A.k.a. Juicebro
Yeah, they are (generally) dreadfully boring, but we need to give at least a highlight reel of their silliest – and typical – antics. This time around: Mike Cernovich, altrigth commentator, central QAnon promoter, serial misogynist and conspiracy theorist who originally emerged from the swamps of Gamergate and currently enjoys a frighteningly large base of followers, some of whom presumably agree with him (that latter group, we suspect, very often does not include himself).
Hate
“diversity is code for white genocide”
– Mike Cernovich
Cernovich has a long and well-documented history of misogyny, and generally adopts MRA views of women and rape; you can find some examples here. And if you look to delve into Cernovich’s bigotry and hate, this and this will give you more details than you could ever want; we can’t be bothered to repeat them. His bigotry is also augmented by various nonsense mystical beliefs, such as his belief that semen (literally) has addictive properties, cures depression, and prevents women from cheating, and he combines his views with commitment to a variety of Victorian-age myths about the health effects of various types of sexual behavior, including myths about STDs and prevention: Instead of condoms, you should apparently rely on “[c]oconut oil and defense soap (tea tree oil)”.
The obvious source of all evil is, of course, feminism– or in general: cultural Marxism, whatever that is. And behind that? “When you think of what’s truly ugly in our culture (feminism, abortion, political correctness), you’ll see atheists behind it.” According to Cernovich, however, “America is a Christian nation” and “Western society cannot function without real Christianity” – the ‘real’ qualifier is important, however, for “modern Christian is cucked and actually harms US”; i.e. real Christianity is whatever form of Christianity agrees with Cernovich on culture and politics. It’s worth pointing out that he might lately have modified his views: “Christianity has given us a country where 11 year olds dance for adult men who throw dollars on the stage […] A moderated form of Islam is probably the West’s only hope.” That development was not welcomed by his fans.
Cernovich was also an early member of the Proud Boys.
Conspiracy theories
Over the past decade, Cernovich has become a leading popularizer of conspiracy theories, and has regularly worked with Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson. He is for instance a core promoter of various “Hillary Clinton is dying” conspiracy theories.
That said, he is probably most famous for his role in promoting the Pizzagate conspiracy, and for similar pedophilia-baiting conspiracies: In particular, Cernovich is fond of accusing people he disagrees with of being pedophiles, including The BBC (full of pedophiles), Ben Sasse (trafficking children), “The Clintons” (run child pornography rings), Louise Mensch, Jesse Singal, John Podesta (runs child rings, too), The New York Times, The National Review, Salon, Joe Biden, Tim Kaine (“creepy” and hence a “pedophile”), Victor Berger (runs a “pedophile ring on Twitter”, whatever that means) as well as most people employed by the news media and “every A-list actor” in Hollywood. And of course the “deep state is definitely part of the pedophile networks and they are pro-pedophile. There’s no question about it”, as is Facebook and Google. Cernovich’s imagination tends to veer into child pornography.
He is apparently still under investigation, together with fellow wingnut Chuck C. Johnson, for promoting poorly-forged documents alleging various sexual harassment claims against Chuck Schumer. In his own mind, he is, of course, targeted because he dares to expose pedophilia.
Amond numerous other conspiracy theories pushed by Cernovich are claims, during the Obama presidency, that Obama is gay and an atheist (both “facts” subject to media cover-up) and that Bill Clinton has an “abandoned black son”. Cernovich was also a major promoter of Seth Rich murder conspiracy theories.
Donald Trump jr. has said of Cernovich that“[i]n a long gone time of unbiased journalism he’d win the Pulitzer, but not today.” Paul Gosar, meanwhile, has compared Cernovich to Rosa Parks.
New Age Woo
Cernovich is a firm believer in the Law of Attraction. In 2016, he suggested that he and his Twitter followers had “manifested” Hillary Clinton’s illness with their minds; by picturing Hillary with coughing fits, they literally gave her pneumonia. Similarly, the reason so many Black people are being killed by police officers is that Black people manifest police brutality by thinking that police officers are murdering black people. I do not live in the world of “absolute truth”, continued Cernovich.
But he is more than willing to expand on his New Age commitments: “[e]verything I do is alchemy. That’s why I believe in magic. Not black magic, not the satanic magic that they practice in Hollywood and that the deep state practices and that the media practice. I believe in good magic, light magic, alchametic magic. Alchametic magic is ‘How do I create something out of nothing purely through manifesting my will through power and light, which is value.’ That’s white magic. That’s alchametic magic.” In fact, we are all practicing magic, according to Cernovich, but usually it’s “black magic and that is the magic that is taught by our culture”– the “dark, demonic magic – the parasitic magic” – and that turns us into “emotional vampire[s]”. Indeed, “black magic” is the motivation behind the mythical“deep state” and the deep state’s obsession with pedophilia: “People[who?] go, ‘Well why are there so many pedophiles in deep state? Why are there so many pedophiles in politics and Hollywood?’ Because that’s the darkest magic you can ever practice. Torturing children, as many people in Hollywood do, is how you practice the highest levels of dark magic,” Cernovich said.So, there.
Politics
Cernovich is one of the firmest and most unwavering supporters of Putin and Russian politics. “Putin is a larger than life alpha male who loves his country and will fight to defend it. Why *don’t* you admire him? Brainwashing,” says Cernovich, adding that “Putin and I think alike”, which we are pretty sure is very, very incorrect. Cernovich also loves Russian media, which ostensibly “tells the truth about America”, as opposed to American Media, which “just lies”: “American Media (terrorist organization) v. Putin. I believe Putin!”. Part of the reason why his views on Putin aren’t mainstream in the US is apparently that liberal Hollywood actors of spreading conspiracy theories about him, and the reason they do that is because“Putin is actually very anti-pedophile.” Yes, even when discussing foreign politics, Cernovich’s mind gravitate toward child pornography.
He has also written books, including Gorilla Mindset (2015) (a trite “masculinity” self-help book), Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity (2016) (a guide to “develop a dominate [sic] mindset, lose fat, gain muscle, succeed in business, and meet women”), MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again (2016) and The Rise of Trump (edited by Vox Day). And he was the organizer of the 2016 DeploraBall, which quickly got mired in conspiracy theories.
Even Ben Shapiro thinks Cernovich is “a nutcase”.
There are good Mike Cernovich portraits here and here.
Diagnosis: A (more or less) self-declared alpha male misogynist, tender New Age snowflake and rabid, bloodthirsty conspiracy theorist. A common enough combo at present, but Cernovich was one of the inventors of the brand and remains one of the major figures in the QAnon altright movement. Cernovich is also one of those bigoted post-modernists who explicitly endorses the post-truth situation – everything is narrative, says Cernovich, and cites Lacan (!) – and we don’t for a moment think he really feels intellectually committed to much of the bullshit that oozes out of him.
Hat-tip: Rationalwiki