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Monday, November 30, 2020

November 30, 2007 - November 30, 2020: Good Bye (For Now) and Thank You From Kurt and the Other Past and Present Writers of ARC

What I hope is at least a slightly more flattering photo than the one Keean Bexte used in his story
about me back in January, though to be fair I would have done the same to him (and did do... often).

Though I haven't been back since January I thought I would do so for one last article on the blog. It only seems right that I finish what I began.

Thirteen years ago today, I started Anti-Racist Canada on Blogger, though I didn't quite START Anti-Racist Canada ON Blogger:


Yeah, that's right. Live Journal. I really was a 31 year old boomer and, given the aesthetic of the blog, it is clear my technological prowess really never did advance much further than learning enough HTML coding to be able to center Tweets once I started to embed them in articles.

As inauspicious as the beginning was and with no promotion to speak of, Anti-Racist Canada persisted. The readership steadily grew organically over the years and it wasn't long before ARC became the "must read" site for anyone interested in learning more about the racist movement in the country. Our readers included a range of groups and individuals including activists and community leaders, law enforcement, politicians, and journalists. 

Oh, and the racists were regular readers themselves of course as they were always especially interested in what their rivals were up to.

That reality served an important purpose. Knowing the factionalism and infighting that is endemic in these movements, I did everything I could to highlight the fault lines and to widen those cracks until a collapse occurred which, more often than not, did occur. I wish I could say that this was all part of my Machiavellian genius but in reality it was incredibly easy to cause rifts then as it still is now; the hate groups and individuals in them might change, but the underlying character flaws have always been consistent. In any case I figured that it was better if they fought amongst themselves than targeting other innocent potential victims. 

I was always wary of platforming hate groups and tried to walk a line that would not result in me promoting them but rather would provide what I hoped would be useful information on who these people were, what they were about, and the threats they represented. I did that in large part by using humour when appropriate to illustrate that, while certainly dangerous, the individuals and groups that were discussed on these pages were essentially buffoons who deserve ridicule. Again, being snarky wasn't particularly challenging given the ample subject matter and included (but was certainly not limited to) the following themes:
But while I used humour to ridicule, I always took the work very seriously. These people and groups represented a real danger to our communities. Many have been convicted of incredibly serious crimes -- assault, arson, attempted murder, and murder -- largely the result of a noxious ideology that caused them view other humans as lesser and thus not worthy.

Over the years ARC was successful in breaking a number of important stories that eventually made their way to the national news. Rarely was ARC credited (though there were those in the media who did) and I was often asked if that bothered me. It probably should have, but it honestly never did. My main focus was on getting the information out to the public as a warning that these individuals and groups were, and are, dangerous. If the much larger msm found my little spot on the Internet and used it as a source, then I was happy that the audience would be much wider for what I considered to be an important story and I couldn't care less if people knew where it originated. I said then as I do now that when it came to this work, I had no ego.

That however wasn't entirely true.

My ego manifested itself in two different ways. First, having done the work for years in anonymity I began to believe that I was pretty much untouchable. I was always incredibly careful about my online security and was pretty confident that I would be able to maintain my anonymity. I provided a number of false leads that sent those trying to find out who I was on wild goose chases for years; my gender, age, and name ("Chris" for "Christopher Lee" of course). 

Now I never thought that it would be impossible for me to be doxxed, but I was sure I could deal with it because I was prepared for scenarios A,B,C,D,E, and F. Unfortunately I was NOT prepared for scenario G. I won't go into the details of that particular betrayal, but in the end it has been more a relief than anything as the person who had been hanging that particular Sword of Damocles over me for almost 5 years by that point had lost any real power over me as a result of their decision. At this point I'm now more disappointed that everyone knows I'm a simple, rural, humanities teacher and no longer the boogeyman that haunted their dreams. I mean, what a let down that has to be, eh?

The other way my ego manifested itself was more serious. Over the years I was able to do the work with some degree of detachment. Despite all the horrible things I researched and published, the assaults, threats, murders, etc, I was able to go to sleep knowing that it could never get to me and that I was mentally and emotionally too strong for these evil people to really get to me.

That is until I wasn't.

Even the strongest block of granite will weather after a time and that happened to me. My sleep became erratic and fitful and the only dreams I could remember were nightmares. I would fall into months long depressions. Relationships were negatively affected. I couldn't find the joy in things and experiences that I had before. I still believed the work was necessary, but I had become bitter and resented the sacrifices I felt I had made. I began to chafe at even mild (and often deserved) criticism. I was totally burnt out but I tried to push ahead anyways.

