U.S. "lone wolf" not isolated actor: NYT

Police officers take photos and investigate at the scene of a mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, the United States, July 4, 2022. (Photo by Vincent Johnson/Xinhua)

One missing piece of any solution is acknowledging that right-wing extremist violence in the United States is part of a global phenomenon and should be treated that way.

NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The term "lone wolf" aims to describe a person in the United States who is radicalized to violence and unconnected to an organized terrorist group, but it is wrong to think about violent white supremacists as isolated actors, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Saturday.

There are formal white supremacist organizations going by names like Atomwaffen Division, Honor and Nation and the All-Polish Youth. "But while the majority of adherents to the white supremacist cause aren't directly affiliated with these groups, they describe themselves as part of a global movement of like-minded people, some of whom commit acts of leaderless violence in the hopes of winning more adherents and destabilizing society," said the report.

The atomized nature of the global white extremist movement has also obscured the public's understanding of the nature of their cause and led to policy prescriptions that aren't enough to address the scope of the threat, noted the report.

"Thoughts and prayers alone will not solve the problem, nor will better mental health care, important though all those things are," it said.

One missing piece of any solution is acknowledging that right-wing extremist violence in the United States is part of a global phenomenon and should be treated that way, it added.