Two liberal publications, the Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones, have unexpectedly come under fire for stories seen by many as glamorizing Neo-Nazism.
The articles, “Alt-right architect Richard Spencer aims to make racism cool again” and “White nationalists dress up and come to Washington in hopes of influencing Trump” were posted November 19. Both publications reported on white nationalists heading to Washington to celebrate the victory of Donald Trump.
The National Policy Institute held a day long conference in the atrium of the Ronald Reagan federal building— during which on the agenda were topics such as “Trump and the New White Voter,” “America and the Jewish Consciousness,” and “The future of the alt-right.” Reportedly, several hundred people showed up.
Both stories attempted to decipher the alt movement through one of its main protagonists—the president of the Neo-Nazi group Richard Spencer. And this is where it got weird.
Mother Jones referred to Spencer as a “dapper white nationalist,” while the LA Times called the group a “new think thank” and referred to Spencer as “the up-and-coming intellectual voice of the movement.”
The Twitter outrage is unsurprising.
Yes, this is the guy who later in his interview with Mother Jones talks about racial supremacy of white people, who claims that Hispanics and African Americans have lower average IQs than whites and are more genetically predisposed to commit crimes.
But these kind of stories may not be the best choices for an insouciant tone and perhaps should avoid starting with:
“Richard Spencer uses chopsticks to deftly pluck slivers of togarashi-crusted ahi from a rectangular plate…”
or:
“Inside a beige meeting room at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, the buttoned-down millennials, in their dark suits and ties, settled in for the long conference day ahead.”
And look at these glamor shots.
The fuck is wrong with y'all pic.twitter.com/MAgaVA5P78
— Ira Madison III (@ira) November 21, 2016
"I'm not just a regular Nazi, I'm a cool Nazi" https://t.co/VV7kgv6Tv0
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) November 21, 2016
It's not even been 2 weeks since the election and these publications are profiling Nazis like they're hip entrepreneurs or something. pic.twitter.com/1QtDqkOHLl
— San (@sansdn) November 21, 2016
Hey @latimes have you apologised for glamourising neo nazis yet?
— Redcap ReaverBait (@ReaverBait) November 21, 2016
Oh, did you mean NEO-NAZI, @latimes? Um…hardly the "new think tank" I want to meet. https://t.co/bMYKd1Z4UT
— Margaux Susi (@MargauxSusi) November 21, 2016
I used to think not reading the news meant I was ignorant. Apparently i was just ahead of my time. @latimes @MotherJones
— Adam Passion (@the_human_man) November 21, 2016
Hey maybe @MotherJones wants to profile this dapper young lad as well? pic.twitter.com/7G7EZYwjuU
— Colby Klaus (@_lifestyled) November 21, 2016
Yes, I have mommy issues but only with Mother Earth, Mother Jones, and Mother Russia. Oh and also my mom.
— Deep Speights Nine (@ThomasAwful) November 21, 2016
DAPPER WHITE NATIONALIST. Are you fucking kidding me? #motherjones #losangelestimes https://t.co/P3SH3Quxpy
— Heather Wain (@lunalovebad__) November 21, 2016
