Chris Cantwell
One of the anti-heroes of the explosive Vice News report on Charlottesville is Chris Cantwell, who in one particularly memorable scene near the end was shown showing off the assault weaponry collection he brought to the rally to an admirably fearless Vice correspondent Elspeth Reeve in a hotel room and proclaiming the car that drove into a crowd was justified and saying he believes many more will die violent deaths before the alt-right movement is over.
Watching and reading and thinking about this whole Charlottesville episode drained me. I had to take a nap. (Like, I guess, a delicate little snowflake.)
It appears astonishing that men like this exist in 2017. Is he actually pure evil? And if so, I thought... what's that like? Seriously, what's it like in the head of a human who is evil incarnate? Is it cartoonish? Is he like Dr. Claw? Is he like Chucky?
Cantwell has a website called Radical Agenda where he posts all his podcasts and webcasts and whatever. His latest update is the full, unedited 3 hour long recording of his Vice interviews throughout the weekend's events. Morbid curiosity compelled me to tune in. Yes, much, if not most, of what's on here stayed on message. He believes whites are genetically superior to non-whites, who are, on balance, savage animals and are enabled by the Jews who incrementally took over America and are now out to vanquish their way of life. "Their way of life" goes mostly undefined, but piecing the ramblings together probably reflects a desired utopia of ethnically homogeneous communities where minorities were strictly governed as in the pre-civil rights days.
But what was extraordinary to me, what made the three hour long listen worth it, were the bits of humanity that regularly leaked out despite his best efforts to stay Heel. Ms. Reeve pressed Cantwell gently, especially after his most incendiary comments, by asking, wait, why do you say that? And beyond the f-bombs and the bluster came a slow portrait of a human man. He admitted much of what he has to say is for propaganda purposes. If Trump does not condemn them, they come out and say, yes, the President supports our cause. If Trump condemns them viciously, they come out and say, that's okay Mr. President, we know you're being forced by your globalist administration to say these things, but we see the wink you gave us. He doesn't like to be called a racist, but has embraced it because, fuck it, everyone's already calling him one and no one is about to change their minds. He says he rebranded his website to Radical Agenda from an, I guess, far more racist-sounding name because he had on his podcast a black person who he believed was far superior than him.
The off-camera moments during equipment setup and reshoots were the best. Nothing brings out humanity like small talk. The Vice crew commented on how much fruit is in the room. Cantwell eats a lot of fruit and vegetables because he used to be an alcoholic 260 lb slob but decided to turn his life around. His favorite is Kiwi, but it took him a long time to actually try one because he thought it was weird and disgustingly furry on the outside. He admits he cries a lot, more than a man his age should, probably. He choked up when recounting the story of a fellow who was sympathetic to their cause and composed some music for them but was then fired from his job once his employers found out which was really inconvenient because he was about to get married to the woman he loved who also happened to be ill.
"Wait, can you tell me more about that? What do you mean?"
Because he's just a dude with the "wrong" opinion trying to provide for his sick fiancée!
Assault rifle toting White supremacist Chris Cantwell, actually really a big softie romantic at heart.
Before he became who he is today, he once worked as an IT guy managing lots of servers for large multinational corporations. He quit because got involved with a Dominican gal and was about to have a baby with her but it didn't work out. He didn't elaborate why. He still dates, but has become admittedly difficult with his lifestyle, but when he's with a woman, he doesn't talk shop. They just watch movies and TV. He approaches this whole gig as a job. Of course, he believes in it, he believes whites are being threatened and genuinely need to organize and defend themselves and their way of life, but he admits he'd rather not be doing this if he had a choice. He believes he doesn't have a choice.
"Does that make you sad?"
Yeah, he said without missing a beat.
