The website The Daily Stormer is where the alt-right goes to read their “news” in the morning.

I first started understanding what the alt-right was when their leader, Richard Spencer, was hit in the face. It was a great moment in journalism history. Richard Spencer is the guy who currently leads the alt-right. He is known for shouting “Heil Trump” at his white nationalist meetings and debating the merit of the black race. His group is also responsible for turning a meme of a frog, Pepe, into a hate symbol.

In short, he is a Nazi. He sucks.

The alt-right has nothing to do with the conservatives that are most likely in your life. The alt-right is a group of neo-Nazis. They are concerned the with the continued interest of the white race. To be clear, just because someone voted for Trump doesn’t mean they are racist; it doesn’t mean they are affiliated in any way with the alt-right.

When I first made my journey to Daily Stormer it was late at night. I almost felt like a child breaking the rules. Everyone has heard about racism before. Few of us actually try to seek it out, though.

It is easy at first to mistake this website for a low-grade news website. Perhaps a tad outdated. Perhaps a tad goofy with edited pictures everywhere. It looks like a regular internet forum. This is not a regular internet forum, though.

Perhaps the first thing I noticed was memes. There are a lot of memes. A lot of Pepe and of course personal memes. Mostly adorned with pro-Nazi slogans or swastikas. There are hateful articles everywhere. Articles boast titles like “UK: Evil Hobbit to Ban Our Leader from His F— Parliament House” and “Rape Invaders Flee America for Gay Islamic Republic of Canada.”

If one word was the anti-Daily Stormer, it would be subtle.

This is a website for the truly racist. This is a website for extremists. What I have found from reading several articles is that if you’ve read one, you can pretty much guess what most of them are like. Praise the white race. Praise Trump. Praise Hitler.

At the same time, they are targeting people they believe are ruining our country. The targets range from foreign leaders to Muslims, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, liberals and Jews.

As I scroll through the articles it is hard to not notice the use of memes. These memes aren’t meant to be funny to normal people. These memes are racist. They tend to be gross and vile in nature. They are also very dangerous. It isn’t hard to imagine a certain meme being posted accidentally. “Oh, it is just a Pepe meme.”

The Daily Stormer generates a lot of comments for their bold content. Reading through the comments we see yet another vile corner of the internet.

Pictures of Hitler. Pictures of the American flag with the swastika. Comments that state the point of the “movement.” Whether that be taking back America for the whites, or deporting all people of color.

While the alt-right may seem like a large group of racist idiots, they are much worse. They are a large group of racist idiots who believe they are on the forefront of the new America. This group believes that the election of Donald Trump was a sign. They believe his actions are directly concerning their group’s motives and intentions.

Where Trump’s intentions lie is for another article. I, for one, don’t believe that Trump is a Nazi. I don’t particularly like a lot of his actions, but he is not what the alt-right believes he is.

This movement is dangerous because it breeds a belief. It breeds people who see meanings in actions that are simply not there. This can severely harm a mentally unstable mind. This is where extremism is found. This is where the next school shooter reads their “news.”

After I finished my exploration I closed out of Google Chrome. I felt gross. I felt exposed to hate. I couldn’t help but think of this fact. People read this. People consume this. There are people who believe their problems can simply be blamed on a person of color.

I would encourage all of you to take note of the racism boiling in this country. Although it is a minority for sure, being aware is the only way we can heal our country. Where movements like Black Lives Matter seem to fail is attracting all sides of the political spectrum.

One thing we can all agree on (for the most part) is that none of us want a Nazi state. If we can agree on that, perhaps we can build on that.