Kill All Normies
{{short description|2017 nonfiction book by Angela Nagle}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Kill All Normies
| image = File:Killallnormies.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| author = Angela Nagle
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| subject = Internet culture, alt-right, political correctness
| genre = Cultural studies
| publisher = Zero Books
| pub_date = 2017
| media_type =
| pages = 136 pp.
| isbn = 978-1-78-535543-1
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}{{Progressivism}}
Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right is a 2017 non-fiction book by Angela Nagle published by Zero Books. It describes the development of internet culture, the nature of political correctness, the emergence of the alt-right and the 2016 election of Donald Trump.{{cite web |title=Kill All Normies {{!}}{{!}} Zero Books {{!}}{{!}} Book Info |url=http://www.zero-books.net/books/kill-all-normies |website=www.zero-books.net |access-date=2018-11-08 |archive-date=2019-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714044302/http://www.zero-books.net/books/kill-all-normies |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last1=Nagle |first1=Angela |title=Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and The Alt-Right |date=2017 |publisher=Zero Books}} Nagle offers a left-wing critique of contemporary social liberalism, arguing that it helped create the alt-right movement.
Synopsis
Nagle presents her work as an attempt to map the online culture wars that occurred in the early 2010s and how it resulted in the development of alt-right which played a major role in the election of Donald Trump. Nagle introduces the 2010s as a period in which "cyber utopianism" began to emerge with the rise of internet-based social activism such as the Arab Spring, Occupy movement, WikiLeaks, adbusters, and Anonymous which were based on decentralized leadership and online organization. This internet-based activism was immediately embraced by much of mainstream liberalism without any rigorous analysis or appraisal of the organizational structure and limitations of these internet-based movements, which all resulted in consistent failure and eventual collapse. Many of these movements began on image-based online forums such as 4chan and 8chan. These forums, organized on the basis of anonymity, developed a subculture among the users that combined extremely transgressive and dark humor with a deeply misogynistic and racist attitude.
In the second chapter, titled "The Online Politics of Transgression", Nagle observes how political transgression historically is associated with the political Left, specifically that of the New Left, which was adopted by the Alt-Right. Nagle frames this adoption of transgression by the political right in relation to the concept of moral transgression, which can be traced to the eighteenth century figures of Marquis De Sade, The Surrealists, Friedrich Nietzsche, Punk subculture, and contemporaneously in the 1990s 'male rampage films' like American Psycho and Fight Club. This 'transgressive anti-moral style' of the Alt-Right, according to Nagle, is their attempt to completely break away from the egalitarian philosophy of the Left and the Christian morality of the Right.
In chapter three, "Gramscians of the Alt-Lite", Nagle focuses on the popularity of the French New Right within the circles of the Alt-Right.
Publication and reception
Kill All Normies received a polarized reception from critics and columnists, with Vice,{{cite web |last1=Kiberd |first1=Roisin |title='Kill All Normies' Is About the Alt-Right But the Left Ends Up Looking Worse |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/kill-all-normies-is-about-the-alt-right-but-the-left-ends-up-looking-worse/ |website=Motherboard |publisher=VICE |access-date=6 November 2018 |date=12 May 2017 |archive-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181108105015/https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bmwdm5/kill-all-normies-is-about-the-alt-right-but-the-left-ends-up-looking-worse |url-status=live }} New York,{{cite web |last1=MacDougald |first1=Park |title=Where Did the Alt-Right Come From? This Book Finds Some Uncomfortable Answers |url=http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/angela-nagles-kill-all-normies-the-alt-right-and-4chan.html |website=Intelligencer |date=13 July 2017 |access-date=6 November 2018 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210709221103/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/angela-nagles-kill-all-normies-the-alt-right-and-4chan.html |url-status=live }} and The New Republic{{cite magazine |title=What the Alt-Right Learned from the Left |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/143722/alt-right-learned-left |magazine=The New Republic |date=6 July 2017 |last1=Gais |first1=Hannah |access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210709221155/https://newrepublic.com/article/143722/alt-right-learned-left |url-status=live }} publishing positive reviews of the book, whereas outlets such as The Daily Beast, Libcom, CounterPunch, and The New Socialist criticized Nagle's description of campus activism.