This all really started in late 2014 and continued to November 2016 as can be seen in the steep drop-off in articles written. With the uptick in far-right extremism on the rise during the 2016 presidential race in the United States which was also seeping up into Canada, I decided to stick it out until Donald Trump's inevitable defeat which I thought would spell the end of what would be an intense but relatively short-lived form of fascism known as Trumpism. Then I would step away knowing that I had left it all on the field so to speak.


As I didn't think it was right for me to leave the field of battle when Canada and, really, the world was facing what I thought would be an incredibly dark period where a racist right was now energized and seemingly on the ascendancy, I continued. It was also during this time that I think I wrote some of the most important and defining articles for ARC including, but not limited to, the following:
It was also during this time that the good folks from Yellow Vests Canada Exposed and BloodRayne (who eventually became the fourth member of YVCE) came on board as regular writers and soon full members of what had finally become a real collective. I am incredibly proud of the work that was done during this period and the friendships made with an incredible group of people. When I decided to step away from the blog I knew I was leaving it in very good hands and they continued to do incredible work.

All that being said though, we are all very tired. We all have other projects and no one is really able to devote as much time to the blog as we would like while also maintaining careers, families, and our other anti-racist work. As such I, as the founder of Anti-Racist Canada, have made the decision to end the project in its current form. The decision to do this wasn't easy, but it has been made easier by the fact that so many others have taken up the cause and are doing spectacular investigative work.

As readers know I'm now a board member of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network which I have to admit being proud that ARC sort of inspired the creation of. We have always punched above our weight, but with the recent BMO donation of $250,000 and government grant of around $270,000 we have been able to hire and incredibly talented team of journalists and educators who are already making an enormous contribution to the fight against bigotry and hatred. The members of YVCE are all also continuing the work, each in their own way, and I will continue to post the occasional snark-filled thread on Twitter (please feel free to follow me there if you are not doing so now) so none of us are really leaving.

But we aren't the only ones. Others over the years have taken up the fight and have done amazing work. I'm sure I'll forget some links (I'll add those as I remember or am reminded) but I would also urge readers to follow these accounts on Twitter:
This is not even close to being a comprehensive list and I apologize for what I know are some glaring omissions which will be rectified, but knowing so many others are doing what they can to oppose racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ+, and all other forms of bigotry, it does assure me that my decision to conclude this particular project is correct.

However...

I DO reserve the right to come back should Anti-Racist Canada be needed again. 

There have been a number of people who made the blog a possibility. First there are the early writers Naberius200, norton200, and especially NomDeGuerre200 who envisioned and began what I still think is the most important article published by ARC. There are also the guest writers who contributed articles to the blog over the years that were very well received by readers. Finally there are my wonderful friends with YVCE -- "Liz", "Tony", "Alan", and "Blood" -- who kindly took over after I left the blog in their very capable hands. 

I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Strike Poster for creating a new banner and logo for ARC. We had intended to migrate the blog to a new platform that would give us more control of our content and to unveil them at that time. Obviously those plans have changed so instead they will be displayed now.

Anti-Racist Canada will remain online as a resource. It is a project that I am very proud to have been involved with and I hope that it will remain useful well into the future.

So with that, good bye and as always, don't give away the homeworld.

                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                            ~ Kurt Phillips (aka Nosferatu200)



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Saturday, October 31, 2020

October 2020 Bits and Bites: Halloween Edition

We haven't really done a bits and bites article in some time but we thought we would do so now. Please forgive our omissions in this purposely irreverent look back at the month of bigots behaving badly, often towards each other.

In the last article we discussed the antics of Brian Kidder who, since it was published, has continued on in his campaign to arrest a politician. He is not surprisingly being egged on by some of the bad actors who have profiled consistently on this blog:

 


Kevin Johnston, failing to succeed in civic politics in Ontario, has a new project in mind.

