Stefan Molyneux

Stefan Basil Molyneux (/stəˈfæn ˈmɒlɪnjuː/; born September 24, 1966) is a Canadian far-right, white nationalist[2] podcaster and YouTuber who is known for his promotion of scientific racism and white supremacist views.[3][4][5][6][7]

Not to be confused with Stephen Molyneux.
Stefan Molyneux
Molyneux in 2014
Personal information
BornStefan Basil Molyneux
(1966-09-24) September 24, 1966
Athlone, Ireland
NationalityCanadian
EducationHistory (B.A., McGill University, 1991; M.A., University of Toronto, 1993)
ResidenceMississauga, Ontario, Canada[1]
Occupation
Spouse(s)Christina Papadopoulos[1]
Websitefreedomainradio.com
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2005–present
NetworkFreedomain Radio
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers 2015
Updated February 02, 2019

Molyneux is described as a leading figure of the alt-right movement by Politico and The Washington Post, and as a far-right activist.[8][9][10][11] Tom Clements in The Independent described Molyneux as having "a perverse fixation on race and IQ".[12]

The Freedomain internet community which Molyneux leads has been described as a cult, and Molyneux has been described as a cult leader, using cult indoctrination techniques on his followers.[11][13][14][15][16]

Background

Molyneux was born in Ireland and raised mainly in London before moving to Canada at the age of 11.[17] He attended Glendon College at York University, where he was an actor at Theatre Glendon[18] and a member of the Debating Society.[19] He then attended the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal.[17][20] In 1991, at age 25, Molyneux received a B.A. degree in History from McGill University. He received an M.A. degree in History from the University of Toronto in 1993.[14][20]

Career

In early 1995, Molyneux and his brother Hugh founded Caribou Systems Corporation, a Toronto-based provider of environmental database software. The company was sold in 2000.[20][21]

In 2005, Molyneux began writing articles for the American libertarian website LewRockwell.com,[22] before starting a podcast called Freedomain Radio (FDR).[23] Molyneux funds his efforts through listener support.[24]

In 2017, Molyneux interviewed James Damore, the Google employee who was fired after writing the Google's Ideological Echo Chamber memo.[25]

In July 2018, Molyneux and Canadian internet personality Lauren Southern toured the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne.[26] NITV quotes Simon Copland, an SBS freelance writer, who thinks that Molyneux disparaged pre-colonisation Australian Aboriginal culture, calling it "very violent", and downplayed massacres perpetrated against Aborigines, saying that the European takeover of Australia had been less violent than other such takeovers, and that the settlers "were trying to stop infanticide and mass rape".[27] Molyneux and Southern subsequently traveled to New Zealand for their speaking engagement at Auckland's Powerstation theatre. The event was cancelled at the last minute when the Powerstation's owner rescinded the booking, citing opposition from local groups and the offensive content of their speech.[28][29][30]

Molyneux has frequently hosted prominent white supremacists on his podcast, such as Peter Brimelow (founder of the white-nationalist website VDARE) and Jared Taylor (founder of the white-supremacist magazine American Renaissance).[10]

In November 2019, PayPal suspended Molyneux's account. He had previously received donations via the service. PayPal's actions came after activist group Sleeping Giants had called for him to be removed, citing Molyneux's promotion of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.[31][32] In January 2020, Molyneux released a video in which he asked his followers for money and complained that he would not be able to find regular employment after saying provocative things online.[33] Later that month, email marketing platform Mailchimp suspended Molyneux's account, which he used to send out his newsletter.[34]

In February 2020, climate change denier Naomi Seibt said Molyneux's YouTube material was one of her inspirations.[35][36]

Views

Alt-right, racism and white supremacy

Molyneux is known for his promotion of white supremacist views and conspiracy theories.[6][2][37] He is a proponent of the white genocide conspiracy theory.[38][39][40]

Molyneux describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist.[11] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Molyneux initially used the Freedomain Radio website "to amplify his views on anarcho-capitalist ideology, atheism, philosophy, anti-statism, pseudo-therapy and anti-feminism." The SPLC also wrote that his views become more politically extreme and racialized around 2013 or 2014, when his ideology shifted to include far-right and ethno-nationalist ideas.[3] Generally they describe him as an "internet commentator and alleged cult leader who amplifies 'scientific racism', eugenics and white supremacism to a massive new audience" and that "Stefan Molyneux operates within the racist so-called 'alt-right' and pro-Trump ranks".[3]

