Tag: The Satanic Temple

Alt-Lite Leanings of the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction Director – Evan Anderson

The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction is a temple project that aims to debunk Satanic Panic era conspiracy theories about Satanism, such as Satanic ritual abuse, and they debunk pseudo-science in mental healthcare practices that contribute to Satanic Panic style conspiracies. It’s important to mention at the outset that calling out and debunking conspiracy theories and pseudo-science in fields of study is an important and morally good action, as it can negate or mitigate tangible harm due to delusional or irrational beliefs in these fields. It must be wholly clear here that our criticism isn’t aimed at Grey Faction for their pro-science activism; on the contrary, we’re science advocates and we believe in science education and the defense of science against the delusions and woo peddled by religion against scientific literacy and progress, such as creationism, anti-abortion woo, and anti-vaccination pseudo-science. What we do have a problem with, however, is the problematic and alt-lite views that Grey Faction director Evan Anderson exhibits and, moreover, the general alt-right nature of TST. TST is demonstrating itself to be problematic on all fronts, and Grey Faction is merely a recent and small feature of the overall whole.

The Satanic Temple is a crypto-fascist organization which is headed by a Zionist nationalist, Cevin Soling (Malcolm Jarry) and is represented in the media by crypto-fascist and alt-right advocate Doug Misicko (Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves). It’s entirely consistent with TST behavior that other fascist and alt-right/alt-lite sympathizers in the organization are permitted to espouse bigoted and crypto-fascist talking points, and we’re here to highlight this behavior and call out these crypto-fascists and fascist sympathizers. So, let’s take a look at Grey Faction director Evan Anderson and see just what kind of person he is.

Alt-Lite and Crypto-Fascist Leanings

For starters, let’s look at this piece which is full of hot takes and assorted strawmen. The whole thing reads as if it could have been penned by Milo Yiannopoulos or Dave Rubin (or now for a limited time only, bonus problematic character Ben Shapiro). It echoes prominent talking points in conservative and alt-right spaces, such as the fetid “facts over feelings”, “the left care about feelings over facts”, and “the left consists of a bunch of uptight church ladies who are easily offended over everything”.

The problem of the left’s preoccupation with microaggressions is indicative of their concern with subjective experience, narrative, and feelings over research, objective facts, and the process of real social progress.

In lieu of leveraging science and data to help solve serious, catastrophic, well-documented disparities between the races, far too many liberals are engaged in witch hunts against professors, academics, and universities whose views — often based on research — they find deplorable, uncomfortable, even sacrilegious. The extent to which we concern ourselves with imagery and narrative is the degree to which we neglect to identify and mitigate the suffering and disadvantage of those for whom we advocate.

In the same piece, Evan argues that the Left shouldn’t focus on “symbols” (his scare quotes) of oppression such as Confederate flags (which are fundamentally and patently racist and oppressive to black people and other people of color) or hate speech. He also puts forth the absolutely absurd assertion that racist beliefs themselves aren’t a problem and says calling out oppressive and racist people is unfair because they’re “downtrodden” people who have been prevented from obtaining “equal opportunity”. 

The left’s focus on the “symbols” of oppression — like flags and words — necessarily results in less attention on what ought to be the end game: providing equal opportunity for all. Instead of viewing bigoted statements from a racist uncle as relatively benign artifacts of a long history of oppression against black people enshrined in law, these liberals view the beliefs as the problem itself. Even further, they view those who espouse those “incorrect” beliefs as oppressors, preventing the downtrodden from obtaining equal opportunity.

(Note his usage of quotes around “incorrect” beliefs. These “incorrect” beliefs include racism, genocide, eugenics, LGBTQA+phobia, and the use of violence against marginalized people based upon skin color or gender/sexual orientation. The useage of quotes around “incorrect” is a tactic that attempts to invalidate critiques of racism, fascism, and bigotry, and anti-racist/anti-fascist actions. This is akin to fascists criticizing the Left for attacking “wrongspeak” or “wrongthink”. It’s a dishonest argument that tries to justify and defend bigotry. It’s a dogwhistle, and Evan is unequivocally guilty of engaging in far- and alt-right rhetoric.)

Oh, and get this: he believes that the KKK isn’t an actual problem that actively brings violence to vulnerable communities. He puts forth the same empty argument heard in far- and alt-right spaces that says calling out racism is itself spreading racism.

