At first glance, the “crunchy” lifestyle is completely at odds with the alt-right community. However, there is a concerning link between the two.
The crunchy or “granola” lifestyle is associated with the far left. A crunchy person may compost regularly, always dress like they are ready to go on a spontaneous hike, listen to NPR every morning and eat a vegan diet.
If any of the aforementioned characteristics apply to you, don’t worry. I definitely described a large population of UVM students. And there is nothing wrong with enjoying nature and practicing a healthy lifestyle.
What I just described may seem to have nothing to do with a gun-toting, fluoride-fearing, ear bandage-wearing ultra-conservative crowd.
Recently, however, the lines between the two ways of life have blurred in concerning ways.
What we consider to be “crunchy” nowadays stems from the counterculture group everyone is probably familiar with: hippies.
The hippie lifestyle emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was strengthened by the anti-Vietnam war movement. Hippies were predominantly white, educated, middle class 17-to-25 year-old “dropouts” seeking to escape the restrictive mainstream, according to a July 10 2017 TIME article.
Hippies often moved to rural areas to embrace free living, reconnect with nature and practice holistic medicine, often alongside white supremacist compounds, according to a Dec. 14 2022 article by The Atlantic.
The emphasis on being free leads to the first major similarity between the fringe left and fringe right, which is a dislike and distrust of the government.
I joked earlier about the conservatives’ fears surrounding the fluoride our government puts in our water, but this fear is scarily similar to the crunchy community’s growing concerns over chemicals listed on nutrition labels.
It may be scary to look at the ingredients of whatever you are eating and not be able to pronounce half of what is listed, but that does not mean there is some government conspiracy involving red dye 40.
With the new research on microplastics and their effects on the body, along with food dyes and air pollution, it makes sense that a lot of people want to turn to a more natural way of living.
Historically, the promotion of these healthy survivalist lifestyles have been opportunities for white supremacist groups to push their conservative ideals.
Robert Matthews, leader of the white-power organization The Order, met his wife through personal advertisements on 1970s alternative lifestyle magazine “Mother News Earth,” according to the Atlantic article.
The promotion of these ideas has been accelerated due to social media, often by people not intending to or not being aware of the dangers of the philosophies they are promoting.
Our ideas and beliefs are largely shaped by the media we consume and interact with.
Self-proclaimed “crunchy moms” on TikTok promote only using cloth diapers, making their own baby formula, practicing traditional midwifery and home schooling or “un-schooling” their children.
All these practices and ideas mirror their alt-right counterparts. They may come from a different angle, but all stem from the same distrust of the government and yearning to escape conventional society.
The fuzzy link between the alt-right and alt-left creates a gateway for white supremacist other fallacious ideas to enter the minds of those who may be curious to delve into the world of natural survivalism and holistic medicine.
The link may be hard to see, but there is a logical pathway to solely relying on essential oils to treat the common cold and believing in the QAnon conspiracy.
Believing that the government is putting dangerous chemicals in our water and medicine is not crazy far from believing that there is a group of satan-worshiping elites running our policies and media.
No one is immune to propaganda and we must be conscious of where the ideas we are absorbing stem from.
