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Twitter Reinstates White Nationalist Leader's Account (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader quotes BuzzFeed: On Saturday evening, Twitter reinstated -- with verification -- the account of Richard Spencer, a leading figure of the so-called alt-right movement, and the head of the white nationalist think tank, The National Policy Institute. Spencer's account was suspended mid-November as part of a larger cull of prominent alt-right accounts... However, according to Twitter, Spencer was banned on a technicality: creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses. Twitter's multiple account policy was put in place as a safeguard to help curb dog piling and targeted harassment. [Twitter] offered to reinstate one of Spencer's accounts if he agreed to follow the company's protocols.
Vox says the move "raises the question of to what extent Twitter intends to enforce the 'hateful conduct' policy." But the suspension had also been criticized by David Frum, a senior editor at the Atlantic, who wrote that "The culture of offense-taking, platform-denying, and heckler-vetoing...lets loudmouths and thugs present themselves as heroes of free thought. They do not deserve this opportunity... today, a neo-Nazi has more right to build an arsenal of weapons and drill a militia than to speak on Twitter." But BuzzFeed points out that though the account's been reinstated, Spencer "is now tip-toeing around the company's three strike policy, which carries a permanent suspension."

13 of 470 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"White Nationalist" is racist term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Spencer wants to create a nation of just white people. That's what is meant by the term.

  2. Re:Call it what it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    "alt-right" is a concept intended primarily as a smear tactic by the Hillary campaign. White nationalists are hand-in-hand with the liberals in adopting it as a label. Since it is completely undefined, you can use it as a smear.

          There's aren't any "white nationalists", KKK members, etc, in the Trump team, nor will there be. Both of these groups are utterly insignificant idiots, and have been denounced and denigrated time and time again by Trump and anyone else in his circle

         

    You know we have videotape and records right? A ten second web search yielded this information

    Trump himself is a hero to these people. What you think anyone is really buying the crap about trump being concerned about obama's birthplace? No, it was a transparently obvious attempt to delegitimize the first black president from the very beginning and it lasted just long enough to do what it needed to do. At the time Trump accused Obama of playing the best con in history, which was a bit of insight into how Trump thinks. He was lying of course, but I think even then he was thinking of playing the best con in history.

    Sure on some level trump is likely racist, but mostly he is for Trump and is more than willing to deal with any racists that come along, as long as they support him. It is the same with Putin. We know Putin is a murderer. Too many of his enemies turn up dead. One even from polonium poisoning, but lead poisoning is the usual reason.

    We also know he had a campaign manager with major Russian ties. We know they bent over backward to get him elected, though to be fair it was probably more to prevent Hillary. We know that he is bending himself in a pretzel to say that all of our intelligence agencies are stupid and wrong, and only he is right on russia and of course now Trump is appointing Russia's best friend in the most important position he has.

    I wonder if he is afraid of his own polonium poisoning, or if there is actual marching orders. Heck, we even know that Trump is ignoring almost all of his intelligence briefings.

    His decisions will cause deaths. All presidents decisions do. His uninformed decisions are bound to cause a lot more, but he is just too busy to do the damn job. Disgusting. Seriously, can you imagine Romney or McCain refusing to be kept up to date on threats?

  3. Re:Call it what it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Get a grip. Trump has not remotely denounced white nationalists. The last youtube ad they ran was a straightforward white nazi dogwhistle.

    The 'alt-right' term emerged, essentially from the alt-right itself. Spencer popularised the phrase, and even had a website called "Alternative Right".

    You don't get to blame your identity on your foes when people decide your identity is toxic.

  4. Re:Fuck Twitter appeasement by Jzanu · · Score: 3, Informative

    Check your court ruling, it doesn't work that way.

  5. Re:KKK is an Terrorist Organization by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Convenient list that ignores 49 killed in the name of Islam in Miami. That attack ALONE outstrips all those the Guardian totals up over 14 years as attributable to the KKK and white nationalists. They have an agenda, obviously, and because it goes along with your own agenda - you champion it. Even though it's missing GROSS chunks of attacks (San Bernardino anyone?)

    Also interesting that the total starts AFTER 9/11 - giving a few thousand head start to the Islamic terrorists... But then, to offset that, you'd have to go back to the KKK in the pre-civil-rights movement, when it was the DEMOCRAT ENFORCEMENT wing with proud member Robert "sheets" Byrd and Fullbright (BilL Clinton's idol) leading the charge against those uppity black folks...

