By David Futrelle
Call it a tale of two videos. On Monday, Vice News released a mini-documentary on “Race and Terror” in Charlottesville chronicling the #UniteTheRight march of this past weekend and the murder of antifascist activist Heather Heyer.
Some of the most chilling moments in the highly disturbing video, as I noted yesterday, came courtesy of Men’s-Rights-Activist-turned-white-supremacist Christopher Cantwell, one of the scheduled speakers at the abortive rally, who proudly showed off his numerous guns for the cameras before telling Vice News that he considered the weekend to have been a huge victory for the cause of white nationalism.
The fact that nobody on our side died, I’d go ahead and call that points for us. The fact that none of our people killed anybody unjustly, I think is a plus for us. And I think that we showed our rivals we won’t be cowed.
When Vice News reporter Elle Reeve gently suggested that the ISIS-style car attack that left Heather Heyer dead was “unprovoked,” Cantwell was indignant.
“That’s not true and you know that’s not true,” he tells her. After accusing antifa “animals” of attacking the car, Cantwell declares that the driver had no other option but to “hit the gas.” (In fact, videos show the driver “hitting the gas” when he was more than a block away from protesters, then speeding into the crowd.)
“And sadly,” Cantwell continued,
because our rivals are a bunch of stupid animals who don’t pay attention, they couldn’t just get out of the way of his car and some people got hurt. …
I think it was more than justified. The amount of restraint our people showed out there, I think was astounding. …
I think a lot more people are going to die before we’re done here, frankly.
Cantwell is now singing a rather different tune. In a new video, a tearful Cantwell — who plainly admits he engaged in violence at the rally — laments that a warrant has apparently been issued for his arrest, and that he’s terrified that if he is arrested the police will kill him.
He also fears for his life at the hands of “our enemies, [who’ve] been threatening us all over the place,” taking exception especially to a tweet from Chelsea Manning promising to “curb stomp” fascists. (A somewhat ironic complaint from a guy who used to harass feminists on Twitter with graphic suggestions as to how they might best kill themselves.)
He insists that he and his fellow white supremacists — many of whom, I need not remind you, showed up to their Charlottesville marches heavily armed and armored — have done their best to be peaceful and follow all the rules.
Quite a change from the fellow who only a few days earlier was talking so confidently about the necessity of a white “ethnostate” and coldly predicting that “a lot more people are going to die before we’re done here.”
Before taking up arms as a would-be warrior for a white ethnostate, as I noted in a post yesterday, Cantwell was a race- and gun-obsessed Men’s Rights Activist — and a regular contributor to A Voice for Men.
Here’s the Vice News video; it’s a tough watch but, I think, a necessary one for anyone who reads this blog regularly. While Cantwell is featured throughout the video — spouting an assortment of truly awful things — his sit-down interview with Reeve begins roughly 19 minutes in.
Here’s a mirror of Cantwell’s new video:
EDITED TO ADD: And here’s a brief clip from CAFE that contrasts the two videos.
https://twitter.com/cafedotcom/status/897934439963021313
H/T — Raw Story
I love the irony of it all. Not too long ago, the Far-Right types would’ve been all “Russians are EVIL!” and the original Nazis themselves were enemies of Russia and considered Slavs inferior.
Of course, back then, “Russia” was an informal place-name for The Soviet Union (which Russia was just a part of…albeit the main part), which professed Communism (which is considered a Left-Wing economic system….though you wouldn’t know it living there….all that oppression….).
The “Slav” thing….I guess they forgot.
I personally think Putin looks like a dweeb. He’s short, he has a tiny chin, his “pecs” are really “manboobs” and he looks like a hybrid of Dobby the House-Elf and a half-baked clone of Daniel Craig without the brawn & hunkiness and didn’t come out right.
V-Poo could probably still destroy me in a fight (being a former KGB Agent and adept Martial Artist) but I can’t help but giggle at his macho posturing.
HEY, THERE DORRRRRRRRKKKK….
….WHERE IS YOUR CHINNNN?!
In speaking of chins….WHAT’S UP WITH CANTWELL’S POPEYE-MUG?
