Proud Boys

[Nightvisionary]

Since Wallace brought this up in the debate last night it was a big matter of contention on facebook among my privileged white liberal "Friends" from high school with copious amount of hand wringing and shouted "White supremecy" accusations. I have never met a Proud Boy so I decided to do my own research. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was surprised at what I learned.

[Firefly]

It was literally started by a gay guy who was into Straight Edge.

They are no more a threat to anyone than the Promise Keepers

[Averageman]

Started out as a "Club" for young lower middle class guys to hang out and drink.
Members of all races and religions ended up in a brawl against "Leftists" and we're forever branded racist.

[Firefly]

Me and Euro went to a Proud Boys meeting....

[vicious_cb]

The real question is why you listening to what liberals are discussing on FB?

[Circle_10]

The real question is why you listening to what liberals are discussing on FB?

It’s good to keep apprised of what the enemy is talking about.

[Nightvisionary]

The real question is why you listening to what liberals are discussing on FB?

Remaining in a bubble or echo chamber is the best way to lose this fight.

[LMT Shooter]

It was literally started by a gay guy who was into Straight Edge.

They are no more a threat to anyone than the Promise Keepers

Gavin McGuiness is gay?

[BoringGuy45]

Gavin McGuiness is gay?

No, he's definitely not.

As for McInnes' points of view, it's hard to tell whether or not he's serious about his positions, if he's exaggerating, or if he's just being an agitator. He admits that a lot of stuff he says is just to piss people off. Some people have suggested that he's actually either liberal or apolitical and playing out a parody of the far right, but I don't know for sure.

[JediGuy]

The Proud Boys are not conceptually racist.

However, the idea of being “proud” of one’s race and culture, in response to groups that are critical, inevitably leads to looking down on other cultures by virtue of one’s own culture’s accomplishments. I get the sentiment, and I listened to some podcasts by Gavin a while back, but it’s not something that will have any positive end. They can serve as Brownshirts to counter the Commies, but at the end of the day, they end up being remembered only as Brownshirts.

The problem with reactive counter-groups like this is that they engage in the exact same silly arguments and behavior as their opponents (which are clearly those critical of Western culture when it comes to the Proud Boys). We all know that Africa had no great sub Saharan civilizations, unless Mali was in the Sahel. But is there any good to pointing that out? Or reminding that the Anglo-Americans beat the Iroquois, Sioux, Comanche, and all the rest? Or that Latin America didn’t have the wheel? Or that the Spaniards subjugated the Aztecs, Incas, and anyone else in their way with relatively small armies? There is another thread that went into IQ’s. Though not all research is ever settled, a question that should be asked on that topic as well as this one: What good can come out of this? That question doesn’t negate the pursuit of knowledge, but it should temper the use of that knowledge.
Shouting at stupid Commies, skinny white kids, blacks, and whatever group joins in with Antifa doesn’t do anything except debase the ones doing the shouting. And, it is natural that a non-racist group like this attracts actual racists. Gavin saying “my wife is Native American” doesn’t get heard over Biden (and people like my mother-in-law) listing Proud Boys as the exemplary current white supremacist organization.