Banal Fascism Online Weaponizing the “Everyday” for Extreme Ends

Section 1: Conceptualizing "Banal Fascism"/The Inherent Banality of Fascism

1. Introduction

Meredith L. Pruden, Hanah Stiverson, Ayse D. Lokmanoglu, and Meghan Conroy

2. Introducing Banal Fascism

Hanah Stiverson and Meghan Conroy

Section 2: Tech and Fascism

3. Fascism and the Machine: Reflections on the Banality of Surveillance Capitalism and Other Developments

Imogen Richards

4. Red, White, and Gloom: The Inherent Banality of Fascist Tactics

Meghan Conroy and Sophie Wunderlich

5. From Pixels to Prejudice: Visual Framing and Intersectional Targeting in Parler Memes

Chloe Mortenson, Mowafak Allaham, Rod Abhari, Esteban Villa Turek, and Ayse Lokmanoglu

Section 3: Politics and the Internet

6. The Fascist Feminine: White Motherhood and the Parental Rights Movement

Hanah Stiverson

7. Effectiveness of Banal Fascism in Shaping Political Engagement: The 2022 Marine Le Pen Presidential Campaign on Facebook

Joanna Rak and Maciej Skrzypek

8. Christian Nationalism and Far-right Rhetoric and Iconography in Recruiting and Mobilizing Out-group Members on Gab

Serena Clark and Chelsea Wilkinson

9. Maintaining Frame: US News Media Coverage of Misogynist Incels

Meredith L. Pruden

10. Recruiting for The Base Across Platforms: Modes and Methods of Online Engagement and Identity Shaping

Michael Loadenthal, Katherine Kountz, John Hendry, Virginia Massignan, Rebecca Wilson, Mor Yachin, Katerina Papatheodorou, Dror Walter, and Anthony F. Lemieux

11. The Morphology of Banal Fascism: Investigating Fascist Lies During 2020

Chetan Bhatt

Section 4: Fascist Lifestyle Trends on Social Media

12. Illustrating Chaos: banal fascism in Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life

jonesy

13. Eating the Empire: The Construction of the Fascist Diet

Eddie Oliver, née Lancaster and Hanah Stiverson

14. “Kill Your Local Drug Dealer”: Framing the Opioid Crisis Across the Online White Supremacist Landscape

Joey Stabile

15. Milk Parties, Soyjaks and Reactionary Trolling: Theorizing the Reactionary Right’s Metapolitical Appropriation of Dairy Milk

Elisabeth Moerking

Section 5: Conclusion and Praxis

16. Conclusion

Meredith L. Pruden, Hanah Stiverson, Ayse D. Lokmanoglu, and Meghan Conroy

Biography

Meredith L. Pruden is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media at Kennesaw State University and an affiliate with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, member of Media and Democracy Data Cooperative and Coalition for Independent Tech Research, and Fellow with Institute for Research on Male Supremacism.

Ayse D. Lokmanoglu is an Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies in the College of Communication. She studies the dynamics of information integrity, the politicization of science, and visual communication in the digital public sphere.

Hanah Stiverson is the Director of the Democracy Protection Program at Human Rights First where she leads an advocacy and research team focused on exposing authoritarian practices, defending the right to dissent, and protecting civic freedoms.

Meghan Conroy is a threat intelligence analyst with over 10 years of experience investigating extremism and online harms. She currently works in tech, where she focuses on proactive threat detection and policy development for criminal exploitation of social media platforms.