Through the Extremist Lens
comprehensive federal response to Domestic RWE is a lack of standard legal terminology to identify and label terrorism in general and violent extremism in particular . Not only do the United States Department of State , Federal Bureau of Investigation , and Central Intelligence Agency all have different definitions of terrorism , but the term “ terrorism ” is often conflated with “ extremism ” in legal proceedings ( Chermak et al ., 2011 ; United States Code of Federal Regulations ). While it is argued that this allows lawyers leeway in prosecuting violent ideological crimes , the resulting confusion in the application of the “ terrorism ” label is widespread ( Bjelopera , 2017 ; Ecoterrorism and Lawlessness , 2002 ).
Exacerbating the issue of government disorganization is the surge in Domestic RW extremist activity since 2001 . The number of hate groups grew nearly 50 % from 2001 to 2015 , experiencing a dramatic but temporary uptick in 2011 ( Alexander , 2017 ). More worrying , anti-government groups grew by nearly 700 % between 2001 and 2015 , peaking dramatically in 2012 ( Alexander , 2017 ; Potok , 2016 ). The number of RW extremist incidents as a percentage of all attacks in the US grew from 6 % in 2001 to 35 % in 2010 ( National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism , 2017 ). In the period from 2011 to 2015 , Domestic RWE ’ s share of violent incidents in the US shot up to 73 % ( Corbin , 2017 ). Much of this increase in violence is attributed to a growing trend of “ lone wolf ” attackers among Domestic RW extremist incidents ( Chan et al ., 2013 ;
Hoffman , 2013 ). Tied to the use of the leaderless resistance model among Domestic RW extremists , various studies have identified literature promoting lone wolf tactics on every Domestic RW extremist website surveyed ( Ray & Marsh , 2001 ; Adams & Roscigno , 2005 ). While the recognition of many misconceptions of Domestic RWE is unique to government , many of those same misconceptions are shared by the population at large .
Mainstream Perceptions of Domestic Right-wing Extremism
Mainstream perceptions of and discourse surrounding Domestic RWE are equally as disorganized and misled as those of government , exacerbated by hyperbolized representations in media and politics . Much like government conceptions of terrorism , mainstream perceptions of terrorism remain preoccupied with Islamic extremism so much so that the word “ terrorist ” conjures racialized images of Muslim extremists . This image , reinforced by two decades of media and Hollywood caricature , has led to the creation of a new suspect population within America at large ( Boggs & Pollard , 2006 ). Like Japanese-Americans during World War II , American Muslims have been uniquely subject not only “ to murders , beatings , death threats and other intimidation ( s ),” but also to new legislation which allows racial profiling of non-white Muslims or suspected Muslims , creating in effect “ a modern , technological version of the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s ” ( Earth First , 2001 ). As a re-
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