人兽性交

The fraternal order of 鈥淲estern chauvinists鈥� received one of its biggest promotional boosts since its founding when Ethan Nordean 鈥� who goes by the nickname 鈥�Rufio Panman鈥� 鈥� delivered a knockout blow to an antifascist protester in the streets of Portland, Oregon, at a rally on June 30.

Six of the Proud Boys鈥� largest private 鈥渧etting pages鈥� on Facebook 鈥� groups where administrators review applicants for approval into a private chatroom where local chapters are organized 鈥� have experienced an explosion in recruits in the last 30 days since the melee in Portland, jumping nearly 70 percent according to the metrics Facebook makes public. This represents 823 potential new members (including international members).

These private vetting pages serve as ideological echo chambers and as spaces for planning and putting out calls for action, helping place Proud Boys on the ground. The Proud Boys once attempted to set up their own private web forum called the 鈥淧roud Boards鈥� but it failed.

鈥淪eeing that soy boy antifa scum get knocked the f--- out has been the highlight of my year. Ive [sic]聽watched it over and over,鈥� wrote one new member in a vetting page on Facebook. 鈥淸If] you want to find out about the Proud Boys, looks [sic] at the dozens of videos of the Portland Rally when antifa attached the March and got streamrolled and some of them put in the hospital," wrote another member. "Here's a slogan for you, f--- around and find out."

鈥淥ur vetting page has 100 plus guys being vetted atm,鈥� wrote a page administrator last week.

Nordean鈥檚 now viral punch was not the only violence that occurred during the rally that descended into a riot. Multiple gang beatings were caught on video and one person a cranial hemorrhage.

Nor was Nordean鈥檚 brawling the first time a member of the Proud Boys publicly engaged in violence or made serious threats of violence to political enemies.

• In May, a Proud Boy in an effort to intimidate him. The video editor had published videos lampooning the group and its founder, Gavin McInnes.
• On June 3, Donovan Flippo, a Proud Boy, and Allen Puckett of the rabidly anti-LGBT Hells Shaking Street Preachers, were filmed outside of a parking garage.
• , Tusitala 鈥淭iny鈥� Toese, a Proud Boy and muscle for U.S. Senate candidate Joey Gibson of another far-right group Patriot Prayer, emerged from a group of men in a truck who were shouting 鈥渟upport Trump build the wall!鈥� and punched a man in the face, according to the victim.
• After the Portland riot on June 30, a freelance journalist was threatened on Twitter by a Proud Boys who wrote 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 going to let you lie about us anymore and we are going to beat the ever living shit out of every single one of your douche-bag comrades who assaults us from now on.鈥�

Fighting is part of the group鈥檚 DNA, which reserves the 鈥渇ourth degree鈥� of its membership to those who engage in street brawls with antifascists. McInnes, , uses his podcast to gin up rage about 鈥渁ntifa鈥� and muse about violence.

鈥淸O]ur adversaries want to not silence speech, [but] kill the person talking," McInnes said in a recent episode discussing the far-right free speech martyr Tommy Robinson. "And that will be a huge victory for them. So the reaction has been very good on our side of things. We鈥檝e said 鈥榥o you鈥檙e not going to kill Tommy - we鈥檙e going to kill you! We鈥檙e going to fight back!鈥�"

Recruiting, planning on Facebook

This escalating rhetoric should be a concern for Facebook. While Twitter has received significant criticism for verifying Proud Boys聽accounts, it鈥檚 Facebook that appears to provide the recruitment machinery for the group. Nordean, for example, is a member of the 鈥淣orthwest PB Vetting Page and Trans Positive Safe Space鈥� private group on Facebook. In the past 30 days Nordean鈥檚 group has posted 603 times and added 190 new members.

In April, Facebook its formerly internal in an effort to reassure its users and the public that the company was committed to creating a safe social media platform.

In a section titled 鈥淐redible Violence鈥� the company outlines its goal to 鈥減revent potential real-world harm that may be related to content on Facebook.鈥� There are subsections on 鈥淧romoting or Publicizing Crime,鈥� and 鈥淐oordinating Harm,鈥� which state that Facebook 鈥減rohibits people from facilitating or coordinating future criminal activity that is intended or likely to cause harm to people, businesses, or animals.鈥�

In a recent with Recode, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reiterated the company鈥檚 hard line on content and users that promote violence.

The principles that we have on what we remove from the service are: If it鈥檚 going to result in real harm, real physical harm, or if you鈥檙e attacking individuals, then that content shouldn鈥檛 be on the platform.

Asked for comment, Facebook responded that Nordean's private vetting group did not violate its community standards.聽"In evaluating content, we look closely at context. In deciding whether to remove or leave up references to violence, we look at numerous factors, such as the source, the specific speech in question, the target, and other considerations."聽The company added:聽

We are always thinking about how we can improve our policies and be more nuanced with our enforcement. When it comes to enforcement of our Community Standards against Pages, for example, we hold both Pages and Page admins responsible for the content they post. Similarly, we recently introduced nuance into our Groups enforcement policies 鈥� now, in determining whether a Group violates, we don鈥檛 just look at the content posted to the Group; we take additional signals into account when determining if an entire Group violates. For example, if a group admin is involved in the violating behavior, that will serve as a strong signal that the group's motivation is hateful/incendiary.

More violence in Portland?

In the view of the Proud Boys, the violence they inflict is a defensive measure against violent counter protesters and without a doubt, counter protestors have also engaged in violence.

But who鈥檝e covered their rallies have documented how weak this argument is. It is clear that the Proud Boys show up to fight. As Hatewatch correspondent David Neiwert :

Listening to them bait the counter-protesters with ugly speech, and talk among themselves about fighting tactics, it was clear the 鈥渇ree speech鈥� they wanted to defend was bigoted and threatening. The lofty constitutional principles were little more than a pretext: they were there mostly to bash some 鈥渓eftist鈥� heads. That was plain enough in the Facebook posts promoting the latest Patriot Prayer rally, which warned in faux-biblical cadences that 鈥渢he liberal-occupied streets of Portland will be CLEANSED. 鈥淩ecourse will be swift,鈥� it went on to intone, 鈥渇or those who wish to oppress our freedoms . . . And the hands of Justice shall smite them with a vengeance heretofore to these ne鈥檈r-do-wells.鈥� And if this were somehow less than clear, another post advertised a $25 T-shirt bearing the legend 鈥淏etter Dead Than Red,鈥� with a headstone reading 鈥淩IP Rose City Antifa,鈥� above a #LetthePatriotGamesBegin hashtag.

The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer are planning another rally for Saturday, August 4 in Portland聽and the groups are again ramping up their violent rhetoric on Facebook. 聽鈥淲E鈥橰E READY FOR COMBAT AND ANYBODY WHO CHALLENGES US IS GONNA GET IT,鈥� reads a comment on Patriot Prayer鈥檚 private Facebook page. 鈥淲ear Kevlar and conceal carry for those licensed to do so,鈥� reads another.

All the details for the rally can also be , the same company whose new it is 鈥渢o give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.鈥�

Photo Illustration by 人兽性交