“As long as we stick together everything is going to be OK”: An Examination of Aotearoa's Far-Right Subculture on 4chan.

Abstract

<p><strong>My thesis investigates the digital far-right subculture, concentrating on the most popular board on the image-board website 4chan, /pol/ ('politically incorrect'), using posts by New Zealand-based users. I conducted ethnographic fieldwork over three months, accessing /pol/ multiple times per week and collecting posts from New Zealand-based users. Using thematic analysis, I sought to answer the three research questions guiding this thesis, (1) How do the communications of 4chan /pol/ users give the extreme far-right movement new layers of meaning and renewed relevance by combining old ideas of white supremacy with the modern aesthetics of ironic internet culture? (2) What function do disinformation and conspiracy theories play in the far-right /pol/ subculture? And (3) How can examining the themes discussed by New Zealand-based 4chan /pol/ users contribute to our understanding of the implementation of their extremist ideologies in the offline world? This thesis provides an insight into the ideological themes discussed by New Zealand based /pol/ users, and the overall communication style of this subculture. I illustrate how Aotearoa’s far-right subculture revolves around memeified violence, disinformation and conspiracies and a strong sense of white victimhood, fueled by racism, white supremacy, male supremacy, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and misogyny. This thesis contributes to wider academic knowledge regarding what is driving the acceleration of far-right extremism online, with a specific focus on Aotearoa’s extremism landscape.</strong></p>

Us vs. Them: A Subcultural Analysis of Violent Extremism within New Zealand’s Telegram Conspiracy Community

“…These findings demonstrate that the grievances shared, and beliefs promoted within a subculture can construct a worldview that serves to validate violence towards a target out-group, providing a lens with which to interpret the violent rhetoric present within the conspiracy community. Lastly, Bradley's (2023) research into the New Zealand far-right on 4 Chan demonstrates that subcultures can be formulated around a collective hatred of a defined outgroup. Furthermore, Bradley noted group members were quick to draw upon violent rhetoric when talking about an out-group that they had vilified as their enemy.…”

“…Collectively, these shared beliefs and ideas form a normative order that encourages individuals to adhere to these norms, potentially shaping the behaviour and beliefs of a subculture's participants (Herbert, 1998). The dynamics of a subculture can serve to reinforce the boundaries between community members and the other, in some cases validating violence against a defined out-group (Bradley, 2023;O'Malley et al, 2022).…”

“…In contrast to the participant-observational approach to ethnography in which a researcher engages with research participants (Gray, 2016;Kozinets, 2010), my research was strictly non-participatory and observational (Bradley, 2023;Rambukkana, 2019). A nonparticipatory approach was adopted for reasons that will be elaborated on during the research design chapter, namely, personal security, not wishing to manipulate or steer community discussions, and a desire to study the community during contextually specific historical points in time.…”