EDITORIAL: The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

EDITORIAL

The Curious Case of Gavin McInnes

By Trevor K. McNeil

Autocrats Abound

Many people are attracted to powerful leaders. A fact of life validated by the history books. From the leaders of Ancient Rome or China and codified, without a trace of irony, by Niccolo Machiavelli (the origin of the term “Machiavellian”) in the 16th century. There are, of course, more recent and terrible examples but it is best not to evoke the wrath of Godwin.

Distasteful and Corrupt

Distasteful as it might be to contemplate, Donald J. Trump is among the ranks of such leaders. It is really the only way to explain his continued support even in the face of a plethora of scandals that make the Targaryens look like the Rockefellers. Despite this, or maybe because of it, there has been a noticeable raise in the number of what might be called “traditionalist” groups since The Great Orange One’s gobsmacking ascension to the very heights of power.

Ugly Americans

One of the more confusing of the groups to come out of the pro-Trump frenzy was the so-called “Proud Boys”. A self-described “fraternal organization”.  The group was not actually as bad as some. At least when it came to terms of prejudice. While all such groups claim to have members who are LGBTQ or POCs, particularly in terms of deflecting claims of racial or hetero-normative prejudice, the Proud Boys actually do. The primary requirements for membership being that one be a male and “proudly” proclaim that “West is best”.

Proud Boy Girls

It is, however, a myth that the group only associates with males, as evidenced by the sister organization Proud Boys Girls, made up of female allies and supporters. McInnes has said on several occasions that the group is not against women, that is more the *Incels and *MGTOWS of the world, but in favor of more traditional gender roles. Certainly not a politically correct way to go about things but still not as bad as claiming that whites are the true and rightful rulers of America. A notion held by groups as diverse as the Ku Klux Klan and the fringe, Scandinavian supremacist paramilitary group Odin’s Rage. As one Proud Boys member admitted “we are the ugly Americans.”

Ungraceful Exit

Despite his constant denials, deflections and jokes at the expense of his detractors, Proud Boys founder and Big Daddy McInnes suddenly and unceremoniously quit the group and started on the long hard road of disassociating himself from the monster he spent the past two years creating and promoting, likely not realizing just how big it would get. At the time of his departure the Proud Boys, loudly, boasted twelve chapters on four continents, having three each in North America and Australia alone.

Designations Matter

The exact circumstances of his departure are under some dispute but it is generally agreed that the decision was at least partly spurred by a report that said the F.B.I. had designated the Proud Boys as a hate group. Something an F.B.I. spokesperson has since denied. Whether the bureau are fibbing or McInnes fabricated the report of the designation to cover himself before leaving is anyone’s guess.

Strange Origins

To really understand the roots of the Proud Boys one must first know a bit about the history of McInnes himself. It is easy to forget with everything going on now that the current state of affairs is something of a new development. Far from an ardent if goofy political pundit with Conservative-leaning views, McIness started out as a well-meaning, middle-class Punk Rocker in Montreal, getting tattoos, wearing leather and getting into street fights with the sort of Neo-Nazi Skinheads with which he is now being associated.

The Death of Cool

Punk gigs and brawls soon bled into more lucrative forms of “Fuck Authority” rebellion such as stand-up comedy and co-founding the VICE media empire before he was twenty-five. A position through which he published articles and books that subsequently got him proclaimed, among other things, the “Godfather of Hipsterdom.” Books like The Vice Guide to Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll and articles like the one he did on female ejaculation bearing the (slightly filthy) title “She Shoots, She Scores”.

Stand Up

McInnes consciously cultivated a blend of the silly, sardonic and slightly tasteless that would become his brand and continue even after his break with VICE media. He subsequently published books like The Death of Cool and Street Boners.  He developed a stand-up routine which was and still is predominately antidotes about his drunk, angry, Scottish dad. Which makes sense given that “angry, drunk, dads” more or less encapsulates the Proud Boy’s philosophical ethos.

Slow Realization

I didn’t really notice the change at first, even when McInnes started showing up on the Rebel Media YouTube channel. I honestly didn’t know what Rebel Media was at the time and, aside from the ridiculous suits, I didn’t notice much of a difference in his overall style, figuring the occasional conservative watch-word to be a Jordan Keppler-style instance of ironic incongruity. I’m not the only one who was confused. McInnes’s friend and fellow comedian Joe Rogan had to repeatedly ask if he was kidding with what he was saying during an interview on Rogan’s show. The Proud Boys and their founder seemed to be shifting before our very eyes.

Regression

What happened to the fraternity of drunk idiots that came together as a prank?  The Proud Boys appeared to initially be misguided and stupid, not really dangerous. It was not until Trump galvanized them into violence that things took a dark turn. Starting during the Trump campaign, McInnes regressed to his scrappy street kid ways and began advocating for violence as a solution. Not only to political disagreements but to all problems, taking on “violence solves everything” as a sort of unofficial catch-phrase. Again, not too surprising given his history of bloodying the knuckles and noses of the boots and braces brigade.

A New Hope

As with such cases in the past, from Canada’s Heritage Front and Britain’s English Defense League, if you cut off the head, or take away a charismatic leader, groups tend to crumble, no matter how strong they once seemed. Such has been the case with The Proud Boys. While still maintaining a presence online in the form of a private website, the star has really fallen for the Proud Boys in terms of third-party attention.

Banned

Most media outlets are simply not willing to give them the time anymore. Along with alt-right conspiracy bull-horn Alex Jones, the remains of Proud Boys have been permanently banned from every major social media site. Given their ardent support of Trump one can only hope that the hard fall of the Proud Boys from prominence is an indication of a larger cultural shift away from the cultural chauvinism of the Trump cartel towards a more inclusive, egalitarian way of doing things.

Definitions:

*Incels are members of an online subculture who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, a state they describe as inceldom. Self-identified incels are largely white and are almost exclusively male heterosexuals, according to Wikipedia

*MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) use the word gynocentric to describe conditions that they claim favor women to the detriment of men, and are opposed to such circumstances.

Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.