1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart Radio. So,

2
00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,040
Speaker 1: is there like a gas league or is there we

3
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,480
Speaker 1: don't know what it is that people vomiting blood. It

4
00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:14,600
Speaker 1: smells like it smells like chlorina. Yeah, a whole lot

5
00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:19,759
Speaker 1: of chlora in the hotel. So on the day of

6
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,560
Speaker 1: Clorina attack, I was at the rave or the dances

7
00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,320
Speaker 1: on the bottom floor of the hotel. On the day

8
00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:31,080
Speaker 1: of the attack, I was it was a normal day.

9
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 1: Everybody's having a lot of fun, everybody's very busy. It

10
00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,920
Speaker 1: was roughly after a quarter after eleven at night, and

11
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,280
Speaker 1: I was, um, I had a friend over. We had pizza,

12
00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,320
Speaker 1: and we're fooling around and you know, just relaxing usual

13
00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:50,080
Speaker 1: confine And as we're getting dressed, the fire alarm was pulled.

14
00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,040
Speaker 1: So we thought someone was just doing the prank. We

15
00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,480
Speaker 1: weren't thinking about it too seriously. So on the night

16
00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,120
Speaker 1: of the chlorine attack at Midwest Fair Fest, uh, we

17
00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 1: just saw a whole bunch of fire trucks, ambulances and

18
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:08,080
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, like we're here in alarms, We're

19
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:14,120
Speaker 1: seeing fire trucks where everybody is pouring out of the

20
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,520
Speaker 1: hyatt and they are in the cold and the snow

21
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:22,080
Speaker 1: there's like, you know, they're shivering. Blick. Minutes went by

22
00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:27,319
Speaker 1: and we hear a lot of commotion and pandemonium, and

23
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,640
Speaker 1: they had staff members that were coming around to tell

24
00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,759
Speaker 1: us that we needed to evacuate, and you know, there

25
00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,160
Speaker 1: was a lot of extended alarms, and we figured, all right,

26
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,880
Speaker 1: this is a serious situation. And we all walk outside

27
00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,960
Speaker 1: and we have literally no idea what's going on. There's

28
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,800
Speaker 1: like a fire trucks out there, a thousand people people

29
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,600
Speaker 1: walking out in kink gear. That was hilarious, but it

30
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,240
Speaker 1: was it was complete chaos, and no one knew what

31
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: was happening. In December of two nineteen, Katie Stole, Cody Johnston,

32
00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,840
Speaker 1: and me Robert Evans headed to Midwest FurFest, the world's

33
00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,200
Speaker 1: largest furry convention, the most direct. Okay, hold on real quick, Robert,

34
00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: I think that we should just take a quick beat

35
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: to explain for our listeners what furies are and what

36
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,079
Speaker 1: Midwest for Fest is. Cody, do you have that definition

37
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,600
Speaker 1: that you pulled up earlier? I do, great, let me

38
00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,440
Speaker 1: have it. The furry fandom is a subculture interested in

39
00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 1: anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of

40
00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,600
Speaker 1: anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking,

41
00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,280
Speaker 1: walking on two legs, and wearing clothes. The term furry

42
00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 1: fandom is also used to refer to the community of

43
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:35,040
Speaker 1: people who gather on the internet and at furry conventions. Right,

44
00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,720
Speaker 1: thank you, But I thought that we shouldn't just share

45
00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,960
Speaker 1: that because it's pretty clinical, and at least for me,

46
00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,560
Speaker 1: my experience at the Midwest FurFest was anything but clinical.

47
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 1: Midwest FurFest being the annual furry convention that we attended

48
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,120
Speaker 1: along with fourteen thousand other people back in December. Yeah,

49
00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:58,680
Speaker 1: it's a delightful community, so welcoming, and I think one

50
00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,320
Speaker 1: thing that a lot of people assume instantly is that,

51
00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,840
Speaker 1: like furies, it's a kink thing, right, Yeah, it's a

52
00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,640
Speaker 1: sex thing for um, And that's really not true. I

53
00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,799
Speaker 1: honestly didn't get any of that here. I mean, I've

54
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,440
Speaker 1: commented about this with both of you guys, But walking

55
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,359
Speaker 1: in I was just astounded by all the love. I mean,

56
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,000
Speaker 1: you can't turn a corner without seeing people giving each

57
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,560
Speaker 1: other really loving, amazing hugs, the kind of hug that's like,

58
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:26,600
Speaker 1: I'm just so glad you're alive and you're here. And

59
00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 1: I love you. You know, it's it's a thoroughly positive place.

60
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,680
Speaker 1: And there definitely is, like I don't want to pretend

61
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,680
Speaker 1: it's not a thing, like there is like a kink

62
00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,120
Speaker 1: dimension of it. There was like in the big area

63
00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,640
Speaker 1: where they sold all of the different sort of furry products,

64
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,200
Speaker 1: there was a cord and off room that you had

65
00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,080
Speaker 1: to show your idea to get in. Um that was

66
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,640
Speaker 1: like this is where we do the kink stuff. Um,

67
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,840
Speaker 1: this is where we like sell the kink products. But

68
00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,440
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a it's a large minority, but

69
00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,600
Speaker 1: it's a minority of like the reason people go to

70
00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,280
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, like it's it's not what it's about.

71
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 1: And we will get into this later on in part

72
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,000
Speaker 1: two of this series. But the main thing that I think,

73
00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:07,760
Speaker 1: at least from the people that we spoke with, the

74
00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,200
Speaker 1: main thing that that brings them here is the feeling

75
00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,160
Speaker 1: of acceptance that whoever they are, they feel free to

76
00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,279
Speaker 1: express that here and that they might not necessarily be

77
00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,680
Speaker 1: able to in their normal life, and that this place

78
00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:21,680
Speaker 1: has helped them find out who they really are. And

79
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:24,080
Speaker 1: and so I think that's the really beautiful thing to

80
00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,960
Speaker 1: keep in mind. It was beautiful uh, And it had

81
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,200
Speaker 1: nothing to do with why we decided to go to

82
00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 1: Midwest FurFest, because the most direct reason that we went

83
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,240
Speaker 1: there was because Miloianapolis, former writer with Breitbart dot com

84
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 1: UH currently disgraced over a pedophilia scandal and sort of

85
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,720
Speaker 1: right wing firebrand, had recently made the news for registering

86
00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,440
Speaker 1: for the convention and then getting immediately banned from it.

