When Barack Obama was elected as president of the United States in 2008 many people were ecstatic
+
ecstatic:
eufórica
. The world economy was in crisis, but at least the left, the liberals as they are called in America, had won the culture war. This confrontation of ideals over social issues such as women’s rights, sexual orientation, race, migration, religion and the environment, divided the ‘progressive’ left and the ‘conservative’
+
progressive and conservative:
progresista y conservadora
right.
trump on twitter
Eight years later and a billionaire businessman and reality TV show celebrity became president. Donald Trump’s campaign promises included banning
+
to ban:
prohibir, vetar
all Muslims entering the US and building a wall along the border with Mexico. While his style of doing politics through coarse
+
coarse:
grosero
, impulsive tweets shocked as many Republicans as Democrats, his supporters saw him as an outspoken
+
outspoken:
directo, franco
but honest voice of the people, someone who could stand up
+
to stand up:
alzarse frente
to big corporations and the elite political classes.
A NEW FACE
Trump’s success has been attributed to the support of a shady
+
shady:
turbio
online movement called the ‘alt-right’, which is short for ‘alternative right’. This new face of the far right – with its core
+
core:
núcleo
of fascists, xenophobes and misogynists – had rebranded
+
rebranded:
con una imagen renovada
itself as a group of freedom fighters
+
freedom fighters:
luchadores por la libertad
.
US AND THEM
Supported by Steve Bannon, a media entrepreneur and Trump’s former
+
former:
antiguo, ex
adviser, the alt-right gained force. Generic symbols were used and targets adopted that easily distinguished ‘us’ from ‘them’. Women were, and are, common targets
+
targets:
objetivos
– many white heterosexual men considered themselves the ‘victims’ of both feminists and minority groups, and organised themselves against their apparent discrimination.
TEAM BUILDING
While the left attacked its own on social media platforms such as Tumblr or Twitter, often for not being politically correct enough, the right took over
+
to take over:
conquistar
chat forums such as 4chan or Reddit, where
it spread bigotry through catchy memes
+
SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
It spread bigotry through catchy memes:
"Propagan la intolerancia a través de memes pegadizos". En su acepción original, un meme –pronunciado “míim”– es una idea o concepto que se transmite culturalmente. En el entorno de internet, los memes se reducen a una imagen más o menos graciosa acompañada de un texto breve e irónico.
. While it claimed to be defending freedom of speech
+
freedom of speech:
libertad de expresión
, bullying tactics disguised as irony
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bullying tactics disguised as irony:
tácticas de intimidación disfrazadas de ironía
were used with the ultimate goal of stopping advancement on social issues. Tasteless
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tasteless:
de mal gusto
humour proved successful in attracting support for the alt-right; a click on a link could be confused with a statement of affiliation
+
a statement of affiliation:
una declaración de afiliación
, a high number of views encouraged others to want to be in on the joke
+
to be in on the joke:
participar en la broma
.
kill all normies
Now midway through
+
midway through:
a medio camino
his first term
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term:
legislatura
, Trump rose to power
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rose to power:
se alzó con el poder
on a countercultural wave
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wave:
ola
that used the internet as a battleground
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battleground:
campo de batalla
and a weapon to persuade and entertain voters. Yet according to Angela Nagle, whose book Kill All Normies
+
SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
Kill All Normies:
"Muerte a los normies". Los normies del título del libro de Nagel son las ‘personas convencionales’ o mainstream, ajenas a las guerras culturales de internet, y que no forman parte de ningún grupo identitario, ya sean de izquierdas o de la alt-right.
offers an objective if startling
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startling:
alarmante
study of those online subcultures that helped put a showman in power, the real danger now is that Trump’s anti-establishment mask is slipping
+
is slipping:
se le está cayendo
. Speak Up met with Nagle. We began by asking her what happened to the socially-democratic tech-inspired euphoria of 2011.