{{cite web |last1=Dunbar |first1=Mark |title=Book Review: Kill All Normies |url=https://thehumanist.com/magazine/september-october-2017/arts_entertainment/book-review-kill-normies-online-culture-wars-4chan-tumblr-trump-alt-right |website=TheHumanist.com |date=29 August 2017}} A review in The Daily Beast said the book was plagued by "sloppy sourcing",{{Cite news |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/kill-all-citations-sloppy-sourcing-plagues-kill-all-normies-book-on-sjws-and-the-alt-right |title=Sloppy Sourcing Plagues 'Kill All Normies' Alt-Right Book |last=Davis |first=Charles |date=19 May 2018 |work=The Daily Beast |archive-date=26 June 2019 |access-date=8 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626215343/https://www.thedailybeast.com/kill-all-citations-sloppy-sourcing-plagues-kill-all-normies-book-on-sjws-and-the-alt-right |url-status=live }} noting an allegation that parts of the book had been plagiarized.{{refn|name=Davis}}{{cite web |last1=Harman |first1=Mike |title=Angela Nagle's Plagiarise Any Nonsense |url=https://libcom.org/blog/angela-nagles-plagiarise-any-nonsense-03052018 |website=libcom.org |access-date=8 November 2018}} Nagle and her publisher both rejected the accusations.{{cite web |last1=Nagle |first1=Angela |title=Angela Nagle's Statement Regarding the Daily Beast |url=http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/angela-nagles-state-regarding-the-daily-beast/ |website=Zero Books Blog |access-date=23 August 2019 |date=26 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714033537/http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/angela-nagles-state-regarding-the-daily-beast/ |archive-date=14 July 2018}}{{cite web |last=Lain |first=Douglas |title=Our Response to Charles Davis' Attack on Angela Nagle |url=http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/our-response-to-charles-davis-attack-on-angela-nagle/ |website=Zero Books Blog |access-date=23 August 2019 |date=22 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713164327/http://zero-books.net/blogs/zero/our-response-to-charles-davis-attack-on-angela-nagle/ |archive-date=13 July 2018}} In his review, Red Wedge Magazine co-author accused Nagle of failing to understand the countercultures she writes about, claiming that she portrays alt-right groups on 4chan and social justice communities on Tumblr as being equally violent. Nagle called the review "hilarious" in an interview with Zero Books.{{cite web |last1=Baszak |first1=Gregor |title=Review of Angela Nagle's Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right |url=https://electronicbookreview.com/essay/review-of-angela-nagles-kill-all-normies-online-culture-wars-from-4chan-and-tumblr-to-trump-and-the-alt-right/ |website=Electronic Book Review |date=6 January 2018 |access-date=25 January 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225044329/https://electronicbookreview.com/essay/review-of-angela-nagles-kill-all-normies-online-culture-wars-from-4chan-and-tumblr-to-trump-and-the-alt-right/ |url-status=live }}
Columnist Ross Douthat of the New York Times praised Nagle's "portrait of the online cultural war",{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/15columnists.html |title=Opinion {{!}} Columnists' Book Club |work=The New York Times |date=14 December 2017 |access-date=2018-07-06 |archive-date=2018-06-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625021902/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/15columnists.html |url-status=live }} and the Times columnist Michelle Goldberg said that Kill All Normies had "captured this phenomenon".{{Cite news |last=Goldberg |first=Michelle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/opinion/intellectual-dark-web-red-pilled.html |title=Opinion {{!}} How the Online Left Fuels the Right |work=The New York Times |date=11 May 2018 |access-date=2018-07-06}} Novelist George Saunders listed Kill All Normies as one of his ten favorite books helping him through the "current political moment".{{Cite news |url=http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/george-saunderss-10-favorite-books.html |title=George Saunders's 10 Favorite Books |last=Saunders |first=George |work=Vulture |access-date=2018-07-06 |archive-date=2018-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706215103/http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/george-saunderss-10-favorite-books.html |url-status=live }}
An episode of the Fusion Networks' TV series Trumpland directed by Leighton Woodhouse was based on the book.{{Cite news |url=http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/trumpland-kill-all-normies/1155242/ |title=Trumpland: Kill All Normies |date=16 January 2018 |work=TV Guide |access-date=2018-01-16 |archive-date=2018-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122121318/http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/trumpland-kill-all-normies/1155242 |url-status=live }} A Spanish edition was published in May 2018 by Orciny Press,{{Cite web |url=http://www.orcinypress.com/producto/muerte-a-los-normies |title=Muerte a los normies |date=16 April 2018 |publisher=Orciny Press |language=es}} and a German edition in September 2018 by Transcript.{{Cite web|url=https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-4397-8/die-digitale-gegenrevolution/|title=Die digitale Gegenrevolution|website=www.transcript-verlag.de|language=de|access-date=2019-02-05|archive-date=2019-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207073924/https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-4397-8/die-digitale-gegenrevolution/|url-status=live}}