Category Archives: Alt-right

The word was out: Antifa was coming for the Winco in Coeur dAlene.

At least, thats what Brett Surplus hunting TV show host, Idaho state Senate write-in candidateand a former police officer and sheriff's deputy was ready for on the evening of June 1.

And so Surplus stands in the Winco parking lot, dressed in a tactical vest and armed with his AR-15. It wasn't vigilantism, he believed. It was patriotism.

He pans his camera to show a crapton of Idaho boys he estimates about 150 armed with an arsenal of high-powered weapons. And he says he's already had success.

Facebook video screenshot

Brett Surplus

"Just so you know, if you're planning on coming over here and trying to be a piece of trash over in my city, feel free. Because we will unleash the beast," Surplus boasts. "Freakin' slugs for thugs, all the day long. And Ill take your damn crowbar. Bring it. This aint Spokane."

Today, his Facebook live video has racked up more than 28,000 views. There ain't nothin' that's going to happen," he continues. "Try to come over here. Ill take the A out of your tifa in a heartbeat.

And then he says he hears that five more vans are coming down the freeway.

"Sounds like we're going to have company," he says. "I'm going to see if we can ruin some people's days real quick... I think it may get hinky."

Sam Rowland, a progressive Army veteran who showed up supporting Black Lives Matter in the Coeur dAlene Winco, says that antifa had become an obsession in North Idaho.

And so that made it all the more interesting when someone shows up who looks a lot like witch: A protester with a crowbar on his belt loop, walked up to Surplus and Rowland, wearing flannel, an Ice Cube T-shirt, and a skull mask. And on the mask, hes drawn three diagonally facing arrows, the "iron front" symbol often used by antifa activists.

"The minute I saw it, I knew in my gut this stupid shit was going to happen," Rowland says.

Antifa far-left, mostly anonymous activists who take a militant approach to opposing who they see as racist or fascist groups have brawled repeatedly with far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer in liberal havens like Portland and Berkeley.

And yet for years after President Trump's election, the right-wing rumor mill churned out claims that antifa activists or even super soldiers were also plotting to hold riots in tiny towns, like North Idaho's Bonner's Ferry.

Year after year, the antifa riots never arrived. But this year, when some protests over the murder of George Floyd turned violent and destructive, it fell neatly into that ready-made narrative.

Surplus says he saw the rumors that antifa was driving Mercedes Benz vans with foreign plates. He claims that antifa communicates using PlayStation 4 gaming systems, because they know they're being watched. He claims antifa "scouts" showed up to check out the June 1 protest Winco event, though he doesn't show any evidence. He claims he has his sources inside law enforcement, but won't say who.

As the Intercept recently revealed, the FBI was internally sharing the claim that "antifa" protesters were supposedly traveling from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene to protest, and then supposedly planned to road trip to Minneapolis. So far, nothing has been released to substantiate this report.

In fact, Detective Mario Rios with the Coeur dAlene Police Department says his department never had any actionable intelligence that antifa or other radicals were traveling to Coeur dAlene

The ISP has NOT intercepted a semi loaded with people and weapons, the Idaho State police wrote in a tweet. This is a lie being spread on social media.

And yet, the day before the June 1 rally at the Winco Coeur d'Alene, Spokane's rally had been marred by violence, looting and vandalism and the Spokane County Sheriff blamed antifa with absolute certainty. Coeur d'Alene noticed.

What had taken place over in Spokane, everybody was thinking the same thing was coming, Surplus tells the Inlander.

Except this time, as Surplus and dozens of other right-wingers stood outside Winco near a handful of Black Lives Matter protesters, it looked like antifa had shown up.

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The Man in the Antifa Mask: Who he is and why he regrets showing up at a Coeur d'Alene protest with a crowbar - Pacific Northwest Inlander

Sign-carrying anti-mask protestors chat with bystanders on Sunday. Photo: Yvette dEntremont

The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free.

A dozen anti-mask protesters who gathered on the Halifax Waterfront Sunday afternoon were met by an equal number of mask-wearing counter protesters determined to push back on the messaging.

March to Unmask: Halifax was organized by Sandra Saunders and was part of a nationwide campaign against what the unmasking group is calling an unjustified push for mandatory masks. In addition to protesting masks, one brandished an anti-vaccine and anti-5G technology sign and another noted that Bill Gates wont save you.

Shortly before the 3 p.m. event started, a group of mask-wearing counter protesters showed up on-site with signs of their own. As Saunders spoke to reporters, they began raising their own signs and shaking homemade noisemakers.

Veda Wynters (centre) was one of a dozen mask wearers who showed up to counter Sundays unmask Halifax event. Photo: Yvette dEntremont

Halifax resident Veda Wynters was one of those who showed up to counter the anti-mask group. Sporting a Wonder Woman mask, she said she felt compelled to show up.

I decided to come here after reading all the comments on their (Unmask Halifax) Facebook page that has outdated numbers, incorrect information, conspiracy theories up the wazoo, and we just wanted to represent the saner side of Halifax, Wynters said.

Im immunocompromised. I have severe asthma, I have chronic issues, so if anyone shouldnt need to wear a mask, Im asthmatic. I shouldnt need to wear a mask and yet Im wearing a mask.

One of the other women who joined her added that mask wearing was about compassion for other people and she too felt they needed to push back.

Its not really for your protection, its for other people and it just infuriates me that there are people that wouldnt have that same compassion that all of these lovely people have, she said, gesturing broadly to the people wearing masks around her.

Both groups were generally respectful and calm, with the exception of one man aligned with the anti-mask group. He angrily yelled at a CTV cameraman for not interviewing him and got into a heated yelling match with two mask-wearing teenagers.

In an interview, Saunders said she became involved with organizing the March to Unmask Halifax event because her daughter is asthmatic and works in an industry that recently made them mandatory. She said she wanted to create awareness about what the group claims are the harms caused by masks.

She added that people shouldnt be listening to what mainstream media or the government has to say about wearing them during this pandemic.

We should never, ever be mandated anything, especially a medical device that poses harmEspecially cloth masks. Cloth masks, when you have the moisture from your breath coming out, your C02 is actually your waste product, Saunders said in an interview, pointing to this reporters cloth mask.

Seriously. So its kind of like eating your own poop, man, you know, because seriously the CO2 has virus and bacterial particles that your body is trying to expel and get rid of.

This is not accurate, and contrary to the scientific consensus on masks.

The fact that so few people showed up for a protest against masks was no surprise to Howard Ramos. The former Dalhousie University sociology professor recently took up a new post as chair of sociology at Western University.

