alternative right was a term coined by Spencer's "mentor" Paul Gottfried." Spencer shortened it to alt-right probably because it sounds modern.
However what the alt-right was originally and what it is these days is different. alt-right has been utilised as another branding term to label people who aren't mainstream whether they be the meme crowd that aren't racist yet use racism as way to offend (despite them being of all different races anyway) or those that are just "renegades" or people who consider themself not to be mainstream (like not Lib/Lab/Con in the UK) and so adpot the label because it is meaningless.
It is meaningless because the mainstream have done what they always do and utilise a "toxic" group to brand lots of people who are just not mainstream.
Like I said. Spencer's "alt-right" is a few hundred idiots raising their arm in a hall. They meet up, they have gatherings. They have zero influence on the internet. The part of the "alt-right" that does have influence because of its numbers across the internet is not Spencer's group of twonks in that hall.
Spencer's group is akin to somethng like the UK national front or BNP. teeny tiny. The rest of the alt-right is lots of non mainstream that have views on the left and right. They don't fit into any specific label because there is such a vast variety in opinion within what is now considered "alt-right." Point being that the media and mainstream are desperate to brand anything right or left of mainstream as something and lots of people don't care anymore because of all the labels.
So I might get called alt-right because I don't marry up to the neo-liberal only acceptable path. Corbyn's lot are called marxists and communists because they don't marry up to the neo-liberal only acceptable path. Progressives quickly label everything that disagrees with them. Progressives idea of progress is along their narrowly defined line. No deviance from that line. Anyone who wants to deviate the slightest amount is extreme.
So UKIP are called fascist. Socialists are called communists. People that get labelled have become sick of the labels and ignore them. Instead of spending hours denying it is much easier to say "OK" and get on with what you were doing.
The mainstream is so confused. The BBC toured Europe to interview people in many different countries to then gleefully announce
"the "alt-right" seem to contradict each other and have no fixed set of beliefs. One arm doesn't know what the other arm is doing." The reporter was so happy about the disarray.
Point being that they assume the "alt-right" is what they have defined it as. They try and equate the "alt-right" to how political parties work when it isn't a political party. Most of the people that are calling themselves alt-right are just accepting the label rather than waste their time denying it. What is the point when mainstream will just keep repeating it if you keep denying it. So you will find lots and lots of people who accept the label alt-right that disagree with each other and are not at all racist or white supremacist.
And because the "progressive" left have been brandishing the labels then the "outcasts", which are what the alt-right in this day and age really is, return the favour and we now have lots of people using the centre's tactics of grouping and labelling. So I will say Leftists, Liberals etc.
Am I "alt-right"? I don't think so, I'm definitely not on the same book let alone page as Spencer's lot, but I don't fit into the Lib/Lab/Con model nor do I support UKIP. I might vote Tory but that doesn't mean I agree with everything they do. The way world politics are can you ever see a fringe party challenging at the top table? Nope so it is much easier to gather your numbers and influence the major parties. And then you get the Tories pushing slightly to the right where they should be and Labour being influenced by Momentum. I do my fair share of sharing and commenting. Not wholesale though. I pick and choose what I agree with.
Hence why if you look back pages when Corbyn's manifesto came out I said that it will appeal to many. I don't think it will work but it does appeal. And I don;t like Fallon nor May that much. To me she has so far been very good on Brexit (talk) and I agree about Grammar schools but the rest is the same nothingness as when she was home secretary. If people remember back at the Leadership contest I was pushing for Leadsom. Gove was never a contender there. He stood to stop Boris and then make sure Crabb and Fox were eliminated. Before Leadsom announced she would stand I was part of a group that pushed support for Leadsom. Nothing to do with Tories. We ended up with lots of shares and then people also started their own Leadsom groups. 4 days later she announced. Nearly worked
Does that make me "alt-right?" I am in that sphere where I am one number that can add to lots of others and large numbers can then push things much further. Social media means a hundred people can muster support very quickly and turn that few hundred into thousands of shares and likes.
It isn't about the left or the right doing it. It is the non mainstream doing it. Corbyn isn't mainstream. Leadsom wasn't mainstream. We had lots of left people that supported Brexit joining in the Leadsom push!!! Nothing to do with left or right. Non mainstream types utilising what they can do from their armchair to influence things.