87
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,800
Speaker 1: He and his friends had promised to infiltrate the event,

88
00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:51,680
Speaker 1: and there were rumors that the Proud Boys would be

89
00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,599
Speaker 1: in tow and rumors that like anti fascist Furries would

90
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,200
Speaker 1: find up fighting with them, so we figured we'd better

91
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,800
Speaker 1: show up. That's right, we did. But even outside of that,

92
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,279
Speaker 1: what we were really more interested in learning about was

93
00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,240
Speaker 1: something that had happened at Midwest for Fest years ago back.

94
00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,880
Speaker 1: A clorine gas attack had been carried out against the convention,

95
00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,839
Speaker 1: hospitalizing several people and leading to intense debate as to

96
00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:15,240
Speaker 1: whether or not what had happened was an accident or

97
00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:17,680
Speaker 1: a terrorist attack. The thing is, it was never really

98
00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:19,280
Speaker 1: confirmed that it was like, you know, like some sort

99
00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:21,760
Speaker 1: of outside stores you did this, Like I honestly think

100
00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:24,039
Speaker 1: it was just another person in this community just being

101
00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,840
Speaker 1: really stupid. Honestly, I really can't say, because I really

102
00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,039
Speaker 1: don't know. It could have been malicious and intentional, It

103
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: could have been an accident. And as we were evacuating, um,

104
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:38,760
Speaker 1: people were texting, tweeting, I mean, everybody's going nuts, you know,

105
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,960
Speaker 1: is this some cleaning accident? Is it something from the pool?

106
00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,359
Speaker 1: And people are like, well, there's no pool in this hotel.

107
00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:49,600
Speaker 1: It can't be the pool. And so they were like, well,

108
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,440
Speaker 1: maybe someone's cleaning the carpets, and and eventually it turned

109
00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,880
Speaker 1: out no, no one was cleaning the carpets. Whoever was

110
00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,880
Speaker 1: responsible for the tech may have been acting as a maverick,

111
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,120
Speaker 1: you know, whether they have something against the fury fandom,

112
00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:06,920
Speaker 1: whether they don't they don't like the more open leftist

113
00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,200
Speaker 1: culture that we have here in the furry fandom, or

114
00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,159
Speaker 1: if it was someone who was just trying to get attention.

115
00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,200
Speaker 1: But the more we dug into it, the clearer it

116
00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,600
Speaker 1: became that what happened in was no accident. It was

117
00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,560
Speaker 1: a terrorist attack, one that originated from inside the furry fandom.

118
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,560
Speaker 1: The chief suspect is a fellow generally referred to as

119
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,920
Speaker 1: the Confederate fur Suitor or Magnus Stride in. Magnus runs

120
00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:30,919
Speaker 1: a custom first suit company and has a bit of

121
00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 1: a history of what you might call trolling the libs.

122
00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:36,560
Speaker 1: The year after the chlorine attack, he started wearing a

123
00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 1: first suit with a gigantic Confederate flag on it during

124
00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,360
Speaker 1: furry gatherings. But even before that he was notorious. Magnus

125
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,080
Speaker 1: Stridian has a long track record of many decades of

126
00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,120
Speaker 1: running in with the police, including smoke bombing a bank

127
00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 1: um which he's been in and out of trouble, and

128
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,920
Speaker 1: he's known in the furry communities for causing trouble as well.

129
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,800
Speaker 1: He's just one of those people that tends to cause

130
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,240
Speaker 1: Some people call it dramas, some people just call it

131
00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:16,080
Speaker 1: trouble um. He came last year and got frog marched

132
00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:21,280
Speaker 1: away in his tidy Whitey's um after punching a pregnant woman.

133
00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,360
Speaker 1: We'll talk more about this in Part two. What's important

134
00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 1: right now is that in two thousand fourteen, Magnus had

135
00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,960
Speaker 1: a reputation as an aggressive troll in a history of

136
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,280
Speaker 1: legal troubles. He was staying at the Hyatt on the

137
00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 1: tenth floor, so apparently there were a bunch of furry

138
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 1: riders staying at the Hiatt on the tenth floor, which yeah,

139
00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,400
Speaker 1: but again don't know. Keep all of that in mind

140
00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,040
Speaker 1: as we continue this story. Now, if you heard about

141
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,200
Speaker 1: the chlorine attack on Midwest for a Fest at all,

142
00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,960
Speaker 1: it was probably through a series of breathless headlines like

143
00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,360
Speaker 1: suspected gas attack at Furry convention puts nineteen in a

144
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,720
Speaker 1: hospital from Kotaku or Midwest for Fest disrupted by chlorine

145
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,080
Speaker 1: gas attack from People magazine. Since the identity of the

146
00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,600
Speaker 1: culprit was unclear, the coverage never went beyond window gazing.

147
00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,440
Speaker 1: As the months and years went on, the attack faded

148
00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: from the public eye outside the furry community. A far

149
00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,160
Speaker 1: right neo fascist movement nurtured on the Internet gradually leaked

150
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:25,600
Speaker 1: out into the broader American public, and is, interestingly enough,

151
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,760
Speaker 1: the year the FBI finally opened their investigation into the

152
00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,920
Speaker 1: attack on the Midwest for Fest about two years. It

153
00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,760
Speaker 1: took about two years for me to see any action

154
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,600
Speaker 1: from a law enforcement agency. When we decided to go

155
00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:42,760
Speaker 1: to Midwest for Fest, our goal was to put out

156
00:08:42,760 --> 00:08:45,360
Speaker 1: a quick episode of Worst Year Ever the very next week.

157
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,440
Speaker 1: But the more people we talked to, the more it

158
00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,880
Speaker 1: became clear that the story here was deeper than the

159
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,880
Speaker 1: tale of a single unsolved terrorist attack, and it was

160
00:08:52,960 --> 00:08:56,560
Speaker 1: certainly deeper than Milo's lame attempts at trolling. What we

161
00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:58,720
Speaker 1: found at Midwest for Fest was the story of a

162
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,080
Speaker 1: community threatened by the same forces of violent extremism that

163
00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,679
Speaker 1: have been increasingly tearing into the heart of American society

164
00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,040
Speaker 1: since and how they came together to fight those forces.

165
00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:10,200
Speaker 1: People we met at fur Fest furnished us with hours

166
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:12,959
Speaker 1: of interviews and dozens upon dozens of pages of archived

167
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,200
Speaker 1: chat logs and videos detailing an internal battle that's been

168
00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,520
Speaker 1: raging in the fandom for half a decade or more.