Hes worked with the Association of Canadian Studies and their polling with national market research and analytics company Leger. Last week, Leger released a survey that showed 67% of Canadians believe wearing a mask in all indoor public spaces should be made mandatory.

When asked if requiring people to wear a mask in public places is an infringement on their personal freedoms, 70% surveyed disagreed.

The super majority of Canadians believe in the public health practices that have been happening and recognize that weve sacrificed a little bit of our freedom in order to have more freedom, Ramos said in an interview.

Wearing a mask gives us the opportunity to be able to go shopping, to be able to make sure that our friends and relatives and neighbours arent getting sick.

He said there will always be a minority who arent supportive, adding that those who are unsupportive often hold extreme alt-right views.

I think that were importing some of the narrative from the US, and within political views theres always a chunk of the population who prides liberty and libertarian values over other values, he noted.

So to me as I hear about this kind of event its to recognize that yes theres going to be this kind of group of people. Its not new, its something that always exists within society, but its important for us to put it into context that this is a minority of people.

Ramos said public health officials have done a great job, particularly in Atlantic Canada, with informing the public about why theyre implementing various measures in order to protect the health of the community at large.

I think that what ends up happening with a lot of the anti-vaxxers and the alt-right and why they often pair together is because of this prizing of individuality, he said.

If you look at Atlantic Canada, weve done very well because weve embraced the messaging from public health, and its important to remember that this is going to be a long term marathon that were running and that its not over.

On Friday, Nova Scotias chief medical officer of health announced that non-medical masks will become mandatory on public transportation as of July 24.

In a media briefing he stated that evidence around wearing non-medical masks has evolved throughout the pandemic. That evidence now clearly shows that non-medical masks are an effective tool in helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19. He added that before a second wave or resurgence of the virus, we need to normalize mask wearing and make it much more of a habit for Nova Scotians.

Strang also stressed that the vast majority of Nova Scotians are able to wear masks. He said although there are exemptions for medical reasons, there are very few valid medical reasons to not wear non-medical masks and they are primarily related to anxiety.

The Canadian Thoracic Society clearly states that there is no evidence that wearing a non medical mask worsens a chronic lung condition such as asthma or chronic obstructive lung disease, he said.

But I do recognize that for some people with chronic breathing conditions wearing a mask can create anxiety.

He urged people to try and overcome that anxiety by getting used to wearing masks for short periods in a safe environment, such as in the confines of their own homes. He also noted that while people with cognitive or developmental disabilities may also be unable to wear masks, there are very few medical reasons not to.

So if you think about it we have medical professionals that wear masks all day long every day. So what Im asking is that Nova Scotians wear non-medical masks for much shorter periods of time, he said.

Strang described masks are part of a package of personal protective measures that include frequent handwashing, good cough hygiene, physical distancing, cleaning common surfaces and objects, and staying home when youre feeling unwell.

He also encouraged Nova Scotians to seriously think about the role masks play in helping us protect each other, adding that wearing masks in public spaces where physical distancing isnt possible shows that you care about others and are taking a relatively simple step to keep them safe.

Theres a lot of misinformation and downright mistruth being circulated about masks. Wearing a non-medical mask is safe and effective, he said. Our response to COVID-19 has highlighted that in many ways we need to think more about putting others first ahead of ourselves.

Strang also noted that face shields or other types of eye protection are not a replacement for masks as they dont protect others.

Ive seen too many circumstances where people are making choices or organizations are making choices thinking that a face shield, that eye protection, is a replacement for masks, he said. Its not. Where we need to have masks on we need to wear masks. Theres no replacement for them.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US called on Americans to wear masks to prevent COVID-19 spread.

CDC reviewed the latest science and affirms that cloth face coverings are a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19 that could reduce the spread of the disease, particularly when used universally within communities, the CDC states in its press release. There is increasing evidence that cloth face coverings help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others.

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Anti-maskers bring their misinformation to Halifax - Halifax Examiner

By shutting out white supremacists and reinventing itself to be more accessible, Discord has added millions of more diverse usersteachers, Boy Scouts, book clubs, Black Lives Matter protestorsand landed a $100 million infusion from investors.

When Black Lives Matter protests began in Dallas near the end of May, Maria Santibanez, 26, decided she wanted to join. Yet details about planswhere theyd meet, where theyd go, where theyd endwere scattered across the internet. Santibanez stumbled on a social media platform called Discord, a five-year-old video-and-voice chat app thats a cross between Reddit and Slack. There she joined Dallas Protests Collective, one of more than two dozen Discord groups devoted to Black Lives Matters. (Others include ones called Woke Black Nerds and All Cops Are Bastards.)

This one in Dallas was dedicated to organizing events and proved to be a useful repository of information. It now has around 1,000 people, and Santibanez is its chief leader, spending much of her past month directing people to it whenever she sees someone online asking about information on the demonstrations. Most of us were not experienced with Discord, but were learning and got things set up, says Santibanez, who works for Enterprise in its corporate rental fleet. Its been awesome to see it grow organically, like a patchwork quilt.

Its a bit discordant to think about Discord being used by Santibanez and other Black Lives Matter activists. The ironically named communication app started its life attracting far, far different crowds. It was founded in 2015 to make it easier for gamers to talk while playing video games and gained notoriety as a home for the Alt-Right two years later when white supremacists used it to orchestrate that summers Charlottesville protests. Caught largely unaware, Discord only worked to expel the racist groupsafter the protests ended with 34 people injured and a woman dead, mowed down by a car.

Discords founders CEO Jason Citron, 35, bearded and bespectacled, and Stan Vishnevskiy, 31, the scruffy-faced chief technology officer, willingly admit to missteps through Discords first few years. Youre going to make mistakes, says Citron, speaking publicly about Charlottesville for the first time. As long as it doesnt kill you, you learn from it.

While Discord is still a place rife with gamings school-yard culture, parts of it unwelcoming to anyone not straight, white and male, it has transformed into something much more mainstream since 2017. Well over 30% of its userssome teens but the majority of them 18 to 44now go to Discord for something other than gaming. Through the app, teens trade informal messages, as they do on Snapchat, and assemble study groups, a habit that has increased since the pandemic closed schools. Book clubs gather through the video-chat function. Boy Scout troops are using it to communicate while social distancing. Teachers have relied on it to complete virtual lessons. And protesters have used it to organize. What were doing is less about gamesmore about bonding, chatting, hanging out, says Vishnevskiy.

