequences for me."

They are led in this currently by the American President, a man who clearly thinks that he can do whatever he wants with no negative consequences, and actively tantrums when that proves not to be the case. He did it during the election, he's doing it now, we've grown so used to it that it hardly even gets any mention anymore. It's like an old dog who can't stop peeing on the floor, eventually you just sigh, pat him on the head and clean up the mess. Cute for an old pet, worrying for a sitting President.

It even seems like that desire for freedom from consequences pushes the "anxieties" that get so much press in the forming of these groups. Trouble finding a job, or not getting enough respect in the job you have? Nah, it's probably nothing to do with you, it's the Jews keeping you down, or the blacks, or the immigrants, or the liberals, the faults of the world landing squarely on everyone else.

(Hey, Dan, wasn't this going to be about LOVING them?) Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there.

Love is a powerful force. It is, I suspect, the strongest force in the world. But Love, done correctly, isn't about giving people what they want, but what they need. The tantruming toddler wants cake for lunch, but mommy gives him vegetables. The drug addict just wants another fix, but loved ones send them to counseling and treatment.

There was a powerful article out there about the family of an alt-right marcher who begged him to give up his hateful ways, and warned him that until he did, he was no longer welcome with them. That's hard, hard love. I don't know if I could do it with my daughter. But they saw that their son needed to recognize that his actions had consequences, and that marching with groups like "Unite the Right" was indeed a harmful action, rather than the "peaceful gathering" they claimed they wanted.

We don't love the Alt-Right by caving to their demands, or by ignoring them until they go away. They are on a truly awful path, one customed designed to take angry young people and militarize so they can be used to victimize others. We love them by calling them on their horribleness, removing their leaders, de-radicalizing them and helping them to reintegrate with a society built on diversity and hope, rather than anxiety and fear.

They want their cake. But if we love them, we need to give them vegetables.

White Supremacism is ALWAYS violent.

Let's be completely clear. There is no such thing as a peaceful White Supremacist rally. The moment the Swastika and the Confederate flags are displayed the event becomes inherently violent, because those flags represent extreme violence towards others; both of them representing genocide and slavery.

(And before you take issue with me putting them together like that, you might first take issue with the fact that they both keep showing up at these rallies. You can say two people aren't friends, but when they always attend the same parties...)

You cannot have a "peaceful, reasonable" discussion when one side thinks that genocide and slavery are acceptable outcomes. There is no compromise with hatred.

And by failing to condemn the actions of the alt-right, by clinging to a concept of "well, both sides..." Donald Trump's failure, yet again, to be a voice against terror when that terror is carried out by white people against his political enemies is the only indication anyone should need of his unsuitability for office.