Centuries of sexist and racist laws — which, by and large, have since been overturned — are responsible for the continued lack of equal opportunity between the sexes and races. The problem is not the Ku Klux Klan, it’s the residual effects of generations of extreme disadvantage.

In the end, there’s no “oppression” without an “oppressor.” Perhaps the modern left is invested in keeping the latter around, lest there be no more struggling victims for whom to “advocate.”

This same line of unreasoning can be heard by TST co-founder and spokesperson Doug Misicko in his attacks on anti-racists and anti-fascists: “antifa”, “the ignorant little assholes who run amok lighting fires, smashing property, and macing bystanders in the face,” are truly the ones who are giving oppressive people a platform and publicity. The rhetoric doesn’t seem to spread farther than the echo chamber.

On Twitter, Evan has tweeted about Instagram being a good place for nazis due to nazi propaganda not being against its terms of service. At first glance, the post seems to be sarcastic, ending in “Nazis rejoice!” However, given his KKK and confederate flag apologetics, as well as other content we will address in this article, the tweet comes across as distasteful.

Evan also appears to be a writer for the site Quillette, a reactionary centrist outlet. It’s problematic for the obvious reactionary hot takes pieces, and some avowed fascists, like Matt G. Paradise, like to link articles from there that further their narratives. From a piece he wrote back in 2016, Evan not only sets forth generic centrist points such as “both sides are bad” false equivalence (which, to be sure, liberals aren’t leftists) and calling advocates for social justice “the regressive left” for supporting multiculturalism and diversity, he downplays Islamophobia in modern discourse (with the use of scare quotes) by overlooking racist and xenophobic behavior that gets couched in critiques of Islamic texts. For evidence of this, one needs to look no further than the rhetoric of bigots within Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys, or confederate and patriot groups. Even secular humanist atheists have problems with Islamophobia in their circles, such as Sam Harris. 

Fascist Matt G. Paradise linking to a Quillette article.

In the same article, Evan seems to have a great time by waxing condescending toward PC culture, that is, a culture that fosters inclusivity, diversity, and no toleration for hatred. Anti-political correctness is another favorite talking point by alt-righters; just ask every single Church of Satan nazi we’ve exposed. He even hints at transphobia and TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminism) anti-trans drivel by bringing up “differences between the sexes”, though he doesn’t explicitly state what those differences are. He calls pro-PC advocates “extremists” and invokes an outright lie that the left is for some sort of authoritarian censorship. And, not surprisingly, he absolutely hates feminism, which is also a prominent far- and alt-right phenomenon–being an anti-feminist. He also thinks that it’s a negative thing for LGBTQA+ people to live in a tolerant and inclusive society, stating that the left won’t be satisfied until members of this community are accepted unconditionally by every last member of society. What an absolute travesty that would be, ay, having a society that accepts people for whom they are. Those goddamn radical extremist lefties and their work for such horrible things as an inclusive society! Outrageous, I tell you; outrageous!

In another article, he can be seen whitesplaining and attacking intersectionality (which is an intersectional struggle against oppression, strawmen be damned). Here, he can be seen dogwhistling “virtue signaling” and asserting that those pesky SJWs only do their work “to show how much of a good person they are.” Which, to be honest, is a non-issue. If people do good work merely for the sake of looking good, at the end of the day, good work has still been done (though, it’s true that the person ought to reflect on their motivations for doing this). If X donates an exorbitant amount of money to some trans kids who were harassed or had violence done to them, only for the sake of looking good, that money still went to good use and tangibly helped victims of violence. At any rate, by now Evan has clearly demonstrated himself to be anti-social justice and anti-PC. He’d be well adjusted in the company of other alt-lite circles such as Milo Yiannopoulos or Gavin McInnes.