169
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,480
Speaker 1: We're here today to deliver you that story because what

170
00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:24,200
Speaker 1: the furry community learned in those years contains lessons that

171
00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,679
Speaker 1: all of us, everywhere we'll need to learn if we're

172
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:37,679
Speaker 1: going to survive the worst year ever. Well together, everything do.

173
00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 1: Let's start by meeting some of the people we spoke

174
00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,800
Speaker 1: with over the income. They all had different experiences with

175
00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:51,440
Speaker 1: and opinions on what was going down in their community.

176
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,880
Speaker 1: First was Brenda. Hi, my name is Brenda Banks. Um,

177
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,240
Speaker 1: I've been involved with this community for I guess eleven

178
00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,959
Speaker 1: years now. Um. I'm a dry queen and I dance

179
00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 1: entertained and such. The fairy aspect of this is not

180
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,600
Speaker 1: as important to me as other people, but I'm still

181
00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,679
Speaker 1: here to have one and their friend Lucky. I'm lucky

182
00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:12,400
Speaker 1: person as a tiger, Siberian tiger, and I've been in

183
00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,959
Speaker 1: this fanom for almost three years now. Then there was Goku.

184
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,920
Speaker 1: I go by Goku. I've been in the fandom for

185
00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:24,160
Speaker 1: nearly eight years. From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I had a nervous breakdown.

186
00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:26,880
Speaker 1: I couldn't handle my life in New York, and very

187
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,440
Speaker 1: randomly I found a website about anthropomorphic culture and I

188
00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:34,559
Speaker 1: started doing some deep, deep research about it and realized

189
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,720
Speaker 1: that this is something that I want to be part

190
00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: of my life. Chip I found the furry fandom well

191
00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,640
Speaker 1: after I created a character. So I created an animal

192
00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:49,800
Speaker 1: avatar version of myself because I kind of thought cartoons

193
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:55,480
Speaker 1: and animal people were more appealing than the rest of humanity,

194
00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,040
Speaker 1: because I kind of had a dark outlook on the

195
00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,320
Speaker 1: human condition and I was like, well, maybe I just

196
00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,760
Speaker 1: don't want to be humid at all. And of course deal,

197
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:12,679
Speaker 1: so my online handle is doo Taz Devil, and I

198
00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,360
Speaker 1: kicked the hornet's nest and everything kind of rolled from there.

199
00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,280
Speaker 1: But before we move on, we should address the Unopolis

200
00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:23,960
Speaker 1: in the room, or rather the Unopolis who wasn't in

201
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,040
Speaker 1: the room, because Milo or any of his you know,

202
00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,480
Speaker 1: minions or cohorts, whatever word you want to use, um,

203
00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,280
Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to be very successful because

204
00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,800
Speaker 1: while there are some fraries who may identify with Milo

205
00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,840
Speaker 1: and like that he's a positive person or influence, I'd

206
00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:45,080
Speaker 1: say there's an overwhelming number of people who at the

207
00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,120
Speaker 1: very least are not fond of his rhetoric or what

208
00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,720
Speaker 1: he stands for, and any attempts of him trying to

209
00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,959
Speaker 1: sabotage what we're doing by having a good time and

210
00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,800
Speaker 1: enjoying our weekend is not going to go along very well.

211
00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,440
Speaker 1: And despite his noble goal of according to a post

212
00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,120
Speaker 1: of his on telegram quote you have to destroy the

213
00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,280
Speaker 1: ship they love end of quote, he never showed up

214
00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,079
Speaker 1: because he wasn't going to get the reaction or attention

215
00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,679
Speaker 1: he's so desperately craved and knew he probably wouldn't even

216
00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,520
Speaker 1: get in. So for the final word on Milo, here

217
00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:18,800
Speaker 1: are Brenda and Lucky. Milo was such a laughing stock

218
00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,000
Speaker 1: at this point, like if he ever listened to us

219
00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:22,319
Speaker 1: for some reason, I'm trying to be jerking off to

220
00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,560
Speaker 1: the fact that we're talking about like, I'm sure he'd

221
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,440
Speaker 1: love and revel in the fact that we're talking about him,

222
00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,480
Speaker 1: and so we'll never mention him again for this entire episode.

223
00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:43,000
Speaker 1: Well together, Everything down, down, down. The real story, as

224
00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,599
Speaker 1: far as we're concerned, started a little left midnight on

225
00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,920
Speaker 1: December seventh, two fourteen, when a person or persons unknown

226
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:52,959
Speaker 1: carried out a chlorine gas attack on the denizens of

227
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,440
Speaker 1: the Hyatt Regency Hotel during Midwest for a fest. Five

228
00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,400
Speaker 1: minutes went by, and we hear a lot of motion

229
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,040
Speaker 1: and pandemonium. I was higher, i believe, on the ninth

230
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,920
Speaker 1: floor that year of this hotel, and they had staff

231
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,480
Speaker 1: members that were coming around to tell us that we

232
00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:14,560
Speaker 1: needed to evacuate, and you know, there was a lot

233
00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:16,720
Speaker 1: of extended alarms, and we figured, all right, this is

234
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,120
Speaker 1: a serious situation. So I get as many of my

235
00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:21,400
Speaker 1: clothes on as i I possibly can in a rush,

236
00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:25,240
Speaker 1: and we all meet down at the parking area of

237
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,640
Speaker 1: the hotel. A lot of people are just you know,

238
00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,559
Speaker 1: what's going on? Is it is this just the prank?

239
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,880
Speaker 1: As they were serious issue, and we see hundreds and

240
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,720
Speaker 1: then soon to be thousands of people just like coming

241
00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,640
Speaker 1: out who were at the dances, who are having dinner

242
00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,360
Speaker 1: at the bar, in the hotel rooms, just relaxing, and

243
00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:49,360
Speaker 1: it's an absolute mess. So we're waiting, and we're waiting

244
00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,520
Speaker 1: as we see the fire trucks come to the police officers,

245
00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:55,600
Speaker 1: and we really have no idea of what's going on.

246
00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:59,560
Speaker 1: It was a bitterly cold night, very windy, about degrees.

247
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,559
Speaker 1: Just remember just like huddling up, lit up a cigarette,

248
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,160
Speaker 1: and for about forty five minutes or so, we were

249
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:09,679
Speaker 1: outside and the police started show up in the news

250
00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,839
Speaker 1: crews starting to report about what had happened. Given the

251
00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,200
Speaker 1: fact that this was a literal chemical weapons attack on

252
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 1: a group of civilians on American soil, you might have

253
00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 1: expected the media to treat it with some gravity. If so,

254
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:23,320
Speaker 1: then you're forgetting the fact that the victims of this

255
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,160
Speaker 1: chemical weapons attack were wearing fursuits, which clearly rendered them

256
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,880
Speaker 1: as undeserving of sympathy in the eyes of Mika Prazynski

257
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,120
Speaker 1: in the cast of MSNBC's Morning Joe. The Chicago Tribune,

258
00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:40,120
Speaker 1: nineteen people were hospitalized at a furry convention in Illinois

259
00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,800
Speaker 1: after what's being called an intentional lake of couring fury.

