ABSTRACT
The Fortuyn revolt coincided with the ascendency of the internet as a major factor in shaping public opinion. After the assassination of Fortuyn and Van Gogh, the nihilist weblog GeenStijl developed into one of the most popular and influential websites in the Netherlands. It became the central node in an online right-wing social movement. In terms of its style and rhetoric, GeenStijl can be seen as an early pendant of what is known internationally as the Alt-Right, even though GeenStijl has kept more distance to the extreme right than its famous American counterpart. Using the work of Raymond Williams, the chapter considers the relation between technology and ideological form, and proceeds to trace the intellectual origins of the discourse of GeenStijl. The website has a nihilist orientation that is Nietzschean in inspiration. GeenStijl presents the nihilist breaking of norms and the disregard for etiquette as a progressive movement towards greater transparency. And the weblog has developed a particular use of irony, which allows it to transgress the boundaries of acceptable discourse with openly racist and sexist comments.