Oh, hey, what do you know, he’s also tweeted with Islamophobic and “leftist authoritarian” sentiment. He’s retweeted hot takes from reactionaries The Amazing Atheist, Dave Rubin, and even Sam Harris (explains the content of his articles; they don’t just sound like ssomethingRubin could have written, Evan has taken up Rubin’s narrative). Particularly of note about the Sam Harris retweet, Harris links to an article that wails on and on about the problems of intersectionality. It’s quite common for TST members on Twitter having #intersectionality in their bios and tweets defending TST. He really wants you to know that he hates intersectionality. He’s attacked Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour as a fake feminist. He’s tweeted a link to an interview with transphobic sex neuroscientist Debra Soh (so much for merely borderlining on transphobia; he’s gone full TERF. Which, it should be noted, that TERFism is, and shares and a pipeline to, fascism, much like how anti-Semitism is a pipeline to fascism and is a characteristic of it. To be sure, Evan is a transphobe and he has no place being in leftist spaces.). He’s stoked fears of Muslims. He’s defended Jonathan Haidt from nazi sympathies and for centrism in general. Just like Doug Misicko, he’s rallied for the idea that fascists and bigotry should have a platform from which to harass and do violence to their intended targets. He thinks everyday feminism is satire and doesn’t want others to better themselves in recognizing and correcting bigoted behaviors they might have. He’s also deleted some tweets that downplay Islamophobia and another in which he makes a thinly veiled racist remark to Talib Kweli. 

 

So taking stock, we’ve found that Evan Anderson is the director for TST project Grey Faction. Grey Faction is lead by someone who is anti-SJW, anti-PC, anti-intersectionality, who is a transphobe and who links to transphobes (which is ironic because he’s the director for a pro-science group against pseudo-science, yet holds to pseudo-scientific and bigoted views on trans people), who furthers far- and alt-right/lite talking points, who has no problem with the KKK gathering in vulnerable communities or even schools who hang the confederate flag (which is oppressive to black people and other people of color), and who wants fascists to have a platform to spread violence. This person shouldn’t be in a seat of power, especially for an organization that supposedly rallies for social justice (which Evan is against). As usual, we’re disappointed but not surprised in light TST’s crypto-fascism.

 

Fascism in the Satanic Temple: Part 1.: Free Speech

Preface

Previously, we had four separate articles up reporting on fascism and abuse within the Satanic Temple before our WordPress got taken down. We’re going to be reuploading them here, covering TST’s troubling alt-right associations and politics.

TST is a religious and political activist group that puts forth the facade of a progressive organization that does activism for human and civil rights and makes a safe space for LGBTQA+ individuals and others who are in vulnerable and oppressed communities. TST also does work and hosts events that counter religious oppression and its encroachment into the State and politics. It should be noted that TST has done good and legitimate work on these fronts in the past, and credit should be given where it is due. But the unfortunate reality is that, from the top-down, TST is a crypto-fascist organization with some members being outright neo-nazis. Of course, it must be mentioned that TST has some members who aren’t neo-nazis or neo-fascists and some are even antifascist; that said, we encourage those who are antifascists within TST to take a hard look at the reality of the organization they’re involved with and consider exiting the group.

It should be clear at the outset here that Trident Antifa are not disgruntled ex-members who suddenly have a vendetta against the organization. We’re simply reporting on fascism within organizations like the Satanic Temple.

It’s important to view these #AltRightTST articles with nuance and to take in the whole breadth of TST’s leanings and flirtations with fascism, what we call “the fascist creep” (the creeping of fascism into other non-fascist cultures and subcultures). Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to the more restrained, held back, less noticeable, and implicit politics that lend to fascism within TST, such as its views on free speech and hate speech, as well as looking at, specifically, TST co-founder Doug Misicko’s (AKA Lucien Greaves/Doug Mesner) views on antifa and the modern antifascist movement (he’s staunchly against antifa, taking a pro-fascist anti-antifa stance). With that said, in this series, we’ll be covering such things as free speech; Doug’s views on activism, protest, and violence; to TST’s outright and explicit associations with alt-right figures and neo-fascists. Looking at all of this in tandem will paint a clear picture that shows Doug’s and TST’s crypto- and pro-fascism.

Free Speech

It’s not hard to find what Doug’s views are on free and hate speech online. For example, here’s a video where Doug claims that punching nazis legitimizes them and gives them exactly what they want. This, of course, is a prominent (and tired) argument that liberals are quick to give in rebuking antifascist protesters and it’s often heard along with dishonest claims that antifascists are just as violent as nazis and that they actually are nazis, which is also another claim that Doug has made in the past.

