Elon, Dave, and Kanye: How Their Radicalization Happened

Elon Musk, Dave Chapelle, and Kanye West are case studies of how young men are recruited by hate groups online

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Many people wonder how Dave Chapelle, a once brilliant comedian, Elon Musk, the man with arguably more fanboys than anyone on the planet, and Kanye West, a self-proclaimed genius, embraced bigotry as part of their persona. What makes these three men stand out, however, is their fame and notoriety; their presence in society on a cultural level. Their celebrity offers insight into the gradual progression of young men all over the country that fall into the realm of hate-based extremist ideologies that powers much of the far-right.

If you think Black men or men of color aren’t vulnerable to the bigotry born of the toxic white Christian male identity, I have news for you, we see it every day. The machismo behind most hate is spread throughout nations in the Global South and in every community in America. A byproduct of colonialism. This means none of us are immune to the so-called “manliness” that drives not just misogyny, but homophobia and transphobia too. Inevitably, that same toxicity devolves into animus for non-white groups.

Prominent Black and Latino men spouting anti-Semitic talking points serve as an example of how pervasive political extremism has become. Exploiting generic grievances such as crime, the economy, xenophobia, or homophobia with memes on more open platforms like Facebook and Twitter is where it begins. Users are then coaxed into following groups on more anonymous platforms like Telegram which then exposes them to even more extreme hate-filled content.

Much of this also begins as humor. “It’s just a joke,” they say. Meanwhile, young men are encouraged with interactions (likes, comments, etc) to post more content. To them, half of the fun is watching people get angry. Family and friends surprised by such posts may talk to the person and think the problem is solved. But as they post lesser problematic content that’s easier to dismiss where their families are on social media, they are likely being exposed to and posting much worse content elsewhere.

Anonymity allows hate group members to move in various ways using sock-puppet accounts on more public social media. Facebook, for example, provides a complete platform for hate groups. From private “groups” to encrypted messaging and chat, Facebook remains an ideal tool for extremists. The system can easily be manipulated to recruit young men into extremist groups. It then begins to spread even faster and further as more are drawn in.

Appealing to “machismo” (misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc.) is easy because those beliefs often translate across culture, ethnicity, and race. When breaking down what issues are the catalyst that sent these men down a dark path, we begin to see entry points. For one young man, it may be issues with women, or dating, for another, transphobia. Or, it could be anti-Black sentiments or xenophobia. Understanding how family members became extremists can only help in addressing the problem. Especially if that family member is a young man.

Grievance

For Kanye West, his grievance is loud and clear. It’s the Jews. Whatever problem he’s ever had wasn’t because of anything he did, it was the Jews, man. His buddy Nick Fuentes, a self-hating Latino who pretends to be white, doesn’t realize that the racists he hangs out with will one day turn on him because he’s not European white. Don’t believe me, read any domestic terrorist’s white grievance manifesto. Every one of them lays it out for the whole world to see.

Fuentes’ influence on Kanye only serves to continue pushing those grievances and benefitting financially from it. Assigning blame to everyone and everything except themselves. This is a crucial component of every white supremacist’s beliefs. Didn’t get a specific job? Blame immigrants. A Black person got a job that you didn’t? Diversity hire. Kanye is using similar grievances but on a grander scale because, you know, he used to be a billionaire.

For Elon Musk, it’s trans people, Black people, Latin American migrants (his company depends on migrants from Eastern countries, so he’s careful), and colonialism. His imperialist ideology once led him to say, “we can coup whoever we want” after the coup in Bolivia. A country with massive lithium reserves that would benefit his businesses. When discussing corporate-led colonialism and interventionism in the Global South, Elon Musk is one of the bad guys to us.

Meanwhile, his purchase of Twitter has been something to behold. His allowing anti-Semites, racists, transphobes, and hatemongers back on the platform has successfully drawn more attention to Twitter. His questionable ethics has also led him to ban accounts that counter hate. His shakeup is meant to keep attention on the platform, and it’s working. Yet, he’s intentionally misinforming the public across multiple issues while embracing far-right actors.

Dave Chappelle’s entry point was transphobia. Not so much against trans people, but against the idea of trans people's identity. His mockery of the trans community falls right in line with the “it’s just a joke” crowd. Meanwhile, people laughing at what they consider a seemingly harmless joke are normalizing transphobia. It’s at these moments when people tell you to lighten up and “laugh a little” in response to you calling out the bigotry.

Normalizing any form of hate is detrimental to a society that boasts a widely multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic population. Targeting trans people with hostility has proven to be a bigger entry point for extremist recruiting than even anti-Semitism. Trans people have few protections in US society, as most people refuse to understand what it truly means to be trans.

Much like discussing racism or police brutality, the country shuts down or begins a reactionary descent into hate whenever trans issues or threats against them come up. Sadly to say, the attacks on drag shows stem from a transphobic entry point. The ignorance behind the assaults is based on them not knowing the difference between a drag queen and a trans person.

It’s based on a refusal to listen and understand non-cis, non-white people.

Community

One of the most powerful benefits the internet provided hate groups and extremists is unabated reach. When social media came about, it added to the explosion in the spread of hateful materials. Once relegated to a handful of websites on the fringes of the world wide web, now they had access to more people than ever. Recruiting people became much easier allowing them unfettered growth resulting in more than 1,000 known hate groups across the country.

