Episode 1247
Proud Boys
Thu, 2020-Oct-01 02:18 UTC
Length - 3:25
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 1,493,474 views on Wednesday, 30 September 2020 our article of the day is Proud Boys.
The Proud Boys is a far-right neo-fascist male-only organization that promotes and engages in political violence. It is based in the United States and has a presence in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The group was started as a joke in the far-right Taki's Magazine in 2016 by Vice Media co-founder and former commentator Gavin McInnes, taking its name from the song "Proud of Your Boy" from the Disney musical Aladdin. The Proud Boys emerged as part of the alt-right, but McInnes began distancing himself from the alt-right in early 2017, saying the alt-right's focus is race while his focus is what he defines as "Western values." This re-branding effort intensified after the Unite the Right rally. The group believes men—especially white men—and Western culture are under siege; their views have elements of the white genocide conspiracy theory. Officially, the group rejects white supremacy, although members have participated in multiple racist events and events centered around anti-left violence, with a former member organizing the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. The organization glorifies violence and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has called it an "alt-right fight club."In late November 2018, it was reported the FBI had classified the Proud Boys as an extremist group with ties to white nationalism. Two weeks later, an FBI official briefing Clark County, Washington law enforcement officials on the group, denied that it was their intent to classify the entire group in this manner and ascribed the mistake to a misunderstanding. During the briefing, FBI agents suggested using websites for more information, including the SPLC resource. The official said that their intent was to characterize the possible threat from certain members of the group. The organization has been described as a hate group by NPR's The Takeaway and the SPLC. In February 2019, despite having said that he broke his ties with the group in November 2018, McInnes filed a federal defamation suit against the SPLC over their "hate group" designation, saying that it was untrue and had damaged his career.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:18 UTC on Thursday, 1 October 2020.
For the full current version of the article, see Proud Boys on Wikipedia.
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