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A review by dominic_t
Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse by Shane Burley
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
This was an interesting look at the history, development, and ideology of the alt right. It felt oddly dated; part of that is on me for reading it 4 years after it came out, but I think it would have felt dated in 2021. He talked a lot about the activities of the alt right up through 2018. He said that the alt right fell out of favor around that time, but I was left questioning what their lasting impact was and what happened to all the people involved. Did they migrate to other movements? Are they still around in some form? What are all the online edgelords doing now? The book was published in 2021, so there are 3 years basically unaccounted for. It was interesting history, but I don't think he did a great job of demonstrating how most of this continued to be relevant around the time of publication. The alt right fell apart as a movement before this was published, but it still felt like a significant chunk of this book was about countering the alt right. I think he could have done more to explicitly show how lessons learned from countering the alt right could be applied to the 2021 iteration of US fascism.
Even though it didn't all feel currently relevant, it was still interesting to hear about how the alt right developed. It was interesting to hear how they tried and failed to connect with less extreme conservatives, and I was also interested in the discussion of the intellectual underpinnings of the alt right. There were entire publishing houses dedicated to providing a pseudointellectual foundation for their white nationalism.
I think my two favorite essays were "The Continuing Appeal of Antisemitism" and "Chase the Black Sun." The antisemitism essay talked about how people have the inclination to pick a specific scapegoat to blame for everything wrong with society because structural analysis isn't as emotionally cathartic, and Jewish people often fill that role. He also talked about how antisemitism can show up in leftist spaces. Jewish people aren't believed about their oppression, antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories end up getting platformed, and antisemitic groups end up in coalitions. He talked about how criticizing Israel isn't antisemitic, but there can be antisemitism in pro-Palestine spaces.
"Chase the Black Sun" was about men's groups and how patriarchal socialization of men often leaves men trying to fill an emotional void. A lot of right-wing men's groups fill the void with misogyny, toxic masculinity, and white nationalism. He talked about how men can create supportive communities to overcome toxic masculinity and build something better. He quoted The Will to Change by bell hooks, and that just reinforced my desire to read it.
Even though it didn't all feel currently relevant, it was still interesting to hear about how the alt right developed. It was interesting to hear how they tried and failed to connect with less extreme conservatives, and I was also interested in the discussion of the intellectual underpinnings of the alt right. There were entire publishing houses dedicated to providing a pseudointellectual foundation for their white nationalism.
I think my two favorite essays were "The Continuing Appeal of Antisemitism" and "Chase the Black Sun." The antisemitism essay talked about how people have the inclination to pick a specific scapegoat to blame for everything wrong with society because structural analysis isn't as emotionally cathartic, and Jewish people often fill that role. He also talked about how antisemitism can show up in leftist spaces. Jewish people aren't believed about their oppression, antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories end up getting platformed, and antisemitic groups end up in coalitions. He talked about how criticizing Israel isn't antisemitic, but there can be antisemitism in pro-Palestine spaces.
"Chase the Black Sun" was about men's groups and how patriarchal socialization of men often leaves men trying to fill an emotional void. A lot of right-wing men's groups fill the void with misogyny, toxic masculinity, and white nationalism. He talked about how men can create supportive communities to overcome toxic masculinity and build something better. He quoted The Will to Change by bell hooks, and that just reinforced my desire to read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia