There is concern by Vox and Mike about Richard Spencer being ‘controlled opposition’:
Controlled opposition or media indiscipline?
But I have to admit, it was somewhat fortuitous that I didn’t go given the manufactured media coverage of a minor incident towards the end, when apparently some idiots in the crowd began throwing Roman salutes on camera, and Richard decided it would be a great idea to throw the media some red meat by shouting “Hail Victory and Hail Trump.” Mike Cernovich put out a widely watched Periscope calling this “utter stupidity” and “controlled opposition”, and thereby sparked a bit of outrage among Richard’s fans.
Related: Is Richard Spencer controlled opposition?
Richard Spencer and the alt-right shouldn’t worry too much about ‘looking bad’ in front of the media. The media and their multi-billion dollar budgets tried to besmirch Trump and failed. Ideas and messages are what matter more: If the alt-right can continue to win the hearts and minds of Americans, as they have done successfully in 2015 and 2016, the media will be powerless to stop it. If the alt-right fails, it won’t be because of the media.
Here is the video in question:
And Mike’s response
Out of the large audience, only maybe four attendees made the salute, which is a Roman salute, and any connection with Nazism is coincidental. The word ‘hail’ means to cheer, salute, greet, or approve enthusiastically. For example, ‘hail to the king’ or ‘hail to the chief’. Spencer didn’t say ‘sieg heil’, which has a totally different pronunciation.
Are we going to start banning words now, because people get easily offended or don’t know the difference between ‘hail’ and ‘heil’. Maybe it was a joke to trigger the liberal media, in which he succeeded. Also, Mr. Spencer has little control over what everyone in his audience does. I can understand lefties being easily offended but not Mike and Vox.
An NPI gathering is more civil and less racialist than a typical BLM or anti-Trump protest, that’s for sure. If other races and ethnic groups can have pride, why can’t whites, too. Politicians talk constantly about the importance of strong African, Asian, and Hispanic communities, but the concept and discussion of strong White/European communities is somehow forbidden in public discourse.
Also, there seems to be some terminology confusion over controlled opposition, vs. an undercover informant. Controlled opposition are shills that infiltrate or create opposition movements, and then steer them in counter-productive directions.
Informants are more stealthy, and try to extract incriminatory evidence to be passed on to law enforcement. An informant, upon gaining trust, may converse one-on-one to extract this information, or will log visitor information from a website. Mike is correct about being careful when posting online, but there is no need to drag Richard Spencer in the mud on this issue given there is no definitive evidence he is an informant, as anyone can be technically be an informant. We’re all adults here and are aware, and take responsibility, of the consequences of our actions…we don’t need your concern over looking bad in the eyes of the media or getting arrested.
Additionally, the alt-right is bigger than Spencer, although perhaps he is the most prominent spokesperson, along with Milo (who recently rejected being identified as alt-right). If others don’t like Spencer’s approach, they can (and already have) create their own sub-divisions and variants of the alt-right (it doesn’t even have to be called ‘alt-right’), which through the ‘marketplace of ideas’ may eventually rise to greater prominence and supplant Spencer. Even if these variants differ on aesthetic and motif, their similarities outweigh their differences. Regardless of what you call it or who the ‘leader’ is, the power of the alt-right lies in its ability to change the course of national politics (as well as public discourse), which the election of Trump is evidence it already has, and that’s really what matters.