A new add-on to Google's Chrome browser replaces the word "alt-right" with "white supremacy."
The extension, named "Stop Normalizing Alt-Right," was added to the store today. It's free to download. The extension comes after the Twitter handle @STOPNORMALIZING began quoting tweets of news headlines with "alt-right" in them and saying "Alt-Right = White Supremacy."
Here's a screenshot of the extension in action. The original headline read, "Keep calling the alt-right 'alt-right.' Soon, it won't be a euphemism anymore." Further tests of the extension found it didn't always work.
Fixed that for you @TIME. Alt-Right = White Supremacy #FTFYAltRight pic.twitter.com/8KlFNv88r6
— #STOPNORMALIZING (@STOPNORMALIZING) November 16, 2016
Here's how the extension's creator got his start.
The term "alt-right"has been under fire. Critics point to racist and nationalist figures who embrace the label, such as white nationalist Richard Spencer, who is credited with popularizing the term. Those critics believe saying "alt-right" instead of "white supremacy" is an attempt to normalize those views.
The Associated Press advised journalists to always define the term, calling the movement "a mix of racism, white nationalism and populism."
The extension's creator, who uses the pseudonym George Zola, said he wanted to make people "instantly recoil" when using the term.
"They're scary, dangerous and it's important we stop the normalization of this before it gets out of hand," Zola told The Huffington Post.
Zola's efforts are not unique; radio host Jay Smooth also made a Chrome extension called the "Alt-Right Denormalizer," which replaces "alt-right" with "rebranded white nationalism."
Major news outlets have been criticized for using "alt-right."
Thank you! Nasty hideous nazis don't need to downplay what they are. Klan ppl. Demons. Scum. MAGA. https://t.co/LpSm6bCxXD
— gop=Putin's Wenches (@LiberalJaxx) November 29, 2016
Some critics haven't exactly held back.
The use of a chrome extension may hearken back to a similar tool that anti-Semites used to identify Jews in news stories. The Chrome extension "Coincidence Detector," since banned, put "Jewish-sounding" names in parentheses (((like this))), prompting many Jewish Twitter users to modify their display names in solidarity.
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