This glossary is intended to clarify the terms frequently associated with right-wing extremism which have either become part of the jargon in scholarly writings or because they are created and used by right-wing extremists themselves. It is also important as some terms have been misinterpreted and improperly used in writings, particularly on social media. As we face this danger, it's critical that people educate themselves and understand what they are dealing with. Right-wing extremism is a broad category, and there are many factions involved, and understanding these terms is part of breaking the barrier down and facing this danger.

Glossary of Terms

2chan

An anonymous Japanese text board, founded in 1999, that became the blueprint for future image boards.

4chan

An anonymous Japanese text board started in 2003 that receives 27.7 million unique visitors every month with up to 1 million posts per day. This site is organized by different specific boards with topics such as video games (v), random (b), and politically incorrect (pol). It has limited moderation, which leads to threads filled with extreme content and graphic images. The Anti-Defamation League has described 4chan as "a place for the alt right to share offensive content and create a hateful subculture. This leads to harassment and intimidation, both online and offline."

8kun

An anonymous image board previously known as 8 chan. In 2019, three different far-right terrorists posted manifestos to 8chan in advance of their attacks, prompting web service companies to pull their support.

1488

A combination of two numbers that are symbolic for white supremacists. The 14 represents the 14 words that make up a known white supremacist slogan, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." The 88 stands for the phrase "Heil Hitler" because the letter 'H' is the eighth letter in the alphabet.

Alt-Right

We use the definition provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center here. The Alternative Right, commonly known as the "alt-right," is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people and “their” civilization.

Antifascism

In the broadest sense, this is any countermovement to fascist or other radical right movements. In the narrower sense, "antifa" is typically based around organizing to physically confront radical right activists who demonstrate in public in order to intimidate them. While antifa activists view some forms of violence as legitimate and have engaged in fist fights with radical right activists, there have been absolutely no murders in the U.S. associated with antifa, unlike the radical right activists they confront.

Anti-Government Extremism

This term can be used to describe any group that has antipathy to the government, or even to the idea of government altogether. Here in the U.S. these adherents believe that the government has already been taken over by a conspiratorial cabal and is not legitimate. These groups are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Patriot Movement" (see below).

Anti Semitism

Prejudice against Jews, especially as part of a conspiratorial world view which regards their collective actions as a driving, malevolent force in world affairs. In this world view, "the Jews" simultaneously control and seek to undermine or destroy Western civilization through finance and the media. When Jewish people are viewed as an elite, coherent force, they function as a scapegoat for elite or systemic dysfunction in general. The most extreme right-wing groups have antisemitism at the very heart of their world view. 

Blue, Red and Black Pill

Terms based on The Matrix series of films, which have been adapted for the real world. 

• Blue Pill is meant to represent people who believe mainstream ideas. It's used as a derogatory term for those who have conventional views that people in online forums consider 'ignorant.'
• Red Pill is a person who has had their eyes opened to alternative and often fringe ideologies that counter the prevailing ideas of mainstream societies. People who refer to themselves as "red pilled" look at ideas like women's equality, liberalism, and racial justice as the downfall of Western civilization.
• Black Pill is a term used by the incel community (defined further down on this list) to refer to a fatalist and misogynistic view of society. The black pill represents a belief that their sexual prospects are doomed from birth, and that women are superficial and cruel.

Christian Nationalism

Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. Some of the things Christian nationalists advocate for are:

• An amendment to the Constitution recognizing America's Christian heritage.
• Reinstitute prayer in public schools.
• A Christian nationalist interpretation of American history in school curricula.
• Immigration restrictions to prevent change to America's religious and ethnic demographics or a change to American culture.
• Empower the government to take stronger action to circumscribe immoral behavior.

Conspiracy Theory

Once considered fringe thinking, conspiracy theories have now nearly become the norm across social media platforms. A conspiracy theory is a belief that world events are the result of sinister, evil organizations, often politically motivated, when there are actually real-world explanations for these events. A conspiracy theory is not the same as a conspiracy; instead, it refers to a hypothesized conspiracy with specific characteristics, such as an opposition to the mainstream consensus among those people (such as scientists or historians) who are qualified to evaluate its accuracy. 