  6. Re:"White Nationalist" is racist term by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 5, Informative

    A nationalist (of any skin color) simply wants government to put the interests of his nation first

    White nationalist doesn't mean a nationalist who happens to be white and I think you know that. It means they are promoting a white nation, which historically has meant KKK-style antics. Black nationalism is different because, as a minority, they had to separate. There was never a black KKK that went around lynching white people.

  7. Re:"White Nationalist" is racist term by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Informative

    > A nationalist (of any skin color) simply wants government to put the interests of his nation first, above those of other nations generally

    Right, that's what a "nationalist" is. A (race) Nationalist is a *fundamentally different term*, however. It means someone who wants a nation to support a race in some manner, often by sorting people by race. That's why modern nationalists (with no racial preference) often identify themselves as civic nationalists, in case the term "nationalist" is misconstrued.

    I've seen the general meme you are throwing around in a few places, and I wonder if it came from a chan or a discord, maybe some lolplot. Or maybe it's just an honest misunderstanding that a lot of folks ended up with somehow. A White Nationalist, or a Black Nationalist ultimately wants to establish a nation based on some (often modern and ahistoric) understanding of a people or race. That's why that racial adjective is there: it is not saying "a civic nationalist who is (race)", but instead talking about someone who often wants to sunder an existing country in some fashion, and is often only a few steps away from stuff far more horrifying than that.

  8. Re:Right to free speech by Serge_Tomiko · · Score: 3, Informative

    It has nothing to do with Germany. The closest example would be Israel. Would you say Israel deserves destruction for wanting to have a country just for Jews?

  9. Re:An example by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Informative

    but Obama has decided that Iran should really have nuclear weapons and proceeded to make sure they have enough money and a nuclear program to make it happen.

    Unlike Ronald Reagan, who just gave them the fucking weapons they wanted so they could use them against us.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  10. "so called alt-right movement" by cfalcon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The "alt-right" was developed as a term to describe groups of conservatives who are not mainstream conservatives or establishment Republicans. As a classification term, it didn't imply racism- it encompassed several different groups of thought. I'm not sure how it was turned into a "movement", despite all these groups not really identifying as such, but I know that if you change "a classification for non-mainstream conservatives" into "a movement that accepts neo-nazis", you've totally redefined the term. Probably with the purpose of painting the non-mainstream conservatives with a neo-nazi brush, despite there being a decent number of the former, and only a handful of jackhats in the latter.

    Regardless, it is done, and it happened super fast and recently. Already, the non-racist conservatives who are not mainstream have begun rebranding themselves to make plain that they are not "alt-right", because now the term just means "neo-nazi".

  11. Re:Fuck Twitter appeasement by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's feminists who are pissed off about FB's ban on non-sexual images that (gasp!) involve a breast.

    I think you're misinterpreting what I'm saying. People are getting tired of being pressured to go against the grain of their biology just because it offends somebody else, and the mere fact that you're a minority can be used to justify your sins. These things, IMO, have resulted in the alt-right.

    Did I not convey that properly?

  12. Re:Call it what it is by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Informative

    Get a grip. Trump has not remotely denounced white nationalists.

    Why should a president denounce any group of people? What good would that do? If it's not illegal why alienate people unnecessarily even if you strongly disagree with their ideology? Is this how you work to build the legitimacy of your office and country?

    Trump has said a number of times he does not support nor does he seek the support of these groups. Obviously it will never be quite clear enough for race baiting media perpetually pushing racial narratives to enrich themselves.

    The last youtube ad they ran was a straightforward white nazi dogwhistle

    The code word / dog whistle is a magical device granting the invoker unlimited power to invent whatever connections fit their predetermined narrative.

    If Trump loves the KKK or whatever your claim is your probably much better off convincing others by providing direct credible evidence to support your claims. It's fricking Trump shouldn't be that hard.

  13. Re:Fuck Twitter appeasement by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Informative

    That certainly seems to be a common misconception, popularized by fake news sites like Breitbart. In reality, to pick up your example, being transgender comes with a number of challenges and certainly doesn't convey immunity from the law.

    As for biology, I'm afraid you will be expected to overcome it on a regular basis in modern society. You may feel like resolving your problems with violence, or grabbing that guy's crotch, but you won't be able to excuse that behaviour by saying "it's my biological imperative!"

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC