Fascist Politics in Democratic Spaces: The Proud Boys and Gavin McInnes

• In Event: Political Socialization in the Age of Digital Media

Abstract

Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys were banned from Twitter and Periscope in August 2018. Two months later Facebook and Instagram removed the self-described Western chauvinists’ accounts as well. PayPal followed up in November by canceling any future transactions. These platforms were attempting to curb the harm caused by members of the far right group, or at least to deflect any taint the Proud Boys and McInnes may have left on these social media companies.

The Proud Boys and Gavin McInnes are a prime case study of the problem of free speech and the internet. Here we see hate speech nuanced into “free speech”, as in “I’m just speaking my truth and this is a public forum.” The fact is, however, that that freedom spouted by the male, Proud Boy is actually fascist political action. The conundrum we have to consider is: How do we deal with fascist politics in the democratic communication spaces of the internet?

According to McInnes, the Proud Boys are not Nazis, nor are they “fag haters”; rather they are an inclusive men’s club that emanated from guys being guys. We “started the club because a producer from an old comedy vidcast was a 24 year old virgin who refused to quit porn. It could have been called the ‘getting Ben laid’ club” (McInnes 2018). The group was an informal collection, connected in spirit through McInnes and his rants on The Gavin McInnes Show. Broadcast online via the crass and conservative entertainment company CompoundMedia, The Gavin McInnes Show was right-aligned, political commentary often masked as “just good fun” discriminatory humor. McInnes saw himself as a hipster, huckster, hacker, stirring it up for his virtual community. Then, in July 2016, McInnes “convened his local ‘Proud Boys’ chapter for their first in-person meeting” (Disser 2016). What had been an Internet band of brothers, fan club had now become solidified as a dive-bar-bound group of far right provocateurs.

Over the next year, the Proud Boys evolved into a national organization with thousands of members in cities such as New York, Seattle, Portland, and Fort Worth. Meanwhile McInnes roused the left by giving a talk at New York University in February 2017. The lecture/diatribe riled up students and eventually devolved into a street skirmish between Proud Boys and members of Antifa. A few months later various Proud Boys appeared in alt-right rallies in Berkeley, California, then, in August, Proud Boys representatives joined the Unite the Right (UTR) rally in Charlottesville. McInnes was not at the UTR rally, though, and did not join in the political violence. Instead, he was broadcasting ambiguous messages on his internet shows and podcasts, disowning some of the most extreme Proud Boys, including white supremacist Jason Kessler, but still cracking heinous jokes about immigrants and feminists. More violence broke out in October in New York City outside of the Metropolitan Club. McInnes gave a talk at the Republican venue and afterwards Proud Boys members fought with Antifa protesters.

This study is most concerned with: What are the rhetorical strategies that McInnes and his crew employ online? Is it fascist politics sparking violence or is it, as McInnes claims, “just joking around”. In order to determine which frames dominate (see, for example, Goffman 1974; Entman 1993), I execute a content analysis of the various Proud Boy/McInnes internet political commentary shows, specifically The Gavin McInnes Show, Get Off My Lawn and guest host appearances on Louder with Crowder. The main rubric aligns with the rhetorical elements of fascist politics outlined in Stanley’s text, How Fascism Works, including creating a mythic past, sexual anxiety, anti-intellectualism, and victimhood. Lewis’s (2018) observations about how the reactionary right creates itself on YouTube (relatability, authenticity and accountability) are also considered.


References


Disser, Nicole (2016). “Gavin McInnes and His ‘Proud Boys’ Want to Make Men Great Again” Bedford + Bowery, 28 July, 2016. Available at: http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/07/gavin-mcinnes-and-his-proud-boys-want-to-make-white-men-great-again/

Entman, R.M. (1993). "Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm". Journal of Communication. 43 (4): 51–58.

Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Lewis, Rebecca (2018). “Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube.” New York: Data & Society Research Institute. Available at: https://datasociety.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DS_Alternative_Influence.pdf

McInnes, Gavin (2018). “Gavin McInnes Quits the Proud Boys” YouTube, 21 November, 2018. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGrPjx2V_TA&t=261s

Stanley, Jason (2018). How Fascism Works. New York: Random House.

Author

• Robert Tynes, Bard Prison Initiative