260
00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,640
Speaker 1: Did I get that? Okay? Set the hotel guests along

261
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:53,400
Speaker 1: with convention attendees into the cold night, many still dressed

262
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,480
Speaker 1: in their furry furry. We just told Mika what the

263
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,360
Speaker 1: convention was about. She's it's kept everybody warm the hotel.

264
00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,320
Speaker 1: Where are you going? Damnated? Hey? Guests came back at

265
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:07,840
Speaker 1: four am? What you're hearing? At the end, there is

266
00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,440
Speaker 1: Joe Scarborough and Mica laughing so hard that they can't talk.

267
00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,720
Speaker 1: Mica actually breaks down with giggles and runs off stage.

268
00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,160
Speaker 1: This is again over an intentional chemical weapon attack that

269
00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,960
Speaker 1: hospitalized nineteen Americans. Remembering a lot of the news stories

270
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,120
Speaker 1: that were running on local television, it was a lot

271
00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,600
Speaker 1: of fodder. Like I don't think anyone was taking it seriously,

272
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,480
Speaker 1: because even in the mid twenty teens, I think fury

273
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,240
Speaker 1: was something that was very overlooked, and they weren't, you know,

274
00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,160
Speaker 1: when the mainstream media was talking about it, they don't

275
00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,800
Speaker 1: know how to discuss this um. Some of them were

276
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,000
Speaker 1: neutral in their tone and just described that, you know,

277
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 1: a convention like an anime or comic convention. You know,

278
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,400
Speaker 1: there was a disruption of a major magnitude because of

279
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 1: someone trying to um, you know, using improvised explosive or

280
00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,800
Speaker 1: meth cooking or what have you. And I remember it

281
00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 1: was one of the national news channels who was covering

282
00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,960
Speaker 1: what happened uh that night, and the reporters, which is laughing.

283
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,160
Speaker 1: I don't know why, you know, whether it was the

284
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,800
Speaker 1: fact that they couldn't grasp the idea of such a subculture,

285
00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,360
Speaker 1: or that you know, something like this had happened. I

286
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,720
Speaker 1: don't know. It was a bunch of hogwash. I didn't

287
00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,160
Speaker 1: really care for it. The hosts of Morning Joe weren't

288
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,920
Speaker 1: the only ones who found this all very funny. Here's

289
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,520
Speaker 1: CBS this Morning. The Chicago Tribune says nineteen people were

290
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,760
Speaker 1: hospitalized at a convention celebrating furry animals. A chlorine leak

291
00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,920
Speaker 1: at a hotel in Chicago suburb forced the evacuation of

292
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,160
Speaker 1: thousands of people Sunday. They were attending Midwest for Fest.

293
00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,320
Speaker 1: Many were dressed as animals. A powdered form of chlorine

294
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:46,880
Speaker 1: gas was left in the stairwell on the ninth floor.

295
00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,440
Speaker 1: Even in the relatively good coverage like this story from

296
00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,680
Speaker 1: w k RCTV Local twelve in Chicago, you can hear

297
00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,000
Speaker 1: the anchor just barely managing to hold back a snide comment.

298
00:16:57,480 --> 00:16:59,680
Speaker 1: This was at the High and Agency o Hair, where

299
00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:05,480
Speaker 1: people gathered for an annual Furriese convention. Okay, now, contrast

300
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:07,800
Speaker 1: all that with this actual audio from the night of

301
00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:17,080
Speaker 1: the attack. I have. Are you taking the stairs? Or

302
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:35,600
Speaker 1: there's gas? Shouldn't we take cocaine? One more? All right?

303
00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:46,240
Speaker 1: Go get so? Is there like a gas leak or

304
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:47,840
Speaker 1: is there We don't know what the fun it is

305
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:54,520
Speaker 1: that people vomiting blood. It smells like it smells like chlorina. Yeah, honestly,

306
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,240
Speaker 1: listening to that makes me feel very emotional. Yeah yeah,

307
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,720
Speaker 1: And this is y'all's first time listening into that media.

308
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,560
Speaker 1: I found it as we were like putting together the

309
00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:05,639
Speaker 1: script for this, and it really um makes it clear

310
00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,080
Speaker 1: what happened. Like it's easy when you you you kind

311
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 1: of are just like looking at the coverage of an

312
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,400
Speaker 1: event like this to forget what something like that actually

313
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,800
Speaker 1: sounds like sounded like at the time, And it's it's

314
00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,480
Speaker 1: horrifying and just the terror and the panic that you

315
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,320
Speaker 1: can hear and they don't know if they're supposed to

316
00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:21,520
Speaker 1: go down the stairs or take the elevator and the

317
00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,000
Speaker 1: stairs are where the attack was, right. Yeah, that's something

318
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:26,840
Speaker 1: that we're about to get to. One of the people

319
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,040
Speaker 1: that we spoke with had a friend who evacuated through

320
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,879
Speaker 1: the stairwell and caused severe long term health problems. You know.

321
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,199
Speaker 1: It was it was on the tenth floor, and I

322
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:43,639
Speaker 1: had a front staying on the tone floor. And of

323
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,320
Speaker 1: course at that time we didn't know. I found out later. Um,

324
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,520
Speaker 1: she had gone outside of her room and it was

325
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:53,880
Speaker 1: on the tenth floor in the stair wall. That I

326
00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:59,000
Speaker 1: think it was an accident, maybe perhaps or not. I

327
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,760
Speaker 1: can't say. I don't think anybody really knows. Um. Maybe

328
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:08,680
Speaker 1: the offense to good luck. They're not telling me. Um.

329
00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,840
Speaker 1: But she got there, there were the alarms, and she

330
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,160
Speaker 1: went into the stairwell to try and escape, and wrong

331
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:22,000
Speaker 1: stairwell Clarine sinks, so she's going down. She's getting worse,

332
00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:28,200
Speaker 1: and she burned her lungs pretty badly. Um. She at

333
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,679
Speaker 1: that time was a self employed artist and didn't have

334
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:35,720
Speaker 1: health insurance. The ambulances were there, she refused to go

335
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,399
Speaker 1: on the ambulance and get seen because she was worried

336
00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:43,520
Speaker 1: about the healthcare costs that she could not afford. And

337
00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:51,280
Speaker 1: she struggled for almost a year afterwards with the effects

338
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: of that. Well, a few reporters took it seriously right away.

