#51 Andy Campbell: The Proud Boys - A 30,000 ft. View with James Connolly

Death in The Garden

On this episode of “Death in The Garden,” we are pleased to share with you the first in our new series of podcasts entitled “A 30,000 ft. View with James Connolly”. James Connolly is the producer of Sacred Cow and Death in The Garden, a chef, an artist, and an all around brilliant guy. On this episode, James interviews the author of We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism, Andy Campbell.

In the intro, we all discuss the convergence of the rise of Qanon, incel culture, and the Proud Boys, and the extremism that is coming from these areas of the culture. We discuss the white supremacy that is latent in the early conservation movement, bleeding into the modern environmental movement, and how these things intersect with right-wing extremism. We talk about the films This Place Rules and TFW no GF and the docuseries Into the Storm, discussing the role of meaninglessness and chaos in these movements. We talk about how a history of white supremacy has lead us to these movements where a fear of being “replaced” or rendered “redundant” by society has manifested in white nationalism, ecofascism, and other brands of extremism. We talk about authoritarianism, and how the extremes on both ends of the political spectrum come together in the middle. We also discuss how often conspiracy theories in their wildness obscure the truths that need to be investigated within them.

In the interview, James and Andy discuss specific details of the Proud Boys. They go into the lead-up to Jan 6, the main actors, and go into the overall history of the Proud Boys coming onto the scene and the cultural impact it has had.

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