One thing social traditionalists are brilliant at is re-branding their “anti” positions with positive or neutral terms, such as Pro-Life (vs. Anti-Abortion/Anti-Sex), and now “alt-right.” Those of us who reject their ideology can also reject their terminology.
To my recollection, “alternative” as a category-defining adjective became widely popular in the early 1990s as a description for a modern variation on rock music, “alternative rock” (or “alternative” or “alt-rock”), then later a similar modern variation on country music, “alt-country.” With the “alt-right,” the so-called “alternative” is an ideology of extreme bigotry, seeking to mainstream a class-by-race/sex/ethnicity system, which is their mythologized* version of the American past, where any White Heterosexual, Non-Jewish Man is born to social & economic domination.
For music styles, “alternative” or “alt-” is a neutral indicator of a different flavor in a classic genre. For the political extreme right, “alt-” is an attempt to imply a modern and neutral variation, but this variation is anything but neutral. Whereas the normal political “right” may unconsciously support the status quo of White Male Privilege and resist more inclusive policy, by and large, they’re pretty normal Americans who love our diverse culture as is and do not support the extreme White Nationalist agenda of the so-called “alt-right.”
We informed progressives should not let haters define the terms we use, which can confuse or sway the ignorant or undecided. Instead, we should be as clear as possible with our terms and to that end, I propose “bigot-right.” Although the members mostly fit the existing terms of White Nationalists or White Supremacists, those terms are too long and can’t win out against the more succinct and catchy, “alt-right.” Also, bigot-right better covers the anti-woman, anti-homosexual aspects which were not as clearly defined in those terms from previous eras (where homosexuality was often not even acknowledged to exist and women were more widely disenfranchised).
So anytime anyone uses the misleading term, “alt-right,” simply respond with something like, “oh, you mean the bigot-right” and insist on using the clearer term (at least for your part of the conversation). They say they want to “take back the country” (to their mythologized past); let’s take back the conversation and keep the country on track to our diverse and inclusive future.
* I use “mythologized” because the American past has had periods of significant discrimination against certain Europeans (e.g., the Polish, Irish, Germans and Italians) concurrently with some of the “normal” anti-Jewish, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-woman sentiments that the Bigot-Right aspires to, while ignoring the anti-European aspects.