Conspiracy theories have been linked to prejudice, propaganda, witch hunts, genocide and war. They are strongly believed by those who commit terrorist attacks, like Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. They have been used by governments such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and Turkey. AIDS denialism by the government of South Africa was fueled by conspiracy theories, resulting in 330,000 deaths from AIDS. QAnon and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election led to the J6 insurrection. Conspiracy theories about genetically modified foods led the government of Zambia to reject aid during a famine, at a time when 3 million people in that country were suffering from hunger. Conspiracy theories have harmed the public health, causing vaccine hesitancy and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

You can find a list of conspiracy theories here.

Conservatism

A term to describe the establishment (or traditional) right. Fascists are often eager to make a break from this group rhetorically (a break from the old order or Rhinos), while developing productive relationships with them in order to gain power. In the U.S. right now, the far-right extremists are eager to replace the current establishment GOP. Traditional conservatives typically define their ideology in terms of caution to change with respect to political action, which distinguishes themselves from the extreme right.

Countermovement

Any social movement which defines itself in opposition to another social movement.

Cultural Nationalism

A form of nationalism in which membership in the nation is understood to be defined by participation in a broad set of practices, especially language (as opposed to biological ancestry or loyalty to a particular state).

Cultural Racism

A stance that, while generally rejecting the "racist" label, argues that a selected minority ethnic group holds cultural values that prevent them from developing loyalty and affection for their 'host' country. It is, therefore, not a question of racial superiority or inferiority, but rather cultural difference that postulates that it is only 'natural' that people of a common ethnicity share a kinship towards each other. In the U.S. you might see this 'logic' applied to Muslims.

Cumulative Extremism/Radicalization

This term is used to describe a reciprocal relationship between two or more extremist groups that feed off each other's messages and ideologies. The concern is that opposing groups enter into a dynamic whereby the actions of each can provoke the violent radicalization of the other, a process which, in turn, can have polarizing effects on wider communities. The term "cumulative radicalization" can also refer in the historical literature to a process by which the Nazi regime became more extreme over time by virtue of the most extreme elements being rewarded as especially loyal. We see some of that in America today.

Dominionism

The theocratic idea that regardless of theological view, means, or timetable, Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions. While there is a dominionist spectrum, there are common elements to all:

• Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism. They believe that the U.S. was once and should again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.
• Dominionists promote religious supremacy. They generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.
• Dominionists endorse theocratic visions. They believe that The Ten Commandments, or 'Biblical law' should be the foundation of American law, and that the Constitution should be used as a vehicle to implement biblical principles.

You can learn more about Dominionism here.

Eugenics

One of the most misinterpreted and misused words on social media. Let's start by debunking the viral video that has gone around saying that Bill Gates said that at least 3 billion people need to die. There was a video of someone saying, "In the words of Bill Gates, at least 3 billion people need to die." But there is actually no evidence that Bill Gates said that anywhere either in print or verbally at any time. Period. We have looked for it and have not found it anywhere but, more importantly, so has Reuters and other legitimate fact-checking organizations. Now, back to the definition of Eugenics.

The term has been around since the 1880's. It refers to the conscious selection of who has how many children and with whom to increase the prevalence of desired traits in the next population. In the broadest sense, this includes practices such as screening for Tay-Sachs disease to avoid passing it along to future generations. However, these voluntary and limited practices are not generally termed "eugenics." The term has been stained with the history of coercive practices, such as sterilization, forced euthanasia, and bans on interracial marriage, which some states embarked on in the early 20th century. Radical right groups for whom biological racism is an important ideological component are the only groups today who advocate a return to this type of eugenics.

Far-Right Extremism (FRE)

A form of political extremism that describes a cluster of ideological features: extreme or ultra-nationalism, racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, demand for a strong law and order state, opposition to the principles of human equality, anti-democracy, and anti-liberalism. Far-right extremism often embraces violence as a means of advancing its ideological agenda. Far-right extremism takes on many different forms:

• At the most extreme, far right-wing views take the form of fascism and neo-Nazism.
• More moderate forms can present as 'national populism' or 'radical right-wing' populism. Populist ideas are presented as common sense and downplay its links to extremism. This form of FRE will typically distance itself from fascism and Nazism and violence and will 'buy in' to some aspects of the democratic system. In some cases, the core ideology of fascism is hidden or semi-hidden behind the claim of moderation.
• New Far Right is a more recent form of FRE where anti-Muslim sentiment sits at the very core. This form of FRE strongly rejects links to fascism and anti-Semitism. it can be pro-Zionist, pro-LGBTQ, denies that it is racist and yet is still characterized by core FRE views, such as ultra-patriotism, ultra-nationalism, and nativism.

