Disrupting the Digital Divide: Extremism's Integration of Offline / Online Practice

The interaction between offline and online practices is increasingly important for right-wing extremist groups and adherents because it enables the advancement of their goals in ways groups have been unable to achieve through direct action (Garfinkel 13). Understanding this interaction is urgent given the success with which extremist ideologies and practices are shifting normative culture through online media. Moreover, the current difficulty that predominantly online expressions of right-wing extremism--such as the Alt-Right00have in building unity with more traditional groups in offline milieus offers and opportunity to develop effective responses before a coherent unity emerges (Mattheis "Digital Hate").

Therefore, this paper explores the integration of offline and online behaviors through two primary effects: 1) through the deconstruction of organizational structures including the strategy of leaderless resistance, lone actor violence, and self radicalization and 2) through the dispersion and normalization of of ideological variants in relation to online interactivity. The integration of offline / online practice promotes this diffusion of organization because it establishes networks irrespective of geography, temporality, or common language while it provides access to a vast array of extremist media and communities in which people can become immersed. It also promotes the dispersion of ideology by making it flexible and participatory. This makes ideology more broadly appealing and increases the potential for individuals to identify with a somewhat "customized" version (Koehler 129).