HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The Complicated Truth About the Boogaloo Movement

Views:971
@ReasonVids

These Hawaiian shirt-wearing, gun-toting Gen Z activists say they stand with Black Lives Matter, against gun control, and are preparing for total state collapse.

For full text, links, downloads, and more, go to: http://reason.com/video/the-complicated-truth-about-the-boogaloo-movement
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
----------------
Is America headed for a civil war?

According to the followers of one fast-growing online subculture, increasing political polarization and instability will inevitably lead to a domestic armed conflict, which they refer to as Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo.

That's a play on the title of a 1984 breakdancing film, from which the movement—known as "the Boogaloo," "Big Igloo" or, sometimes, "Big Luau"—also derived its name.

The Hawaiian shirt-wearing, gun-toting activists known as Boogbois have migrated out of memespace and into the streets, showing up at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in many American cities—often in apparent sympathy with the cause.

The media have called them white nationalists and accelerationist terrorists. "The boogaloo movement is (for the most part) a libertarian group," according to one member.

But these labels don't capture what this dispersed movement is all about.

The Boogaloo movement is Gen Z Second Amendment activism. Its members forgo the patriotic symbolism of traditional militia movements for flowered apparel, bright patches, and colorful memes. Their approach to organizing resembles Hong Kong's decentralized, privacy-conscious, and social media-heavy protest movement.

They are digitally native activists, raised on Instagram and TikTok, who understand that in the world of online feedback loops, actions are often less important than the way they're presented.

Their online rhetoric is infused with paranoia, and its members circulate unfounded theories of rampant, unchecked pedophilia, which they say must be stamped out extrajudicially, if necessary. They claim that societal breakdown is inevitable, but their public stances often makes it seem as if a violent Civil War is something they'd like to see happen. And the movement's organic, leaderless structure leaves it highly susceptible to being co-opted by its worst, most dangerous actors.

The members who spoke to Reason stand against gun control, the drug war, and aggressive policing. They are also convinced that there's rampant pedophilia in American society that must be dealt with, extrajudicially if need be.

Sometimes they've aligned themselves with right-wing militia groups, at other moments, with Black Lives Matter. The one issue that seems to unify them is a conviction that armed resistance to government overreach is entirely justified.

"It's a very powerful movement that has come together and unified against racism, tyranny, pedophilia, and government overreach," says Mike Dunn, a visible face in a mostly faceless movement. "It's one of the biggest unified movements there has been among gun owners and freedom-loving Americans."

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. 

Photos: Zach D Roberts/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Jana Birchum/Polaris/Newscom; REBECCA COOK/REUTERS/Newscom; BRYAN WOOLSTON/REUTERS/Newscom; JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS/Newscom; John C. Clark/ZUMA Press/Newscom; JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS/Newscom; JULIA RENDLEMAN/REUTERS/Newscom; NURI VALLBONA/REUTERS/Newscom; Sebastiano Tomada/Sipa USA/Newscom; Stephanie Keith/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Adam J. Dewey/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Zach D Roberts/ZUMA Press/Newscom; John C. Clark/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Alex Milan Tracy/Sipa USA/Newscom; JULIA RENDLEMAN/REUTERS/Newscom; JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS/Newscom; John Rudoff/Sipa USA/Newscom; Chad Martin / SOPA Images/Sipa U/Newscom