Fascism

There is no commonly agreed definition of fascism, it does have distinct elements. It is best described as a form of far-right authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy that rose to prominence in early 20th century Europe. Fascism first appeared in Italy during World War I under the leadership of Benito Mussolini, before spreading to other European countries. It is opposed to anarchism, democracy, liberalism, and Marxism. Fascism is placed on the far right-wing of the traditional left-right political spectrum. 

Roger Griffin, a British professor of modern history, defines fascism as "palingenetic populist ultra-nationalism." Palingenesis is defined as a promise to restore national dignity corrupted by liberal weakness and degeneracy. Michael Mann, a sociology professor at the University of California, has defined it by its commitments to state power, nationalism, paramilitary violence, transcendence of class conflicts, and cleansing of non-national or otherwise unacceptable elements. 

Fundamentalism

A form of religion, particularly Islam and Protestant Christianity, that believes in the strict, literal interpretation of scripture.

Groyper/Groyper Army

A loosely organized group of alt right figures, many of whom hold racist and anti-Semitic views, who are vocal supporters of white nationalist and misogynist "America First" podcaster Nick Fuentes,

Holocaust Denial

Claims by a number of radical right groups and activists that the Holocaust either never occurred or has been vastly exaggerated in scope. In fact, the Holocaust is one of the best-documented events in world history, having been carried out by state organizations which kept meticulous records, and being the object of great historical interest. Holocaust deniers are anti-Semitic by definition, and ascribe to the view that either the victors exaggerate the crimes of states that they have defeated, or to the Jewish "plots" to imbue Western civilization with guilt and sap it of confidence.

Ideology

A set of beliefs or a world view. Ideologues are both proponents of as well as adherents to an ideology.

Incel

Short for 'involuntarily celibate.' Incels are an online subculture known for hostility towards women. There have been several deadly rampages associated with men who identify as incels, and those claiming to pursue an 'incel revolution'. It should be noted that Nicholas Fuentes, the leader of America First, claims to be an incel and says it is the sacrifice he makes to pursue his ideology. Because this is such a specialized set of terms, we are including all the terms associated with Incels below:

• Wizard refers to a virgin who is over 30 years old. They often attribute their celibacy to social anxieties and depression.
• Wizard Apprentice is a male virgin who is under 30 years old and is not seeking to have sex.
• Uglycel refers to an incel who attributes their condition to their lack of attractiveness.
• Wristcel refers to an incel who attributes their condition to the thinness of their wrists.
• Framecel refers to an incel who attributes their condition to their small skeletal frame.
• Gymcel refers to an incel who works out, hoping to become more attractive.
• Looksmaxxing is any action taken by an incel to improve their appearance, including working out, hair cuts, and dietary changes.
• Chad is a derogatory term used by incels for the archetype of men that women find attractive. 
• Stacy is a derogatory name used by incels referring to attractive women. To incels, Stacys are only interested in Chads.
• LARP is an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. In incel communities it is used to describe someone pretending to be someone they are not.

Islamophobia

A term frequently used to describe different forms of anti-Muslim sentiment. Islamophobia is best described as an ideological outlook or world view that involves an unfounded fear and dislike of Muslims, resulting in exclusion and discrimination. Islamophobia has grown exponentially in the U.S. among right-wing entities since 9-11.

Jihadism

A violent means through which Islamists work to create an Islamist state.

Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan, also called the KKK, has a very long history of violence in the U.S. and is the oldest and most infamous of the American hate groups. Although African Americans have historically been the primary target of the KKK, the KKK also attacks Jewish people and members of the LGBTQ community.

Lone-Wolf Terrorism

The term applies to a terrorist who acts alone and is not under the direction of a group. Very often, this is the result of a personal grievance, and in the U.S., it mostly takes the form of mass shootings. An example is the Columbine massacre where two students shot and killed 12 students and one teacher. You can read more here.

Militia Movement

This extremist movement began in the mid 1990s in response to unpopular laws, particularly gun laws and deadly standoffs with federal law enforcement agencies. The adherents believe that the "New World Order" (see below) seeks to take away their rights, starting with the right to keep and bear arms, making them the slaves of the NWO. They compare themselves to the colonists who took up arms to fight the British during the Revolutionary War. The movement once had a strong paramilitary organization but has expanded to include groups like The Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.