Discord started life as an app for gamers then became known as an Alt-Right haven. It's now being used by other groups like Black Lives Matters protesters, teachers and Boy Scouts.

All of this has helped Discord attract more than 300 million registered users, up from 250 million a year ago and quadruple the figure from 2018. Some 100 million people use it actively every month, a 50%-plus increase in a year, making Discord roughly a third the size of Twitter or Snapchat. Altogether the users spend 4 billion minutes each day either texting, voice chatting or video messaging via the app.

Its broader appeal has also captured the attention of venture investors. In a reversal of how things usually work in Silicon Valley, Index Ventures Danny Rimer, whose firm had invested in Discords last fundraising in December 2018, called them in February to offer more money. In a deal not previously reported, Citron and Vishnevskiy agreed in June to take another $100 million in venture fundingat a $3.5 billion valuation, up from $2.05 billion 18 months ago.

The funding comes with the understanding that Citron and Vishnevskiy, who hold stakes in the startup worth probably more than $350 million each, will continue to broaden the apps audience and focus on growing revenue. Discord is on track to top $120 million in sales this year, Forbes estimates, up from around $70 million last year, fueled by its subscription service called Nitro, which allows users to customize their profiles and the Discord groups that they belong to.

Theyre building something of tremendous value, says Rimer. If they carry on with this trajectory, were gonna be very, very happy folks.

One thing is almost certain about the route forward. It will not go entirely according to planat least if Citron and Vishnevskiys early experience is an indicator.

Both took cracks at other things before Discord. After attending Full Sail University (the school was formerly a recording studio in Ohio before moving to Florida), Citron did a few programming stints at gaming startups before founding his first gaming social network, OpenFeint. In 2011, he sold that company to Japan-based GREE for $104 million. He spent a few months at GREE, and a friend from there introduced him to Vishnevskiy, who had gone to Cal State Northridge and bounced around the Valley as a software engineer, mostly for other mobile app startups.

They got together, in 2013, to create what they both loved: videogames. Their tablet-based Fates Forever, a three-versus-three arena game thats most generously described as a little like League of Legends, launched a year later. It never took off. Entertainment is tricky. We were close, Citron maintains. Vishnevskiy suggested they concentrate instead on the social network they already planned to build alongside the game.

A year later, Discord emerged, and quickly became a viral cult favorite among gamers. They chatted while playing via one-to-one direct messages, and joined groups, known as servers in Discord-speak, that then often split up into smaller groups or channels. Some channels were text-message based. In others, a voice chat function created a digital version of a telephone party line. There were desktop and mobile versions of Discord, and it could run within a web browser without needing to be downloaded unlike competing services. Plus, it was free and fast with little load time. By July 2017, it had 45 million registered users, adding 1.1 million new users each week.

The word horror comes to mind, says Citron. Im Jewish. My grandfather fought for America in World War II against the Nazis. It certainly weighed on me that I would be working to somehow facilitate people becoming radicalized.

Unbeknownst to Citron and Vishnevskiy, not all were the type of people theyd hoped to attract. White nationalists had swarmed onto Discord, and its there that they coordinated the Unite the Right gathering that would turn deadly in Charlottesville that August. The weekend event was thoroughly thought out, and a nine-page PDF eventually circulated on Discord: Women were told to stay off the front lines and concentrate on planning the after party. A central point was established for carpooling. And as the coup de grce, everyone was instructed to bring a Tiki torch for a Friday night vigil and memorize the lyrics to Dixie, the Confederacys de facto national anthem. They planned on singing it that evening.

The two-day rally received widespread media attention, climaxing with a 20-year-old white nationalist named James Alex Fields ploughing his car into a group of people protesting Unite the Right, killing one person. (He would later be arrested and sentenced to life in prison.) Within a few days, a New York Times story detailed the events connection to Discord, and then a Wikileaks-esque collective, Unicorn Riot, began releasing leaked logs of the white nationalists conversations on the app.

For the Discord founders, the whirlwind of those events were a painful blur. It was an emotionally intense time for us, says Vishnevskiy.

The word horror comes to mind, says Citron. Im Jewish. My grandfather fought for America in World War II against the Nazis. It certainly weighed on me that I would be working to somehow facilitate people becoming radicalized. It made me sick. I felt like I was dishonoring my familys legacy, my ancestry.

Citron and Vishnevskiy knew they had to make a fast choice about the amount of regulation to impose on their platform, a similar type of reckoning that has taken place more recently on Twitter and Facebook over President Trumps comments. Over fall 2017, they deleted roughly 100 Alt-Right groups from Discord, a first step. They promised themselves thered be more to come.

I want to make something that makes the world a better place, says Citron, evoking a familiar bit of Silicon Valley idealism. And that was a real moment where we realized that we really needed to step up our efforts to make sure that that was the case.

Since Charlottesville, Discordhas done a better job of policing itself, with 15% of its employees now part of its Trust and Safety team, a unit that didnt exist at all in 2017. (For perspective, Facebook pledged to devote a similar figureabout 20% of its employeesto similar tasks across its products but hasnt publicly stated if it has done so.) These days, users and groups are kicked off using metadata tracking rather than IP addresses, an attempt to better ensure people cant easily resurface elsewhere on Discord. Updates have made it easier for moderators within a groupwho are normal users, not company employeesto report bad behavior swiftly; mods can also add bots, pieces of automated software, to scan for offending language.

An internet meme about teachers likens those using Discord to the vivacious Miss Frizzle from the "Magic School Bus" children's book series while rival Zoom gets Ms. Fowl from "Jimmy Neutron."

Wary of another Charlottesville, the Trust and Safety team specifically researches white nationalist groups and platforms online to find any new Discord servers that emerge. As it happens, the Alt-Righthas largely migrated to Telegram, a rival messaging app that, unlike Discord, offers the complete anonymity of encrypted communication.

Still, Discord is far from squeaky clean. Its immensely easy to find offensive material even among the largest groups (and much more of it circulates in smaller, more private circles). For instance, one of the largest meme-based groups is called Gates of Autism. It has 212,431 members, and its profile picture is Pepe the Frog, a white nationalist emblem. A simple search in the chat history for the derogatory term faggot produced results that spilled over hundreds of pages. Members widely trade memes and GIFs that are either explicitly or implicitly sexual. Asked about this content, the founders declined to comment.

Nonetheless, experts on digital hate speech generally agree that Discord has worked diligently to get its act together since 2017, and it is, largely, in no worse shape than its competitors. Those same experts also agree that this is a sad comment about the internetand social media writ large. Discord has improved unambiguously, and I applaud that, says Will Partin, an analyst at Data & Society, an internet research institute. Every platform is kind of the same: Every single platform has content moderation problems.

