Why we are angry @them: A virtual ethnographic journey across the empathy wall towards deeper understandings of Dutch radical-right anger

Abstract

ABSTRACT Exclusionary populist radical-right sentiments have flooded liberal-democratic societies and their digital landscapes in recent decades. A key feat of such populism is nativism: the vehement opposition to non-native Others supposedly threatening the native majority’s national identity. Arguing for the importance of creating deep understandings in order to respond to the exclusionary nature of such nativism, this article builds on ethnographic research that engaged with the narratives of Dutch nativists active within an ever-more pertinent context: the virtual community. By acknowledging my own subjectivities that often contrasted sharply with those of my respondents, I ventured across what Hochschild calls the empathy wall to find moments of mutual recognition by extensively talking with and listening to my respondents. This approach, I argue, creates new insights into ways to understand and respond to nativist sentiments within liberal-democratic societies, and offers new understandings of the role digital media play for nativist supporters.