Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys' Twitter Accounts Suspended

(This article was originally published at https://sevvie.ltd/news/gavin-mcinnes-and-the-proud-boys-twitter-accounts-suspended/ )

The mainstream media would have you believe that Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys are Nazis, supporters of the alt-right ideology. They will tell you that they are a violent extremist group, and that they took part in the Unite the Right rally which took place one year ago, today. These statements are libel, pure and simple.

But it is based on this libel that Twitter chose to ban all the accounts associated with the Proud Boys today: @Gavin_McInnes, @ProudBoysUSA, @ProudBoysGirls, and @BasedStickMan_ all received notices that their accounts had been suspended, with no reason provided to them.

According to a Twitter representative speaking to BuzzFeed News, “these accounts have been suspended from Twitter and Periscope for violating our policy prohibiting violent extremist groups.” But the Proud Boys aren’t violent extremists; they have only ever defended themselves from violence perpetrated by violent extremist groups such as Antifa, who have notably not found their accounts on Twitter suspended.

Coordinated Attacks

“This is a coordinated attack to prevent Trump from getting re-elected. It’s pointless, however, because he’s already won and ironically, it’s because of moves like this,” McInnes told the Gateway Pundit when asked for comment.

The timing of these suspensions would imply that Twitter expected these accounts to promote videos or messages of violence, given the Unite the Right rally which is to take place today; however, even the most basic research would show that Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys not only had nothing to do with the previous Unite the Right rally, disavowing it more than a month prior, but had repeatedly denounced the upcoming event on Twitter as well.
Gavin McInnes disavowing the alt-right

But we are not allowed to see those denouncements. Their accounts are suspended, and their tweets are no longer visible on Twitter. Like the social networks that de-platformed Alex Jones, Twitter has decided what conclusions we should draw, even if those conclusions are wholly false. But while McInnes and the Proud Boys find themselves banned, the real extremists behind the so-called “alt-right”, such as Richard Spencer, remain active on Twitter.

If the media would have us think that the Proud Boys and Richard Spencer are cut from the same white supremacist cloth, why hasn’t Spencer been suspended?

Damage Control

In response to the suspension, the person running the official Proud Boys account had the following to say:

"It’s a coordinated attack to stop us from reaching people with our message. White supremacists aren’t a problem for the Left. They promote them at every turn and use them to scare their voters into voting for [the Left]. A group like ours that is unapologetically proud of their patriotism and one that includes men that are both gay and straight from all races and religions scares the shit out of the Left and those trying to control us. First they called us Nazis, and when that failed they tried to silence us. We aren’t going anywhere. We will continue to grow. We will continue to win and they know it. See you all on the next platform. YouTube, Apple, Twitter, and Facebook are destroying themselves faster than we ever could." -- Owner of the official Proud Boys Twitter account

And they’re right. The Left need a bogeyman to draw upon when creating their narratives, and if they’re banned from Twitter then it won’t be as easy to find messages which can be broadcast on the news. They want to maintain control of the narrative, and reinforce the idea that the “alt-right” are somehow taking over conservative politics. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

The alt-right is not a conservative or right-wing ideology; it supports socialism and identitarianism, and despises individuality and the free market. The “alternative right” is nothing new; it is the same alternative to the right which has always existed — the Left.

Regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, though, neither the alt-right, nor anyone else, should be de-platformed by the social media giants. By doing so, these corporations take away our right to receive information and judge for ourselves the measure of each man, and leaves it to libelous authors at BuzzFeed News and the New York Times to tell us what to think.