A funny thing happened as Discord was righting its wrongs. YouTube and Instagram influencers began using the app to more extensively interact with their communities, something that even Citronand Vishnevskiy did not totally understand until they read about Discord in a March 2019 story from TheAtlantic.com. The influencers liked the app, according to the article, because they could chat directly with their fans without worrying that their messagemaybe promoting a new video or a postmight get buried by an algorithm-based feed. That made us go, Hmmmm, Citron says. We were like, Okay, theres probably something here.

Nothing makes Citron and Vishnevskiy clam up faster than a question about Nitros next features. I don't want to preannounce them. Whenever we've done that in the past, it basically means we have to ship itfastor everyone gets angry.

That story plus internal research that uncovered some unique Discord groupslike one devoted to recording an amateur hip-hop albumprompted them to do something theyd never done before: complete a massive survey of users. In 2019, they sent out a 60-minute survey containing 23 questions. The volume of responses, they say, told them they not only had a rabid fanbase. It also told them that Discorders used the app for much more than gaming and that they found the app complicated to learn.

That led the company to look for ways to broaden its appeal and to simplify its user experience. Those ideas have picked up urgency since the coronavirus ended life as the world knew it. In May, video chat within servers was rolled out, a feature originally planned to debut in the second half of the year. Discords go live feature will soon be renamed to better reflect what it is: Screen Sharea way, yes, to share your screen. Thinking ahead, Discord hopes both of these features attract users who need virtual learning tools.

The website also got a makeover, launched this week. The old illustrations of controllers and computers have been replaced with images of more general geekery: a wizard, a lady frog reading a book, a caballero who is a toadstool. There are templates now for teachers and others to quickly create Discord groups. Mentions of gaming come only after ones of pet photos and school clubs. Its cutesy new tagline: Your Place to Talk.

The revenue engine for all this is the Nitro subscription service. (Citron and Vishnevskiy refuse to sell ads or user data.) There are two Nitro versions, a classic plan for $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year, or an upgraded one for $9.99 a month or $99.99 annually. They both give members the ability to customize their username (each handle has a four-digit number randomly appended, but pay up, and you can use choose that number), stream themselves at better qualities and bring their custom emojis across groups (usually they can only exist within one group). The more expensive Nitro subscription also lets users boost their groups. If enough Discorders pitch in and accumulate enough boosts, they can get similar customization features for their groups. More than 1 million users have subscribed to Nitro, Forbes estimates.

Nothing makes Citron and Vishnevskiy clam up faster than a question about Nitros next features. I don't want to preannounce them. Whenever we've done that in the past, it basically means we have to ship itfastor everyone gets angry, says Citron. Josh Elman, a Greylock venture partner who sits on Discords board, offers up a little more insight. This becomes a creative challenge and opportunity. I could build icebreaker features if I wanted to build a group that was a club. I could have events and calendars that could be built into that. And I'm just throwing out dummy examples, he says.

While Citron wont give specifics, he is happy to talk about the vision, speaking over a Discord video chat from his San Mateo, California home. As he and Vishnevskiy catch up over cocktailsa whiskey, neat, for him and a greyhound for Vishnevskiyhe talks about what he sees Discord becoming: something akin to the bar from Cheers, a show that he has caught a few times on Nick at Nite reruns. A place where everybody knows your name. A place that you can be with your friends, talk and share as much as you want.

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Discord Was Once The Alt-Rights Favorite Chat App. Now Its Gone Mainstream And Scored A New $3.5 Billion Valuation - Forbes

Saturday morning, a rally and a protest made for a clashing of faiths on Art Hill. One group demanded that its anchoring sculpture, a statue of King Louis IX, come down as a token of reconciliation against the generations of hate they feel the statue which was erected in 1906 represents. A collective of other groups, including individuals who said they belonged to The Catholic Church and alt-right white supremacists, stood in defense of the statue of our citys namesake.

Over the past few weeks, statues of racist historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Confederate soldiers have been removed either pre-emptively by city and state governments, or by groups of protesters armed with ropes and chains all over the world as people rise up against racism. The removals have come in the wake of George Floyds killing by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis on May 25 which sparked global protests that are still underway.

Here in St. Louis, a statue of Columbus in Tower Grove Park was taken down on June 17th.

St. Louis resident Umar Lee, however, is not satisfied. Lee, a Muslim and activist, has worked alongside Moji Sidiqi to start a petition to remove all symbols of King Louis IX of France from the metropolitan area. Louis IX was the only king of France to be canonized in the Catholic church, and the city was named after him by French colonizers in 1764. Lees petition hinges on Louis IXs historical antisemitism. One of the things he was canonized for was orchestrating the burning of thousands of copies of the Talmud the Jewish holy book and Islamophobia. He used money he had seized from Jewish moneylenders in his own kingdom to finance two brutal crusades against Muslims in Egypt and Tunisia.

On June 24th, Jim Hoft, of at the conservative blog The Gateway Pundit, called all Catholic and Christian men and their allies to gather for a prayer rally at the statue that upcoming Saturday. Rumors quickly spread on Facebook and Instagram that neo-Nazi and alt-right groups would be attending the rally.

In response, many local activists decided to take their own stand to call for the statues removal and to mobilize against the alt-right.

At around 11 a.m., several dozen Catholics a predominantly white group and others, including at least two identified members of the white supremacist hate group the Proud Boys, gathered at the statue to pray and to speak about how they believed it should not come down. While there were five men at the gathering who identified themselves as members of the Proud Boys, those whose names have been confirmed as of this writing are Mike Lasater and Luke Rohlfing.

Alongside the praying Catholic contingent and their more confrontational allies, Lees group arrived to advocate for the removal of the 1906 statue. Many in the crowd were the same faces who have been showing up this past month to advocate for racial justice. Ferguson frontline activist and advocate Cathy Daniels explained that parallels can be drawn between this effort and the efforts to remove statues of Columbus elsewhere.

You need to understand what this means to others, Daniels said at the rally. St. Louis was a murderer, a rapist, genocidal maniac...a racist. Lets call it for what it is...Were going to do anything to make sure that this edifice to hate is toppled. Well make it come down.Chants of Black Lives Matter and Take It Down echoed around the statues base.

The two groups intermingled, engaging in one-to-one shouting matches. They did not separate until a line of police officers who had their backs to the Proud Boys and their alt-right colleagues made them do so.

