What You Should Know About The Proud Boys
Who the Proud Boys are and what they stand for is far from the binary thoughts that have recently been published across many media platforms. Here’s what you need to know.
Some of you may know the history of the Proud Boys going back to its founder Gavin McInnes. Also a co-founder of VICE Media, McInnes was forced out by co-founders in 2008 amid what they called creative differences. In reality, the split was driven by McInnes spouting racial epithets, homophobic and transphobic rants, Islamaphobia, xenophobia, and what he refers to as Western Chauvinism. The ideologies that would later become the basis for the Proud Boys as he began to more openly associate himself with the far-right fringes of American society.
McInnes joined forces with other far-right personalities in an effort to bring the ideology of right-wing extremism into the mainstream. Which he and Richard Spencer, among others, were successful at doing. You don’t have to look very far to see just how mainstream their Naziesque beliefs are. By using somewhat benign language, they are able to draw in and recruit men from the farthest corners (and the deepest holes) in American society.
It’s worth noting that the Proud Boys adamantly deny any connections to the racist and xenophobic alt-right. They also insist they are nothing more than a fraternal group that…