Similarly, the power of community in private groups on Facebook and Telegram channels along with forums like 4Chan and 8Chan provide recruited young men comfort. Now, Elon Musk’s Twitter comes as a boon to white supremacists as Musk reinstated many of their accounts that have been banned for as long as a decade. With access to one of the more public social media sites, they are now free to spread their hate more openly than we’ve seen in years.

This allows them to attract more potential recruits to their private networks on apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram where they share memes and promote hateful messaging. Accounts like LibsOfTikTok, which routinely points their followers to harass drag shows, LGBTQ events, doctors, and hospitals, have unfettered access to several social media sites allowing them to target trans people and anyone they disagree with politically.

The power of community can not be understated. Any writer or independent journalist can attest to the strength of their follower base. But community for hate groups takes any given recruit's entry point and begins to expose them to even worse material. Using terminology like "globalists, gay agenda, Jews control everything," and much more, they begin to tie it all together under the guise of "woke" - a term they have no grasp of.

This brings us back to Elon, Dave, and Kanye.

Most won't see them as "recruits" for hate groups because there's no evidence of association with any. But that doesn't mean they're not exposed to them. Their message isn't new. Chappelle makes some of the same arguments the worst anti-trans bigots do. Musk does the same thing. Kanye, well, he went full white supremacist. He echoes the worst messaging that's out in the ether. He sounds like people who comment on articles on Stormfront and Breitbart.

What these three wealthy men represent is how young men in the US are hooked in and steadily devolve into hateful bigots. They represent how hate groups operate. How they create an image that leads people like Elon, Dave, and Kanye down the road to more extremist ideas. While all three men present their views as "jokes" or "trolling," the truth is, they're taking an active role in normalizing intolerance and hate and they don't seem to care.

Because two of the men mentioned here are Black, they're providing white supremacists an out because, as any bigot will tell you, they can't possibly be racist if Black men agree with them. We hear it over and over in online spaces today. When the Proud Boys elevated Enrique Tarrio, he served this one purpose. To the leadership council, he was every racial slur used against Black people and Latinos. But, when responding to accusations of racism, the group would point to Tarrio as if he was proof that they're not an anti-Black group. 

Tarrio was too busy celebrating being elevated and accepted into a fake leadership position and being included by his white supremacist counterparts to see how he was being used. For Elon, Dave, and Kanye, their motivations are likely similar to that type of celebration of acceptance. If enough people support them, they can't be wrong, right?

Trolling

When Dave Chappelle takes the stage or comments on trans issues, what he says are "jokes" is him just trolling. Every show, every Netflix special, he intentionally says things in a way he knows would be offensive to some but accepted by most. His appeal to the bigotry born of Christian white male supremacy tells us a lot more than he thinks it does. It's not so much about being right as it is about generating revenue and let's face it, hate and controversy sell.

But actively doing harm to others while benefiting financially is the definition of a sellout. This, by default, makes Elon, Dave, Kanye, racist Latinos, and every other bigot who profits from the big business of hate, sellouts too. Don't get it twisted, I'm not targeting these three men, I'm just using them as an example of how white men get groomed by the industry of hate. And let me tell you, these three are the best examples out there right now. Even if you consider their trolling game weak (it is), it's effective enough to make the mouths of those who hate to salivate.

You saw how people reacted to Chappelle bringing Elon Musk on stage recently. People accept Chappelle's transphobic commentary and boo the white man who holds similar and nearly identical views. They can't point to the white man and say, "see, how can I be a bigot if Elon Musk says this too?" Musk's anti-Black and anti-trans views are widely known so they can't get down with that. Meanwhile, they'll tell you how Chappelle provides much-needed nuance to the conversation about issues they all refuse to take the time to understand.

The same people that don't know the difference between a drag queen and a trans-person want to talk about Dave's nuance. For all intents and purposes, that is absolute bigotry born of willful ignorance. Because transphobia crosses racial and ethnic boundaries it makes addressing it uniquely problematic. Taking Chappelle's "jokes" as authoritative over the experiences of trans people and the science that supports them creates a vacuum of hate. And since not enough people from various racial and ethnic groups speak up to counter these narratives within their own communities, it continues to grow unabated. A scary thought.

Defending trans lives can be difficult. We all know this. As soon as you defend a drag show (again, because they don't know the difference), they start calling you a groomer and a pedophile. Two very serious accusations under normal circumstances, but since the ignorance about these issues is so high, people don't understand how much they are diminishing the power of those words. Then again, since conservative pastors and politicians alike keep getting caught with kiddie porn, maybe normalizing those words is the point. Who knows.

It’s all a function of the trolling mechanism. Just like QAnon did tangible harm to groups that rescued and protected victims of trafficking, so is the current environment lashing out using ridiculous and unfounded accusations against strangers online. It's extremism that inevitably gets people killed. Because just like people acted on Donald Trump's words and killed dozens in terrorist attacks, they could easily act on the words of people like Elon, Dave, and Kanye. It's a truth so evident that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued warnings to various marginalized communities because of people like them bolstered by accounts like LibsOfTikTok.

As domestic terrorism continues to grow all over the country, look to men like these who have radicalized themselves and see if the profile fits anyone around you. If it does, the onus is on you to talk to them in as much of a non-confrontational way as possible. The goal is to reach them through discussion - not alienate them through bullying. It's okay to laugh at their ideas and ostracize them for their beliefs, but it's more important to connect with them - which is achievable if they're friends or family. Remember, everyone is different. What works for some, may not work for others. Seek out community and create ideas together.

Because if we don't and we continue down this path, nothing good will come of it.