In an interview with Haute Macabre, Doug says that he defends Milo Yiannopoulos’ right to free speech, and that includes Yiannopoulos’ attacks on a transgender student. Not only that, Doug includes his support for Yiannopoulos’ factually incorrect and bigoted claims that transgender people suffer from a “psychiatric disorder” and that trans women are essentially sexual predators who invade women’s bathrooms. Furthermore, in the interview, Doug says that he’s never listened to Yiannopoulos speak, but even still, he doesn’t actually care about the content of Yiannopoulos’ words.

Doug goes on to say that if Milo has posed a legitimate danger to people in inciting violence, defamation, or in invading their privacy that these people should consult civil courts and legal representation. But this overlooks the fact that the legal process can, in turn, further victimize trans people and other vulnerable or minority groups; not to mention that legal institutions and the State, in general, are systems that uphold white supremacy and patriarchy. In the same breath, Doug claims that antifascists suffer from cognitive dissonance and that they, the antifascists, are in fact the ones who are acting like fascists, and that hate speech itself should be protected under the first amendment.

Doug also says that antifascist protestors are the ones responsible for creating the wave of celebrity that Yiannopoulos enjoyed, who are “ignorant little assholes” who cause violence for the sake of violence and who target innocent and random people in the streets. This is entirely dishonest, as antifascists organize to deplatform specific fascists who target real, tangible, flesh-and-blood people who aren’t guilty of anything save for being a specific skin color, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Doug’s claim of violence also overlooks the other work that antifascists do which consists of non-violent actions, such as researching for countless hours fascists and fascist organizations, putting together resources and information that make their communities aware of fascists in their area, doing community actions such as food drives and solidarity events, and doxxing campaigns that out violent fascists and rallying to get them fired. It must be reiterated that violently opposing fascists in the streets isn’t the only action that antifascists undertake, while they fully acknowledge that fascism must be physically opposed with violence if need be.

On the claim that opposing fascists gives them the attention they want, it would seem that this has been falsified, as prominent fascists and alt-right figures have seen a decline in organizing and have had their funding stripped in some cases, such as, you guessed it, Milo Yiannopoulos. 

But wait until you read Doug’s hot take on punching nazis and fascism in the US today. He’s entirely against punching them and he dishonestly asserts that antifascists go out of their way to engage in brawls and engage in indiscriminate violence. He thinks that the Nazi Party isn’t going to gain prominence and he overlooks the resurgent rise of fascism here in the US. At all times, he downplays the role and violence that fascism is having in recent events. In fact, the interview in which he says all this was published June 28th, 2017, just two months prior to the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in which white supremacists rallied chanting “Jews will not replace us” and which culminated with James Alex Fields Jr. running his car into a crowd of people. (As an aside, we recommend following Emily Gorcenski [@EmilyGorcenski] and Molly [@socialistdogmom] on Twitter specifically for information on the groups and people who were active in Charlottesville for Unite the Right. Additionally, check out Emily’s site First Vigil which tracks court cases involving fascists, and Molly’s Patreon.)

 

Alt-Right Lawyer Marc Randazza

The Satanic Temple has recently run into controversy involving Doug’s decision to use alt-right lawyer and Twitter troll Marc Randazza to represent the temple in a religious discrimination case pro bono, that is, free of charge. Randazza has, of course, represented neo-nazis in the past such as Andrew Anglin of the Daily Stormer and has represented InfoWars dingbat and alleged Proud Boy Alex Jones. The decision to recruit Randazza has resulted in some TST members exiting the organization and even some prominent members documenting abuse that has went on in TST.

Just as Doug did in supporting Yiannopoulos, in a Vox article Doug said that he didn’t research Randazza’s politics and further, that he doesn’t care what Randazza’s views actually are and that Randazza’s views should be of no consequence to him or TST. At all times when Doug is questioned he blatantly admits that he has no regard whatsoever about the content of the words that problematic, bigoted alt-righters espouse: Doug seems to be completely fine with the fascists he sympathizes with espousing hate speech such as that which demonizes trans people as having mental disorders, that Jews are subhumans who need to be eradicated, or that African Americans and other people of color should be killed or enslaved based on their skin tone.