Moorish Movement

This movement has made the African American community a high growth area for extreme right wing beliefs. The movement began in the 1990s when people began to combine sovereign rights beliefs with beliefs from a religious sect known as the Moorish Science Temple. This group believes it has special rights because of their "Moorish" status or because the are the original indigenous inhabitants of North America. Therefore, they are not bound by U.S. law.

Nationalism

An ideology that emphasizes loyalty, devotion, or allegiance to a nation or nation-state and holds that such obligations outweigh other individual or group interests.

Nativism

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants.

Neo-Nazism

A form of fascist ideology based on the ideas of Adolf Hitler (and/or other inter-war Nazis). Unlike the more populist radical right or new far right, neo-Nazis advocate for a more violent form of politics outside the normal democratic process.

New World Order (NWO)

The term has been around for some time, but the conspiracy theory really took off during the 1990s here. Adherents believe that a secretive, socialist "one world" government has already taken over the planet with the goal of destroying the last bastion of freedom -- the United States -- with the help of bad actors in our government. They also believe that the conspirators will use repressive measures as well as major crises like terrorist attacks and pandemics to disarm U.S. citizens so that the NWO can enslave them. They believe that thousands of concentration camps have already been set up to house dissenters; that martial law will be declared; and that the government will indulge in mass gun confiscation.

Oath Keepers

The Oath Keepers is a loosely organized, right-wing, anti-government extremist group started with the resurgence of militia groups in 2009 by attorney E. Stewart Rhodes. They were key participants in the January 6 insurrection. The Oath Keepers recruits those who are current and former members of the military, law enforcement and first responders, although serving in these positions is not a requirement for joining.

Palingenesis

A term meaning rebirth or re-creation. In far-right terms, it is returning to the glory days before the degeneracy of the left destroyed America's values.

Parafascism

A term used by historical scholars to refer to regimes and movements that did not, by definition, correspond to a full ideal type of fascism, but which did extensively borrow practices from movements and regimes that did.

Patriot Movement

A term used to describe several extremist groups in the United States whose beliefs center on anti-government conspiracy theories. This movement includes several groups, the most important being the militia movement, the sovereign citizen movement, and the tax protest movement. Though each of these factions have their own set of beliefs, they are united in the belief that the U.S. government has been taken over by bad actors and is no longer a legitimate government. Though the Patriot Movement has been aligned primarily with white supremacists, this has shrunken over time. There are now people of color within the Patriot Movement, particularly within the sovereign citizen movement.  

QAnon

QAnon is a conspiracy theory that has metastasized into an actual political movement. It evolved from the far-right political spectrum based on the false claims of an unknown individual or individuals known only as "Q". The theory postulates that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic sexual abusers or children operating a global sex-trafficking ring conspired against Donald Trump during his time in office. Some have described this as a cult.

Racism

Another of those highly contested terms. In one sense, 'racism' can be used to refer to individual prejudicial beliefs (blacks are loud; Jews are stingy; the Irish are drunks, and on and on). It can also operate as an elaborate world view guiding a person's ideology, such as blacks are outbreeding the whites and will soon overwhelm and destroy white civilization, or Jews are controlling the world behind the scenes. In America today, the second classification of 'racism' applies to the generally held perspective of the right wing about immigration. We need to secure our borders so that we can protect the white population from extinction.

Sovereign Citizen Movement

A large anti-government extremist movement that hails back half a century. Sovereign citizens believe that a conspiracy infiltrated the government in the 1860s and replaced all the legitimate laws of the land with tyrannical laws, resulting in a "de facto" government designed to enslave its people. These extremists, therefore, believe that the government has no control over them and that they can declare their sovereignty and return to the pre-conspiracy government. They also believe that they are not bound by the current laws, rules, regulations or taxes. As a result of this belief, the Sovereign Citizen Movement has indulged in criminal activity, both violent and non-violent. Although this movement began in the United States, it spread to Canada in the 1990s, and to other English-speaking nations in the 2000s. 

Stochastic Terrorism

Defined as the public demonizing or dehumanization of an individual or group of individuals resulting in the incitement of a violent act that is statistically probable but cannot be easily accurately predicted. For the record, the GOP indulges in this kind of rhetoric all the time, and it began with the demonization of immigrants. The constant promoting of the 'great replacement' theory is a prime example. Donald Trump has a long history of inciting violence.

