Two guys in ski masks chop peppers and slice an eggplant while giggling into a camera—just your average cooking show, except they’re wearing T-shirts covered in Nazi symbols.
Welcome to “Balaclava Kitchen,” a German YouTube series that ran for months in 2014 before the platform finally took it down.
It’s a perfect, horrifying snapshot of how Europe’s far right has figured out something crucial: you don’t recruit people with ideology first.
You recruit them with vibes.
WHAT’S GOING ON: Researchers across six European countries are documenting how fascist movements have infiltrated everyday culture—from fitness influencers to top 40 music charts to “tradwife” content on TikTok.
“It’s frightening, honestly,” said Katherine Kondor, a researcher with the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies.
“You can be radicalized sitting on your couch.”
THE DETAILS: The research, conducted in affiliation with the Center for Research on Extremism, found extremist messaging woven through cultural life both online and offline.
In Hungary, far-right bands have literally hit the top 40 charts. In the Netherlands, one extremist group hosts wine-tasting events and has even started their own food delivery service.
“It’s just wild that you can be ordering food from the far right and not know,” Kondor noted.
Meanwhile, the “tradwife” phenomenon—women promoting traditional gender roles on social media—has exploded in popularity while its far-right roots get increasingly obscured.
OF COURSE: This playbook isn’t new. Extremists have always used culture to build community and attract attention.
But generative AI has supercharged the process.
“Now there’s technology that we can use to generate an image or video in an instant or music within just a couple of minutes,” said Greta Jasser of Germany’s Institute for Democracy and Civil Society. “So the playbook is old, but the speed is much faster.”
Even more disturbing: some of this content might not even be ideologically motivated anymore—just algorithms and bots churning out engagement-bait that happens to normalize fascism.
WHY IT MATTERS: The far right has figured out that most people don’t join movements because they already believe the ideology. They join because they found a band they liked, or a fitness influencer, or an aesthetic that resonated. Then they meet people at concerts. Then it escalates.
“When people find things that work for their aesthetic or their vibe… that can really influence a person,” Kondor explained. It’s a pipeline, and the entrance isn’t a manifesto—it’s a meme.
BOTTOM LINE: As Kondor put it: “Right now it’s dangerous because we’re seeing a steady rise of the far right in every aspect of society.” The fascists aren’t just marching in the streets anymore. They’re in your algorithm, your playlists, maybe even your food delivery app.
Recognizing the playbook is step one.