Reader’s Digest: What is white replacement theory?

Pre-internet, racists weren’t usually tolerated in polite society. Today, one need only to turn to social media to see how abhorrent belief systems operate, and propagate, in broad daylight; and platforms are coming under more scrutiny, according to an article on “White Replacement Theory” in Reader’s Digest.

“Social media companies all have terms of service with standards of behavior they define. There’s no legal obligation to enforce it, but there’s certainly an ethical one,” says Jeff Blevins, professor of journalism at the University of Cincinnati and co-author of “Social Media, Social Justice and the Political Economy of Online Networks.”

The article defines white replacement theory as the idea that some “other” group is out to destroy white people and their way of life. The topic came to light after the Buffalo mass shooting in May 2022.

Read the article 

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