Fascist Leanings of Trump's Most Extreme Followers Already Evident in Their Online Behavior Back in 2016

As the United States takes stalk of the violent riot of Trump supporters at the Capitol last week, led in part by people wearing Nazi shirts and carrying Confederate flags, I thought back to the behavior of Trump supporters in Second Life before the 2016 election -- mobbing the virtual HQ of Bernie Sanders, for instance. And not just to troll his left-leaning Second Life followers, but to confront them with a clear symbol of hate:  

“There is a picture I managed to capture of one of the flags spewing from a particle dispenser at HQ,” Sanders support group member Macaria Wind tells me, handing over an image file of a Trump swastika. “Left there by one of Trump's supporters when no one was around.”

Racist behavior like this led to at least one Trump group being expelled from Second Life and their private island, aptly called The Wall, where they had rezzed a massive version of the Nazi Party's eagle-headed Parteiadler. Online activity like this was eerily similar to that on other sites where Trump's most extreme supporters congregated, including Reddit and 4Chan. At the time, Trump supporters in Second Life (as with other online sites) insisted this fascist behavior was simply a bad apples anomaly, or meant ironically, or both. The events of last week definitely show this justification to be tragically, horribly wrong: As it turns out, there were more than enough bad apples to threaten democracy itself -- and far few of their members to stop them.

Comments

[camilia fid3lis nee Patchouli Woollahra]

We may have erred in underestimating the true strength of these terrors. Time to correct our mistakes.

[Metacam]

I hate to be back here 4 years later to say "told ya so"

[Fionalein]

I was there when Trumpeteers repeatedly crashed a Pro-Biden vote count viewing event in the Chung sims... in hindsight the Capitol Hill events should not have surprised me.

[Jacques Mesrine]

Time to ban groups like the "Proud Boys" in SL.
I don't understand why the Lab doesn't act on this. Obviously, I filed a report. On the other hand the Lab supported BLM (https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2020/06/second-life-linden-lab-black-lives-matter.html). That's absurd.

[Jacques Mesrine]

Still, it's scandalous that the Lab tolerates the existence of any related or direct "Proud Boys" groups. That BLM support mentioned above stands for what?
Shame on you, Linden Lab!

[Vivienne Schell]

File an Abuse Report, encourage all your friends to do the same. The Lab won´t act without massive pressure. They lack the necessary resources.

[LoL Libtards]

You people are ridiculous. That photo of the flag is clearly a troll and not a Trump supporter so you can quit with your make-believe. You people supported the burning of cities and killing of police with the racist white-hating BLM riots. Your fake outrage now is laughable.