Abstract

Poster (1989) and Schiller (1996) point out that electronic communications have the power to change social and political relationships. The new discourse of the Internet has political uses in spreading neo-Nazi ideology and action. I look at two kinds of online neo-Nazi discourse: hate speech itself, including text, music, online radio broadcasts, and images that exhort users to act against target groups; and persuasive rhetoric that does not directly enunciate but ultimately promotes or justifies violence. The online location of these discourses poses urgent questions. Does information technology make the re-emergence of prejudicial messages and attitudes swifter and more likely? Does the Internet's wide range of distribution make for more followers and finally more persuasion?