The Eco to Alt-Right Pipeline

We’ve all had someone in our lives or that we’ve seen on the internet dip their toes into eco living. And then they start to make all their food from scratch. And now they’re drinking raw milk and don’t vaccinate their children. And now they don’t think women should have the right to vote, and they think that a certain race of people is destroying the country. How do we get here?

It can be a slippery slope down the rabbit hole from going zero waste to accidentally promoting white nationalism and then becoming a full-on alt-right person. So, this is a cautionary tale. It’s totally okay to find benefits to a crunchy life or an eco life while still advocating for the rights of humans. It’s fine to make sourdough and try natural remedies to ailments while still going to your doctor as needed.

This is a very gray area, so let’s break some things down, starting with a few definitions.

What is crunchy?

According to Urban Dictionary, it is an “adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc.”

This slang term originates from “a sense of being ‘annoyingly intense about health or environmental issues’ popularized by 1990, short for crunchy granola (considered a natural and wholesome food) used as an adjective.”

So you might also hear terms like “scrunchy,” “granola,” or “crunchy granola.”

What is the alt-right?

Now, on the flip side, what is the alt-right?

Short for “alternative right,” it is a ”far-right, white nationalist movement.”

It is “a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief was that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”

The movement is racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, antisemitic, xenophobic, among many other things. They truly believe that white, male Christians are the superior race and gender.

To be clear, this is specifically the alt-right. This is not every single person, movement, or party on the right. That is precisely what makes this an extremist movement.

How do we get here?

Well, I’m sure you and I both know how we got to the eco movement. We want to reduce harm to the planet, reduce pollution, and maybe also reduce some health concerns that are associated with plastic. That is all valid.

How does someone fall down the alt-right rabbit hole? Usually, distrust in the system, failing systems, economic collapse, and things of that nature. This is also very valid. But what’s not valid here is using this as an excuse to take away human rights.

Now, how does one go from being just a tad eco, just dipping their toes in crunchy waters, to becoming alt-right?

I truly think we are all so desperate for community right now. We are the loneliest humans that have ever been. We long for connection, we long to be in harmony with nature, we long to give up the grind. I’m in that same boat! But I think this is where the split happens.

One party sees the root of the problem: capitalism, grind culture, and our social media algorithms sucking us into echo chambers.

One party sees the problem and seeks to fix the tip of the iceberg and not the root.

It can quickly go past plastic-free and natural…

It can be very easy to be a purist, to shame people, to shame yourself, and want everyone to live precisely how you live.

It can be very easy to glamorize the past because of its abundance of refill stores, plethora of organic foods, lack of pollution, and things of that nature, and easily fall into the camp that women and people of color shouldn’t have rights.

There’s always been this crowd, but it became mainstream (funny, because crunchy folks typically are anti-mainstream) to hop on this bandwagon. It is now popular and cool in this sphere to not vaccinate your children and be openly racist.

On individualism

I highly recommend a full listen to this episode of the A Bit Fruity podcast with guest Derek Beres, in which they talk about this topic in full. But Derek Beres brings up an excellent point here: the yoga, eco, and natural spaces have always been very individualistic. Now, enter the alt-right movement a few years ago, and one of its main focuses is also individualism. This makes it easy to see how these dots are connected and how someone can slip and slide in that direction. Of course, American society has largely been individualistic for quite some time, as we just talked about the loneliness epidemic. But both of these movements are highly focused on the individual.

This is truly why I think joining a meaningful community can help with this, as long as that community is not centered on white nationalism and forces you deeper into the rabbit hole.

Another key point that Derek Beres brings up is people not being involved in politics, and also believing that they exist outside the realm of politics. The crunchy space is largely occupied by privileged people: people of higher incomes who are usually white, straight, and cisgender. Therefore, it is hard for these people to see how politics affects them. They do not have to worry about how bad politics might affect them. They think they are beyond politics and get sucked into this individualistic way of thinking.

On capitalism

It truly blows my mind how alt-right folks get so close to the root of their problems but still can’t see it. But at the same time, I get it. We are taught that capitalism is good. We are taught to grind and hustle, and that our only goal in life should be to climb the ranks to maybe join the top 1% and finally make it rich, all while slaving away to make the big man more money.

