Seeking social connections and belonging satisfies a very deep human need. Perhaps it is more exploitable when people have other issues in their life like failed relationships or a mental health crisis which is why certain groups get targeted. Cults are onto students like flies at a BBQ because its a vulnerable time for a lot of people.

That need is likely mostly harmless. All that neediness helps create social bonds and harmony but if something is exploitable for money or power someone will do it.

We have seen the pathway from loving Jesus to right wing hate. We have seen hippies marching with nazis. We have seen parasocial media to alt right. Finding the people desperately looking for something may be half the battle. Once you have them it becomes a matter of indoctrination. The indoctrination is abusive and exploitative but not sure I can find fault with people who get sucked in without finding fault with a large proportion of humanity.

On one hand, you have a good point. Even cookers often disavow neo-Nazi nutters. We even saw some rejection of them in the previous March for Australia rallies they organised[@ 6:32] (reminder: join your local counterprotest this week!). That said, I do think this reply is oversimplifying them and perhaps trivialising their potential for influence as crises intensify.

There are all kinds of vulnerable groups, not just the ones that come to mind when we say "minorities". Neo-Nazis tend to prey on the disaffected, and that could be as normal as low-income/poverty, social alienation, lack of a sense of community or purpose, and other common situations in our current society. And yes, it's completely illogical to think neo-Nazi groups can solve that, but to dismiss that as being moronic plays down the effects of vulnerability on the mind. I don't look at old lonely people falling for romance scams and dismiss them as morons, even if it's obviously a scam to me.

The mainstream media and the most well-funded alternative medias are filled with either undeveloped (and therefore vulnerable to attack) and/or hateful ideology. Everyday people are primed to be susceptible to right-wing propaganda. So I'm really not surprised at the reach ON and other groups have had, despite them being so clearly incompetent, harmful and unable to solve our major issues.