Julia Ebner is an academic who infiltrates far-right and Islamist groups, both online and in person (right down to donning a blonde wig to make herself look more Aryan in one instance), though latterly she has been focusing more on the far-right.
Am about half way through this latest book of hers which is out in paperback soon:
![1711466147889.jpeg 1711466147889.jpeg](https://xf2.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/data/attachments/111/111749-8c321efb7ab93d626ce2ea5d46bc49e7.jpg)
In it she argues that there has indeed been a shift to the Right in the Overton window, as evidenced by the mainstreaming of what were previously extremist beliefs.
Social media certainly has played a part in this, especially X, through co-ordinated efforts by what are now transnational organisations like, say, the Identitarian Movement, to cause these beliefs to trend.
Ebner does describe in more detail how this effect is achieved. However, as her book lacks an index, I have not been able to find the section where she does this and am a bit short of time in making this post. Otherwise I would type out what she has to say.
But anyway, let's look at one example: the baseless Great Replacement conspiracy theory, as I
can quote her on this. At one point, she highlights how 'populists who sit in parliaments...have played a crucial role in normalising...and amplifying the ideologies that drove the Christchurch and Poway attackers.'
She then specifically cites politicians who have referenced the baseless Great Replacement conspiracy theory 'either implicitly or explicitly' [like] 'former Austrian Vice Chancellor H.C. Strache, who vowed 'to continue the battle against the Great Replacement'. Then there is Dries Van Langenhove from the Belgian far right party Vlaams Belang, who 'repeatedly wrote on social media that 'we are being replaced'. Like Strache, Van Langenhove won a seat in the 2019 European Parliament elections.
Meanwhile, the AfD in Berlin even featured the conspiracy theory on its campaign posters, that said, 'Learning from Europe's history [...] so that Europe will not become Eurabia.' See also this article on Italian PM Georgia Meloni:
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni believes in the racist great replacement theory—and is putting it into in practice.
foreignpolicy.com
Television host Tucker Carlson has also endorsed the Great Replacement myth. And 'Lozza' Fox has referred to it just in the last 24 hours in one of his tweets (I also recall that his mate and ex-GB News presenter Calvin Robinson did too a while back).
So it is worth recalling that Brenton Tarrant cited ‘The Great Replacement’ as a rationale for killing fifty-one people at two different mosques in New Zealand, while Patrick Crusius killed 23 people at WalMart in El Paso with an AK-47-style citing concerns about a ‘Hispanic invasion.’ Additionally, John Earnest claimed that the reason he killed one person and injured another three at a California synagogue was his belief that Jews are responsible for non-white immigration into the United States.
So far, no mainstream UK politician or party has cited this theory to the best of my knowledge. But Ebner mentions that 30% of Leave voters believe in it (as opposed to 6% of Remain voters), citing this study:
YouGov-Cambridge research shows the extent to which conspiracy theories have become mainstream
yougov.co.uk
Must emphasise again that this is just one example and I am only part way through the book. But what the author does is chart the trajectory that ideas like this have taken from their origins in some off-the-grid online forum, like the bit of 4Chan where Incels hang out, for instance, to their endorsement by social media influencers and politicians.
Whatever one thinks of her thesis, all this makes for fascinating reading. Her previous book Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists is also, as one reviewer noted, ‘riveting and often deeply disturbing’. So to finish, here’s a link to an interview with her about that one:
Julia Ebner spent two years infiltrating far-right networks. The counter-extremism expert discusses fear, loathing and democracy in an age of disinformation
amp.theguardian.com