I don’t believe this for a second. They’re not “dissolved”, they’re just changing their tactics. Terrorists will be terrorists.
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How long does this beating go on?? I can imagine reciting these breakfast cereal names while getting inked, but having to fight a protester and take a beating at the same time (with the occasional wank thrown in) would most likely result in a shitty tattoo.
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I doubt they are changing their tactics. It’s just an enforced rebranding, they will be back with a different name that we will all know in a few months time.
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Isn’t this like what happens with the Laputeans or Lilliputeans on Gulliver’s Travel?
Not strong enough. Go full Terminator 2 and dump them in a crucible of molten steel.
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“The truth is, we were never terrorists or a white supremacy group,” the statement posted by the administrator of the official Proud Boys channel on Telegram said. “We are electricians, carpenters, financial advisors, mechanics, etc. More than that, we are fathers, brothers, uncles and sons,” it added.
I mean… you can be both…
At least they disbanded. When cops are acting like white supremacist thugs they seem to just get stronger.
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Stealing from Fight Club, again.
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I don’t understand everyone poo-pooing this outcome. This is pretty much the best thing that can happen with these groups. What else would you want? Imprison them for life for their shitty ideas? Round them up and shoot them? Demand a heartfelt notpology for being shitty people?
We all know you can’t “fix” people like this. They have to choose a different path for themselves, and that takes a long time. The process is helped along by society telling them their ideas are garbage and to please shut up about them. A group disbanding even in name only is a huge win. See my posts above about gang branding and marginalization.
This is nearly the best possible outcome for fighting these groups. If you all refuse to see that, then you are so cynical that you believe these problems can’t be fixed at all, and then we are truly doomed.
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Osama bin Laden had a degree in civil engineering and a large family so he would have been able to check most of those boxes all by himself.
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I am not poo-pooing this outcome. It definitely makes things harder for the “not-Proud Boys”. However, having watched far right groups for the last 15 years, exactly the same people will come back and they won’t wait that long to reappear.
See Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson for high profile examples.
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i am not sure why this is a win. i don’t think it’s going to diminish their numbers, it’s just forcing them to align with like-minded others. they still have the means to find each other, spread disinformation and lies, and recruit. this is just a forced rebranding exercise.
Because they’re overwhelmingly straight white males, who are the group who tend to drive marginalization and have historically had a negative impact on media who don’t agree with them.
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The press release partly answers this question.
… they will have difficulty forming overt infrastructure such as getting and maintaining bank accounts, forming a corporate body, owning assets. There are significant penalties if one is found to be a supporter, and that will affect their fundraising.
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“terrorism, and terrorism accessories”
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“It is a crime to knowingly deal with the assets of a listed entity.”
“Dissolving” would allow them to continue contact with Roger Stone. (Funny, Stone being recently asked about payments for pardons, he claimed he never took a dime. The press is asking the wrong question. What is bitcoin?)
Birds of a feather: “Atomwaffen Division, the Base, the Proud Boys and Russian Imperial Movement.”
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I bet the bank account thing was a huge driver of this decision to ‘dissolve’. Once they were designated as a terrorist org, their bank(s) probably closed out all their accounts and no other banks would take them. Almost overnight, they would have found it effectively impossible to function in the way a normal, reputable organization (which they want to pretend to be) would function.
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Because of the reasons I listed in my post above. Rebranding hurts them. I’m not going to type it all again.
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Indeed. Hopefully the individuals show up as organizers in the prospect banks’ KYC research. Also hopefully the banks figure they can’t make enough money off these guys to justify the risk.
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It’s also ready evidence if members and supporters are caught in possession of the branded swag of a listed entity.
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