Low-hanging fruit: Much has lately been written about the rise of a combative kind of global political extremism manifest in far-right movements that have established footholds in Europe, the United States, and the Americas. A recent study conducted by 150 political scientists suggests that 25% of the electorate in 31 European countries is now inclined to support parties with extremist views, a fivefold increase from the 1990s, with intense growth since 2023. The predominant reason given for this rise is resentment toward illegal migration, which to many, especially those between 18 and 32, represents a hostile invasion that the European Union has done little to stem and which the far right uses as a call to arms. What this leaves out is the hormonal surge cresting among the young, many either unemployed or bored and at work in low-level jobs. A good number of these young people follow social media channels that promulgate hate speech and, in so doing, create a sense of fraternity among those addicted to outrage. A century ago, Hitler and Mussolini developed youth groups and militias intended to harness this fury and make it useful to their regimes. But quite aside from this, young men in both the pre–World War I and pre–World War II eras were restive, in search of someone or something, whether to the right or to the left, that they could either embrace or oppose. This testosterone swell, a feature of can-do modernism, helped fuel a decade of European war between 1914 and 1945. Much of today’s organized hostility toward migrants and those perceived not to belong — including gays, Muslims, and Jews — is a 21st-century throwback to 20th-century prejudices.
Ideologically motivated gangs are low-hanging fruit for the likes of Nigel Farage, Marine Le Pen, and Germany’s AfD, which depend on them for street clout. As in the popular Chuck Palahniuk novel Fight Club, many of these young men are turmoiled versions of themselves, split personalities who can be even-tempered by day but vicious by night. But it is their darker side that puts the whole of Europe at risk.
