HATE GROUPS / BLOG 6

            Despite the downward slide in numbers of hate groups in America, the groups that are still around are reverting back to their old ways of communicating strictly by word-of-mouth. Leaving the Internet marks a big change in ways for these groups as they are going against what the entirely of the country is doing. While everybody has begun relying on technology to intervene into almost every aspect of our lives, hate groups strive to get back to their old ways so that they can conserve their power and regain strength after faltering in their numbers in recent years.

            The reelection of Barack Obama has been marked as the cause of the dwindling amounts of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and more but the initial election of President Obama is what started sprouting so many groups up to begin with. Obama’s election made these groups angsty because of his race, naturally, but his reelection showed that the general public was okay with his background and that ostracizing realization is what could have made the groups lose steam. Now that the decline has begun, hopefully this decline can slide us back and past the numbers that were around pre-2008 and pre-Obama in the White House.

            How could these groups operate without any form of communication other than verbal communication? They are “everywhere” says a member of the Klan and with over 150 chapters in the country, it can’t be that difficult to come together when needed. But this does make me wonder if the violence and evil doings of these hate groups will become more centralized to the specific chapters within the groups instead of potentially mass events or occurrences because of this shift offline.

            This CNN article mentioned that another cause for the decline could be legislation shifting to the right and aligning more with these extremist’s views. Regardless of how these groups feel about the current political climate, the fact that they are moving off of the Internet is going to allow the groups to regain their strength in leadership again, which while stronger leadership in a group that spread so much hate is not necessarily what everybody wants, it is proven that having a leader in place diminishes chances of violent outbursts between the members of the group and the public and more specifically, the groups of people that the group is against.

Article link: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/us/hate-groups-decline