#215 They Asked Me To Join The Militia

January 22, 2018

CANADALAND

Conspiracies! They’re out there… and Vice Canada‘s Mack Lamoureux is getting to the bottom of them. You name it, he’s covered it: The Berenst(a)ein Bears. Hollow Earth Theory. Iraq Stargate… But what happens when these twisted narratives stop being just kooky, and start getting scary? As extremist right-wing groups grow their presence in Canada, and around the world, there’s a personal cost to covering conspiracists. Mack’s eight-months-long investigation into Canada’s armed, anti-Islamic “patriot” group — ‘the III%ers’— is alarming: “Connected to the anti-Islam sentiment is a sense of paranoia in the group, one that is reinforced by the sharing of debunked news stories and far-right wing commentary from sites like Rebel Media or Infowars. The members of the group, like their counterparts worldwide, are distrustful of mainstream news and often stray into extreme conspiratorial territory.” Mack Lamoureux joins guest host Omar Mouallem. For more on extremist right-wing groups in Canada, check out COMMONS’ deep dive from this past July. Photo by Mack Lamoureux. — This episode of CANADALAND is brought to you by PayTM.

Omar Mouallem

Kevin Sexton

Producer

Conspiracies! They’re out there… and Vice Canada‘s Mack Lamoureux is getting to the bottom of them.

You name it, he’s covered it: The Berenst(a)ein Bears. Hollow Earth Theory. Iraq Stargate…

But what happens when these twisted narratives stop being just kooky, and start getting scary? As extremist right-wing groups grow their presence in Canada, and around the world, there’s a personal cost to covering conspiracists.

Mack’s eight-months-long investigation into Canada’s armed, anti-Islamic “patriot” group — ‘the III%ers’— is alarming:

“Connected to the anti-Islam sentiment is a sense of paranoia in the group, one that is reinforced by the sharing of debunked news stories and far-right wing commentary from sites like Rebel Media or Infowars. The members of the group, like their counterparts worldwide, are distrustful of mainstream news and often stray into extreme conspiratorial territory.”

Mack Lamoureux joins guest host Omar Mouallem.

For more on extremist right-wing groups in Canada, check out COMMONS’ deep dive from this past July.

Photo by Mack Lamoureux.

—

This episode of CANADALAND is brought to you by PayTM.

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