Multiple priests made their stand in defense of the statue, including Father Steven Schumacher with the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The anti-statue group offered him the megaphone at one point to tell his side of the story, but upon receiving waves of shouted questions from the crowdwho asked what he would say about Louis historical antisemitism, and whether or not he understood why they called for the statue to come down he became flustered. He asked that the group clarify what antisemitism exists in the Catholic church, and was then shouted off the megaphone.

Marilyn Aleem-Shaikh, a speaker at the rally to take the statue down, said she was unintimidated by those there to demand that it remain. Im not really concerned about it, she said. I grew up right next door to a Klan member. My siblings and I were chased to school every day. We were Muslim...they used to pull off our hijabs and make it hard for us to live. We were the only Black family in our neighborhood.

Its about time we get statues like this taken down, so we have statues that represent all people, not just certain white Christians, she added. Another activist, who went by PJ, suggested that the statue be replaced with a statue of a Black woman.

I thought it would be a better representation for St. Louis, she said. It would be great for young Black girls and boys to look up to her. She added that she would not have come had she not heard that white supremacists would be at the rally.

I didnt honestly come here to support taking down the statue, per se, but I came here to counter-protest the white supremacists, PJ added. My son, he doesnt deserve to grow up in a world filled with that hate.

Towards the end of the rally, the crowds focus shifted to calls on mayor Lyda Krewson to resign. Krewson made national news for reading the full names and addresses of nearly a dozen of city residents who submitted letters recommending that zero dollars of the citys budget be allocated to funding for police during a Facebook Live COVID-19 update Friday afternoon.

It was irresponsible of the Mayor to publicize the names and addresses of her constituents, St. Louis City Treasurer said via Twitter. The timing of her disclosure is ironically the day before an alt-right/KKK rally in our city.

Lee tied in their action of demanding the removal of the statue atop of Art Hill with Krewson who has received nearly 30,000 online signatures on a Change.org petition created by activist Maxi Glamour calling for her resignation.

Theres a King Louis right here in our city and her name is Lyda Krewson, Lee said. Lyda Krewson, who doxxed her constituents last night. Lyda Krewson who doxxed a minor last night.

She needs to resign, Lee continued. And if she would like to do one thing in closing, she could collect this trash and tear this down.

Excerpt from:

Catholics and alt-right clashed with protestors in Forest Park as activists called for removal of Louis IX statue - St. Louis American

Welcome to America, land of the free and home of the lawsuit. Enter Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA).

Nunes claims to be a dairy farmer were plenty fodder for Twitter troll account @DevinCow. Claiming to be his cow on the non-existent dairy farm, @DevinCow spent several months tweeting at him.

The true reason for the start of the account was Nunes claim that Trumps Russian collusion was a conspiracy by the FBI and DOJ. As if being aCalifornian Republican isnt enough to make a few enemies thats coming from a Bay Area boy.

Since 2017, @DevinCow has made the rounds, clowning on Nunes at every turn. Then in March of 2019, the Twitter user Devin Nunes Alt-Mom (@NunesAlt) made her presence known.

Louder than a Karen when they give her regular Coke instead of diet.

Posing as his not-so-proud mom, the tweets were done in the same vein. Calling him out at every turn, both accounts caught his attention. Instead of ignoring them, he took it a few steps beyond by filing a lawsuit.

This was a clap-back no one was expecting.

Trying to sue both accounts, as well as Twitter itself, Nunes poses a threat to the trolls free speech. So hes already taken a major L in that respect as Twitter was dismissed from the lawsuit according to a decision from a Virginia judge last week.

For someone who is called out most often for libel, this is rich. In fact, the irony of the whole situation is ridiculous.

And if he thought the trolling would stop there Boy did he think wrong.

As of this articles writing, Nunes is still trying to sue. Twitter has been let go of the case, but the others have not. The imaginary cow (keep that in mind) and mother being sued here have every right to tweet.

All of their tweets fall under protected speech by the US Constitution. All of what they tweet is public knowledge, or just simple trolling.

Neither of which falls under libel or hate speech.

Trying to sue Twitter for a whopping $250 million in an attempt not to be trolled, mind you, will only breed more trolls. Nunes clearly doesnt know how the internet works.

Whether he wins or loses the case, the bigger a deal he makes, the more it will go on. If youre in the public eye, you will face criticism.

I would say take it with grace, but look who hes working for

Put it back on? pic.twitter.com/U37rqpsKuu

— Devin Nunes’ cow ? (@DevinCow) June 26, 2020

Troll on.

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Devin Nunes is still so sick over cow and alt-right mom Twitter trolls - Kulture Hub

Maybe a Parler logo on your screen next?Denis Charlet/Getty Images This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

The basic idea of Parler is an awful lot like Twitter. But instead of tweets, users post Parleys; instead of retweets, there are echoes. And upon registering, the suggested accounts to follow include Breitbart, the Epoch Times, and the Daily Caller, as well as Rand Paul, Mark Levin, and Team Trump.

In June, right-wing users started flocking to this alt-Twitter, whose main selling point is that it vows to champion free speech. As mainstream platforms banned more far-right accounts, removed hate speech with newfound vigor, and attached warning labels to a few of President Donald Trumps tweets, Parler became, for many, an attractive solution to Twitters supposed ills. Now, its the second most popular app in the App Store, and last week it was estimated to have reached more than 1.5 million daily users, snagging somehigh-profile newbies: Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Jim Jordan, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump. What led to Parlers founding in August 2018 was, predictably, disillusionment with the likes of the Silicon Valley giants. Henderson, Nevadabased software engineers Jared Thomson and John Matze created the platform, according to Parlers website, [a]fter being exhausted with a lack of transparency in big tech, ideological suppresssion [sic] and privacy abuse.

Yet while the platform is being billed as the big free speech alternative to Twitter, it isnt exactly unique. Nor is it as uncensored as it claims to be. Parler is just the latest in a long line of rival social networks that have appeared (and, often, disappeared) in the past decade as alternatives to Big Tech. And, if the past is any indicator, its unlikely that Parler will become anything more than a fringe platform in the near future.

Some of the platforms to emerge as alternatives to the major social networks have taken a hard line on data privacy. Ello, for example, was founded in 2014 as an ad-free network that promised never to sell user data to advertisers. (After being dubbed a Facebook killer, the site was overwhelmed with new users and crashed frequently; it could never scale up and instead became a community for digital artists.) MeWe, another Facebook rival, offers the industrys first Privacy Bill of Rights. (It also takes a laissez-faire approach to content moderation.) And while its 8 million users are dwarfed by Facebooks 2.6 billion, MeWe is one of the few successful alternative networks in that its continued to grow since its founding in 2016.