In the Vox article, it’s said in passing that through Doug’s associating with troubling people such as Randazza that TST is too willing to let the voices of its membership, straight and white men, crowd out the wishes of a diverse membership. The claim is on point here but it’s lacking information about TST’s central administration, the co-founders of TST: Doug Misicko (Lucien Greaves/Doug Mesner) and Cevin Soling (Malcolm Jarry). While Doug acts as a spokesman for TST, Cevin Soling seems to be the sole person responsible for TST’s funding. In reuploading this series, we’ll be providing profiles on both Doug and Cevin, but for now, all we’ll add about Cevin is that he denies Israel perpetuates genocide against the children of Palestine and he seems to be an unwavering Zionist nationalist. Both are white, cisgender men who, as we’ll show throughout this series, don’t actually care about a diverse membership or about its current members who are part of LGBTQA+ and vulnerable communities, and that they both are tied to the alt-right.

Alt-Right Associations

As it turns out, there are some TST national council members who have associations with alt-right figures. One such council member is Greg Stevens. He’s friends on Twitter with Mike Cernovich, who’s a male supremacist, a violent rapist, and rape apologist. Cernovich also has ties to violent far-right street gang the Proud Boys. He’s supported them financially, raising up to $87,000 for Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman and donating $5,000 for transportation to one of the Proud Boys’ violent “Free Speech” rallies. The Proud Boys claim to not be affiliated with nazis but they regularly have nazis in their ranks.

 

Stevens’ also appears to be friends with Yiannopoulos.

Additionally, Stevens has interviewed Mike Cervovich numerous times on his YouTube channel where Cernovich is given a platform to defend his bigoted behavior. And despite all of this, it appears that Doug is completely fine with his national council members freely associating with and giving a platform to violent and bigoted alt-right people. 

 

What is more, and what goes a long way in showing Doug’s and TST’s crypto-fascism, Doug has rallied for fascists such as Augustus Sol Invictus having a platform on which they can spread hateful rhetoric about white ethnostates, purging deplorables and degenerates, and demonizing marginalized people. Invictus is a fascist alt-right figure, white supremacist “identitarian” who has called for a violent second civil war to preserve “Western civilization”. He’s also a Holocaust denier and has advocated for eugenics, even writing about it in a paper he wrote for law school that he titled “Future or Ruin”, which is the same name of a speech that Hitler gave in 1921.

In 2016, organizers of the International Left Hand Path Consortium had invited Invictus to be a guest speaker, but pressure from antifascists caused them to cancel Invuctus’ appearance. As it turns out, Doug was also invited to be a guest speaker; however, he was dismayed at the decision to deplatform Invictus and so he had a temper tantrum where he withdrew himself as a speaker. Doug stated that “the dis-invitation sends a harmful message in support of censorship.” Doug also said, just as in his supporting of Yiannopoulos and Randazza, that he was unfamiliar with Invictus. This is a piss-poor attempt on Doug’s part at plausible deniability. It seems that whenever Doug expresses his support for some bigoted alt-righter, he can leave an out for himself by claiming ignorance of the views of those that he supports. This is a crypto-fascist tactic, and we’ll come to see more of this behavior throughout this series.

Through Doug’s troubling personal politics and in his managing TST and acting as a spokesperson, it’s clear that he and TST are just A-Okay with absolute free speech, including hate speech that demonizes and discriminates based groundlessly on race, gender, sexuality, etc. Doug has demonstrated himself to be entirely in bed with the alt-right and he wholeheartedly supports, tolerates, and sympathizes with fascists like Augustus Sol Invictus, and it’s clear what his stance is regarding protest and antifascism, that is, that he’s entirely against antifascism. At all times, Doug has demonstrated himself to be a useful idiot for far- and alt-right figures to gain entry into his organization, and he exposes those marginalized and vulnerable individuals in TST to the fascist creep. This is entirely reprehensible and deplorable, as TST bills itself a vehicle for progress and social justice. 

If you’re looking for alternative, countercultural, or subcultural religion, or a social justice political group, we recommend staying clear of the Satanic Temple, as it’s entirely a crypto-fascist organization. We encourage antifascists to show up, protest, and shut down the public events that TST put on.

We’d like to thank antifascist comrades who have contributed information pertinent to TST and who support our work. TST has issued harassment campaigns in response to those who have exited the organization and to those who share our articles and information showing TST’s troubling behavior and crypto-fascism, and we’d like to offer our solidarity; we stand with you against religious oppression and fascist terror. 

Follow along with this series on Twitter with #AltrightTST