Common discourse tactics of the "Alt"-Right

therainbowspectator.wordpress.com /2025/02/12/common-tactics-of-the-alt-right/

Having risen out of obscure boards on 4chan and Reddit, the alt-right is a right-wing extremist movement that’s mostly decentralized. Despite this, they have become incredibly pervasive, not through logical argument, but through operating in a way that makes spotting and opposing them particularly tricky. This post shall act as a brief look into some of the tactics they employ, and how leftists can effectively counter them.

The Lulz

Never On The Defensive

I Decide What You Believe

Whataboutism

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse @sopuli.xyz

dumnezero @piefed.social

6d ago

Common discourse tactics of the "Alt"-Right

therainbowspectator.wordpress.com /2025/02/12/common-tactics-of-the-alt-right/

24 3

6 comments

The article matches my experiences.
I knew a guy, not MAGA, but a self-identified libertarian, with very bigoted and bad takes (racism, misogyny, general lack of empathy). His responses for being called out or criticized were:
This is a joke
You are too stupid to understand the joke
The joke I made is supposed to be making fun of people who say the same offensive things seriously (except the joke has no hint of irony or self-awareness)
You are too stupid to understand the point I am making
You don't know stuff about life
You lack EQ to understand my situation
General insults about intelligence
Why are you being an asshole to me?
Eventually, I also figured out that the only way to win is not to play the game. Shame, we were good friends back in the day.
- They don't deserve an argument, only mockery.

Innuendo Studios on YouTube has a great playlist explaining many Discourse tactics of the alt right:
The Alt-Right Playbook
- Yeah, this is my go to. Though, I'm not certain how the earlier ones stand up.

As someone with a lot of experienced interacting with the alt-right IRL (at work 😞) I gotta say, this is very accurate. Their methodology has become transparent to me, but I can't get others to see it as it happens. When I argue with them in front of a centrist, I am painted as unreasonable for taking them seriously (1), for always defending my points while they speak lies with confidence (2), for believing the crazy shit the other guy says I believe (3), and for being just as bad as them (4).
It's absolutely infuriating that these tactics work so well.

I find it best just not to engage with them at all. I know the argument can be made that it's for the benefit of other readers, but that's best done in a top-level comment imo

6 comments