Nationalist Born Killer Essay Questions

Dylann Roof's murder of nine people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC shocked the nation in 2015, the most appalling act of right-wing terrorism in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing - and the first inspired by the proliferation of racist, neo-fascist, and Alt-Right ideas online. Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah's masterful 2017 essay for GQ captures the heroism of Roof's victims, the rage of their survivors, and the world of Roof himself, who emerges as both mentally unstable and also utterly earnest in his racist ideology. He was also clearly infatuated with a certain mythologized version of American history, which is what Joe & Josh spend most of this episode talking about. They also ask if the word "terrorism" has any value, discuss American gun culture, and return to the Confederate monuments debate.

“A Most American Terrorist” by Rachel Khaadzi Ghansah, GQ, 2017
https://www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist

“Racism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville” by Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 2017
https://newrepublic.com/article/144320/racism-medievalism-white-supremacists-charlottesville

“The War on White Heritage,” by Samuel Francis, American Renaissance, 2000
https://www.amren.com/news/2015/06/the-war-on-white-heritage/

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