The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has launched an online Glossary of Extremism, an interactive and searchable database that provides definitions of common and obscure terms related to extremism and extremist groups.
Describing it as “a first-of-its-kind interactive and searchable database providing comprehensive definitions of commonly known and more obscure terms employed by a variety of groups and movements across the extremism landscape,” the ADL database has definitions of around 900 terms and concepts used by a variety of extremist groups and movement, including white supremacists, antisemites, Islamist extremists and single-issue extremists such as ecoterrorists and incels.
The database was created by the ADL Center of Extremism to be part of a series of online research tools including a database of hate symbols and the ADL H.E.A.T. Map, an interactive and customizable map detailing antisemitic and hate incidents by state and nationwide.
The glossary will be regularly updated with new definition and extremist terminology. Currently, the glossary’s homepage features definition of extremist groups in the news, including the Goyim Defense League, Patriot Front, White Lives Matter, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
“Many extremist groups have developed their own nomenclature and language to communicate, and the public is often not familiar with many of the terms they and their followers are using,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “This glossary pulls back the curtain to reveal the meaning behind these names and concepts, giving the public, the media and law enforcement insight into hundreds of terms, ideologies and conspiracy theories embraced by domestic extremists. It also provides a Who’s Who of the key figures involved in spreading hate.”
The glossary is fully searchable and has filters based on category and ideology. Searchable ideologies include antisemitism, anti-government extremism, Islamist extremism, left wing extremism, right wing extremism, single issue movements and white supremacy.
“We believe that an informed public is critical to the defense of democracy,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL Center on Extremism, said. “Our glossary provides the public with critical, factual and accurate assessments of the conspiracy theories and disinformation currently espoused and championed by extremists. We believe it is the most comprehensive and intuitive resource on extremist speech currently available to the public.”