https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...-trove-of-private-chat-room-messages-reveals/
The outward signs could be mild – a student who criticizes political correctness or who puts up posters that defend Western civilization. But the discussions behind those actions reveal a troubling, insidious process of radicalization.
In the fall of 2017, a spate of postering campaigns around the University of Toronto campus attracted attention on social media and the student press. The posters carried a simple but provocative slogan: "It's Okay To Be White." The thinking behind that slogan was articulated in a post that appeared on 4chan, the image-based internet forum, which called for followers to distribute such posters as part of a co-ordinated North America-wide effort to spread white-nationalist propaganda.
"5 words. Simple, elegant, effective. The plan is working. Stick to the plan. There is no phase 2," the 4chan post read. "Work at night. Work with hoodies and sunglasses. Work quickly and move on."
...
After the postering foray, members of the chat room discussed how they hoped that some people who saw the posters, and who would otherwise be averse to a white-supremacist message, might regard the five-word slogan as reasonable. They talked, as well, about how they hoped the media would inadvertently spread their message.
Similar posters were plastered on campuses across the country, including at the University of Alberta, the University of Regina and the University of Victoria. Soon after, the group shared links to articles in newspapers and on Reddit threads that discussed their handiwork. Participants were excited by how their dog-whistle campaign had gained such coverage: "Bigger and bigger papers are publishing. Like dominoes. Hopefully we're just getting started."