I shouldn’t be making cracks about people’s appearances but I’m I’m doing it to prove a point for THESE guys. They’re not the fine specimens of hunkiness they think they are.
“Baked Alaska” means meringue + ice-cream. Internet Nazis can fuck right off out of my dessert, and find some other white things to use as a pseudonym.
.ru is the ccTLD (country code top-level domain) for Russia. I work for a domain registrar, so these questions are my bread and butter–the domain and the site it points to are actually two separate entities. A domain can end in .ru but be hosted somewhere else; similarly, a .com domain can be hosted in Russia. What matters is the terms and conditions applicable to both domain and host. Canada’s ccTLD, .ca, requires very specific presence requirements to use and the registrar I work for has very explicit terms of service regarding hate speech. Our hosting has similar terms of service. Obviously not every registrar or host has such scruples, and not every country code has presence requirements (like .tv for Tuvalu or .co for Colombia). The point is that I wouldn’t read too much into a particular country code. The heart of the matter is what companies provide domain registration services and what companies host the site’s content. Those are the ones to put the pressure on.
@Spukikitty,
I personally am glad to see your input here again in general. you are particularly bang on the money when you say
Please respect the comments policy and the reasons for its existence.
Gussie,
You think mail.ru is hosted in Russia or no? And yandex? Because i thought all with .ru/ .nz/ .Co.uk is all in that country…
So you are agree with me that they go just because of unregulated servers? Sorry, i don’t understand what you mean.
Great, there’s people on Tumblr passing around a Tweet that the Virginia ACLU made of counter-protesters carrying bows and arrows, and then blaming the ACLU for the injuries and deaths, because the rally on Saturday was denied a permit and the ACLU stepped in and sued to secure one.
But the ACLU didn’t make that man stand on his gas pedal and it didn’t make those Nazis march across the UVA campus — to which they weren’t invited — and also it’s coming out that the cops were really nowhere in sight for much of Saturday.
I couldn’t give two shits about the assembly rights of Nazis but I’m worried about establishing a process that could be used to deny assemblies to other groups that don’t use their speech to incite violence.
@Falconer
Cos it’s not like minority and/or leftist protesters get brutalized and arrested now, right?
Okay. I’ll can the insults of appearances. Thanks. Sorry.
Thank you, Spukikitty.
“There was supposed to be fear, but not in me! *sob* There was supposed to be violence, but not directed at me! *SOB* Why won’t the left get it through their heads that they’re the ones who are supposed to be cowering in terror?!?! *sobsobsob*”
@spukikitty
Socialist times actually very conservative. You must to obay rules and punishments very high. But also some good things.
I agree also with @croquembouche. No need to insult how Putin looks. I am shorter than him, i am 167cm. All my family short and i am shortest! Putin is president, how he looks is not important to him – he already feel he is best.
@Sinkable
Fucking 2017 how does it work? 2017 seems to be determined to see beat the Onion at their own game.
@Valentine
https://t.co/MECX2vZeAx
Russian web host suspended Daily Stormer over government inquiry. I’d almost feel bad for them getting constantly getting chased out of cyperspace, you know if they were anything other than racist, bigoted, confederate, history revisionist, sexist, ableist, transphobic Nazis. But that’s a redundant statement.
@Ooglyboggles,
for saying the exact same shit now that they have been saying for years. It must desperately hurt and confuse them that a tide has turned, and what they got away with yesterday is now widely condemned.
I hope the sand continues to shift beneath their feet.
Oogly
Yes! ✊?
I don’t feel bad. Fuck Nazis. Not welcome anywhere. We must to punch more nazis, punch in real life and punch from cyberspace.
@Dalillama,
I mean, why give hateful local governments precedent for denying BLM permits?
(I’m worried I’ve put a foot wrong with you, mostly because of confidence issues on my end? If I have, please let me know.)
I wonder how long it will be until someone on reddit creates a sub for oh wait it’s already there isn’t it.
