The Sex Toy Merchant Of Death
March 3, 2023 1:37 PM Subscribe
The Terrorgram Collective is a neo-Nazi collective that has been linked to acts of violence against minorities and LGBTQ communities, glorifying perpetrators as "saints". Antifascist researchers have through their research outed one of the group's founders - Dallas Humber, a California sex toy salesperson long involved in far right online communities.
In addition to her work with the Terrorgram Collective, in which she would turn the manifestos of right wing mass murderers into audiobooks as a form of twisted propaganda and the creation of "documentaries" glorifying the same, Humber had ties to Atomwaffen founder Brandon Russell, with messages showing coordination between the two.
In addition to her work with the Terrorgram Collective, in which she would turn the manifestos of right wing mass murderers into audiobooks as a form of twisted propaganda and the creation of "documentaries" glorifying the same, Humber had ties to Atomwaffen founder Brandon Russell, with messages showing coordination between the two.
I read this lengthy HuffPo article on this earlier today, thought it might turn up here eventually. It's more actual reporting than I'm used to from that outfit, and less breathless gossip. It's also pretty extraordinary. I hope she's well on all the right agencies' radars now.
We really have a bad problem with this whole white supremacy thing. It's almost like when they stamped out Reconstruction after the Civil War, the South won.
posted by hippybear at 1:59 PM on March 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
We really have a bad problem with this whole white supremacy thing. It's almost like when they stamped out Reconstruction after the Civil War, the South won.
posted by hippybear at 1:59 PM on March 3, 2023 [15 favorites]
Yeah I wish this hadn't come out as a focus on her titillating job. The issue isn't that she's selling or reviewing sex toys, it's that she's a terrible fascist who's promoting terrible shit. Maybe I'm old now, but let's keep the focus on the horrific views, art, and actions, more than societies own weird handups around female sexuality.
posted by Carillon at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [25 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 2:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [25 favorites]
QFT: The issue isn't that she's selling or reviewing sex toys, it's that she's a terrible fascist who's promoting terrible shit.
To be fair, the article itself buries the sex toy angle pretty deep.
The title is "Exposed: Dallas Humber, Narrator Of Neo-Nazi ‘Terrorgram,’ Promoter Of Mass Shootings"
Subtitle: "Her propaganda canonized white supremacist murderers as "saints." She may have helped inspire a shooting at a gay bar. Now she's been unmasked."
paragraph 12 is: It’s unclear what Humber currently does to make a living, although there’s evidence she has at times made money selling art, and that she has worked as an academic tutor. She also was a dildo saleswoman, posting videos in which she reviewed different sex toys — like the “pretty impressive” Posh Silicone Bounding Bunny — and offering coupon codes to her viewers.
The titillation is coming from inside the house.
posted by chavenet at 2:05 PM on March 3, 2023 [34 favorites]
To be fair, the article itself buries the sex toy angle pretty deep.
The title is "Exposed: Dallas Humber, Narrator Of Neo-Nazi ‘Terrorgram,’ Promoter Of Mass Shootings"
Subtitle: "Her propaganda canonized white supremacist murderers as "saints." She may have helped inspire a shooting at a gay bar. Now she's been unmasked."
paragraph 12 is: It’s unclear what Humber currently does to make a living, although there’s evidence she has at times made money selling art, and that she has worked as an academic tutor. She also was a dildo saleswoman, posting videos in which she reviewed different sex toys — like the “pretty impressive” Posh Silicone Bounding Bunny — and offering coupon codes to her viewers.
The titillation is coming from inside the house.
posted by chavenet at 2:05 PM on March 3, 2023 [34 favorites]
Left Coast Right Watch (linked from the HuffPo article) has more detail, if for some reason you want that.
posted by box at 2:16 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 2:16 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
MetaFilter: the titillation is coming
posted by hippybear at 2:20 PM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:20 PM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
This post would be 70% improved with a title that’s less irrelevant and misleading.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 2:28 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by armoir from antproof case at 2:28 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
To be fair, this is how this article was making the rounds on Twitter. This framing isn't original to this poster, although maybe it was, but I doubt it. That's not the title of the article, and that part of the story is well buried in the article. It was click-baity on social media, so it's understandable that got carried over to here. Unfortunate, but understandable.
posted by hippybear at 2:31 PM on March 3, 2023
posted by hippybear at 2:31 PM on March 3, 2023
This immediately made me think of Roderick Spode, the Jeeves novels' Oswald Mosley stand-in, who's brought down by his secret life as a manufacturer of ladies' underwear.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:34 PM on March 3, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 2:34 PM on March 3, 2023 [12 favorites]
Her downfall was a cat named Fluffles, apparently - the kitty's distinct coat was a key tool in allowing researchers to put the pieces together.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:37 PM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:37 PM on March 3, 2023 [5 favorites]
I hope she's well on all the right agencies' radars now.