Matze, Parlers CEO who counts Ayn Rand and conservative economist Thomas Sowell among his influences, fancies his platform a sort of free-speech utopia: Were a community town square, an open town square, with no censorship, Matze told CNBC. If you can say it on the street of New York, you can say it on Parler. And while Parler says it is unbiasedMatze is offering a $20,000 progressive bounty for a popular liberal pundit to joinits evidently become an unofficial home to the far right, which has long claimed to be mistreated by mainstream platforms. When alt-right celebrities, such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, are banned from Twitter, Parler is their next step. (Loomer announced last week that she has become the first person whose Parler following572,000exceeds her pre-ban Twitter following.)

In this regard, Parler is most similar to Gab, the free speechdriven platform launched in 2017 thats known as a haven for extremists. [F]ar angrier and uglier than Parler, Gab quickly became a breeding ground for anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism, where posts calling for terrorist attacks and violence against minorities circulate. Gabs fate, however, represents one iteration of the circle of life for platforms of its ilk: After it was connected to an instance of terrorism in 2018, when the suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting posted about his intentions to act just before he killed 11 people, Gab never quite recovered. Its server, GoDaddy, dropped it, and though it eventually found another home online, its popularity waned following the shooting and the period offline. In 2019, a software engineer for Gabs web hosting company said that the platform probably had a few tens of thousands of users at mostrather than the 835,000 that Gab claimedthough the hosting company later denied that.

But Parler doesnt quite have Gabs teeth. (Andrew Torba, Gabs founder, has referred to Parler as a network for Z-list Maga celebrities.) While even Gab has limits to free speech, since its content policy purports to ban extremism, Parler is stricter. It goes far beyond what you might expect from a platform whose entire ethos is freedom of expression. Matze listed a few of the basic rules in a Parley on Tuesday:

As the top Twitter comment points out, Twitter allows four of the five things that Parler censors. Parlers thorough community guidelines also prohibit spam, terrorist activity, defamation, fighting words, and obscenity, among other kinds of speech. And Parlers user agreement includes clauses that may seem antithetical to its mission. The platform may remove any content and terminate your access to the Services at any time and for any reason or no reason, it states. But perhaps most surprising is this:

17. You agree to defend and indemnify Parler, as well as any of its officers, directors, employees, and agents, from and against any and all claims, actions, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not limited to all attorneys fees) arising from or relating to your access to and use of the Services. Parler will have the right to conduct its own defense, at your expense, in any action or proceeding covered by this indemnity.

The indemnity provision means that if Parler faces a lawsuit for something you post, you pay. Basically, youre free to say whatever you wantas long as it falls within the community guidelines, and as long as youre willing to take the risk.

That Parler has been reportedly banning users en masse this week only further illuminates the faade of free speech on the platform; but regardless of the extent to which one can or cannot Parley whatever they want, the fact remains that the platform is becoming an important space for the American far right. Its worth considering, then, what its members might do with it. Part of the concern over polarized platforms is that they can lead to radicalization: In general, theyre seen as part of the pipeline to extremism. First, extremist movements find a foothold in mainstream platforms, where they present their norms in a slightly more palatable way, explained Jeremy Blackburn, a computer science professor at Binghamton University who researches fringe and extremist web communities. Then they gain ground in platforms like Parler that straddle the fringe and mainstream. Once you remove any question of there being an echo chamber, theres just obvious consequences, Blackburn said.

While this may be cause for concern, Amarnath Amarasingam, an extremism researcher and professor at Queens University, is skeptical that Parler will really galvanize the right. I think part of what animates the rightand the left to some extentand particularly the far right, is the ability to argue with the other, Amarasingam said. Interacting (and fighting) with the left reinforces the far rights identity, giving it meaning and purpose, he said, and from studying similar platforms like Gab, Amarasingam has found that talking to yourself in the dark corners of the internet is actually not that satisfying. And while he believes it might lead to the radicalization of certain individuals within the far right, the platform itself wont necessarily further the ideologies of extremist right-wing groups.

What Parler could do, Amarasingam believes, is serve as a kind of sounding board for the far right, a place for fringe movements to try out and refine different arguments. Essentially, it could be a factory of sorts, churning out ideas before theyre deployed into the mainstream. Maybe one day, at leastfor now, a good portion of the conversation of Parler is about how fantastic the platform is and how dumb the old tech giants are. Amarasingam acknowledged this. [W]hat that indicates to me is that they actually are just using Parler to vent their anger of being suspended from what really matters, which has been more mainstream platform, he said. And so I think theyll very much try to get back into wherever the conversation is happening.

Theres also the matter of growth. Normally, these networks just dont get that big. Theyre considered fringe platforms for a reason, and theres rarely a solid business model behind them. In Parlers case, the network was started with angel funding, and Matze hasnt devised a clear business plan since. Currently, his tentative model is to match conservative influencers with advertisers, and have Parler take a cut of the influencer fee. But given brands recent reluctance to advertise on Facebook, this plan seems far from foolproof. With only 30 employees, Parlers ability to handle more users will be tested. It might growespecially if Trump does decide to join after allbut, as Amarasingam put it, if youre not in the mainstream, youre not in the mainstream.

Generally speaking, what I expect to see in these sites is they hit a certain threshold of users, just like any other social networking platform, said Blackburn. And then for these types of platforms that are explicitly attracting these certain types of users, probably one of them will do something stupid, then they get shut down or deplatformed, and the next one pops up.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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What's the deal with Twitter competitor Parler? - Slate

Joey Gibson, Patriot Prayers founder, said the rally was organized by various groups, including Peoples Rights Washington, which bills itself as an organization that stands up for people whose constitutional rights have been violated but has been called an alt-right extremist group in some news reports. The group did not respond to a request for comment.

City attorneys are currently working from home due to the pandemic, so McClures home seemed like the most logical location to hold the rally, Gibson said. The group wanted to inspire McClure to do the right thing and drop the charge, he said.

We were asking him to be with us in this fight. It wasnt to scare him, or threaten him, Gibson said. Whats going on is a power grab. Weve never seen anything like this, and if we dont come together and fight for working people, (Carroll) will be the first of many to face charges.

We all need to make money. Were all essential, Gibson said.

Videos on social media show 100 or so people gathered on the street outside the prosecutors suburban home. Families, including children, can be seen with signs reading Kelly is not a criminal, Re-open and Inslee for Jail.