Valentine:
As Gussy said, in the abstract there’s two bits:
1. There’s a physical computer somewhere.*
2. There’s a registry that says which name points to which physical computer.
The overall registry is run by ICANN. ICANN is an international organization. It’s largely run by the US, but its very existence is predicated on trust so it can’t be too mean to anyone. It allows various companies to operate registries of their own in a somewhat complicated arrangement, and also allows countries to enforce certain rules on the registries for their own country.
But there’s no technical requirement that a .ru address point to a computer in Russia.
*: and to make things more complicated, there isn’t necessarily just one computer in one place. No single computer is powerful enough to handle all the requests going in to a major website like google.com — so the name points to a whole bunch of computers, and there’s various tricks to have it point to a computer near you so you get better service. There’s no requirement those all even be in the same country!
the white supremacists see Russia as the “great WHITE hope”, the last significant Whitey McWhite imperial power. Combine that with authoritarian submissiveness and that’s all you need to explain the Putin love.
It’s what ties Trump, nazis, the GOP and Assange together….
From the article Ooglyboggles linked to:
BWAHAHAHA… It’s a shame it took so long though.
re: Juggalos on our side?
I mean, I ain’t one, but if they’re willing to help…I’m willing to donate Faygo? Good, cheap stuff. And Candy Apple Faygo…it doesn’t taste like candy apples, but it is bang on the money for caramel apples. With Granny Smith apple as base. Godly stuff.
re: Baked Alaska as a dessert, not a fucker
I’ve always wanted to try some. A guy I like, Barry Lewis (hosts YT show My Virgin Kitchen), showed how to make it pretty simply (get cookie, take pint container of ice cream (preferably in Ben and Jerry’s shape) and cut off the container while it’s sitting upside down atop the cookie, quickly slather in meringue and use cooking torch to brown), but…well, that requires a cooking torch. They don’t even let us have a toaster in my dorm!
When I was a student, myself and my housemates owned a .sk domain name, because Slovakia was selling them very cheaply. We hosted it ourselves.
You can get any URL you like.
@Valentine
I’m just clarifying that the domains and the services they point to are actually two distinct entities that often get confused as one by the general public. For most users of ccTLDs, they host within the same country for convenience and typically with the same provider, but that’s not necessarily the case. I can’t speak to individual domains like mail.ru. You are correct that Russia has a lot less regulation, which might apply to .ru, but the company I work for doesn’t support .ru so I don’t know for sure what that registry’s rules are. Hosting isn’t subject to ICANN rules, so it’s probably regulated even less in an oligarchic haven like Russia.
Today I just found out that there is going to be a white supremacy rally in front of city hall in my hometown of Vancouver British Columbia. They have a permit to protest for this Saturday August 19th. Our mayor has said that he expects Vancouverites to come out and confront them peacefully and is urging people to stand up to them. I plan on being one of those people. There are a few groups of these guys, the World coalition against Islam, the cultural action party and they have a group of men who like look bikers that are called the Soldiers of Odin that fulfill the role of enforcers. I gotta say that being Scandinavian, Danish and seeing the Soldiers of Odin facebook festooned with Viking imagery makes me sick to stomach. Appropriating my culture for their hate, ugh. Hopefully the event is peaceful but I have watched footage of these guys arriving unannounced at peaceful anti Trump protests and just attacking people.
I took myself out for dinner for my thirtieth birthday, and had a Baked Alaska for dessert. It was glorious.
The comment I put on FB about Cantwell:
“My actions have consequences?! This goes against everything I stand for as a white American man!” The response was overwhelming positive.
@Falconer
The nazis’ permit wasn’t being denied. They were being moved away from downtown somewhere less crowded (and less dangerous). Also, not committing resources to defend nazis wouldn’t create a precedent. Technically speaking, taking and losing the case is what might create a bad precedent. It’s why civil rights lawyers are generally picky about what clients they take. They seek out the strongest case for the express purpose of making wide ranging precedent. The only thing this established was that permits awarded can’t be changed. I don’t think that precedent is especially worth it nor that it bolsters BLM in any appreciable way
PS: reading the Mrs’ books atm. Good stuff ?