The article points out that a longstanding problem here is law enforcement turning a blind eye to these people. There's also the whole Brandenburg issue as well, which has functionally made incitement a dead law in the US.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:43 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
The article points out that a longstanding problem here is law enforcement turning a blind eye to these people. There's also the whole Brandenburg issue as well, which has functionally made incitement a dead law in the US.
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:43 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yes, the article goes into great detail of how Brandenburg prevents their being prosecuted, and how they know this and joke about it
posted by eustatic at 2:48 PM on March 3, 2023
posted by eustatic at 2:48 PM on March 3, 2023
I'm sure many of us can say their downfall was a cat named Fluffles.
posted by hippybear at 2:55 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:55 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
Well, I can’t help but find the sex toy angle interesting not because it’s titillating but because it’s unexpected for somebody on the far-right. A pro-LGBT leftist who sold sex toys would not be an interesting twist.
posted by vanitas at 3:09 PM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by vanitas at 3:09 PM on March 3, 2023 [4 favorites]
How dare she sully the good name of sex toys with Nazi association.
posted by emjaybee at 3:19 PM on March 3, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 3:19 PM on March 3, 2023 [13 favorites]
MetaFilter: buries the sex toy ... pretty deep.
posted by Pronoiac at 3:31 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Pronoiac at 3:31 PM on March 3, 2023 [9 favorites]
Unfortunately, the sex toy angle is down to the image used by LCRW for their story when they put it up on twitter. It was click-baity but then again, they aren't Huff Post. The tweet to their article got them 140K views while the tweet from the Huff Post writer got over a million views.
posted by LostInUbe at 3:40 PM on March 3, 2023
posted by LostInUbe at 3:40 PM on March 3, 2023
Well, I can’t help but find the sex toy angle interesting not because it’s titillating but because it’s unexpected for somebody on the far-right.
I dunno, there's the Watsons of 8kun and their porn money too... Andrew Tate the literal sex trafficker...
posted by subdee at 7:09 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
I dunno, there's the Watsons of 8kun and their porn money too... Andrew Tate the literal sex trafficker...
posted by subdee at 7:09 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
A small conjecture: it mentions in the LCRW article that she was at one point a LARPer. Her handle was Little Miss Gorehound.
In the Werewolf: the Apocalypse TTRPG/LARP, a Gorehound is a monster, specifically a fomori (demonically possessed person) inhabited by a spirit of cruelty and violence, who exists to engage in serial killer like behaviors. Just a conjecture on the moniker.
A more serious conjecture: between Dallas Humber, Andrew Caesarez, the Rogers plot to bomb the CDP Headquarters, and Sacramento Police Department's collaboration with the Traditional Worker's Party...
Sacramento has a serious neo-nazi/ fascist problem. Anecdotally, I've heard about this for decades (in the form of regular vandalism, graffiti, etc. turning up in the city). Humber is just the tip of the tumor.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 7:21 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
In the Werewolf: the Apocalypse TTRPG/LARP, a Gorehound is a monster, specifically a fomori (demonically possessed person) inhabited by a spirit of cruelty and violence, who exists to engage in serial killer like behaviors. Just a conjecture on the moniker.
A more serious conjecture: between Dallas Humber, Andrew Caesarez, the Rogers plot to bomb the CDP Headquarters, and Sacramento Police Department's collaboration with the Traditional Worker's Party...
Sacramento has a serious neo-nazi/ fascist problem. Anecdotally, I've heard about this for decades (in the form of regular vandalism, graffiti, etc. turning up in the city). Humber is just the tip of the tumor.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 7:21 PM on March 3, 2023 [3 favorites]
I mean, shit, Sacramento was the radio market where Rush Limbaugh got his start
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
A small conjecture: it mentions in the LCRW article that she was at one point a LARPer.
