They really screwed up by trying to become some kind of media empire. Was a bad sign when they made a cable channel.
As loathsome as I find him, he also started two well-known organizations, with very different vibes, but also a through-line you can see if you squint. It must be an interesting story, maybe even an enlightening one.
This is why I'm skeptical of dismissing radical rhetoric as "oh that's just talk". A lot of people have a strong desire to be "real", which will drive some of them to put their money where their mouth is, even if they started out with just some "harmless" rhetoric because it seemed fun to say edgy stuff.
Another interesting example if you're into that sort of thing is Baked Alaska, coincidentally also from Canada, that went from being a Bernie bro working for Buzzfeed to livestreaming Jan 6th inside the Capitol.
I disagree with you here. Proud boys was originally created out of the need to protect people from the likes of Antifa, which is a facist group.
Most activists/hacktivists are fascists. If you don't agree with them, they cause issue, violence, and/or destruction until they get their way. Opposing groups like this does not make one fascist.
Lots of what Gavin does is satire...which many people apparently don't get or understand.
Even Gavin McInness says you're wrong here.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-secret-history-o...
| McInnes, an avid boozer, has consistently maintained that he started the Proud Boys as an outlet for harmless fun: an Animal House-style drinking club for male buddies.
https://web.archive.org/web/20190209020443/https://bedfordan...
| "It’s a men’s organization, sort of like the Odd Fellows,” McInnes explained. “It mirrors the Knights of Columbus in many ways”–another organization that he belongs to. Only in this case,the Proud Boys subscribe to an ideology of “anti racial guilt,” that, to me, seemed to evoke white pride.
| Actually, McInnes wouldn’t describe it in explicit terms like “white pride” or “white supremacy.”
| “Our motto is that, we’re Western Chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world,” he said matter-of-factly. “That’s really the only tenet.”
Could you link to the quote where he says this? The article claims he said it, but I couldn’t find the quote.
It was pretty strong the first few years and rapidly declined in quality for the last 5 or so.
As much as I hate to say it (millenial), it's probably due to the age of millenials and genx now.
They should have pivoted a different way--more in line with the changing life stage of the readership.
My theory is that when Millennials were growing up there was still a strong ‘default culture’ that helped sustain a thriving counter-culture. One could move decisively between the two when bored/frazzled. Zoomers have grown up flailing around in a devolved soup of ideas. Everything’s edgy so nothing is.
I go to underground parties all the time and I actually don't see many people that seem younger than mid to late 20's.
Mostly late 20's early 30's millennials, and the crust punks of the 70's and 80's/
At the time I had the sense that they were burning money on very high quality (read: expensive) reporting in an effort to build up the brand, all while hoping to figure out how to make the financials work "later."
For some reason I had kind of assumed the strategy had succeeded, seeing as how they stuck around for so long. I guess in reality they just never figured out how to make it sustainable.
In any case, I'm hoping once Channel 5 grows big enough they can relaunch Hamilton's Pharmacopeia (though by a different name, of course).
(I love the Patreon tiers.)
This is important to know because with cancel culture and even that previous comment, it seems people have this relationship inverted.
Yesterday on mastodon I saw a link to the vice piece about mushrooms: "Magic Mushroom Edibles: Everything to Know, from Chocolates to Drops". Their situation is dire indeed /s
In all honesty, Vice was a cool outlet for out-there stories for teens and adults alike. Shame it’s shutting down but then again I never supported it.