Disaster Tourists | Sunday on 60 Minutes
In a Nutshell
Natural disaster videos attract massive audiences, including white nationalists, who exploit them to rebrand their image as wholesome and mainstream. Graphika analyst John Kelly notes that few events unify public attention like disasters, making them ideal for these groups to shed triggering iconography and appeal broadly.
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Videos about natural disasters can reach a whole new large audience. White nationalists are interested in natural disasters because everybody is interested in natural disasters.
John Kelly heads Graphika, a firm analyzing how content spreads online. There are very few things that bring the public's attention to focus on one thing in unison, and natural disasters is one of those.
Efforts to Rebrand Through Natural Disasters
These groups through natural disasters are trying to change their image. They're trying to say we're wholesome. That's one of the things that characterizes the current groups is that they've kind of decided to leave the more triggering iconography in the closet and try to appeal to a more mainstream audience. Not to do things that turn people off.
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