Angela Nagle (Irish accent): One of the problems with the utopianism of the Arab Spring, Twitter revolution thing is that it was too technological determinist. It suggested that you could bypass
+
bypass:
sortear
old problems through technology. Bypass the difficulty of organising campaigns, bypass organisations all together, and you can just have protests without leaders. But, actually, all the old problems of politics that have been there for centuries emerged. All the old problems of organisin,g but also moral problems, philosophical problems, they’re still there.
IRONY POISONING
Online culture offers an efficient marketing platform for attention-seeking tactics
+
attention-seeking tactics:
tácticas para llamar la atención
. An ‘alternative’ right-wing group dominated the net combining hate speech
+
hate speech:
discurso de odio
and irony to attract people to its cause. Nagle explains why it was so new and so addictive.
Angela Nagle: The alt-right were much better at using the internet. They often say “The left can’t meme
+
SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
The left can’t meme:
"La izquierda no sabe hacer memes". La versatilidad del inglés permite hacer de meme un verbo. La frase hace alusión a la aparente falta de sentido del humor de la izquierda, que se lo toma todo demasiado en serio.
.” But part of that was also that online movements tend to gain momentum
+
to gain momentum:
ganar fuerza, impulso
when they’re pushing against
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to push against:
oponer resistencia
an establishment – so this is a more anti-establishment right-wing style of politics. When certain things are taboo, the practice of making fun of
+
making fun of:
reírse de
them is part of breaking down the taboo. And, at a certain point, [when] you think you’re being just un-PC
+
un-PC:
políticamente incorrecto (acrónimo de politically incorrect)
, then you realise, “Actually I do believe this!” Some people call it ‘irony poisoning
+
irony poisoning:
envenenamiento por ironía
’.
CLASS NOT CULTURE
The appeal
+
appeal:
atractivo
of the alt-right was far-reaching
+
far-reaching:
de gran alcance
. It had quasi-intellectual elements as well as gaining support from the working classes. Nagle says that it is important to look at what the established left was and what it inherited
+
to inherit:
heredar
from America’s right-wing neoliberal past.
Angela Nagle: You’ve probably heard people say before, “The left won the culture war and lost the economic war.” The cultural politics of the left became dominant through
+
became dominant through:
se hicieron con la hegemonía
centre-left liberalism. The corporate world and the state have co-opted
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to co-opt:
apropiarse
identity politics
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SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
Identity politics:
"Las políticas de la identidad". Se trata de movimientos identitarios basados en algún hecho diferencial, ya sea la raza, la orientación sexual, la religión o la ideología política.
almost entirely. The rest of the left’s project has been forgotten. Identity politics isn’t particularly a threat
+
threat:
amenaza
to any of these institutions whereas if they had to think of things more in terms of class they would have to raise people’s wages
+
wages:
sueldos
rather than have, like, fifty-fifty men and women in [a] boardroom
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boardroom:
consejo de administración
. Those older political economy-focused projects of the left remain radical. Even clawing back
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to claw back:
recuperar
some of the old gains
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gains:
logros, avances
of social democracy has now become to me a necessary project.
FRACTURED POLITICS
And, says Nagle, online cultural politics have helped fracture left and right into niche groups, with everyone fighting each other.
Angela Nagle: The Internet is also very conducive
+
conducive:
propicio
to increasingly niche subcultural politics and groups who differentiate themselves along minute issues
+
minute issues:
asuntos menores
. On the left you have the kind of identity politics left and then you have the more socialist left. And then you have the more mainstream liberal left. And all of those groups are battling each other.
THE SAME THING
So, while the right did for a time unite behind Trump they are deeply divided on fundamental issues. Now, Nagle warns
+
to warn:
alerta
, the more radical elements of the right are dangerously disappointed.
Angela Nagle: The alt-right people who supported Trump are actually very disappointed. The striking thing
+
the striking thing:
lo chocante
is how completely like any other Republican leader he’s actually turned out to be
+
turned out to be:
que ha resultado ser
. The tax cuts are still there. The immigration policy has not changed radically. So, in a way, there’s something almost more worrying
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worrying:
preocupante
which is that the public have less and less trust in the political process and in democracy and one of the reasons for that is that no matter who you vote for you keep getting the same thing.
