On July 1, a group of Indigenous activists and their allies gathered at the statue of Edward Cornwallis that inexplicably still stands in downtown Halifax to commemorate and mourn the genocide of Canada’s First Nations. In the midst of the sombre ceremony, a group of five idiots in matching polo shirts showed up singing, waving a Red Ensign flag, trying to instigate a confrontation. They stuck around for less than 10 minutes and then went to a local bar to pose for photos, post on the internet and drink some beers. This is Halifax’s introduction to the dumbest and most contradictory sub-sect of the dumbest corner of the internet: the Proud Boys.
Self-proclaimed western chauvinists, the Proud Boys were founded by disgraced VICE Magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes, a man whose greatest contribution to western culture is that magazine’s “Dos and Don’t” column—ostensibly a street fashion/photography column that was in practice little more than a thinly veiled excuse to roast drunk 20-something men and ogle teenage girls. Since being forced out of VICE, McInnes now writes and creates videos for Rebel Media with titles like “10 Things I Hate About Jews.” His Proud Boys dress like 1970s skinheads and require members to abstain from masturbation to conserve energy and precious bodily fluids. Joining the frat/proto-fascist brigade involves being slapped by your bros while reciting the names of five breakfast cereals. Their name is derived from a song in the live-action version of Aladdin that was so shitty it got cut from the cartoon version. There’s a not-entirely-unaware childish, comic element to the subculture these idiots have attempted to forge.
But there is a darker, more dangerous element underneath the irony and stupidity. In April, the Proud Boys announced plans to begin training and organizing a paramilitary wing called the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, to be lead by a violent petty criminal named Kevin Chapman. If these shitnerds can get their act together North America’s revanchist right will soon have its own freikorps to break up liberal and left protests and intimidate political foes.
I get that it can be hard to take these clowns seriously—they claim to venerate western civilization but need the idiot who co-founded VICE to tell them to stop masturbating to anime. But the thick layers of irony hides the extreme intention of McInnes’ band of misfit boys.
Last month Irish writer Angela Nagle published Kill All Normies, her deep dive into the rise of the so-called alt-right and its move from internet subculture to fractured but effective real-world political movements. One of Nagle’s most useful insights is to tease out the ways in which groups like the Proud Boys not only use irony to dodge any criticism from outsiders but also to numb themselves from the real world repercussions of their actions. Proud Boys rose from the same hysterically aggrieved internet sub-culture that gave us Jeremy Christian, Elliot Rodger and David Kalac.
It is important to make clear that their attempt at transgressing social norms by calling for archaic gender roles and celebrating an ahistorical idea of western culture does not on its own make these idiots dangerous or even interesting. Their attempts at humour and freshmen understanding of intellectual history are childish and boring and they’re more of an annoyance than truly offensive. By adopting a pastiche of the greatest hits of 20th-century European reaction they’ve constructed the blandest possible politics.
Instead, the danger lies in formations like the Proud Boys using irony to normalize right-wing street politics, using irony to cover truly dangerous political positions and recruiting teenage jokesters into a fascist milieu where more extreme and less cowardly organizations are waiting.
The Proud Boys are disaffected, stupid, bitter and think street violence is a game. They’ve latched onto a cartoonish version of western chauvinism to justify xenophobia and reactionary cultural politics. We should laugh in their pimply faces. But at the same time, we should recognize that disaffected, stupid and bitter men in search of meaning have always served as the fighting arm of fascism. We should take them just seriously enough to make sure that July 1 was the last time they leave the internet and hit Halifax’s streets.
Opinionated is a rotating column by Halifax writers featured regularly in The Coast. The views published are those of the author.
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This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2017.
Not only is this group disturbing on many levels, but some of those involved on Canada Day are members of the Canadian Navy!
“losers” you mean soccer-hooligan wannabes who need Gavin McInnes to tell them when they can masturbate?
“Remember, it’s entirely possible to disagree without spiralling into a thread of negativity and personal attacks.”
You’re willing to tell me this before I post my comment, but you’re not willing to tell your writers this before they post an article?
I don’t agree with what these guys did, but this article reads like it was written by a 13 year old. Have some bloody decency.
“Remember, it’s entirely possible to disagree without spiralling into a thread of negativity and personal attacks.”
You’re willing to post this below your comment section to remind commenters, but you’re not willing to say this to your writers before they post an article?
I don’t agree with what these guys did at all, but this article reads like it was written by a 13 year old. Have some bloody decency, you amateur.
I, for one, appreciate how many times the author referred to these dudes as stupid idiots- it’s accurate and well deserved. Thanks for the succinct analysis!
I’m not defending these guys, but you lefties never learn. The whole name calling and saying “everyone who disagrees with me is stupid” worked so well during the election in the States.
Parsons description is the same one most would use to describe Antics. Lol
Parsons description of them can be used to describe Antifa as well. Lol
As a Retired Servicemember with Mi’Kmaq heritage, I am doubly disgusted at the behaviour and actions of these punks who think that chauvinism has ANY place in todays world.