339
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,600
Speaker 1: The attack on Midwest Verfest was at least immediately treated

340
00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,960
Speaker 1: as a serious crime by law enforcement. VICE reporting from

341
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,200
Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen confirmed that the Rosemont Police Department opened

342
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,880
Speaker 1: an investigation on December eight and closed it on July

343
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,640
Speaker 1: twenty nine, fifteen, without having identified a culprit. Rosemont's records

344
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,439
Speaker 1: obtained by VICE showed that the FBI did email the

345
00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: department its report on the attack, but it doesn't seem

346
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,400
Speaker 1: like they had any clear of an idea about who

347
00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: was at fault. Chip, a furry, a filmmaker, and an

348
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,080
Speaker 1: activist wound up being approached by the Bureau to help

349
00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: in their investigation two years later, in two thousand sixteen.

350
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,719
Speaker 1: I learned some things about this after the convention, mainly

351
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 1: because I'm in Colorado, around the same area that a

352
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,439
Speaker 1: group called the Furry Raiders exists. So in Colorado, this

353
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:51,119
Speaker 1: Furry Raiders group is known for being inclusive of racists,

354
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 1: and inclusive of pedophiles, and inclusive of zoo files. And

355
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: there's sort of a group no one wants to be around.

356
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,399
Speaker 1: They're very all right, UM, and they're famous for wearing

357
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:09,680
Speaker 1: Nazi esque arm bands. And so because I was near there,

358
00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:14,800
Speaker 1: I got contacted by the police and the FBI saying, hey,

359
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,480
Speaker 1: we have a suspect in your area. Can you tell

360
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:25,359
Speaker 1: us anything about him? And UM, so he apparently, UM

361
00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 1: was a suspect even though he didn't go to fur Fest.

362
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 1: His name is Foxler. Foxler didn't go to FurFest. He's

363
00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 1: actually never been to Convention. The reason he's a suspect

364
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:41,119
Speaker 1: is because he was encouraging attacks on events. Um. He

365
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:45,159
Speaker 1: liked getting convention shut down. He liked harassing people, he

366
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,399
Speaker 1: liked causing problems, and he has a group dedicated to

367
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:56,479
Speaker 1: harassment and somewhat stick stochastic terrorism. So he likes to

368
00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 1: cause problems, hurt people, threatened them with guns, call them

369
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,960
Speaker 1: during the night and say better keep your doors locked

370
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,719
Speaker 1: or I'll come in your house and kill you. And

371
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 1: he does all this for I guess attention and the

372
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 1: fact that nobody likes racist. We're going to have to

373
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,919
Speaker 1: digress here because the story of Foxler is something that

374
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,840
Speaker 1: takes some unpacking. He gained a measure of national prominence

375
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,880
Speaker 1: back in when Rolling Stone put a picture of him

376
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: in his first suit at the top of a big

377
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,919
Speaker 1: article called does the furry community have a Nazi Problem?

378
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: The name Foxler is most presume a furified version of Hitler.

379
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:36,840
Speaker 1: Foxler is somebody who so he swears he's not a Nazi,

380
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: but he loves to dress up in Nazi paraphernalia, which

381
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 1: makes so much sense. He swaps out the swastika for

382
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:47,120
Speaker 1: a paw print, so that makes it okay, and then

383
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 1: he stands for a lot of nazi Ish values. Walsa

384
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,399
Speaker 1: claim he's not a Nazi, of course, because he's not.

385
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 1: He's not a Nazi, But then he's also been convicted

386
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 1: of pedophilia and has a history of doing unspeakable things

387
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,840
Speaker 1: to animals. So we generally do not like this man.

388
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: Nobody likes him. He's been escorted out of conventions because

389
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 1: he is just such disgusting human felth He's a figurehead

390
00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:14,639
Speaker 1: for the al right of the fandom all furies you

391
00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: know UM and glorifies Hitler, advocates for white ethno state.

392
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,120
Speaker 1: You know that that type of person also thinks that

393
00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,240
Speaker 1: his dog is his girlfriend. Foxler. Foxler is the leader

394
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 1: of the Furry Raiders UM, which is a group he

395
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 1: created that's based off of the old Second Life group

396
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: called the Furzy, which were Nazi furries. Um. He took

397
00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 1: a lot of their imagery, including an arm band, and

398
00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 1: made it his own. He's posted a lot of very

399
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,080
Speaker 1: racist things online, a lot of comments like that, some

400
00:23:56,280 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 1: very strange journal posts that imply that he's having sexual

401
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: relationships dogs and perhaps kids. Um. But he's also a

402
00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 1: terrible writer, so you know, it's vague. Who knows. I'm suspicious,

403
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:18,400
Speaker 1: but you know, uh, I can't say anything for sure

404
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:22,880
Speaker 1: because that would definitely be like defamation. Please don't ever

405
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 1: see me. We can't verify though, wanting to fuck dogs

406
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 1: thing beyond a shadow of a doubt. But the insinuations

407
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,399
Speaker 1: of child molestation are no longer theoretical. In April, Lee

408
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: Miller Foxler's real name, was arrested for enticement of a child.

409
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 1: Foxler does deny being a Nazi. He claims the name

410
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: is a portmanteau of fox and his last name Miller.

411
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,560
Speaker 1: Hears him explaining why he tried to join a neo

412
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 1: Nazi organization for totally non Nazi reasons, and I decided

413
00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:57,399
Speaker 1: to actually get involved with some neo Nazi groups to

414
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,000
Speaker 1: see how they were, Like, you know, I can't judge

415
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 1: people right away. You gotta go in there and get

416
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:12,159
Speaker 1: your hands dirty while your paws dirty. And you know,

417
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,200
Speaker 1: I signed up for the little form online paid membership

418
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 1: and they wanted me to show that I was faithful

419
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: to um Nazism. I feel like we should take a

420
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 1: second here to explain how this guy looks, particularly his

421
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,479
Speaker 1: eyes creepy. It's so creepy, like the first suit is

422
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,639
Speaker 1: built for him. It's like an amazing example in a

423
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: lot of ways, Like it's creepy as hell, his first suit,

424
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,040
Speaker 1: but it's an amazing example of how these suits can

425
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: capture the personality of a person, because you see, like

426
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 1: the madness in this person's eyes and the fake eyes

427
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 1: of his costume. It's it's something else. Yeah, And the

428
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,640
Speaker 1: way he carries himself and communicates and uses that it's

429
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 1: very easy. It's a very creepy, lifeless fur suit. Now.

