Madison, WI – ICBTS News
In response to public fear of growing “white nationalism” expressed by organizations as diverse as the National Education Association, NPR, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Queer Socialist Workers Party, researchers at Hollick University set out to identify both a definition for “White Nationalism” and where it might be gaining influence. In surveys taken over a 15 month period and involving detailed responses from more than 23,000 participants, researchers were surprised to find that the problem seems to be over-stated.
“At the outset,” reported lead researcher Tim Westbrook, “we discovered Americans are confused by the concept of white nationalism. During phone surveys, the vast majority of respondents, when asked to define the concept itself paused for 10 seconds or more and said ‘what?’ or ‘could you repeat that question?’ It just doesn’t seem to be an idea very familiar to people outside of ideologically normative places like Portland, Berkeley, or a few zip codes close to Oberlin, Ohio.”
“After we had completed about 7,300 phone surveys,” Westbrook continued, “one of our researchers was traumatized by an East Texas man who used the “N” word during the conversation, but voice-to-text software confirms that was the first time such language was used during the study. Researchers were also unclear as to whether the caller was African American, in which case the use of the ugly pejorative is perfectly acceptable.
On another front, a number of survey participants were quite bold about making sweeping generalizations about people of European descent.” Pressed for details, Westbrook indicated that the numerous expressions of support for black separatism and Louis Farrakhan-style antisemitism were “outside the scope of the study.”
“We were,” Westbrook concluded, “able to find two individuals in a rural New York county that confirmed our worst fears about white nationalism. Our elation was tempered when one of them, on further inquiry, proved to be working for the FBI in undercover domestic surveillance, but the other bona fide white nationalist made it all worthwhile.”
The celebration didn’t last long. “Unfortunately,” Westbrook conclude, “this doesn’t add up to much statistically.”
