White Supremecists Slay 49 in NZ Mosques

[Dill]

(03-18-2019, 05:22 PM)Matt_Crimson Wrote: Just because five hundred white guys were sitting on their couches and saw Donald Trump win the presidency and went "YEAH GO WHITE PEOPLE" and decided to join some racist groups that vary in sizes ranging from a track and field team to a high school gym class, does not mean "White supremacy is on the rise" in any real meaningful sense that translates into a massive problem of white supremacy taking hold of the world. But that’s what the media wants you to believe.
 
The world has changed Dill. Whites are increasingly becoming a minority and the world as a whole is becoming increasingly more moral. This is not a great recipe for white supremacy.
 
To act as if white supremacy is some huge problem like it was in the past is to deny the fact that the world has been substantially progressing towards a more moralistic environment, and that any regressions popping up in today's society are nothing more than anomalies in current times where the immoral ideology of white supremacy is fading more than it is "rising". As I mentioned earlier, the fact that "Only whites can be white supremacists but anyone can be an Islamic extremist" gives a far greater advantage to Islamic extremists. Even more so, the increasing moralistic view of the world that I just mentioned also adds to this advantage, because more people are losing their sense of "superiority" and becoming more accepting of different races, cultures, religions, sexes, etc.....
 
This is why I have such a problem with the comparisons. They don’t translate how these comparisons matter realistically today, and when examining the realities of these two groups, you will find that they aren’t really all that comparable.

A thoughtful response, in which your point is made much clearer than in your initial post. Given the length, though, it will be more manageable if I respond in parts, so here is part I.

Let’s start by affirming where we agree:

First, I agree that globally, white supremacist ideology is more limited in reach than Islamist. People in China and India are not flocking to political parties and groups advocating deportation of non-whites.

Second, I agree that more people are presently being killed by Islamists in the Middle East and Africa where state control has broken down.  The body count is higher in global numbers.

Where we do not agree:

First, you say that if “Whites are increasingly becoming a minority and the world as a whole is becoming increasingly more moral. This is not a great recipe for white supremacy.” I say you have this exactly backwards. The message of white supremacy appeals precisely to white people in places where they feel their numbers and/or privilege is challenged and diminished by immigration.  As a result of this appeal, the world is not becoming “more moral” (by non-supremacist definitions).  Rather, we see countries in Central Europe, like Poland and Hungary, moving from liberal to illiberal democracy—following the footsteps of Russia. In Germany is not in danger yet, but the first far right party to enter the Bundestag since the end of WWII won 94 of 598 seats in the 2017 election.  Similar danger in France and Italy. This turn to the right involves tens of millions of European voters.  Add to this the increasing turn to illiberal government outside Europe (though not motivated by white supremacy), and this represents to me a more serious Global danger than terrorism perpetrated by Islamists, mostly against other Muslims in Africa and the Middle East.

Second, in the US, where there are many more white people worried about impending minority status than there are Muslims, the threat of white supremacist terrorism is greater.  The last five years have shown a rise in the number of hate crimes, according to sources like the FBI and the Southern Poverty law Center.  While Islamist terrorism worldwide (including the US) has dropped rather precipitously over the last three years, right wing terrorism has taken a sharp upturn in the U.S. https://qz.com/1355874/terrorism-is-surging-in-the-us-fueled-by-right-wing-extremists/
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/05/politics/global-terrorism-index-2018/index.html

So it's not a matter of 500 guys sitting on a couch or some such. It is matter of statistical occurrence--e.g., 37 right wing terrorist attacks in 2017 vs. 7 from Islamists.