430
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 1: Foxer claims that when the Nazis found out he was

431
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,199
Speaker 1: mixed race and the fury, they refused to let him in.

432
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: But that story, if true, shouldn't be taken as a

433
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: sign that the far right has no interest in recruiting furries.

434
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: The furry fandom actually started dealing with the rise of

435
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,840
Speaker 1: the alt right years before mainstream society. So there's for

436
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 1: a couple of years we've been noticing an encroachment of

437
00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: far right wing groups that have been trying to recruit

438
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: within the furry fandom. And to a degree that can

439
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 1: be because fury is largely white, largely male, and largely

440
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: very young. Also, I hate to say it, but often socially, um,

441
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 1: those social skills are underdeveloped, sometimes bullied as kids. They're

442
00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: looking further home, and you know, you couple that with

443
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: economic hardships, um, cultural shifts, problems, and they are looking

444
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: for answers. They're looking for what makes sense. And white

445
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:19,160
Speaker 1: nationalists see this as easy prey because they come along

446
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,400
Speaker 1: and they say, I have the answer, I have the solution.

447
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: You're one of us. You're very special. You've always been special.

448
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,880
Speaker 1: The people who built bridges, the people who span nations,

449
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 1: conquered the world, those are your people, those are your things.

450
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 1: You're no longer a shlubby, little white dude and a

451
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:46,479
Speaker 1: sad little basement. You are a great white race. And

452
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: for some people, unfortunately, that's very, very addictive. All furs

453
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: are people who are generally all right, and they form

454
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 1: several factions. One of them is the furry Ters, one

455
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 1: of them is all Furry, another one is called Civil Furies.

456
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:10,120
Speaker 1: But they're all just groups that like to say racial slurs,

457
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,200
Speaker 1: and they usually hate lgbt s in some form, or

458
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 1: they say their LGBT and they hate the LGBT community.

459
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 1: But it's typical all right people who happen to be furies,

460
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:25,640
Speaker 1: and generally they're shunned by the entire Fury fandom because

461
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 1: no one wants to be around that kind of negativity

462
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: and hate. Now, in the I don't know what to

463
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,439
Speaker 1: call it, mainstream world, default world, anti fascist groups like

464
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: Eugene Antifa here in Oregon have taken to infiltrating and

465
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: doxing major neo Nazi organizations and militias. Dio basically does

466
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: the same work within the furry fandom. She sees it

467
00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: as a form of community self defense. I infiltrated the

468
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 1: group to kind of keep an eye on them. And

469
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 1: you know, when you get into the group, you had

470
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 1: to passive voice interview, you have to call in so

471
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: they would give you clearance for further channel else and

472
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,760
Speaker 1: then they had here systems where you would earn your

473
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,959
Speaker 1: way up by doing things for the higher ups, by

474
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 1: recruiting more members, by posting more, by being more active. Um.

475
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 1: They had a list of videos that you were supposed

476
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: to watch so that you would be more aware. A

477
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:26,640
Speaker 1: lot of these videos are what you'd expect from Nazis,

478
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: documentaries about how the Holocaust didn't happen and Hitler was

479
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 1: a cool dude, etcetera. But since they were recruiting furies,

480
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: they tailored their propaganda to that demographic. They take Disney songs,

481
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,479
Speaker 1: and they take Disney movies, animated Disney movies, which are

482
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,360
Speaker 1: already really appealing to furies, and they changed the lyrics

483
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: to unfortunately very catchy, horrible white nationalist things. And yeah,

484
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: I remember watching one of those videos and being like,

485
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is m unfortunately very well done propaganda.

486
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,600
Speaker 1: Here's the circle of life from the Lion King, but racist.

487
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 1: Of course, you should feel proud to be white. Our

488
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: race has achieved many great things. M h. As you

489
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:36,920
Speaker 1: go through life, you'll see you're expected to be scared

490
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: and ashamed, wide identity, suppressed, culturally disposest, and always blamed.

491
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 1: But study his story and you'll very quickly see ours

492
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: filled the world with blood, medicine, industry, rule of lah

493
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:12,959
Speaker 1: hand liberty. We are more than we are are we

494
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: are white. So that was a thing. I mean grouse,

495
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,719
Speaker 1: I mean just like finding out new ways to recruit kids,

496
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,720
Speaker 1: I mean creative fun. I hated it then and I

497
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: hate it now. Well together, everything down, down, down now.

498
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: Some of the Alt fur movement was organic, because there's

499
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 1: nothing about being into anthropomorphic animals that meets you can't

500
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:48,040
Speaker 1: also be international socialism. But Do argues that a number

501
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: of non furry white nationalists and fascists saw the fandom

502
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,120
Speaker 1: as a good recruiting ground simply because firies tended to

503
00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 1: be young, male, white and disaffected. And then this group

504
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: was like, furries are right ground. Nobody's going after these guys.

505
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,840
Speaker 1: We'll go after these guys. You know they're degenerates now,

506
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 1: but we'll clean them up, polish him up, get him

507
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 1: out of furry, move them to the right, and all's

508
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: of all of the world. We actually have a recording

509
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: from one of these Nazis, the guy who created the

510
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: first Alt furry group online, explaining all of this in

511
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: his own words. Thanks to Dio for doing the digging

512
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 1: necessary to find this, um Jim. When I started the

513
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 1: free HQ server, which is the old server that we

514
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: used to have, I made it specifically UH an alt

515
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: right furry server, and that was back at the time

516
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:40,040
Speaker 1: they all right was different from what it is today.