They filled the residential street, sang songs, chanted drop the charges and demanded McClure exit his home and address them.

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Protesters gather in front of Vancouver city attorneys' homes - The Columbian

Several witnesses have come forward with information about the shooting death of James Scurlock, who was killed by a white bar owner during a protest in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 30.

Alayna Melendez said she'd heard rumors earlier that day that alt-right instigators would be at the demonstrations. The 19-year-old said she'd been taking photos at the protest and saw 38-year-old Gardner pointing a gun at people passing his bar.

I was taught gun rules from a very young age. My grandpa told me never to point a gun at anybody, even a BB gun, Melendez said.I thought, I need to take this man down."

She then tackled him to the ground to disarm him, knocking him into a puddle. Gardner, a former Marine, fired off two warning shots that startled Melendez. She first mistook them for flash-bang explosions and retreated upon realizing they were gunshots.

Scurlock then jumped on top of him. In response, Gardner fired a shot behind him, hitting and killing the young man.

Melendez, who was nearby during the fatal shooting,said she tried to tell officers her account of the incident but that no one seemed interested in hearing her side.

Nobody talked to me after, she said. They didnt try to talk to anybody at the scene.

The teenager feels guilty for the incident which took place that night.

"If anybody shouldve gotten shot it shouldve been me. The unfortunate reality is Im stuck here thinking I caused his death, or I couldve prevented more," she said of Scurlock.

Gardners cousin, Jenny Heineman, posted on Twitter that she believed his actions were racially motivated the day following Scurlocks death. After the post was shared by thousands, Heineman removed the tweet from her account, according to Yahoo.

Prior to Kleines press conference announcing his findings, Heineman said she made calls to the county attorneys office and the mayors hotline in an attempt to provide context she felt was vital in understanding the racist environment in which Gardner was groomed.

On June 8, she testified at a public hearing in Omaha where she shared how much grief she feels due to Gardner's actions, per The Lincoln Journal Star.

"Knowing that all the times my family members used the N-word, which was a lot, all of the times that my family made racist jokes, all of the times that my family ingrained violence into the minds and hearts and souls of their own babies, all of those things were leading up to the death of James," she said.

After the video of Heinemans speech gained local attention, she said she received a request from the police asking her to give a statement. Heineman also said she has been receiving threats from relatives. She told Yahoo that one member of her family texted her, dishonesty to the family is akin to family genocide.

Another relative, who wished to not be identified, said Gardner and his father are easily angered and that he was raised in an absolutely steaming, giant pot of racism, per Yahoo.

I can tell you that for decades I watched this guy, Jakes father, sit around with the rest of the men in that clan and talk with complete hatred and disgust about n****rs and k***s and Mexicans and sand n****rs, the relative said.

After pressure from community members and protesters who organized outside his house, Kleine has since called for a grand jury to review the case. A special prosecutor has been assigned, but coronavirus concerns may delay the process, Yahoo reports.

He shared a statement to Twitter announcing the new investigation.

I welcome and support the calling of a grand jury to review the evidence in this rare instance, he wrote. These times are unique and in an effort and hope in restoring faith in the system, I am going to Petition the District Court to convene a grand jury with a special prosecutor to review this case.

You can donate to the GoFundMe for Scurlock's family here.

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Relative Of Ex-Marine Who Killed Black Protester During Scuffle Says He'd Been Raised In A 'Steaming, Giant Pot Of Racism' - Blavity

Last month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the leading promotion in mixed martial arts, found itself involved in a far-right conspiracy scandal after one of its officials was spotted wearing QAnon markings on their official attire.

Don House, a long-time UFC cutman and friend of the organizations president, Dana White, appeared on the UFC on ESPN 11 broadcast wearing a Q symbol on his chest and a WWG1WGA marking on the left arm of his shirt, which stands for Where we go one we go all and is a popular slogan amongst QAnon conspiracy theorists and supporters. The markings were visible on his clothing during the main event between Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory which propagates the idea that the alleged deep state is waging an invisible war against US president Donald Trump and his supporters through a secret plot. The theory, which was birthed out of an anonymous 4chan post by a person identifying as Q Clearance Patriot an alleged government official is rooted in the belief that many liberal Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians and other high-ranking officials are part of an global cabal of pedophiles running an international child sex trafficking ring, and that Trump is trying to dismantle the elitist group.

Despite the lack of evidence supporting their baseless and unhinged claims, the fringe internet conspiracy theory has continued to gain supporters. In 2019, QAnon was labelled a potential domestic terrorism threat by the Federal Bureau of Investigations due to its ability to lead individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts.

Houses decision to display symbols in support of a domestic terrorism threat was lauded by QAnon supporters on the internet and criticized by pundits, which led to the UFC launching an investigation into Houses actions. The organization claimed to have been unaware of Houses decision to wear the markings, and stated that the cutman had not sought permission to wear the symbols.

This was a violation of our staff event outfitting policy and the matter will be thoroughly investigated, the UFC said in a statement to ESPN.

House later admitted that he regretted his decision to wear the markings because of the embarrassment it caused White, whom he called a friend of mine. However, he also defended QAnon by agreeing with some of the theorys key principles, including their supposed aim to expose a child sex trafficking ring. Theyre trying to expose that, House told MMAFighting.com.

The patches worn by House are not the first time that QAnon has permeated the MMA space. Earlier in June, Albuquerque city councillor Pat Davis tweeted a photo of a flag with the letter Q perched on the roof of the Jackson Wink Academy, a renowned MMA gym that is home to past and present UFC champions such as Holly Holm and Jon Jones. The academy released a statement in which it claimed that the flag was planted by an unknown individual and was removed as soon as it came to our attention.

Prominent UFC fighters have also been guilty of using QAnon-related hashtags on social media, including UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal, who used a QAnon hashtag when he posted a false quote by Kurt Cobain in reference to Donald Trump. The president previously attended one of Masvidals fights at UFC 244 and praised the fighter on social media after Masvidal called Trump a bad motherfucker.

Given the trend of prominent QAnon support emerging within the MMA landscape, there appears to be an overlap between a subset of MMA fans and the fringe conspiracy. According to a VOX analysis of the QAnon subreddit /r/greatawakening, many of the casual posters also frequent other subreddits such MMA, fitness and Joe Rogan. They are also avid posters in a variety of Trump-related subreddits.

Yet it is the support for Trump that helps explain why QAnon and other conspiracy theories appear to thrive within combat sports. The UFC brass is unabashedly pro-Trump and has used the promotion as a platform for the presidents ideology, even going so far as to produce a propaganda documentary about Trump called Combatant in Chief. White, who spoke at the 2016 Republican national convention, has been unapologetic about his support for Trump and has even claimed he doesnt care if that support alienates fans.

