Wellness products are not something usually associated with white supremacy movements. However, when Mark Hay’s reporting starts pulling at the threads, they uncover a network of brands that not only promote alternative health but also serve as vehicles for extremist views.
Many people feel uncomfortable with social change like racial justice movements that reorient how they see themselves in relation to other groups like marginalised populations, Gerrand and Anderson explain. When someone they learn to trust like an influencer in a mainstream wellness space on social media affirms their misgivings about, say, the Black Lives Matter movement and frames support for "white lives matter" as a matter of self-care, then an individual might slowly warm to this ideology.
White nationalists, Simi learned, know that they are often seen as backwoods hicks who wear white hoods or swastikas. They also know that people don't always recognise hate speech when it's delivered by someone who doesn't fit that mould.