You may be reading between the lines too much.
Unless I’ve missed something, the only mention of LARPing in the LCRW article is this one:
posted by zamboni at 8:11 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
You may be reading between the lines too much.
Unless I’ve missed something, the only mention of LARPing in the LCRW article is this one:
Back then, she paid homage to some of history’s most gruesome murderers, depicting them as blood-spattered chibis (cutesy anime mascots) and began LARPing online as a “Politically Radical Lolita”.
LARPing onlinereads as a dismissive figurative statement about online playacting, not a literal statement about Humber’s hobbies.
posted by zamboni at 8:11 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
As far as I can tell, the sex toy thing is clickbait nonsense. It could be serious: sex toys can be as distinctively colored as Mr. Fluffles. Selling and tracking them in social media is a possible attack vector. I thought this was where this article was going, but apparently it's just another millennial who didn't think the internet is a permanent record. It's slightly disturbing they doxxed her, but not as disturbing as stochasic terrorism.
posted by netowl at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by netowl at 9:02 PM on March 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
Sacramento has a serious neo-nazi/ fascist problem.
North of Sac is the separatist State of Jefferson area, up to Eastern Oregon, which attracts a certain anti-government militia personality, if you know what I mean.
posted by rhizome at 9:29 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
North of Sac is the separatist State of Jefferson area, up to Eastern Oregon, which attracts a certain anti-government militia personality, if you know what I mean.
posted by rhizome at 9:29 PM on March 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
Those cartoons. The kind of horror and evil that the Internet is capable of propagating still shocks me when I see things like that.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 6:54 AM on March 4, 2023
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 6:54 AM on March 4, 2023
This is really interesting! I used to be on lj at nearly around the same time (2006 and later) and people really did talk like that on lj. Except the content was different.
The sex toy angle, to me, just illustrates that the evil super-power that united white supremacists was actually a very boring and mundane person who made so little at any one job that they are forced to cobble together five side hustles just to get by.
I just wonder how any 14 year old becomes a Hitler fan. The man was a pathetic loser, and teenagers only respect winners.
posted by Didnt_do_enough at 8:54 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
The sex toy angle, to me, just illustrates that the evil super-power that united white supremacists was actually a very boring and mundane person who made so little at any one job that they are forced to cobble together five side hustles just to get by.
I just wonder how any 14 year old becomes a Hitler fan. The man was a pathetic loser, and teenagers only respect winners.
posted by Didnt_do_enough at 8:54 AM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well, I can’t help but find the sex toy angle interesting not because it’s titillating but because it’s unexpected for somebody on the far-right.
Not for the "edgy" far right, which is, at least in my experience, an extremely fast-growing segment of the far-right population online.
That is, there's more than one far right. We're not just talking about the respectable, conservative Christian politician in a suit and tie who wants a return to family values, but also 8chan trolls, "but racism is scientific" atheist dudebros, and so on. These groups will unite around things that they have in common, like white supremacy and misogyny, but on an arbitrary and inconsistent basis. The far right is about grievance rather than ideological consistency.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
Not for the "edgy" far right, which is, at least in my experience, an extremely fast-growing segment of the far-right population online.
That is, there's more than one far right. We're not just talking about the respectable, conservative Christian politician in a suit and tie who wants a return to family values, but also 8chan trolls, "but racism is scientific" atheist dudebros, and so on. These groups will unite around things that they have in common, like white supremacy and misogyny, but on an arbitrary and inconsistent basis. The far right is about grievance rather than ideological consistency.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 1:46 PM on March 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
I just wonder how any 14 year old becomes a Hitler fan. The man was a pathetic loser, and teenagers only respect winners.
The Siegfried myth really appeals to alienated people, and especially teens. “A heroic ubermesch, stabbed in the back by sniveling haters.” Sounds like the voice of wounded teenage narcissism.
Sadly, I think hategroup affiliation often starts out as a kind of LARPing for angry/unhappy kids, but the thrilling sense of persecution, the power to shock, the camaraderie of other isolated people, and prolonged exposure to hate speech takes hold. The costume starts wearing them.
posted by ducky l'orange at 3:18 PM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Siegfried myth really appeals to alienated people, and especially teens. “A heroic ubermesch, stabbed in the back by sniveling haters.” Sounds like the voice of wounded teenage narcissism.
