But their messages are riddled with innuendo and code words designed to play on people's worst fears and prejudices in order to generate hatred against the people these groups perceive to be their enemies. Their adoption of loaded terms to mask or even justify their virulent hatred of gay and lesbian people has made their views acceptable for some political leaders and small subgroups of the general population. These pseudo-mainstream hate groups are perhaps the most dangerous. A large percentage of the population automatically tunes out messages from known racist groups like the KKK, because they know who is talking to them and what their true agenda is. But groups with a mainstream cover, who use mainstream terminology and a healthy dose of charged code-words to spread their message, can find a much wider audience.
Most young people value the opinions of their peers highly.
The relative void of an American culture when compared to rich cultures like Mexican, Jewish and others may be a part of psychology at work. In the case of a racist gang, joining may additionally meet the desire to lash out at others who have a strong ethnic, cultural, religious or even sexual identity. Family Family may also exert a strong influence on attitudes regarding other people. I was raised in Nazi camps, I was raised with this philosophy from childhood. I knew nothing else.