Storm Is Coming

A very popular QAnon phrase foretelling the mass arrest of criminal Democrats by the Trump administration and their incarceration at Guantanamo to face tribunals for child sex trafficking and satanic rituals. Of course, those arrests never happened because there is no massive sex trafficking going and no satanic rituals being held in tunnels under the Capitol. Try telling the QAnon folk that.

Tax Protest Movement

This is the oldest wing of the Patriot Movement which dates back to the 1960s. Unlike people who simply do not like taxes, this group believes that they are not legally bound to pay income taxes. They use pseudo-legal arguments to defend their actions, one of which is that only corporations are bound to pay taxes. The other is that the Sixteenth Amendment was never actually ratified. This movement spread to Canada during the 1990s. It should not be confused with the left-wing tax protesters who refuse to pay taxes on moral grounds, such as funding the U.S. military.

Terrorism

The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.

The Big Lie

A gross distortion or misinterpretation of the truth often used as a propaganda technique. The phrase was actually coined by Adolf Hitler when he dictated his 1925 book, Mein Kampf. It is used to describe the use of a lie so colossal that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." Here in the U.S., we have our own Big Lie perpetrated by Donald Trump and his acolytes that the 2020 election was "stolen" from him by Joe Biden and the Democrats. The modern-day Big Lie was used over and over again by Trump in speeches and all across social media, and was a key component of the Stop The Steal movement that resulted in the January 6 storming of the Capitol.

The Great Replacement

This theory has its roots in early 20th century France but has been adopted by white supremacists here in the U.S. In 2011, French writer and critic Renaud Camus wrote an essay called "Le Grand Remplacement," (the great replacement) and popularized it for today's far-right audiences. Camus believes that native white Europeans are being replaced in their countries by non-white immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. Camus primarily focused on Muslims, but it has been adopted here to include Jewish people as well. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has all the history here.

The Orange Jackaloon

Our nickname for Donald Trump.

Three Percenters

Another group that came into being as a result of the resurgence of militia groups in 2009. The group gets its name from the erroneous believe that only 3% of the colonists fought against the British during the Revolutionary War yet achieved liberty for everybody. Three Percenters see themselves as modern-day versions of these colonists who are fighting a tyrannical U.S. government as opposed to the British. Anybody can become a Three Percenter, and their logo, a Roman numeral III, has become popular among anti-government extremists.

Trolling

Popular Internet and social media slang (borrowed from the device used in fishing lures) to define being intentionally provocative in the hopes of stirring up an emotional response.

Ultra-Patriotism/Ultra-Nationalism

An extreme form of patriotism or nationalism that excludes selected ethnic minorities from a national identity. It is an aggressive form of patriotism which, in more overt political form, can be termed ultra-nationalism, a core feature of fascist ideology.

Vehicular Ramming

Vehicular homicide or manslaughter (or attempted versions of such) have become a popular method of terrorism among certain radical right groups (both white nationalists and adherents of the Islamic state). This method has appeal because it (1) uses a weapon that is essentially impossible to ban, (2) it allows for the possibility of spontaneous, rather than premeditated, murder of large groups of people, and (3) it allows the specific murder or intimidation of assembled groups of persons (protestors). In several Republican-led states, laws have been passed granting immunity to drivers who hit groups of protesters. You can read the report here. Many of these laws were passed in response to Black Lives Matter protests which sought to block traffic. We are now seeing a form of this with the trucker convoys ramming cars.

Where We Go One We Go All

Or WWG1WGA. This is a popular battle cry of the QAnon movement. Others include "Follow the White Rabbit" and "Trust the Plan."

White Genocide

For this definition, I borrow word-for-word from the Anti-Defamation League because it's the best I've seen. “White Genocide” is a term coined by white supremacists for propaganda purposes as shorthand for one of the most deeply held modern white supremacist convictions: that the white race is “dying” due to growing non-white populations and “forced assimilation,” all of which are deliberately engineered and controlled by a Jewish conspiracy to destroy the white race. However, it should also be noted that many white supremacists use this term when advocating for closing the borders.

White Nationalism

The belief, theory, or doctrine that white people are inherently superior to people from all other racial and ethnic groups, and that in order to preserve their white, European, and Christian cultural identities, they need or deserve a segregated geographical area, preferential treatment, and special legal protections.

Xenophobia

This term refers to a deep-rooted and often irrational dislike or hatred of foreigners (immigrants). It can result in hostile and violent reactions, typically aimed at ethnic minority populations.