By David Futrelle
Is loopy alt-lite “journalist” Mike Cernovich losing it? Admittedly, with Cernovich his normal behavior is already so bizarre it would be hard to tell, but his unhinged reaction to a guy who gently trolled him at Politicon the other day has me wondering.
The story so far, as best as I can figure it out: At Politcon, a convention that’s been described as “the Coachella of politics,” a young man bearing a striking resemblance to Max Fischer in the movie Rushmore gently touched Cernovich on the arm before launching into a jokey spiel about the wonders of Cernovich’s “Gorilla Mindset” supplements.
Quickly gathering that the young man was not a real fan, the rattled “mindset expert” sped off, repeatedly warning the young man to “stay out of my space, bro” and announcing to everyone in earshot (as well as to his audience on Periscope) that he was being followed by “a creepy stalker” and that “that guy was talking about pedophiles, so watch out for him.”
Now Cernovich has apparently decided that the young man in question was possibly “a replicant” or “a demon” sent to kill him, and that his life is now in danger. And no, Cernovich doesn’t seem to be joking about the replicant/demon stuff.
Seriously, watch this:
https://twitter.com/keanu_weaves/status/891767328135798784
Is he trying to steal Alex Jones’ schtick? Or has he severed his last connections to reality?
I’m guessing it’s a little from column a and a little from column b.
Here’s the original encounter at Politicon that triggered this apparent meltdown:
https://twitter.com/VicBergerIV/status/891502915202019328
Now, I can’t say I exactly endorse what the bespectacled troll did here — I mean, seriously, don’t go around putting your hands on people you don’t know, even lightly. But TV journalists doing live shots face even more ridiculous trolling — if not outright harassment and assault — on a daily basis and somehow don’t end up ranting about replicants and demons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFKJUE3LzU
This isn’t the first time Cernovich has made a giant stink about people touching him in public. At a rally in Austin earlier this year, he repeatedly shouted “I’m being assaulted” after being gently nudged by rallygoers who got tired of his disruptions; you can find video of the entire horrifying nudging ordeal here.
But I don’t remember him accusing anyone involved in that incident of being a murderous biorobotic android.
I’m not the only one wondering if Cernovich is going off the deep end. Take a look at this little compilation:
Mike @Cernovich's life is in free fall. Recently divorced and is drinking heavily. He even accosted a loyal #GorillaMindset fan. Not good. pic.twitter.com/sB5sBGz7F9
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) July 30, 2017
And then there was this weird video of his:
this broadcast could be why she divorced Weird Mike. Stream ends abruptly when wife enters room. Very bad. pic.twitter.com/aBNI7df3T1
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) July 28, 2017
(FWIW, as far as I know, Cernovich is still with his second wife, though I can’t for the life of me understand why she is still with him.)
All this is pretty odd, even by Cernovich’s extravagantly weird standards.
As Rachel Maddow likes to say, watch this space.
@Dali
Proud of you <3
Congrats Dali, I hope it does better than my book has managed. It looks a hoot, I’ll have to invest in a copy at some point. Got a stack of reviews to do in the next few months or I’d get a copy now, while I have some money.
RE: OP
MC has some strange ideas about what journalism is. I nearly did my MA in Science and Environmental Journalism, until I saw sense and did Creative Writing instead. Journalism is HARD work and I don’t have the spoons. Wandering around with a phone recording yourself isn’t journalism.
Juicebro made a cameo in an article in Foreign Policy.
“The controversy over the memo has its origins in a hunt for staffers believed to be providing information to right-wing blogger Mike Cernovich, who seemed to have uncanny insight into the inner workings of the NSC. Cernovich in the past few months has been conducting a wide-ranging campaign against the national security advisor.”
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/10/heres-the-memo-that-blew-up-the-nsc/