517
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: But I made it an altright server, altright furry server,

518
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:55,760
Speaker 1: with the idea that we could organize and then benefit

519
00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 1: from the synergies of some of the outside cultural forces UH,

520
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: such as four Chan or you know, various other things

521
00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 1: pole and and and various other things that are you know,

522
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 1: the pepe A crowd, various other things that are oftentimes

523
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 1: associated with the alt right. A furry subculture is a

524
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: huge subculture, and it is it is a successful subculture,

525
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: and it is a growing subculture because as as mainstream

526
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,680
Speaker 1: culture gets more and more rotten and falls apart and

527
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: more and more young people are frustrated and looking for

528
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 1: answers and not finding it in the mainstream pop cultures

529
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: that that that we know of, they go off looking

530
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: in subcultures. They go off looking for their tribe, and

531
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:44,920
Speaker 1: many of them have found their way to the to

532
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: the to the free subculture. Um I saw. I saw

533
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 1: a couple of I don't exactly remember where, so you

534
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 1: just have to take my word for it. I saw

535
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 1: a couple of surveys. The surveys said that um furries

536
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: were like white or something like that, mostly young, mostly

537
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:16,960
Speaker 1: between four, about white um. And you know, my understanding

538
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 1: about the furry subculture is it's about mail. That's a

539
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,920
Speaker 1: pretty disaffected group of people right now. That's a pretty

540
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: disenfranchise that you bring in those demographics, and that's a

541
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,839
Speaker 1: very disenfranchised group of people in the West right now.

542
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 1: So these are the people most of the furries we

543
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: talked to suspect we're behind the chlorine gas attack on

544
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 1: Midwest for Fest and at first we thought that was

545
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,240
Speaker 1: where this whole struggle for the soul of the fandom

546
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: had really kicked off. But then we talked to Chip.

547
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,040
Speaker 1: The purpose of the interview was to discuss his experience

548
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 1: helping the FBI investigate the attack. But like d O,

549
00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 1: Chip has dedicated a huge amount of his time to

550
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,440
Speaker 1: defending his community from fascist infestation, and he told us

551
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,919
Speaker 1: that the whole story of Nazi furs went way back,

552
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:08,279
Speaker 1: way further. Early on in the fandom, there was a

553
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:14,280
Speaker 1: few people incredibly frustrated with LGBT s in the fandom

554
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: um or people who are vegan, or people who were

555
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: obviously bad like zoo files. They hated all kinds of things,

556
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,640
Speaker 1: so they hated bad things and they hated reasonable things

557
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 1: like LGBT s. Um. It was all started by someone

558
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:36,799
Speaker 1: named squee Rat who goes by Iron Spike now, and

559
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:41,320
Speaker 1: squee Rat wrote a manifesto about how these people should

560
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,640
Speaker 1: be ashamed of their kinks, need to be ashamed of

561
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 1: being weird or awkward or different, and it attracted a

562
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 1: group of people who formed the burn Furs Now. This

563
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 1: was all Chip mentioned of the Burned Furs and squee Rat,

564
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,959
Speaker 1: but he also said the word manifesto which really picked

565
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: up our ears. We love us a manifestos here on

566
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,000
Speaker 1: worst your ever loves in quotes we hate them, but

567
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,879
Speaker 1: we had to check it out. Sque rats manifesto called

568
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 1: this sordid little business begins. I remember when being a

569
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,280
Speaker 1: pervert was a bad thing, off to a great start.

570
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,840
Speaker 1: If you were warped, you tried to hide it, and

571
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 1: good for you if you did. If you were going

572
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,400
Speaker 1: to polish your rod to autopsy photos or bugger as

573
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 1: Shetland pony, you did it. In the privacy of your

574
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: own sick, sad home. No one else, especially not in me,

575
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,839
Speaker 1: had to know, and that was great. The best part

576
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 1: was if you decided to crawl out on the roof

577
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,279
Speaker 1: and inform the neighborhood via midnight and megaphone that being

578
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:36,880
Speaker 1: urinated on got you hot, you would be told, in

579
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 1: no one's certain terms how very diseased you were. Most

580
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,800
Speaker 1: people I know don't have too much trouble distinguishing between

581
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,439
Speaker 1: a lifestyle choice and a warning sign yep. In many

582
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 1: parts of the world, the idea of making love to

583
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,400
Speaker 1: andy Panda is still regarded as somewhat misguided. Most parts,

584
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 1: that is, except furry fandom. I don't know what the

585
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 1: hell happened here. Live and let live as an excellent

586
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 1: tree hugging philosophy, but it doesn't do much when the

587
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: ones you refuse to kill are dragging you down with them.

588
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 1: If you like animal based stories, cartoon, or art, you're

589
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:10,720
Speaker 1: a furry and like it or not, fury means pervert.

590
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:14,080
Speaker 1: This didn't come out of nowhere either. Now this sets

591
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,319
Speaker 1: the tone, and we don't need to read too much

592
00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,400
Speaker 1: more of it. The rest is a list of general

593
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:22,840
Speaker 1: grievances regarding the furry community and what constitutes a real furry.

594
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,280
Speaker 1: The manifesto condemns a variety of things, starting at understandably

595
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,040
Speaker 1: beast reality, but curiously it quickly gets away from that

596
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 1: and covers those who treat fury like lifestyle, pretend to

597
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,799
Speaker 1: be werewolves, spirit animals, veganism, and furies who allegedly wish

598
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,239
Speaker 1: they were animals. This attracted people who were tired of

599
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 1: articles and media stories of furries discussing sexual practices and

600
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:48,160
Speaker 1: aspects of the lifestyle, conflating them with the entire fandom.

601
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 1: The manifesto complains, to me and a lot of other people,

602
00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:57,720
Speaker 1: furry simply means a fondness for animal human combinations and arts, movies, books, whatever.

603
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: If you're biased towards Redwall novel to have a soft

604
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,440
Speaker 1: spot for anime cack rolls, or can't drag yourself away

605
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: from the secretive nim chances are excellent that you're at

606
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 1: least slightly fur inclined. That's pretty cool by me. The

607
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,719
Speaker 1: simple definition is probably what started fur a fandom in

608
00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,880
Speaker 1: the first place, but you would not believe some of

609
00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,960
Speaker 1: the bagges The term furry has taken on, so Squee

610
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: and others who share these concerns eventually formed the aforementioned

611
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 1: Burned Furs called that because, according to Squee, it represented

612
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 1: quote furs who have spoken up against fandom perversion and

613
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 1: been burned at the stake for it end quote. As

614
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 1: the burn First said in their mission statement, anthropomorphics, fandom

615
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:38,320
Speaker 1: is being overrun by sexually dysfunctional, socially stunted, and creatively

616
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:42,080
Speaker 1: bankrupt hacks and pervs. This slow transition is interesting because

617
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: we see this in a lot of far right recruitment.

