BY: BRIAN LILLEY, REBEL MEDIA CO-FOUNDER
When I first co-founded the Rebel with Ezra Levant, I wanted to carry on the legacy of Sun News – you know, denying climate change, calling for the defunding of the CBC, and the year-round coverage on the War of Christmas by the PC Police. But after years of bigoted reporting, obsessing about the threat of Islamic immigration, blatantly Anti-Semitic opinions, and perpetually validating the positions of white supremacists, it dawned on me yesterday that Rebel Media might be a bit racist and it was time for me to go.
The race-baiting, over-the-top headlines and commentaries from two years ago are very different from the race-baiting, over-the-top headlines and commentaries from today.
Now, that isn’t to say that anyone in particular is an actual racist; they just hold xenophobic perspectives through their interpretations of events. I mean, we only hired Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist and convicted criminal known for starting race riots in England, to say his opinions; not to carry out the things he says to people. Gavin McInnes may say some ill-will things towards the Jews, and Faith Goldy may have said that black people are inherently more violent, but they were doing this for broadcasting purposes. Again, they’re not racist; it’s just that they hold beliefs that members of other ethnicities or religions are inherently inferior and universally hold immutable characteristics that determine their behaviours.
Sure, as a media organization, we perpetuated a conspiracy theory that that the Quebec mosque shooting was perpetrated by Muslims instead of a 24-year-old Canadian all fired-up with Islamophobic rhetoric which we openly promote. But let me remind you about freedom of speech and how it wasn’t our jobs – as journalists – to check facts before we publish because we’re also entertainers and commentators.
However, I slowly connected the dots once I saw that my beloved Rebel Media – the very one that spews hate and fear online – sharing the same opinions as say neo-nazis or the KKK. In my defence, I thought these hate groups were just things that the lefties made up, like the Loch Ness Monster, or the wage gap between men and women. But there they were in Charlottesville with the tiki torches and khakis saying the same things that we’ve been saying for years. What an eye-opener!
I wish everyone the best at Rebel Media. As for my future, I hear this Soldiers of Odin organization might need a small c conservative commentator to advocate for small government, freedom, and defending the values of this great nation.
