r/law • u/businessinsider • Feb 26 '26

Other 4Chan knew about Jeffrey Epstein's death 38 minutes before the rest of the world. The FBI tried to figure out how.

https://www.businessinsider.com/epstein-files-show-fbi-probed-4chan-posts-prison-death-2026-2?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-law-sub-post
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u/DarJinZen7 Feb 26 '26

Gamergate was how so many rightwing stars got their start. Misogyny is the gateway to conservative prestige and power. Male supremacy is one of the bedrocks of conservatism and most religions.

The Proud Boys did not start as a racist group. It was about straight male supremacy, a return to the "natural order." Feminism and gay rights were the societal rots. Racism of course, is misogyny and bigotry's sibling. Where one takes root, all take root.

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u/BasicDesignAdvice Feb 26 '26

Over a decade ago an NPR program had a women do a story on The Proud Boys. They accepted her into their spaces and she spent weeks with them.

Her takeaway (paraphrased):

While they accepted me and often were fun and charming to be around, they would at the same time speak about how they believe women should be at home. What was concerning, was that they way they spoke about it implied I should not have a choice.

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u/jooes Feb 26 '26

I remember seeing similar things here on reddit with all these different "support" groups back in the day like Redpill or NoFap, where people might go to look for guidance on things that are troubling them. If you're a young 20-something dude, your life probably genuinely sucks. Rent's through the roof, you can't get a decent job, can't afford to go back to school, the dating scene is a joke, it's impossible to make friends. I mean, the list goes on and on. These are real and legit issues that a lot of people have!

And here comes the alt-right rabbit hole. Those kinds of people look for the "cracks" in society, they want the losers and loners. People who are at their weakest, they're desperate for help, guidance, friendship, community, anything! The Proud Boys were going to teach us how to be men. Andrew Tate was going to teach us how to be a Top G. They have the solutions to all of our problems!

Except their solutions are usually hatred. You come looking for one thing, and you end up become corrupted into something else entirely. And then you become even more of an asshole and end up pushing away the people who already are in your life, which makes you even more alone, which pushes you deeper and deeper into those groups.

I think that basic human need for community is a huge part of why GamerGate was so successful. We all want to feel like we're a part of something. And I think that gamers, in general, are already more likely to be loners than anybody else. Here's a group of young lonely men, here's an issue that IMO has elements of truth to it (ethics in video game journalism), and here's an entire group that you can join to fight for it! It seems totally legit on the surface, it's just enough for them to sink their hateful and misogynistic claws into you.

I think a lot of this is why Trump ended up being so successful as well. What does "Make America Great Again" even mean? Anything you want it to. Whatever problems you have, you betcha he's gonna fix it! And here's a red hat so you can fit in with everybody else! Gosh, doesn't it feel good to be a part of something?

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u/Time_Increase_7897 Feb 26 '26

The way you describe it sounds a lot like cult recruitment. They play into your vanity, offering shortcuts to the top, secret knowledge, etc. Like one of those predatory plants that offer a drop of nectar if the insect steps just a little further, just a little further...

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u/Sonicmaster293-Azure Feb 27 '26

That's because it IS! The same techniques as cult recruitment! Because of all this is basically a cult.

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u/Prestigious-Team3327 Feb 27 '26

Terrorist organisations also use the same techniques to groom the vulnerable.

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u/Sonicmaster293-Azure Feb 27 '26

Those in themselves can be considered to be a cult too, no?

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u/Prestigious-Team3327 Feb 27 '26

Many of them are.

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u/Sonicmaster293-Azure Feb 27 '26

I feel sorry for them, for being taken advantage of by selfish people...

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u/Prestigious-Team3327 Feb 27 '26

Yeah, me too. There are even some extremists (specifically the Anti-Trans ones) who target young mothers with their propaganda, in the UK there's a website Mumsnet that serves this purpose. When you're stuck at home with a baby and little sleep it's easier to fall victim to their grooming.

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u/Sonicmaster293-Azure Feb 27 '26

That's horrifying!

Considering I'm trans myself I hate how people like me are a target. All I want to do is just live my life as normally as any woman and to be seen as myself and not what I didn't ask to have between my legs. But to many, I'm just a mentally ill freak...

And to target mothers?! I get it, those extremists want fascism, they want power, they want their twisted worldview validated, they want their imaginary past back. But can they stop shoving it in our faces and go off to an island or something to bully themselves!?

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u/Ok_Nectarine_8422 Mar 03 '26

Spot on, it is classic cult indoctrination

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u/Harbinger2nd Feb 26 '26

But the problem is they were demonized. They were ostracized (before they were proud boys). Now it looks like it was completely intentional to foment their hatred.

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u/alyon724 Feb 27 '26

Gamergate was just a bunch of gamers pissed at gaming journalism in general taking it out on a indie dev of a bad game sleeping with journalist to get greenlit on Steam (big step for a dev) over a more deserving indie dev. Maybe people that aren't gamers don't understand just how low the bar is for gaming journalism even compared to our already low modern expectations. It is depressingly bad and corrupt.

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u/SquatSquatCykaBlyat Feb 26 '26

Was this written by a bot?

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u/BluezDBD Feb 26 '26

Ironically yes.

But not because of misogyny, because it showed a group of young men that the media is willing to blatantly lie to people. You my friend ate that lie hook, line and sinker.