This past Wednesday while perusing my usual online haunts, I noticed a post in which Kevin "Poodle" Johnston (currently awaiting trial on hate crime charges) was promoting an interview of fringe Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy that he would be conducting later that evening:
For those unfamiliar with the Poodle, a perennial candidate who is running in the Mississauga mayoral election, let me remind you who this fella is:
For those unfamiliar with the Poodle, a perennial candidate who is running in the Mississauga mayoral election, let me remind you who this fella is:
- Kevin "Poodle" Johnston: No Credible Evidence
- Kevin Johnston and Ron Banerjee: "Hallmarks of Hate"
- A Reminder That Kevin "Poodle" Johnston Is Also A Misogynist As Well As A Bigot
- Speaking Of Racists Endorsing Ontario Progressive Conservative Leadership Candidates....
The interview itself was a poorly attended affair, though I do have to admit I didn't come in until near the end so there might have been more viewers earlier:
I'm not going to bother re-posting the video itself because both of these cretins really do deserve their relative obscurity. Besides, there wasn't anything exactly retaliatory considering it was an interview conducted by a racist Islamophobe with a racist, antisemitic, Islamophobe considering both have been pushing a similar narrative anyways.
But that sort of brings me to the point of this article since the narrative Goldy has been pushing since at least her time with Ezra Levant's "Rebel Media"....
.... may very well have contributed to the radicalization of some of her viewers to the point where they might act our violently.
Before Levant fired Goldy due to her association with neo-Nazis, she conducted a multi-part "exposé" on the Fredericton school system which she suggested was being overrun by the swarthy Saracens:
In news that will surprise absolutely no one, most of what she claimed was bull shit:
Even though much of what she claimed was shown to be false, "Rebel Media" viewers who tend to be of a conspiratorial and xenophobic mindset, ate it up since in confirmed what they already believed anyways:
One of those people who appear to have accepted the conspiratorial and xenophobic ranting of Levant and Goldy was one Matthew Vincent Raymond:
The relevant section is where Raymond references "Rebel Media" and Goldy's series:
By this point readers will understand why this is significant:
Matthew Raymond is accused of murdering two police officers and two civilians last month. We were aware that he harbored Islamophobic sentiments based on news reports published soon after the murders occurred, but because I wasn't certain of his motivation in this instance, I was hesitant to include in on the "History of Violence" timeline.
It looks as if I might need to reassess that decision.
When we hear about individuals being radicalized, too often we think only of young Muslim men who are radicalized online by terrorist groups such as ISIS. Far too little attention is being paid to people who are being radicalized online by xenophobic and Islamophobic propaganda. Sites such as Ezra Levant's "Rebel Media" and online personalities such as Faith Goldy are, in my estimation, playing a significant roll in this radicalization. I can't say for certain what motivated Raymond to allegedly murder four individuals, but I am certain based on the other comments left by viewers of Goldy's sensationalist Islamophobic series that he isn't the only "Rebel Media" consumer who believes violence is a reasonable means to an end:
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