I’m offended that my service is being tarnished by their disgusting behaviour and I’m hurt that there are still people in this world who not only don’t believe that Canada’s Indiginous Peoples have a right to have a voice, but who would treat them with the same disdain that the Colonialists did when they first came to Turtle Island and took all the land for themselves as their “god given right” while pushing our people to small reservations of land and called it Fair.
Clearly, the Scottish founder does not know his own history…
In 1745, he was placed in charge of a regiment dispatched to the Scottish Highlands. The Jacobites under Bonnie Prince Charlie had raised a massive army and advanced to the outskirts of London before retreating to Scotland. Cornwallis was part of the British forces sent to crush the rebellion.
The final battle came April 16, 1746, at Culloden. The professional British soldiers quickly routed the rebel Scots and killed 2,000 Highland warriors before pursuing them off the battlefield. The slaughter that followed was called the Pacification.
It became illegal to wear a kilt or tartan and an offender could be summarily executed. The ancient clan system was to be dismantled by force.
How many of these guys have Scottish names? Diane McDonald
Pathetic wankers take time out from their communal circle-jerk (or is that circle-non-jerk) to harrass First Nations as a point of Pride.
Wonder what happens if someone points out that Proud and Pride are lexically related 😉
they sure look special all right! knuckleheads
So by the sounds of it these boys were polite and left without any incident. From my understanding they were protesting the disrespect to General Wallace and their heritage as the First Nations were protesting the oppression of their heritage.
I’m not on anyone’s side but it has to be the right for everybody to protest what they like. The more that the left stops people’s right to free speech the more this will happen and it will get ugly eventually.
Why can’t people have a reasoned debate rather than name calling?
“you lefties never learn. The whole name calling and saying “everyone who disagrees with me is stupid” worked so well during the election in the States.” It is not name-calling to point out that stupid people are, in fact, stupid. And just because Trump won the election doesn’t make his supporters any less stupid. It actually indicates the opposite. And why do call people who stand up for basic human rights “lefties”? Does that mean conservatives don’t? It often appears that way.
I’m going to state this now, there are two sides to the Cornwallis issue. The one we hear about all the time and the other, that what he did was a reaction to the natives working with the French to murder settlers.
Also my comment was aimed at the title of the article and the ad hominem attacks that you can expect from left leaning people when presented with opinions they don’t like. I’m not saying right leaning people aren’t guilty of it, but from a publication like this it is all too predictable and will do nothing in the long run.
Ahh, whatter ya gonna do, the CF draws from the population…the population has idiots…the cf gets some of ’em….
“I’m not defending these guys, but you lefties never learn. The whole name calling and saying “everyone who disagrees with me is stupid” worked so well during the election in the States.”
It didn’t seem to hurt Trump when he went to that level. Bad hombres, nasty woman, 4am tweets calling out anyone who said anything remotely critical of him stupid, sad and/or corrupt…
So what’s the lesson the lefties are supposed to learn – that there’s a double-standard and the tactics that work for the right won’t work for us, or that we just need to get *better* at using them?
I’m sorry? “Normalizing right wing street politics”? From ALL the pictures and videos it looked like the Proud Boys were having smiling conversations with the other protesters. Compare this to the aggressive violence of the Left’s Antifa movement. What you are referring to what they say and not what they do so you would wish to opppse their freedom of expression while supporting the violence of the left? I may not agree with what they say but agree with their right to say it. In that I disagree with what the Left says who only agrees with half of that statement.
Might want to proof read your work before submitting it online. Now instead of five, we have six idiots.
A note to Mathew Gove…most everyone does have a right to protest, but the CF members did not have that right. As a CF member, you must maintain a standard 24 hours a day 365 days a year. We do not have the right to even sign a petition, as a reflection on one soldier is a reflection on us all.
If the Canadian NAVY releases them from service they should join the US Navy a far more capable and impressive military service.
It is quite typical for the poorly educated to utilize abusive ad hominem in order to attack another’s statement or actions as a poorly disguised attempt to invalidate an argument. As Salvor Hardin once said, violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, ergo, those with a lack of cogent reasoning skills will inevitably surrender to personal attacks for a lack of said reasoning abilities.
As those who know the Proud Boys well know we will entertain many philosophies, and will consider arguments and different types of reasoning, even if they will differ from our own; that is to say if they are well thought of and well formulated. We will not, however, waste our time to reply to a non sequitur; especially an inflammatory one which was obviously designed to elicit an emotional response.
So, Mr. Parsons, what you’ve written is one of the most insanely idiotic things we have ever read. At no point in your incoherent statement were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. We are now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
The guy who wrote this clearly just found ouy about the proud boys and let his anger from one incident cloud his judgement. This is largely an ad hominem attack on a group that holds different political views than those of the other. Notice how you didn’t state their reason for being there and provide a counter argument. Instead you attacked the founder of the group, and provide inaccuracies and falsehoods about the members.
I forget, are the left snowflakes, or dangerous and violent? It’s so hard to keep track these days.