What is the Alt-Right?

A disturbingly large number of liberals seem to think it’s very accurate to call the alt right just “Nazi’s, racists, and the KKK.” Grouping all your enemies under one label for the most efficient hatred is never a good idea, but I think in particular this conflation misses some really interesting things.

Have you seen the play Cabaret?

• If not, this post won’t make any sense to you. Go watch Cabaret. It’s amazing, and especially powerful this year.
• If you have, we’re talking the post-90’s version. Read on.

The alt-right is the Emcee.

Right? I mean Milo would act the hell out of this role. But really I’m talking about the whole hedonistic, riotous, irreverent, jaded group.

The Emcee is not some traditionalist puritan. He (or she, depending on casting) enjoys polyamory, homosexuality, gender bending, hedonism, and poking at saccharine nationalism.

But the Emcee also really hates your touchy feely sensitive politics. It’s funny to throw a brick through a Jewish grocer’s window. It’s funny to dress your girlfriend in a gorilla suit and call it a Jew. Doesn’t it just shock those bourgeois sensibilities? And hell those fascists who take themselves so seriously are just as fun to impersonate.

The Emcee hates politics really. Politics aren’t a reason to stop having fun. Politics just make him want to poke at your sacred cows. This sounds incredibly like the post-gamergate resentment faction that morphed into “say anything that upsets those SJW’s, even if it’s ironically worshipping an idiot wannabe-dictator.”

There’s a difference between those supporting Trump because they really believe he can bring back some pastoral image of American greatness, and those supporting Trump because it’s hilarious, and because they think liberals need to get over their political hangups.

And what’s important to remember, is that the Emcee was tragic. Once the Nazi’s actually had power, they rounded up all the minorities and all the deviants, and the Emcee gets shot in the head like everyone else.

The alt-right, as frustrating as they are, are deserving of our pity, for they will be killed by the Pandora’s box they have opened just as much as the rest of us.

Update: After posting this comparison, I got two criticisms that each tried to throw a wrench into the parallel:

• Isn't the Emcee Jewish though?
• But Milo is Jewish.