Global Security and Intelligence Studies
a one-sided and caricatured view of geopolitics made truth by decades of Hollywood revisionism ( Boggs & Pollard , 2006 ). The mundane grievances of Muslim extremists —“ American geopolitical hegemony , a long history of military interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere , unwavering support for Israel , enforcement of a neoliberal globalization regimen ”— are lost behind a smokescreen of religious fundamentalism that Hollywood and the media are only too eager to perpetuate ( Boggs & Pollard , 2006 ). This relates directly to the problems the US government ( and others ) have had in deriving a standard definition of terrorism — how to differentiate “ their ” terrorism , which is unacceptable and bad , from “ our ” terrorism , which is acceptable and necessary ( Chomsky & Achcar , 2009 ). Viewed through this lens , even the events of 9 / 11 lose their apocryphal significance and are instead merely a reaction to a state of events set in motion by Western imperialism ( Baudrillard , 2002 ). Truly it is the case that “ America has the power and resources to refuse self-reflection . More pointedly , it is a nation that has developed a tradition of being oblivious to self-reflection ” ( Sardar & Davies , 2002 ).
The fault does not entirely lie with Hollywood and the media , however ; these same caricatured and racist accounts are espoused by political figures . Newt Gingrich , former Speaker of the House , equated aid to families with dependent children or single mothers with the downfall of civilization ( Gingrich , 1995 ). Political fear mongering has made a space in public discourse for hate , to stoke fears of “ Islamization ” and the characterization of minorities as politically irrelevant at best or scapegoats for society ’ s problems at large at worst ( Perry & Scrivens , 2017 ; Fleras & Elliott , 2002 ). Increasingly the agenda of Domestic RWE is reflected not only in mainstream political discourse , but in the platforms of RW political parties ( Mallea , 2011 ; McDonald , 2011 ; Art , 2006 , Berezin , 2009 , Mudde , 2005 ). Indeed , much contemporary rhetoric concerning immigrants characterizes them as criminal , lazy or untrustworthy , inadvertently legitimizing Domestic RW extremist ideology which claims much the same ( Dudek & Jaschke , 1981 , 1982 , 1984 ; Ohlemacher , 1998 ; Stöss , 2007 ). Much of President Trump ’ s popularity is at once both symptom and cause of this dualistic rhetoric , demonizing the immigrant terrorist “ other ” and mythologizing notions of white innocence and supremacy ( Corbin , 2017 ). Frequent characterizations of immigrants as criminals or invaders , coupled with his notoriously delayed and tepid condemnations of Domestic RWE and even apparent defense of the movement during numerous events including the Charleston “ Unite the Right ” rally in 2017 , in which he insisted that there are “ very fine people on both sides ,” legitimize the bipolar narrative of the foreign , criminal and terrorist “ other ” versus white innocence , virtue and supremacy ( Corbin , 2017 ).
Mark Potok , senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center and editor of the New Report , expands on the problem : “ Today ’ s radical right leaders
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