Sadly, I think hategroup affiliation often starts out as a kind of LARPing for angry/unhappy kids, but the thrilling sense of persecution, the power to shock, the camaraderie of other isolated people, and prolonged exposure to hate speech takes hold. The costume starts wearing them.
posted by ducky l'orange at 3:18 PM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
The name "researchers" has always made me uncomfortable. Like, just say "fuck these guys, I'm doxing them. I dox fascists." Just be open about it.
posted by pelvicsorcery at 9:17 PM on March 4, 2023
posted by pelvicsorcery at 9:17 PM on March 4, 2023
I got something totally different out of this, though maybe this is just too much conjecture. Those rightwing nutjobs in congress have been screaming about sex toys in Target for a while now. And, as we are fond of saying, the accusation is the admission. The whole time they were trying to tell us that the far right and fascists were behind the sex toy thing. Maybe.
posted by Snowishberlin at 11:03 AM on March 5, 2023
posted by Snowishberlin at 11:03 AM on March 5, 2023
Like, just say "fuck these guys, I'm doxing them. I dox fascists." Just be open about it.
It is not doxing to out someone who has, through their own malfeasance, made themselves a person of public interest like Humber or Libs of TikTok proprietor Chaya Raichik, and calling it such plays into their hands.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:13 AM on March 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
It is not doxing to out someone who has, through their own malfeasance, made themselves a person of public interest like Humber or Libs of TikTok proprietor Chaya Raichik, and calling it such plays into their hands.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:13 AM on March 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Over the past few years, she was simply known as “the narrator”—the disembodied voice that reads mass murderer manifestos, how-to guides on attacking critical infrastructure and collections of short essays written by an anonymous collective of white supremacists and accelerationists—the people hell-bent on causing the collapse of society.
Reminds me of the Gardener in Red Rose (although far less omnipotent).
posted by mrgrimm at 10:38 PM on March 5, 2023
Reminds me of the Gardener in Red Rose (although far less omnipotent).
posted by mrgrimm at 10:38 PM on March 5, 2023
I frequently hear, not only here, that right wing shit is all about grievance. For sure there is enough whining coming from the white right blight to turn a megawatt turbine.
I think a large component of it is griefing. Some people just can't abide others play and get their kicks from disrupting and bullying. Stealing drops, spawn camping, parking the RDS-bestickered bro-dozer in the handicap space. All same.
A big component of right-wing horseshit is nihilism. The "pill" they swallow is just this idea:
Everything is bullshit, so nothing matters.
Their rebellion is ostensibly against those whom they blame for the bullshit, but that's just excuses for excuses on top of excuses. Really it's just griefing, because nothing matters and fuck everything except their own mean-spirited giggling at hurting, offending, or imposing cost on someone, anyone, else.
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 10:02 AM on March 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think a large component of it is griefing. Some people just can't abide others play and get their kicks from disrupting and bullying. Stealing drops, spawn camping, parking the RDS-bestickered bro-dozer in the handicap space. All same.
A big component of right-wing horseshit is nihilism. The "pill" they swallow is just this idea:
Everything is bullshit, so nothing matters.
Their rebellion is ostensibly against those whom they blame for the bullshit, but that's just excuses for excuses on top of excuses. Really it's just griefing, because nothing matters and fuck everything except their own mean-spirited giggling at hurting, offending, or imposing cost on someone, anyone, else.
posted by Rev. Irreverent Revenant at 10:02 AM on March 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
That's why the religious component is so dangerous. When you have that many people being told that all of God's glory is being sabotaged by significant parts of their fellow population, religion becomes a tool to motivate a reaction.
A big component of right-wing horseshit is nihilism
Nietzsche pointed out that Christianity is nihilism. Life has no inherent meaning or purpose and their existence has to be justified by something, whether it's Jesus or lingonberry pancakes (sorry). Add to that a religious book that is designed to apply to every possible thing and boom, malleable discontent.
posted by rhizome at 12:43 PM on March 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
A big component of right-wing horseshit is nihilism
Nietzsche pointed out that Christianity is nihilism. Life has no inherent meaning or purpose and their existence has to be justified by something, whether it's Jesus or lingonberry pancakes (sorry). Add to that a religious book that is designed to apply to every possible thing and boom, malleable discontent.
posted by rhizome at 12:43 PM on March 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
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