The Alt-Right and the Right to Be Wrong

Albert Camus said, “There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide,” and Albert was not entirely alone in his quest. Sartre, Schopenhauer, and the existentialists as a whole accept as a premise that right and wrong are relative—that there can be no absolute in a world defined by absurdity and entropy.

All debates, I believe, must begin with that understanding and end there too. We are none of us greater than the laws which define existence, and few if any of us will transcend the human condition which stratifies and compels us. As individuals, we may be unlimited, but we are flawed as well. All judgement should end with an understanding that right and wrong are much too complicated to levy moralistic conviction; that determinism, free will, fate, and faith are always dancing.

With that understanding, we draft a constitution which says that all men are created equal, and we march slowly towards a society governed by the people, and for the people. With that understanding, we crush fascism.

This piece is written in 2017, in the era of Trump by a citizen who's earliest political consciousness was watching New York and the world's Twin Towers fall prey to consequences of dirty interventionist politics. Interventionist politics not dictated by racism, but by classism, elitism, and ruling class greed.

If 9/11 taught the American people one thing, it taught us that we are, at heart, a strong people. New Yorkers rallied around each other. We rallied around the courage and bravery of our police, our firefighters, our medics, and the countless other professionals and volunteers who sacrificed life and limb to save what few lives could be saved in the face of the terror of death and the terror of uncertainty.

We came together.

We were no more the same in 2001 than we are today, but we came together.

Today, we are far from 2001 in many ways. Presently, we enjoy a healthy economy, we have some of the greatest contemporary minds in Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sergei Brin, Larry Page, and Bill Gates pushing technology forward not only in its capacity for production, but in tech's responsibility to foster a larger conversation about the ethics of labor and corporate impact. Socially speaking, we've taken great strides with our respect for homosexuals, women, and citizens are pushing forward to fight racism, gender discrimination, and the inequalities in our healthcare system.

All the while, our government is profoundly disconnected from the people. With an all time low president and a rigged system which cost the American people Bernie Sanders in favor of a politician who couldn't beat Donald Trump, who has surprised very few in his abject failure as a person, much less a politician.

In the face of this true dichotomy, it seems we've forgotten how critical our most prized virtue has been in the progress we have made. We have come dangerously close to forsaking one of the reasons we rose from British rule and set out on the journey called the United States of America.

As a socialist, as a Jew, as a humanist, and as a rational person—I do not support, condone, accept or endorse racism. As a socialist, as a Jew, as a humanist, and as a rational person—I will defend the rights for all people to speak their mind until I am incarcerated for doing so.

The alt-right is an idiot's party. It is a home for bitter, irresponsible, immature and stupid people. It, like every explicitly racist organization I've come across, is a place for disenfranchised white people to blame others for their failures to prosper in the way they believe they are entitled to. It is a way to shift the blame from one's self to an alien group who have very little if anything to do with the root issue.

But they are still people, and as people, they have the right to believe as they choose.

They have no right to intimidation, to violence, to legislate, or to actually impact the lives of others, but we must let them exist. We must let them reveal themselves so that we may welcome them and defeat racism in the only way racism will ever be defeated—with education and integration.

As citizens, we must remember that so many of our friends and neighbors were shunned, were hated, were disavowed. Those of us who enjoy harmony are better for it, and our families have learned much from the journey.

Let us welcome Neo-Nazis to the table not because they deserve respect as individuals, or because they might enlighten us to some inherent truth we don't understand, but because it's what's best for us as a society.

Should we allow them to push us against our ideals, then they've conquered us in one respect, and that's one respect too many.

And the conversation ends there, for me at least. I don't disavow violence in all situation, I support and participate in Antifa and I believe that as soon as violence is initiated all bets are off. I believe that we exist in a state of class warfare executed so well that most remain ignorant to the potential of a more egalitarian society. I participate in that war as a protestor, as a voter, as a community member, and as a black hoodie owning young person.

I will not let hate or ignorant people push me to fight against one of my most prized beliefs. I hope that in time, the civilized will welcome the alt right to the table and respond to their grievances, as incorrect as they may be, with logic, fairness, and compassion.

Defeat hate with compassion. Defeat ignorance with wisdom. Defeat Trump with solidarity.