There is someone in my life who went this direction, but we agree so heavily on some of these points. We agree that hustle culture is toxic. We agree that we shouldn’t be working our lives away, and instead we should be spending time with loved ones and in nature and doing things we love. We believe that there are so many better things to do with life than to work, and that humans hold more value than their job title. But how in the world are we so different politically?

Of course, I’m not asking everyone to agree with me 100%. Even my friends who align most closely with me politically still have different opinions, and that’s fine.

I think the difference is that I have unpacked that capitalism is not the best structure for society, and that is the culprit of all of our problems. That capitalism is the root of all of this. I think people on the alt-right pipeline have not identified the root, and instead, they think it’s the next scapegoat that the news tells them to blame. Instead of understanding that the top 1% are holding us down, the news tells them to blame transgender athletes and immigrants, both of whom are also exploited and oppressed by this very same system to an even greater degree.

Derek Beres quotes Naomi Klein on this topic: they get the feeling right but the facts wrong. I could not agree with this more. We are in the same boat. We are feeling the same disdain, burnout, distrust, and anger, but we’re pointing it in different directions.

On propaganda

Derek Beresonce again states that propagandists love to flatten things. What this means is removing any context or nuance from conversations. In this podcast, they talk about Big Pharma. I’m sure we all have our gripes here. For example, if you’re a strong proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine, that must mean you love Big Pharma and worship them. No. You can be nuanced here.

Yes, natural remedies work, but that does not mean we should distrust all science and medicine. Yes, it’s great that an herbal remedy can ease your headache or your stomach ache, but for something serious like cancer or COVID, it’s okay to go to the doctor.

But, as Matt says yet again, “nuance is not the currency of social media.” Social media thrives on hot takes, clickbait, rage bait, and simple ideas squashed down with no context.

So why are people distrusting science?

Well, science has evidence, but science is always changing. People who do not understand science see this as a means to discredit evidence and breakthroughs. I mean, here’s a prominent example from the climate space:

Decades ago, there was a hole in the ozone layer. So, scientists studied it and enacted means to fix it, such as reducing CFCs and other gases and chemicals that were depleting the ozone. Now, the ozone is fixed, yay! Except people literally use this as a means to distrust science. They say that “well, the ozone layer is fixed now, so that means scientists lied decades ago.”

No, science simply changes over time as new evidence is presented and actions are taken.

This bleeds into all areas from the anti-vax community to climate denial and more.

Not only is this part of the equation a problem, but when you have people who say something so vehemently wrong but in such a matter-of-fact, passionate way, you may feel more inclined to believe the confident, but wrong, answer over the true, but open to changing its mind, science.

Science is always changing, and it’s important to be able to change your mind as well when presented with new information, data, and facts. Not when presented with a bold but wrong influencer or politician.

People are looking for answers quickly. Science is also not known to be quick. Studies take time. And reading long, scientific papers takes time. It’s easier to watch a 1-minute TikTok from someone who espouses the same ideas as you. I can see the allure, I can see how easily this happens. Especially if you’re someone who has been looking for answers for a long time.

Not to mention, scientists are open to being proven wrong or open to looking at newly presented data, and open to changing their minds. I can see how they may sow seeds of distrust. I can see how much easier it is to believe a loud but wrong influencer or politician who does not change their mind or accept “no” as an answer, and how people take that as false confidence and false correctness.

In conclusion

I see how people get here. I want to understand the “why” without excusing racist, misogynist, and other problematic behavior. And I also want to try to stop it before it gets that bad.

I see your distrust, I feel it myself. I see your need for community and your desire to live a life more connected to the earth instead of destroying it.

I’ll leave you with this: remember the real culprit. The problem is not children with disabilities or immigrants or people of color; the problem is capitalism and the ultra-wealthy. The problem is that our government is spending more money on bombs instead of universal healthcare.

Do not blame one another. We can fix the system, but we must all band together to get there. It’s not going to fix itself on its own, and while we are divided.

I hope this made sense and wasn’t too all over the place. Thanks for reading along, something a bit unusual for my posts. What did you think of it?

As always, remember that your small actions make a big difference in the long run :)

Emma