Molyneux has been described as a part of the "alt-right" by Politico, Metro, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, and CBS News, and has been described as "one of the alt-right's biggest YouTube stars" by Washington Post columnist J. J. McCullough.[8][9][41][42][43][44] Business Insider, CNN, The New York Times, and BuzzFeed News have characterized Molyneux as far-right.[10][11][45][46] Data & Society, a research institute, described Molyneux as "a Canadian talk show host who promotes scientific racism".[37]

According to The New York Times, Molyneux is fixated with "race realism". He has hosted white supremacists such as Jared Taylor on his show. Molyneux has blamed "rap culture" for unarmed black men getting shot by police.[11]

Nassim Taleb argued that "Molyneux thinks he can manage to keep ... catering to a Nordist supremacist following ... yet claim this is not racist so he doesn't get banned from social media".[47]

indy100 describes Molyneux as a provocateur who "has been allowed to promote a racist, transphobic, misogynistic and Islamophobic agenda on various platforms but has started to see his revenue diminish," while including a tweet by Molyneux in which he asserts that he is not a "white nationalist" in response to being banned from a popular platform.[34]

Men's rights activism

Molyneux describes himself as a men's rights activist.[11] He was a panelist at a 2014 Detroit conference held by the men's rights movement and manosphere organization, A Voice for Men. According to Jessica Roy of Time magazine, Molyneux argued that violence in the world is the result of how women treat their children, and that: "If we could just get people to be nice to their babies for five years straight, that would be it for war, drug abuse, addiction, promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, ... Almost all would be completely eliminated, because they all arise from dysfunctional early childhood experiences, which are all run by women".[48] Molyneux believes feminism is a form of socialism.[11]

Family-of-origin relationships

Molyneux refers to the family that people are born into as their "family-of-origin", or "FOO". He suggests that family-of-origin relationships may not necessarily be desirable, and under given circumstances may even be detrimental, and thus, for those individuals unsatisfied with their childhood relationships, it would be advantageous for them to sever such involuntary relationships as adults, or "deFOO".[49][lower-alpha 1] In this way, he views all adult relationships as being voluntary and discretionary rather than obligatory. Molyneux has been quoted saying:

Deep down I do not believe that there are any really good parents out there – the same way that I do not believe there were any really good doctors in the 10th century.[49]

A disciplinary panel at the College of Psychologists of Ontario spoke critically of "deFOOing" after a professional investigation into Molyneux's wife,[1][50] saying that by the standards of the College, it "may be appropriate to recommend family separation in cases of abuse" only after a suitable evaluation of patient history to "ascertain whether the advice [is] warranted in the circumstances".[51] According to a 2008 article in The Guardian, both Molyneux and his wife have dissociated from their families of origin.[49]

Cult accusations

According to Steven Hassan, a mental health counselor with experience on cults, "Partly what's going on with the people on the Internet who are indoctrinated, they spend lots of hours on the computer. Videos can have them up all night for several nights in a row. Molyneux knows how to talk like he knows what he's talking about, despite very little academic research. He cites this and cites that, and presents it as the whole truth. It dismantles people's sense of self and replaces it with his sense of confidence about how to fix the world".[16]

In 2009, Tu Thanh Ha wrote that Molyneux was called the leader of a "therapy cult" after Tom Bell, a Freedomain Radio community member, severed contact with his family.[14] In April 2008, Bell had called in to the show asking about his veganism and his feeling of disgust towards people who eat meat.[13] Molyneux suggested that this disgust could have come from witnessing an authority figure who was cruel to animals.[13] Bell responded by describing memories of his father being verbally and physically cruel to the family cat, causing him to feel intimidated by the father, and then described his emotional detachment toward his mother and the rest of his family.[13]

The following month, Bell left a note stating he no longer wanted contact and left home. It was reported that, of the estimated 50,000 users of the website, about 20 (0.04%) FDR members had also disassociated from their families-of-origin, and that many parents chose not to speak to the media in an effort to avoid alienating their children further.[13] A representative of the British Cult Information Centre said they were following FDR, and noted that one sign of cults was that they cut people off from their families. Molyneux responded by saying, "If I advised a wife to leave an abusive husband, there would not be articles about how I am a cult leader".[13]

Molyneux and "deFOOing" were subjects of an investigative documentary by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, which aired on August 20, 2015.[15][52] The same subjects were also featured on the February 18, 2016 episode of the documentary series Dark Net. The episode calls Freedomain Radio a cult.[53]

Notes
  1. Molyneux is quoted saying, "Family relationships are voluntary and you should really work, if you're unhappy in these relationships, to improve the quality of those relationships – but to remember they do remain voluntary. And that gives people the motivation, I think, to try to improve them. But if you can't improve them – and we can't change other people, as we all know – for sure you should have the option to disengage."[49]

References
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