1. The reason why this article is important is because it's the whole basis for @BarrettWilson6 existing and it's bullshit. Now let's look at what happened after his pseudonymous debut in Quillette.
2. Barrett Wilson's very reason for being was letting people know how bad judgemental social issues people can be on social media. It was a problem for him and others like him, so fuck that nonsense, right? Wrong. 🤣
3. Barrett's article went viral and even became one of the biggest articles ever on Quillette, so 14 days after the article he created a Twitter account. Not really intellectually consistent but, as you'll see, that's more the rule rather than the exception.
4. Very soon Barrett was writing for The Post Millennial as a "culture issues" writer. He's written a few hundred articles for TPM. He's basically a conservative version of what his genesis article rails against.
5. Things were looking up. Barrett created TheSwift, which is an anti-woke comedy site. He also created the "Woke Store" for anti-woke merchandise.
6. Barrett tried raising funds via PayPal, so he could stop delivering food, which he did within a few short months.
7. Soon he had a SubscribeStar and 2 Patreons. He was contributing to The Federalist and had written hundreds of articles. He is a Sr Editor at The Post Millennial right now.
Barrett Wilson is as uncancelable as you can get.
8. He can't be canceled by the "woke mob", so why is he anonymous?
9. He claims that he will reveal his name after some "legal situation" is settled. 3 years has come and gone. It probably sounded like a good excuse at the time.
10. He gave two other reasons to @a_picazo in the following year. The legal issue that replaced fear of the woke mob disappeared and was itself replaced by other complications.
11. Aheli understands exactly what's going on. The backstory is bullshit. I think the original article was posted as a one-off and the Barrett Wilson persona was meant to be temporary. Once it went viral, the opportunity for money wasn't going to be missed.
12. Barrett Wilson will not, under ANY circumstances, reveal his real name. It's not because of the woke mob. It's not due to legal issues. It's not due to family issues.
Barrett Wilson can't reveal his name because it would turn out that backstory was bullshit.
13. Which makes everything after it grifting off the people who supported "Barrett Wilson".
14. I don't know who is behind "Barrett Wilson". None of the people at Quillette, The Federalist, or The Post Millennial will say either. Having it look like they helped con their readers isn't a good look.
15. If someone smarter than me wanted to figure it out I'd look for an American with a passing knowledge of Canada, who got canceled in 2017-2018 with ties to Quillette and The Post Millennial.
1. The #EpikFail show that Michael Trollan is the person that runs Andy Ngo's website. I'm going to dump a lot of info on Michael here for other researchers and journalists. It won't be a nice, clean, flowing thread but it will be fun.
1. In July 2018 Quillette posted an article by a pseudonymous author named Barrett Wilson that went viral. It smells like a full diaper and aged about as well. Let's examine it.
2. I'm not linking to the nearly 1,100 word article, because fuck Quillette and their clicks. I've archived it so it can't be changed without being noticed.
3. In just the first paragraph, there's a lot to unpack.
Barrett claims to be doing food delivery because he was canceled professionally. His "I upset the wrong person" and claims of being publicly shamed into being a pariah in his industry don't fit together. Which was it?
1. Today we find out who is behind the fashy weightlifting bro @HerculeanStren1. The thread will be in three parts. First, what the account is. Second, who founded it. Third, is the last piece of how I confirmed it: Nazi wife.
I might have to break, because it's a lot.
2. Let's start with the account, since it was the first part created back in April 2020.
- Notice the clickbait images and headlines. Looks pretty low class trash. They're only there to drive traffic to the site.
3. What they really want is for people to visit their site to sell them products.
The articles are just the bait on the e-commerce hook. They're not meant to be good, but they do want an endless stream of them. How do I know this?
1. Many people don't know, but there's a whole ecosystem of fascist/racist gym bros catering to the far right, so they can make money off their fellow bigots.
2. They sell them self-help nonsense, workout routines, personal life coaching, books, and of couse LOTS of supplements. Their stated goal is to turn these incels and racist keyboard warriors into Chads or Alphas.
3. Mostly they seem to shitpost, radicalize, and lighten to pockets of young men who think their life will be great if they're just get some lifting gains.
Like most people who get gym memberships, their spending doesn't equate to their results or joy.
1. Meet 41 year old Matthew Ryan McInnis, who lives in Cicero, IN and uses the pen name "Ryan Landry". He was a contributor at Radix, Social Matter, Daily Caller. He's an Underwriter, Registered Agent for a HOA, and now appears to run @NewAtlantisSun.
2. Earlier today I went over some of Matt's highlights as Ryan Landry.
1. This afternoon I'd like to familiarize you with the persona "Ryan Landry" before I introduce you to the man behind it this weekend.
Unless you were monitoring hate before the August 2017 UniteTheRight rally, you've probably never heard of him, but he was important.
2. The reason why you've probably never heard of him is because in the aftermath there was a huge backlash against the alt-right. A wave of doxxes crashed upon their heads and Ryan retired to spend more time with his family.
3. He deactivated his "28 Sherman" blog. He deactivated his Instagram account, his @/28ShermanSOBL1 Twitter account, and other social media. He left his Social Matter articles, his freelance Daily Caller work, and his weekly series on Richard Spencer’s RadixJournal.