Serving Rage Bait to Far-Right America
September 11, 2020 9:18 AM   Subscribe

For Right Wing Watch, reporter Jared Holt takes a deeper look at The Post Millennial, a Canadian right-wing media outlet serving far-right rage bait to American pro-Trump audiences (and current home to right-wing writer Andy Ngo). See also Part Two, where Holt looks at the close relationship between The Post Millennial and far-right propagandist and One America News Network figure Jack Posobiec.
posted by bitteschoen (17 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
In his last speech as leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer told Canadians they should be getting their news from the Post Millennial instead of the CBC.
posted by clawsoon at 12:53 PM on September 11, 2020 [9 favorites]


It has always struck me as deeply weird that Canada's main cultural exports to the United States are hockey players, comedians and right wing conservatism.
posted by srboisvert at 2:56 PM on September 11, 2020 [3 favorites]


It has always struck me as deeply weird that Canada's main cultural exports to the United States are hockey players, comedians and right wing conservatism.

They're all things that we produce in excess of our ability/desire to consume. We export hockey players because we produce more talented hockey players than Canadian teams can employ; we export comedians because we produce more comedians than our media industry can employ; we export right-wing lunatics because we like our right-wing assholes to be buttoned-down responsible-looking types, like Stephen Harper.
posted by mightygodking at 3:11 PM on September 11, 2020 [25 favorites]


main cultural exports to the United States are hockey players, comedians and right wing conservatism

What, no love for Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, and Drake?
posted by clawsoon at 3:21 PM on September 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


...dammit, I forgot Nickelback, the Post Millennial of Canadian music.
posted by clawsoon at 3:23 PM on September 11, 2020 [3 favorites]


We should be reminded that it's hard to make it as a wise man (or even cut it as a poor man stealing) in this country.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:22 PM on September 11, 2020 [22 favorites]


But whatever agreement exists is almost immediately undercut by the fact that a senior editor at The Post Millennial has worked under a pseudonym for no discernable reason. The writer using the pen name “Barrett Wilson” has made a small niche for himself in right-wing media by claiming to be a “former social justice warrior” who experienced an epiphany that made him conservative—but without a name or details, there is simply no way to verify anything he claims about himself. The editor calling himself Wilson has published more than 300 articles at The Post Millennial under his pen name.

I'll take "People who are likely Jonathan Kay" for $1000, Alex.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:27 PM on September 11, 2020 [10 favorites]


mandolin conspiracy: it's hard to make it as a wise man (or even cut it as a poor man stealing) in this country.

This sounds like the first entry in a "Nickelback or Rex Murphy?" quote quiz.
posted by clawsoon at 4:39 PM on September 11, 2020 [2 favorites]


hey lolz canadian jokes! - lolz like foxnews but worse - lolz maple syrup- lolz end of consensus epistemic reality - lolz beavers! - lolz promulgating racism - lolz mounties! - lolz end of chance to fix terminal structural problems with society - lolz celine dion! - lolz billionaire profits from mass oppression and suffering - lolz mapleleafs amirite!
posted by lalochezia at 5:09 PM on September 11, 2020 [8 favorites]


Doesn't Canada export a ton of Hollywood acting talent beyond comedians?

we export right-wing lunatics because we like our right-wing assholes to be buttoned-down responsible-looking types, like Stephen Harper.

Harper is just your guys' Bush. I think Mark Steyn is your leading noxious reactionary export, after Jordan Peterson.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:20 PM on September 11, 2020


I think Mark Steyn is your leading noxious reactionary export, after Jordan Peterson.

There's been such a...proliferation of these assholes, I'd totally forgotten about Steyn.

But these guys, as exports go, are even worse:

The information suggests members of The Base are hiding Patrik Mathews, 26, whose whereabouts have been the focus of much speculation. Mathews allegedly crossed into the U.S. illegally from his native Manitoba with the help of the group, which has since taken steps to conceal his location.

Mathews went missing after being outed as a recruiter and organizer for The Base by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Ryan Thorpe. Federal authorities raided his home and seized multiple firearms. The former soldier was last seen by his family on August 24 with his abandoned car found less than 10 miles from the American border shortly thereafter.

The news illustrates how The Base, previously a mostly online collective of hardcore neo-Nazis, is evolving into a bonafide terror network with a recruitment structure, a paramilitary training apparatus, and the capacity to covertly ferry members across international borders to fit its insurgent ambitions.


He's since been rounded up and is awaiting trial in Maryland.

The Winnipeg Free Press exposed him after infiltrating The Base (here's the full investigative series they did). And rather than using euphemisms in their coverage, they just accurately call him a neo-Nazi, which is oddly refreshing.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:45 PM on September 11, 2020 [14 favorites]


claiming to be a “former social justice warrior” who experienced an epiphany that made him conservative

Was that a 6-figure or a 7-figure epiphany?
posted by Saxon Kane at 5:47 PM on September 11, 2020 [13 favorites]





It has always struck me as deeply weird that Canada's main cultural exports to the United States are hockey players, comedians and right wing conservatism.


...and the MindGeek porntube empire.
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:41 PM on September 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


mightygodking: They're all things that we produce in excess of our ability/desire to consume.

Peter Donolo
makes exactly this argument: Canada's simply not large enough to support an audience for Trumpist media.
posted by russilwvong at 11:08 PM on September 11, 2020 [1 favorite]


Oh right, I forgot that Gavin McInnes is also Canadian.
posted by Apocryphon at 12:33 AM on September 12, 2020 [1 favorite]




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