618
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 1: In these subcultures and fandoms, the zero went on something

619
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 1: everyone agrees as bad, like bestiality or pedophilia, but then

620
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,560
Speaker 1: they conflated with other behaviors that they just don't like,

621
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,800
Speaker 1: slipping the group further and further into general intolerance. Certain

622
00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:01,440
Speaker 1: Burned First members were intolerant of homosexuality, Christian furs, obscure fetishes,

623
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,880
Speaker 1: and erotica. This is notable because many of the group's

624
00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 1: members were also creators of erotica. This is again a

625
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 1: semi regular occurrence in far right circles, where they decried

626
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: degenerate behavior while also participating in it, which is why

627
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: it wasn't surprising when Chip told us it attracted a

628
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 1: group of people who formed the burn Furs, and they

629
00:39:20,520 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: were generally far right groups. Some of them were neo Nazis.

630
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:31,359
Speaker 1: And the crazy part is those burn Furs from are

631
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 1: part of these Furry Raiders now they all right, And

632
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 1: one of the leaders, Foxler, of the Furry Raiders was

633
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,120
Speaker 1: a burn Fur at the time. Holy unsurprising, but this

634
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,879
Speaker 1: illustrates something the furry community has always had to deal with,

635
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,279
Speaker 1: intolerance and bigotry within their community. The burn Furs were

636
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 1: only a thing for about three years. During their time,

637
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: others in the community formed an opposition group, Freezing Furs.

638
00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 1: Other opposition groups were Non Aligned Furs and Furry Peace,

639
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,760
Speaker 1: which promoted general inclusion. So the f you have always

640
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 1: had conflict, but they've also always been diligent and steadfast

641
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 1: and expelling zoophiles and pedophiles and keeping hate as far

642
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 1: away from their community as possible for decades all by themselves,

643
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 1: while the media and society at large dismissed their whole fandom.

644
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:18,160
Speaker 1: As Lucky explains, you know, um, I think it's a

645
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,960
Speaker 1: really drastic difference when you're looking at something like or

646
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 1: comparing to something like the anime community, you know, I mean,

647
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,759
Speaker 1: you can go on anime Twitter for a day and

648
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: you can find you know, pedophiles, zoo files, Nazis, a

649
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,839
Speaker 1: lot of Nazis behind anime profile pictures. I mean you'll

650
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 1: find them in pretty much every walk of life in

651
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:47,520
Speaker 1: and every post on Twitter really that involves politics. UM,

652
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 1: and the furry fandom I feel has way less of

653
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,480
Speaker 1: a problem with it because the behavior really isn't tolerated. Um.

654
00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 1: You know, people speak to cancel culture or whatever, but

655
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 1: it's it's just holding people to a standard, you know,

656
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 1: and um, I think the community does a really good

657
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,960
Speaker 1: job with that. Before we go, we need to tie

658
00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,759
Speaker 1: up a loose end. At this point, we know the

659
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 1: Furry Raiders were staying on the tenth floor of the

660
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 1: Hiatt on the night of the attack. We also know

661
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 1: that Foxler was not there. What we didn't know, however,

662
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,840
Speaker 1: is that Foxler and the Confederate first Suitor worked together.

663
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:27,680
Speaker 1: This is Chip describing what the FBI came to talk

664
00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: to him about. They wanted to know about a particular

665
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,600
Speaker 1: person Foxler was working with, who did go to MFF,

666
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:39,200
Speaker 1: who worked at a water park, who was arrested for

667
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 1: creating a stink bomb in a bank, and he had

668
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 1: chlorine in his car at one point during the convention. Yeah,

669
00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: that's not something you normally bring to a party. Chip

670
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 1: wouldn't say this person's name out loud, but if you

671
00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 1: were called. The top of the episode, we played a

672
00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:59,560
Speaker 1: clip of d O describing Magnus Deridian a k a.

673
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: The Confederate First Suitor, the man who had previously been

674
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: arrested for using a stink bomb, and who also stayed

675
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 1: on the tenth floor of the highatt that night. You

676
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,720
Speaker 1: start to piece it together. This line of reasoning seemed

677
00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 1: even more likely once we looked into Magnus's background. In

678
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:16,040
Speaker 1: two thousand four, he was arrested and charged with terroristic threats,

679
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 1: recklessly endangering another person, and disorderly conduct. The charges stemmed

680
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 1: from an altercation at a bank that ended with him

681
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: throwing what he described as stink bombs he bought on eBay.

682
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,360
Speaker 1: In an old blog post, Magnus makes it seem like

683
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:30,719
Speaker 1: this was just a simple prank that the police took

684
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 1: way too seriously, But in his own blog entry on

685
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 1: the attacks, Magnus admits that a pregnant woman was hospitalized

686
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: due to his supposedly harmless stink bomb. Has Matt Team

687
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,120
Speaker 1: had to be deployed to the bank. In the end,

688
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,920
Speaker 1: he was only sentenced for disorderly contact, not terroristic threats,

689
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,719
Speaker 1: but he still spent eight months in jail. So you

690
00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 1: have a guy with a history of deploying dangerous chemicals

691
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 1: in crowded areas when he gets piste off on the

692
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,520
Speaker 1: same floor of the convention as the chlorine gas attack.

693
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,760
Speaker 1: They know that there is a matching roll of tape

694
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:09,440
Speaker 1: in this guy's apartment, and there's chlorine that was found

695
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:12,919
Speaker 1: in his car. They know all of this, but they

696
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:18,360
Speaker 1: can't seem to get enough information or evidence to convict.

697
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:20,920
Speaker 1: I guess, and so if they can't convict, they're not

698
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:25,120
Speaker 1: going to move forward. Between the shall we say, unsatisfying

699
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 1: response from law enforcement and the downright insulting response from

700
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:31,520
Speaker 1: the mainstream media to the FurFest attack, the furry community

701
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 1: found itself kind of alone in confronting an increasingly dangerous

702
00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:37,840
Speaker 1: far right movement that wouldn't hit the national stage for

703
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:41,239
Speaker 1: three more years at the deadly Charlottesville rally. The raft

704
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,240
Speaker 1: of support and living on the ragged fringe of popular culture,

705
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 1: the Furies had to develop their own tactics of community

706
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:49,920
Speaker 1: support and self defense. So in Part two of this

707
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,320
Speaker 1: series will explore the strategies the Furies developed to defend

708
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: their community from rising white supremacist threats. Their struggle was

709
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 1: ignored by the mainstream media for years, but there are

710
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:03,080
Speaker 1: lessons in it for all of us here now. As

711
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:05,600
Speaker 1: crazy as it may sound, the things the furry community

712
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 1: learned since provide an incredible roadmap for how all of

713
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,759
Speaker 1: us might just manage to survive the worst year ever.

714
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: Play us out us, Everything so dumb, Everything so dumb.

715
00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:25,280
Speaker 1: It's again. I tried Daniel Lovely