Monday, April 17, 2023

"Neo-Nazi Fight Clubs Are Fat-Shaming Men Into White Nationalism"

There's a lot going on in that headline.

From Vice, April 11:

Fitness groups and fight clubs exclusively for white men, known as “active clubs,” have become a crucial recruitment tool for white nationalists in the U.S. 

In a grainy Android video posted to his favorite neo-Nazi influencer’s Telegram page, a man wearing a balaclava, emblazoned with a neo-Nazi black sun, clutches a raw steak and rips into it with his teeth like an animal. 

“Forty pounds gone in two months and still going,” he wrote in the group, called “Rundo’s Spot.” He then broke down his weekend diet in a series of rapid posts.  

“I hardly ate anything and when I did, it was a raw bell pepper,” he wrote. “I fucked up bad toward the end of the week on lunch break at work but aiming to be down another five pounds on Friday.” 

The user, whose frequently changing username was recently “fascist jumping spider,” is a prolific poster on the channel. It’s named after Robert Rundo, a 32-year-old neo-Nazi who fled the United States to escape riot charges in 2017. Within the chat, the user constantly posts updates about his extreme weight-loss efforts, sends pictures of his lunches, and goes on rants about his struggle with body image—sometimes to the annoyance of the rest of the group.

“I'm in fat-recovery, so I'll take whatever you got,” he wrote to one neo-Nazi giving him workout advice. “Headed out with a 20 pound weight vest as we speak.”

“Fat-shame me, I need it,” the user added. 

“Rundo’s Spot” is part of a growing network of neo-Nazi men’s groups operating under the guise of fitness or martial arts that have become one of the most important recruitment tools for white nationalists in the United States. Euphemistically referred to by their members as “active clubs,” the network now has at least 30 groups in 17 states and 60 Telegram channels.

To appeal to disaffected, young, white men, these groups tone down their overt racism and sexism, at least initially, in favor of messages of self-improvement and brotherhood. Rundo, who dreamed up the idea, refers to the clubs as part of “white nationalism 3.0”—a class of cleaner-cut neo-Nazis with a more palatable image, as opposed to the skinheads of the ‘80s and other, more recent terrorist groups....

 Interestingly, or perhaps not, one of Vice's brands is Fightland.

Possibly related from Alt-market, October 1, 2020:

Is The Pussification Of America’s Youth Scientifically Engineered?

From there it just spun out of control: Obese Conservative Neckbeard calls Buzzfeed Try Guys "Low Testosterone Betas"

Previously:
"Raising the American Weakling: "There are two very different interpretations of our dwindling grip strength"