I dont give a shit, White said. If you dont like me because Im friends with this guy, thats your problem not mine.

The UFCs public support for Trump may have cost the promotion a portion of its progressive and ethnically diverse fanbase, but it has helped secure its conservative fandom, many of whom voted for Trump or have right-leaning tendencies. Since the 2016 election, the UFC has even seen the rise of fighters sporting MAGA gimmicks such as Colby Covington, who even visited the Oval Office when he was interim champion. And as more conservative fans flock to the sport they view as MAGA-friendly, there has been a noticeable rise in fake news, fringe conspiracy theories and right-wing extremism.

Former UFC champion Tito Ortiz a vocal Trump supporter has flooded his social media timelines with unhinged conspiracy theories, including his most recent claim that George Floyds killing at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer was a false flag and political stunt aimed to cause chaos ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell who once asked Donald Trump to call him if he needs help whooping some politician believes that the coronavirus is a bioweapon made by government in order to try and take our guns.

Former UFC title challenger and Special Forces Green Beret Tim Kennedy shared an Instagram post of himself wearing a Hawaiian shirt beneath a bulletproof vest while holding a rifle. The Hawaiian shirt alludes to the Boogaloo Boys, a far-right extremist movement that is preparing for a second American civil war which they call the boogaloo. Participants often wear Hawaiian shirts along with military fatigues to identify themselves at protests.

Kennedy posted the aforementioned picture in June 2020 along with the caption: Just dont be an assholeif you choose to be an assholeI picked out a shirt for the occasion

Kennedy has since informed the Guardian that he does not support the Boogaloo movement but will continue to wear Hawaiian shirts because he enjoys them.

Im from California. I fucking love Hawaiian shirts. Im not gonna let any extremist group regardless of what their affiliation is claim something thats awesome, Kennedy told the Guardian via email. I also like do European swimsuit a.k.a. the speedo. If some bitch ass motherfucker says that thing is only for an alt right/left, Ill still wear that banana hammock with pride. I dont subscribe to any this bullshit. I just do the shit I like to do.

There has even been a case where an MMA fighters photo was used to spread fake news about protestors at a Black Lives Matter event. The post, which showed a cropped version of a womans bruised face, claimed that the person was beaten and raped at a BLM protest. The photo attached to the post was actually a picture of Russian MMA fighter Anastasia Yankova following her bout at Bellator 161 in September 2016.

While MMA has long been a niche sport that attracted interesting and somewhat diverse segments of society, there has been an apparent increase in conservative fandom within the sport. As the UFC continues to develop into a safe haven for MAGA supporters to rally around Trump and his far-right ideology, MMA will continue to be soiled with conspiracy peddlers and bad faith actors who view the sport as a platform for their dangerous worldview.

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MMA and QAnon: How fake news and conspiracies permeated the octagon - The Guardian

Directed by Ash Kreis and co-directed by Eric Risher both longstanding furries The Fandom boasts great access, weaving a history of the community out of interviews with leading members and footage of events, from the trailblazing gatherings in the late 1970s to quasi-mainstream conventions like Anthrocon. In the process, we learn about the subcultures close ties with animation and comics, two vast reservoirs of anthropomorphic animal characters.

We hear from Mark Merlino, whose pioneering anime fan club in 1970s California was a seedbed of furry fandom, and from Samuel Conway, whose charisma and organizational skills raised the subcultures profile. We see the weasels with antennae that sparked a kinship between proto-furries, and Robert Hills famous Bambioid, a humanoid alien deer costume that helped spur the widespread adoption of roleplaying fursuits.

We meet the creators of these suits one woman estimates that she has made over 600 and the concept artists who design them. For many, the creative expression isnt just fulfilling in itself: its a way to commit to a community and counter feelings of marginalization in wider society. An onscreen caption informs us that some 80% of furries are LGBT+ (as is the films entire crew). As one fan puts it, the community gravitates around using art as the vehicle to explore identity.

Pressed on the communitys sexual dimension, no interviewee denies it. Of course furry is full of sexuality, says veteran furry Rod ORiley, because furry is full of human beings, who are alive and thinking and feeling. The problem, in their view, is societys obsession over this aspect. This may reflect a general prurient interest in sex and kink, but the film argues that homophobia is also a factor. As it points out, the furry boom coincided with the AIDS crisis, when prejudice was rampant; but the moral anxiety over the subculture has never really gone away.

The film circles around this point, the talking heads defending their passion with varying degrees of exasperation. One furry laments that outsiders who see gay people dressing up as animals assume a perverted fetish involving children is at play. Another recalls receiving an ultimatum from his bosses at Disney, who [told] me that I had to leave [the fandom] in order to focus on my career, or else I wouldnt have a career in animation. He chose his career.

Dissent has come from within, too. The film touches on the Burned Furs, a short-lived splinter group of furries who revolted against what they saw as the rise of sexual deviance in the community. It also mentions more recent associations with the alt-right and Donald Trump. These subgroups are painted as aberrations, disconnected from authentic furry values. The ways in which they tried to ascribe new meanings to furry culture are left unexplored; nobody from these groups is interviewed.

Nor is the film too interested in delving into the broader cultural context. There is little on fandoms intersection with similar subcultures, like anime cosplay, or on the precedent for such close identification with animals. A cursory introduction points out that weve been antropomorphizing them for centuries, and leaves it at that. Theres scope here for another film or a thesis.

The Fandom knows what it wants to say, and says it well. The community it shows prides itself on tolerance. The film is an inclusive gesture in itself, openly addressing an audience of outsiders who think badly of furries, or dont think about them at all. It does this with humor and warmth. Anthrocon may be cancelled, but if this documentary succeeds in its objective, next years event will be that much bigger.

The Fandom will premiere today on Ash Kreiss Youtube channel. It is also available on Amazon Prime, Blu-ray, and digital download. To buy the film, go to the films website.

Crew: Executive producers: David Price and Debbie Zombie Squirrel Summers. Associate producers: Stephanie Reed & Kyle Summers. Producer: Philip Chip Kreis. Directors: Ash Kreis and Eric Risher. Cinematographer: Ash Kreis. Editor: Eric Risher. Original score: Iain Fox Amoore Armour and Jared Pepper Coyote Clark.

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'The Fandom' Review: Documentary Takes Viewers Into The Misunderstood World Of Furry Fandom - Cartoon Brew