Reddit mentions of Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

It’s utterly mortifying, and heartbreaking. This person wrote that shit with complete confidence in their perception of the world and their superiority in it. They have not even a scintilla of awareness or doubt or shame. I don’t fully understand how anyone could get like this. I’m about to start reading a book about a young man who grew up as a white supremacist but then, through the patience and care of some new friends, changed his views. It’s called Rising Out of Hatred by Eli Saslow. I heard about it on the podcast “With Friends Like These”.

I feel like I need to try to understand how that comment could happen. How the virulent hatred I see on T_D and MGTOW and Voat became acceptable and normal for some people who grew up in the same country I have, with the same popular culture. Every individual experience is different, like there are 300 million versions of America, but somehow a huge portion of my peers seem to live in a particular America that I do not remotely recognize, and that terrifies me.

I read (and frequently recommend) Jon Ronson’s fascinating book Them: Adventures With Extremists where he spends time with hateful people like a not-yet-famous-but-definitely-nuts Alex Jones and with a bunch of families at a KKK meeting. It’s compelling stuff, but I feel like I need to know more. It’s one reason I hang out in this sub, to keep an eye on what the average yet extreme bigots are thinking and saying.

On a more cheerful note, I came across something that made me think of you after our side conversation about makeup. A Sylvia Plath fan should coordinate their lipstick with this T-shirt and necklace! I’m obsessed with this company, Out of Print. My favorite book of all time is a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and they even make a tee of that! I wish could spend thousands and wear a different book shirt every day. Anyway, that’s a little more lighthearted way to end this depressing comment contemplating the ugly and in my mind practically profane attitudes expressed in that disgusting thread. Not that Plath is especially cheery, but, well, you know what I mean!

Just a sidenote to this, the Derek he refers to is Derek Black, the son of the creator of Stormfront, godson of David Duke and ex prodigal son of the white nationalist movement. I say ex because he renounced all his racist beliefs and broke free from the movement. A book--written by a Pulitzer-winning WP reporter--just came out about him last month. I really recommend it.

https://www.amazon.com/Rising-Out-Hatred-Awakening-Nationalist-ebook/dp/B078LJKP88/