Music: "Leaving Earth," Bits and Pieces," "Killing Time," "Imitate," "Fall," and "Apparition" by Stanley Gurvich licensed through Artlist.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
guns
,
2nd amendment
,
boogaloo
,
black lives matter
,
gun control
,
whitmer
,
civil war 2
,
second american revolution
,
militia movement
,
right wing
,
left wing
,
proud boys
,
donald trump
,
george floyd
,
mike dunn
,
social media
,
gen z
,
zoomers
    Thumbnail for Would Today's ACLU Defend the Speech Rights of Nazis?5:38
    Would Today's ACLU Defend the Speech Rights of Nazis?
    ReasonVids
    928 views
    Thumbnail for Clip: If-, by Rudyard Kipling (1895), read by Way of the World2:16
    Clip: If-, by Rudyard Kipling (1895), read by Way of the World
    SmashTheJourgeoisie
    1202 views
    Thumbnail for Boink0:12
    Boink
    bestofvoatxyz
    365 views
    Thumbnail for Interviewing drunk drivers days before it became illegal (1967)5:29
    Interviewing drunk drivers days before it became illegal (1967)
    bookmarked
    1246 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: Students United (Tuition Protest Song)2:17
    Remy: Students United (Tuition Protest Song)
    ReasonVids
    880 views
    Thumbnail for Freaky Friday Politics: Republicans And Democrats Keep Switching Positions3:54
    Freaky Friday Politics: Republicans And Democrats Keep Switching Positions
    ReasonVids
    917 views
    Thumbnail for This Mayor is on an Illegal Mission to Bulldoze 350 Homes4:38
    This Mayor is on an Illegal Mission to Bulldoze 350 Homes
    IJvids
    985 views
    Thumbnail for Stumble Guys10:00
    Stumble Guys
    stumble_bro
    306 views
    Thumbnail for CPAC: Rand Paul, Libertarians Rising3:04
    CPAC: Rand Paul, Libertarians Rising
    ReasonVids
    854 views
    Thumbnail for When the body hits the floor0:16
    When the body hits the floor
    bestofupgoat
    100 views
    Thumbnail for Race card - denied0:05
    Race card - denied
    bestofupgoat
    587 views
    Thumbnail for When family votes D there's only one thing to do.0:15
    When family votes D there's only one thing to do.
    bestofsaidit
    1559 views
    Thumbnail for Jews are boasting about being the sole group responsible for destroying America 0:53
    Jews are boasting about being the sole group responsible for destroying America
    bestofvoatxyz
    551 views
    Thumbnail for Rand Paul: "I'd put Clapper and Snowden in the same jail cell"2:36
    Rand Paul: "I'd put Clapper and Snowden in the same jail cell"
    ReasonVids
    871 views
    Thumbnail for ANOTHER COLE PALMER CLASSIC. SIMPLY STUNNING. 🚀 | NBC Sports0:46
    ANOTHER COLE PALMER CLASSIC. SIMPLY STUNNING. 🚀 | NBC Sports
    invidious
    81 views
    Thumbnail for Gone Away - BCM (It's a fitting time to repost the most emotionally powerful video I've ever made.)3:13
    Gone Away - BCM (It's a fitting time to repost the most emotionally powerful video I've ever made.)
    AOUisgay
    458 views
    Thumbnail for I added some audio to this summerly crustacean video0:09
    I added some audio to this summerly crustacean video
    bestofvoatxyz
    515 views
    Thumbnail for Live Zitout | زيتوت مباشر الإثنين 12/02/2024 | Mohamed Larbi Zitout1:11:11
    Live Zitout | زيتوت مباشر الإثنين 12/02/2024 | Mohamed Larbi Zitout
    invidious
    284 views
    Thumbnail for Spider-Man Gets Shot For His 60th Birthday! | Dan!1:00
    Spider-Man Gets Shot For His 60th Birthday! | Dan!
    invidious
    178 views
    Thumbnail for You didn't make it bitch. 0:12
    You didn't make it bitch.
    bestofupgoat
    105 views
    Thumbnail for Race War, Us Against Them1:29
    Race War, Us Against Them
    murdochmurdoch
    1377 views
    Thumbnail for Grampa Simpson Happy Birthday0:06
    Grampa Simpson Happy Birthday
    clips
    877 views
    Thumbnail for Beaner logic 0:09
    Beaner logic
    bestofupgoat
    31 views
    Thumbnail for Inertia Friction Welder for Aerospace Component - Model 480B3:14
    Inertia Friction Welder for Aerospace Component - Model 480B
    invidious
    325 views
    Thumbnail for Someone Found a Color 8mm Home Video from 1939 and the Quality is Amazing15:07
    Someone Found a Color 8mm Home Video from 1939 and the Quality is Amazing
    bestofpoal
    1308 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
guns
,
2nd amendment
,
boogaloo
,
black lives matter
,
gun control
,
whitmer
,
civil war 2
,
second american revolution
,
militia movement
,
right wing
,
left wing
,
proud boys
,
donald trump
,
george floyd
,
mike dunn
,
social media
,
gen z
,
zoomers
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle