My brothers have all been brainwashed by the extreme right through the internet

[Powdered Egg]

Honestly, unless platform holders and websites clamp down I fear that it's a lost cause and the Alt Right has the internet on lock. It's a worldwide thing, aggrieved white males all over the world are fanning the flames online and encouraging each other. There's no equivalent to that type of radicalization on our side.

 

[KtotheRoc]

I wish there was an easy answer, OP. Your oldest brother is definitely lost.

I know plenty of people who ended up becoming Trumpers, even though most of them are not related to me. A few cousins definitely went overboard. Thankfully my mother is very liberal, and my brother hates Trump and describes him as a "monster."

 

[Rivenblade]

Children generally have the same ideology of their parents.

I'd blame your father first and foremost

Click to shrink...

I'd say it's generally the opposite. The whole point of teenage rebellion is to realize that your parents don't know everything and are maybe wrong about a lot of things.

OP, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds really rough, and if none of your siblings are even open to having their ideas challenged or to at least have a calm conversation about their beliefs, it's hard to know where to go or what to do.

Maybe try reaching out to the youngest and try bonding over something that you both liked doing together before? Video games? And then try saying "Hey, can I talk to you about something..."

I'm not saying it's a good idea. Just an idea. Wish I could come up with something that has a certainty of success, but it doesn't really exist in this case.

I mean, you could show him something about the history of hatred against blacks, gays, and women in America? I dunno.

 

[You Are Viewtiful]

Lost cause most likely.

 

[spootime]

The alt-right has been very successful at influencing young white guys through social media. I don't know if this would help but I know of a number of people who have been converted from typical alt-right gamer bros by Destiny debates on youtube. He isn't perfect but I think the way he directly confronts alt-right ideas on their platform of choice could be beneficial.

 

[sphagnum]

I think talkin

Honestly, unless platform holders and websites clamp down I fear that it's a lost cause and the Alt Right has the internet on lock. It's a worldwide thing, aggrieved white males all over the world are fanning the flames online and encouraging each other. There's no equivalent to that type of radicalization on our side.

Click to shrink...

The amount of young socialists and communists online is pretty sizeable. But it's true that they don't have institutional support on their side like the alt-right does.

 

[More_Badass]

I totally understand, OP. My dad's like your's: Trump is the President we need, Obama was the worst, Reagan was the best President, taxes are everything, liberal and Democrats want to destroy America, Black Lives Matter wants to kill cops, etc. He's also transphobic and homophobic, always rolling his eyes at inclusiveness in movies and shows, and I heard him say a few days ago that it's a man-run world and that's just how the world is, so he has that attitude too

And it's definitely rubbing off on my younger brother (he's 17, I'm 26). Not just from our dad but I imagine also from friends at school. Because he also dismisses the recent trend of woman-focused superhero movies as "feminist", makes dismissive comments about the LGBTQ students he's seen in school. I even heard him unironically use "social justice warrior" at least once,

At the very least, I'm glad he thinks our dad is crazy for denying climate change

But yeah, it's a problem, and unfortunately he's still at that age and mindset where he listens to our father about those issues more than me or other sources. It's very depressing to witness and I don't know what to do to help him or reverse that influence

 

[Shadownet]

How old are you OP? Not to sound condescending but from your post it sounds like you're still in high school?

If that's the case, there really isn't much you can do except put up with it until you're in a place where you can move out.

Click to shrink...

She isn't trying to find a way out. She's trying to help her brother, man.

 

[Windrunner]

I'm so sorry OP. I know what you're going through sadly.

YouTube, Facebook etc have a lot to answer for.

 

[carlsojo]

You have an uphill battle if he's influenced by your other brothers and father. My best advice is to just spend time with him away from that environment. Invite him out to lunch. Maintain a relationship. It might not be pleasant all the time, but as he gets older he might change.

 

[Morrigan]

This is depressing. I'm sorry, BDS. They really seem too far gone. :\

While I agree with the last paragraph there are also a couple of weird statements in this OP.

"All three of my brothers are younger than I am, and they don't respect me (my dad always shit-talks my left-wing politics) or care about my input, so they're beyond my help. My brothers idolize my dad and view his conservative worldview as gospel."

While your brothers will obviously idolize your father the most; you are the next in line, the eldest brother, most of the time younger brothers look up to older brothers.(granted that phase has probably passed for your older brothers but probably not for the youngest one) And if you can't help them then who can?

"One day a couple weeks ago, my brother got annoyed at me over an incredibly minor and petty issue. His preferred solution to this issue was to get in my face and start screaming at me. Obviously, my brothers are all much bigger than me and while I wasn't necessarily "afraid," this was very uncharacteristic behavior that was totally disproportionate to the perceived slight."

I'm not sure about why it's obvious that all your brothers are bigger than you since you are the oldestone; but regardless, despite it being "scary" you shouldn't just back down from conflict with them, this is literally what they are hearing from Youtube(shouting down opposition) and your father, so backing down just enforces their belief that they are right.

I'm sorry if this seems too much like victim blaming and that I'm blaming you OP, especially since I don't know the whole situation. But in my circles, blood is thicker than water and you fight for your family tooth and nail(especially siblings) even from themselves(the only exception might be some extreme situations like murder, but shitty youtubers - fuck that). This is why the concept of "beyond my help" is weird to see in these threads about close family members. If you can't help them then who can, after all you know them better than most people.

I get that this is meant as a cautionary tale for other people but I also hate the fact that you might lose 3-three brothers to Yotube hate preachers and a shitty dad.

Click to shrink...

I know this isn't at all central to the thread but...



Why would that be obvious if you're the oldest brother?

Edit- oh, you're their sister. Alright, nevermind.

Click to shrink...

It's honestly a bit sad that it wouldn't even occur to you that OP could be female. Even with all the context offered in the OP, which seems to make it obvious.

"Male as default" sure is deeply entrenched everywhere.

 

[Lant_War]

This forum, and GAF before the split, is routinely made fun of on 4chan and others for being a "SJW soy boy" center. I wouldn't be surprised if the brothers have seen Era mentioned negatively already. I'm not disagreeing entirely but it might have the opposite effect.

Click to shrink...

Not even 4chan, have you seen Reddit? A lot of people just hate Era.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Yeah my cousin at 6 suddenly brought up how water is making the frogs gay last year and I was horrified wondering who told him that. His older bros around 3 and 5 years older told me he's been watching info wars and try to get him to stop. And recently his 2nd eldest brother mentioned how he said loudly "eww black people" to black people while they were at a store.

And keep in mind they're brown. Was horrified hearing how at such a young age he was learning some horrifying behavior and the parents aren't doing anything about it.

Click to shrink...

I'm very sad to hear this, Nelo Ice .

 

[Deleted member 4783]

Not even 4chan, have you seen Reddit? A lot of people just hate Era.

Click to shrink...

Gaf has a subforum/thread especially made for hating ERA.
Yeah, they are THAT pathetic.

 

[Forsaken82]

One day a couple weeks ago, my brother got annoyed at me over an incredibly minor and petty issue. His preferred solution to this issue was to get in my face and start screaming at me

Click to shrink...

I want to know what you consider "minor and petty". What was the issue?

 

[Tom Nook Says...]

This is depressing. I'm sorry, BDS. They really seem too far gone. :\



It's honestly a bit sad that it wouldn't even occur to you that OP could be female. Even with all the context offered in the OP, which seems to make it obvious.

"Male as default" sure is deeply entrenched everywhere.

Click to shrink...

You're right, a clumsy oversight on my part.

 

[Jersey_Tom]

honestly at this point I blame the lack of punk rock.

when I was a white middle class teenager I had stuff like NOFX and bad religion telling me to not trust the government.

now white middle class teenagers have other white middle class teenagers making jokes about minorities and women and some of those stupid fucks are believing it.

teenage angst and hate isn't being pointed at the correct place anymore.

internet is a scary place.

Click to shrink...

Co-signing this.

Punk has been a valuable genre for countering the hate of far-right groups with its own brand of anger.

Unfortunately a lot of the bands of yesteryear have grown up and a lot of them, while still good, have softened their anger from their 20's/30's and become more reflective about days gone past, lost loves, and more general declarations for love of music. Some, especially during the Obama years, looked back at the decade plus beforehand and was heavily critical of the punk scene at the time about being too corporate/fake/generally not organized and the revolution they were speaking towards was a fraud. Rise Against comes to mind in that regard.

We just had a thread not too long ago that had that Killers "protest song" which honestly was extremely soft and wouldn't really speak towards the teenage angst OP described their younger brother as having. There's some bands out there that still speak towards the kind of stuff we're talking about, channeling that anger towards more productive things as opposed to firing at underprivileged people, but it's just not as promoted these days, or it's not circulating like it should be.

That being said, OP I wouldn't give up on your younger brother. But I would be careful in how you engage them. Ask them a bunch of questions about their beliefs and try to challenge his worldview a bit. Because the things he's angry about in a general broad sense may be something relatable, but he's coming to the wrong sorts of conclusions about what's causing those things to happen.

And introduce them to some punk.

 

[R0b1n]

I used hate gaf too and then I actually started browsing it. It really helped

 

[FaceHugger]

The problem with that brand of right-wing politics is that it forces a divide between people. It doesn't allow its followers to associate with anyone more liberal than they are, because anyone more liberal is literally their enemy and destroying <insert societal structure here>. I used to listen to some AM radio once in a while, watch a right-wing YouTube video, just to get a sense of what the other side was thinking - why they were coming to the conclusions they did. Around 2008, the era of Obama, things began to grow nastier and more divisive. The shows / videos stopped being about politics or policy, they were now almost exclusively committed to vilifying and insulting everyone and anything that failed whatever the purity test of the week was.

I'm not sure how to reach people so lost - regarding your older brothers. But I'd say there's still hope for your youngest brother. The only meaningful political influences he's received is the above toxicity I wrote about. He can still grow and develop healthy, more moderate, basically sane and sober political views.

 

[Lozjam]

This forum, and GAF before the split, is routinely made fun of on 4chan and others for being a "SJW soy boy" center. I wouldn't be surprised if the brothers have seen Era mentioned negatively already. I'm not disagreeing entirely but it might have the opposite effect.

Click to shrink...

No doubt.

Especially since I have been starting our podcast, we have been actually somewhat stalked. I've had numerous people leave hate mail, calling us autistic, etc. it's actually sad, but a good few forums stalk us, and everything we do. There are literally threads in alt right sites that are dedicated only to stalking Era.

 

[BDS]

A lot of you are asking why I don't sit down and talk to him. The issue, as I said, is I'm not respected. You can't change someone's mind when they don't respect you and think you're an idiot. My dad has spent years demeaning my views to my brothers, so it's not surprising they wouldn't be interested in hearing them. He's raised them all to be selfish, self-serving, and privileged, the perfect melting pot for bigotry to form.

 

[Darksol]

honestly at this point I blame the lack of punk rock.

when I was a white middle class teenager I had stuff like NOFX and bad religion telling me to not trust the government.

now white middle class teenagers have other white middle class teenagers making jokes about minorities and women and some of those stupid fucks are believing it.

teenage angst and hate isn't being pointed at the correct place anymore.

internet is a scary place.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. Bad Religion's The Process of Belief and NOFX's The Decline were single handedly brilliant enough to ever keep me from that shit.

 

[Kernel]

Gaf has a subforum/thread especially made for hating ERA.
Yeah, they are THAT pathetic.

Click to shrink...

Man I had to go back there just to see for myself and W-O-W.

 

[BossAttack]

A lot of you are asking why I don't sit down and talk to him. The issue, as I said, is I'm not respected. You can't change someone's mind when they don't respect you and think you're an idiot. My dad has spent years demeaning my views to my brothers, so it's not surprising they wouldn't be interested in hearing them. He's raised them all to be selfish, self-serving, and privileged, the perfect melting pot for bigotry to form.

Click to shrink...

Your older brothers are a lost cause but you still might be able to reach the youngest. You should try taking him out with your friends to get him away from his bad influences.

 

[A Wild Shark Appears]

I'm sorry you're going through that op.

The fact that one of your brothers would get in your face is unfathomable to me. I know my parents would have hit me upside the head if I treated a sibling that way.

 

[Sawneeks]

Sadly I know exactly what you're going through, OP. It sucks and it's frustrating to watch people you love just fall down this path and not being able to get them out of it.

 

[ItRhymesWithDoom]

Seems weird that evilore would ever allow his site to sink that low, especially when not talking about it in a negative sense is in this site's TOS.

Did he check out or sell the board or something?

Have to imagine he moved on too, but still.



Edit: I am not new to being disappointed by other people, but if we're talking full brainwashing then I hope to never experience it, and also have a way out.

The way US people deal with politics has always been really weird for me, if experiences here and elsewhere are any indication of the real world. It scares me, to be honest.

 

[ty_hot]

Yday Brazil's new president signed a decree softening gun laws... One of my best friends from high school is so glad he can finally own a gun, and says shit about "our country will go in the right direction now". A white, male, rich, great job, never had and never will struggle in life (as in: money). What the fuck. I am beyond disappointed. Don't even want to talk to him.

This is all fucked up because the far right owned the internet under our noses for years, the media normalized abusive and dangerous speeches as "polemic"... I have no idea how long it will take for the world to go back some good 10 years, pre social media. If it will ever...

 

[Tom Nook Says...]

Sadly I know exactly what you're going through, OP. It sucks and it's frustrating to watch people you love just fall down this path and not being able to get them out of it.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, my mom has gone pretty deep down this same hole. Not in the exact same way as the OP described, but she went from being a pretty regular conservative to being full-blown immigrants are invading and we need a wall, despite living in a quiet subdivision in rural WV where I'm pretty sure she has never been within 10 miles of an undocumented immigrant. I really don't understand how tv propaganda gets people to disregard their own, lived experience, and nothing I say about how obviously nonexistent this "threat" is seems to change her mind.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Get the youngest brother to read this forum. Seriously, it could help.

Click to shrink...

This is true. While I wasn't completely crazy, I was quite a bigot and racist before I joined GAF. Thanks to joining and starting interacting with you, I learned to respect others and be more empathic.

Hell, I shudder to think what would be of me today if I hadn't stumbled upon old GAF.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Seems weird that evilore would ever allow his site to sink that low, especially when not talking about it in a negative sense is in this site's TOS.

Did he check out or sell the board or something?

Have to imagine he moved on too, but still.

Click to shrink...

Apparently he's embraced the hate, badmouthing "SJWs" and the like on his board.

 

[Exellus]

Take any inheritance you get and donate it to the Democratic party in your state. Or inner city youths. Or something that would piss him off. This is what I plan to do with anything I get to mine.

Plus words during his Eulogy, of course.

 

[RavFiveFour]

I'm not sure banning stuff is the right option, parents have been letting kids do exactly what they want for years and still had trust in them. Would talking about other alternatives reinvigorate their open mind? Maybe maybe not. It could help or also scare them. You got to let them find out somethings on their own.

 

[Kernel]

Apparently he's embraced the hate, badmouthing "SJWs" and the like on his board.

Click to shrink...

He never stood for anything except dollars and cents.

 

[brinstar]

I find Shaun's YT channel to be pretty good at debunking a lot of these talking points. I don't know if they're the type to want to listen to other viewpoints and stuff but in his vids that I've seen he always goes through great lengths to explain his arguments.

 

[Deleted member 16025]

I don't know what to do but this shit burns me up. I guess try going at them with facts about their shitty orange leader and start there.

Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa have a podcast (Gaslit Nation) that spells out how dirty that motherfucker is. TYT is also a great resource for facts on who gets money from where. They need to understand how completely for sale our government is (lots of democrats too) and then maybe they can begin to understand how manipulated they have been.

 

[jon bones]

people need to start treating youtube like the garbage platform it is, and stop throwing an ipad at their kids to shut em up

honestly at this point I blame the lack of punk rock.

when I was a white middle class teenager I had stuff like NOFX and bad religion telling me to not trust the government.

now white middle class teenagers have other white middle class teenagers making jokes about minorities and women and some of those stupid fucks are believing it.

teenage angst and hate isn't being pointed at the correct place anymore.

internet is a scary place.

Click to shrink...

damn... this is actually an excellent point

 

[samoyed]

Sorry to hear about your troubles OP, there's no solution here but to just pray for the best I suppose.

Yeah, raise your kids internet free, a lot of Gen Z'ers are irrevocably fucked.

Social media companies are poison, they're profiting off of this brainwashing hands over fist.

 

[Infernostew]

honestly at this point I blame the lack of punk rock.

when I was a white middle class teenager I had stuff like NOFX and bad religion telling me to not trust the government.

now white middle class teenagers have other white middle class teenagers making jokes about minorities and women and some of those stupid fucks are believing it.

teenage angst and hate isn't being pointed at the correct place anymore.

internet is a scary place.

Click to shrink...

Where the hell is a Rock Against Trump comp when you need it?

 

[Deleted member 17092]

My brother will sometimes say strange things about protecting European culture and Christmas events not being christmas themed enough. I call him on it, but I should actually ask him where he's reading/getting that shit from.

 

[Nelo Ice]

I'm very sad to hear this, Nelo Ice .

Click to shrink...

Yeah no clue what to do. The parents have been hands off all 8 of their kids. In particular my aunt would rather be their friend than take authority and be a parent.

 

[MistaTwo]

The one thing I don't understand is why the hell are young men so interesting in talking and listening to this kinda political stuff at their age?

I mean, I was in high school during fucking 9/11 and I don't think I ever met anyone personally who got invested in right-wing politics at that age.
Now, we have manufactured migrant caravan crises and people flock to this shit?

It really just confuses me, especially as someone not living in the U.S. anymore.