He claims he plans on moving to Calgary and run for mayor which he appears to believe he will be a shoe in to win:


It is questionable whether Johnston actually believes his own grift, but lets just say there hasn't been a snake he didn't think he could squeeze oil from. Also, his commitment to his new hometown (where has yet to have lived a single day) seems to be a mile wide and an inch sort: 

Also despite the election taking place in October 2021, Johnston has decided to renew his Ontario license plates, a fact that didn't escape at least one individual:

Craig Chandler has been a figure in right-wing Alberta politics for years; for example he was a campaign chair for Jason Kenney during his run to lead the Progressive Conservative Party which was merged with Wildrose to create the now ruling United Conservative Party and he is planning on running a slate of hardline conservative candidates in the 2021 Calgary civic election:

We're not sure if Chandler believes Johnston's run for Calgary (and we have doubts he will run at all) constitutes a threat to his plans or if he is just annoyed by the arrogance of a man who thinks he could move to a city he doesn't know and be elected mayor, but Chandler turns up the anti-Ontario rhetoric up really quick despite the fact that Kenney, and himself apparently, are both originally from Ontario.

Johnston has a lot more familiarity with Chandler than does his followers so he attempts to ingratiate himself to Chandler. Johnstons's supporters however have decided to go down the route of calling Chandler a "libtard" because what did you expect they would do?


 "He is your folk white man"?

Well, there's a case of saying the quiet part out loud, No doubt "not racist" Kevin Johnston would reject that kind of bigotry, right?


Speaking of Ronny Cameron we haven't written about him in some time and we don't plan on now other than to note that he has been subject to the same trend we've been seeing on social media platforms lately:

Well, that's a damn shame.

Ronny isn't alone. Dan Dicks of "Press for Truth" (hehe... truth) has been kicked off Twitter and is now currently begging for financial support:


Dicks like many like him doesn't understand that freedom of expression doesn't compel private companies to provide them with a platform. If someone entered your home and are acting like an offensive jerk, you are well within your right to kick them out. Nothing is stopping Dicks from carrying a box to a street corner and screaming his "truth" into the void. He doesn't have the right to force a private company to do that for him.

That's quite a look there Chris

Also removed from Twitter were Leigh Stewart who formerly worked with "Press For Truth" as well as he boo Chris Vanderweide.

And Chris wants you to know that he's not at all upset:

Like, totally mad:

No really

It hasn't bothered him in the least for several straight days:

In any case, Dicks, Stewart, and Vanderweide seem convinced that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network is the cause of his being booted from Twitter, a sentiment echoed by Jeremy "Raging Humanist"  Mackenzie:

The bee in their bonnet this time is learning that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network was the recipient of a considerable grant from the Canadian government. Mackenzie was so aggrieved that he wrote a letter urging his supporters (and presumably other Plaid Army members) to do something about it (in a post shared by Derek Harrison):

Pat King as well has decided that the grant received by CAHN is proof of a dasterdly conspiracy, probably directed at him personally because he seems to have a bit of an undeserved ego:


However it is Maxime Bernier's histrionics and promotion of Rebel Media once again which we find to be the most surreal:


 Speaking of Rebel Media personalities, here is Keann Bexte with Chris Vanderweide:


Getting back to Chris, we wrote about how he wasn't really on the Brian Kidder bandwagon. He's also going after Norman Traversty:


And like his posts on Kidder, the resulting argument is very entertaining:


Roger Rowen of the Canadian Combat Coalition seems to have made it his mission to torment Vanderweide online, though we're not entirely sure how effective his insults are. Still, the Northern Guard and Urban Infidels have also decided to chime in as well:



This all goes on for some time more and has continued to today, but we think you have the idea.

Moving on to something completely different, we see that Trevor England is back on Facebook:


We first encountered England in relation to his repeated posts urging the overthrow of the Canadian government which he wrote would be on _____ day. We write it like that because England appears to believe that writing the same date over and over means that he can will it to be true:



He also posted messages urging the assassination of the Prime Minister in the past and not much has changed now:


Yeah, we know you are all shocked that England here is also a QAnon supporter as well as other debunkable conspiracies:



Which brings us to the last piece in this article:


Kazz Nowlin, former III% leader, and his friends are celebrating that Ice Cube and Fifty Cent are Trump supporters... even if they aren't completely clear who they are:



The only problem with this is that, well, it isn't precisely accurate:


Now one might think that they might appreciate this correction, however this is a world in which fact checking is deemed another form of censorship:


It is also a world in which ignorance is celebrated as strength:


The fascinating thing is however that while facing real world repercussions for having accepted the "truth" found in their echo chamber, they simply double down on it at the expense of their own families:


We find this to be horribly sad.

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