 

[night814]

I'm sorry to hear about your family.

I'll say this-as a father who is raising a daughter in this world-I'm terrified for the men she's going to meet when she's older.

Click to shrink...

Hope she meets some very progressive ladies instead, I know that's what I hope for both my son and daughter lol.

I know how you feel OP, one of my best friends who I consider a brother has not gone full alt-right but is damn close the way he's been talking the last few times we hung out. I know he's getting it all from YouTube and "anti-sjw" videos about video games and star wars, that's at least where it started.

 

[samoyed]

The one thing I don't understand is why the hell are young men so interesting in talking and listening to this kinda political stuff at their age?

Click to shrink...

(Conjecture)

Social media and video recommendation algorithms change the way kids interface with media. Before you watched what was on TV every day. Now you click videos like "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS libtard with FACTS and LOGIC".

 

[MistaTwo]

(Conjecture)

Social media and video recommendation algorithms change the way kids interface with media. Before you watched what was on TV every day. Now you click videos like "Ben Shapiro DESTROYS libtard with FACTS and LOGIC".

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I know that is a part of it but I just don't understand why there would even be motivation to click on that instead of "BLOPS IIII NO SCOPE KILL STREAK COMPILATION" or whatever the hell.

Like, those algorithms only really work because kids/young adults are already clicking on that stuff so it's a self-feeding cycle, correct?

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Yeah no clue what to do. The parents have been hands off all 8 of their kids. In particular my aunt would rather be their friend than take authority and be a parent.

Click to shrink...

Should I ask how they feel about guys like Duerte? ☹️

 

[Nelo Ice]

Should I ask how they feel about guys like Duerte? ☹️

Click to shrink...

Well not sure about this aunt in particular. But her sister/my other aunt and uncle love the guy. And I convinced her to vote in the primary but she voted Villaraigosa and copied my picks afaik otherwise.

And to go back to the topic yeah unsupervised internet is kind of a bad idea now a days. But yeah from personal experience I've seen the horror of how easily kids are influenced.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Well not sure about this aunt in particular. But her sister/my other aunt and uncle love the guy. And I convinced her to vote in the primary but she voted Villaraigosa and copied my picks afaik otherwise.

And to go back to the topic yeah unsupervised internet is kind of a bad idea now a days. But yeah from personal experience I've seen the horror of how easily kids are influenced.

Click to shrink...

It's terrifying. I would hate raising children in this climate.

 

[Nox Potens]

Yikes Op. If it helps I recently come to the rude awakening that my little sister is a homophobe. She has been watching shit like pewdiepie and gods know what else, not to mention my parents being Fox news nutjobs. The only consolation I have is that once I get out of here I will never have to see them again.

 

[samoyed]

Yeah, I know that is a part of it but I just don't understand why there would even be motivation to click on that instead of "BLOPS IIII NO SCOPE KILL STREAK COMPILATION" or whatever the hell.

Like, those algorithms only really work because kids/young adults are already clicking on that stuff so it's a self-feeding cycle, correct?

Click to shrink...

Autoplay? Let me pull up some study I found some time back but did not read.

https://medium.com/@MediaManipulati...rithm-connects-the-u-s-far-right-9f1387ccfabd

There was also this one:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-youtube-pulled-these-men-down-a-vortex-of-far-right-hate

For David Sherratt, like so many teenagers, far-right radicalization began with video game tutorials on YouTube. He was 15 years old and loosely liberal, mostly interested in "Call of Duty" clips. Then YouTube's recommendations led him elsewhere.

"As I kept watching, I started seeing things like the online atheist community," Sherratt said, "which then became a gateway to the atheism community's civil war over feminism." Due to a large subculture of YouTube atheists who opposed feminism, "I think I fell down that rabbit hole a lot quicker," he said.

Click to shrink...

I think it's because your teenage years tend to be one of self discovery and you're going to jump on the first thing that seems to give you a glimpse of "adulthood", which sticks with you for a while. In our day it was Atlas Shrugged, now it's Jordan Peterson videos.

Former YouTube engineer Guillaume Chaslot was hired to a team that designed the algorithm in 2010.

"People think it's suggesting the most relevant, this thing that's very specialized for you. That's not the case," Chaslot told The Daily Beast, adding that the algorithm "optimizes for watch-time," not for relevance.

Click to shrink...

The thing is, I don't think anyone knows why this shit is popular, but the fact that it is popular and drives viewership gets picked up by the algorithm and gets pushed. Clearly there's something here that speaks to boys and young men.