Louis Theroux's Forbidden America

[Moonhound17]

Anyone else had a chance to watch this yet? Really interesting look at America's Internet alt-right movement.
 
We all exist in echo chambers to varying degrees so while I'm not on twitter, Facebook etc anymore I'm not convinced I'd have heard of any of these guys if I had been. Either way I was pretty repulsed by all of those interviewed, with the exception of the girl Louis interviewed, who was part of the same movement until she was threatened with rape. Seemed like a bit of a misguided person who obviously was threatened with something really horrible and shocking.
 
Classic Theroux stuff though, got Westboro Baptist Church vibes from the documentary, and very heavy VL vibes from the interview subjects. My favourite part had to be the wee dick with the glasses losing the plot because Louis challenged him on making a nazi salute. Looked like he was going to start crying. Lovely stuff.
 
I understand this is going to be a series so would be good to get some discussion going. What's your thoughts?

[stevieKTID]

I thought Louis was a bit more direct than he usually is, loved it when he called in to beardy greetin face's show.

Surprised he never called out the first guy for having a surname that's clearly opposite to his white American agenda, he seemed the most "dangerous" and driven out of the three but there are probably hundreds of them spewing out that type of narrative in the US and of course the illusion of him being a voice that was gaining traction was sort of shattered when we discovered that his HQ was his parents basement.

The other two came across as white privileged racist nerd sh1tbag wind up merchants, who whenever challenged would get really defensive and run off to do one of their broadcasts which is clearly their safe zone.

The internet is a scary place.

[Gnash]

Interesting program, certainly Louis was more combative than usual.  I prefer it when he mates up with them, while subtly ripping the pish out of them either in person or via the narration.  Maybe this one was too serious a topic for that.

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

I don't know if they were pretending to be racist or if they were racist but they were grifting racists for free money.

Theroux should have concentrated on the religious angle and trolled them on that. Jesus is king chant was bizarre.

[Highland Capital]

On 15/02/2022 at 08:29, stevieKTID said:

 

The other two came across as white privileged racist nerd sh1tbag wind up merchants, who whenever challenged would get really defensive and run off to do one of their broadcasts which is clearly their safe zone.

The internet is a scary place.

Got it on just now.  The guy is just a man-child.  The song about Twitter was like something a 12 year old would come up with, but he seemed proud of himself.

Edit - The beardy guy is the quintessential VL.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Highland Capital

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Theroux continues his unbroken streak of finding the most deluded, vile creatures to build a themed program around - although these slugs promote themselves so widely it's hard to believe a full-time researcher was needed in this case. At least people who don't frequent the online areas these types inhabit may realise that there is some horrible stuff going on, and a lot of it is bleeding into real life.

The girl - she "can see the humour" in threats of anal rape? What the fúck?

[pandarilla]

Theroux continues his unbroken streak of finding the most deluded, vile creatures to build a themed program around - although these slugs promote themselves so widely it's hard to believe a full-time researcher was needed in this case. At least people who don't frequent the online areas these types inhabit may realise that there is some horrible stuff going on, and a lot of it is bleeding into real life.
The girl - she "can see the humour" in threats of anal rape? What the fúck?

She was a lost soul. Not too bright but had just enough about her to walk away from these c***s.

She'll continue to slowly realise how fucked up they were.

[19QOS19]

Gun crime is quite underrated in America. If the folk who appeared on this one were wiped out the world would be a far better place. Absolute c***s the lot of them. And all those arseholes who tune in to that man-child's show when he live streams in the street are as bad. I reckon if they can choose songs to play while he's speaking to people then it could get much worse than what we saw. Absolute cretins.

[Miguel Sanchez]

Finally got around to watching last week's. During one of the covid lockdowns I watched all of Louis' documentaries that were on iplayer and I could see a shift in the subjects he was making documentaries about. It was weird seeing him going from interviewing actual Nazis and South African terrorists and going on ridealongs with police in places that were basically warzones to some of the things the internet age brought in. The one where he interviewed a guy who said he'd been falsely accused of rape was the especially surreal moment where he jumped the shark to me. Halfway through he gets a call from someone who says he's being set up and trolled by someone who's at it and then the whole thing falls apart, realising how fleeting the entire thing is.

Now what's he doing? Watching a bunch of VLs from the internet pat each other on the back. I can't really take this or the people in it seriously when I know the people and places he's been before this.

It's a shame a certain Dunfermline denying poster isn't here anymore, I'm sure he'd have nice things to say about the Baked Alaska gimp. No idea how he's not been shot by now.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Miguel Sanchez

[welshbairn]

On 15/02/2022 at 17:50, Gnash said:

Interesting program, certainly Louis was more combative than usual.  I prefer it when he mates up with them, while subtly ripping the pish out of them either in person or via the narration.  Maybe this one was too serious a topic for that.

It's a bit harder for him to get them to open up, relax and reveal what they're really about when they all know his modus operandi by now and are prepared for it. Might have been more interesting if he hadn't chosen such cartoon characters and self publicists who are obviously just in it for the money. Someone like Richard Spencer, a true believer I think. Just googled him to see what he's up to now and found this topical thing about the alt right's admiration for Putin.

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-connections-to-the-alt-right-2016-11?r=US&IR=T

[Sergeant Wilson]

12 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

It's a shame a certain Dunfermline denying poster isn't here anymore, I'm sure he'd have nice things to say about the Baked Alaska gimp. No idea how he's not been shot by now.

Is it not real?

[SlipperyP]

This was brought to my attention while catching up on the Trump thread.

Watched it as some poster mentioned that 'he could be president material in a few years time'.

What came across was from this,  he is the golden VL basement boy of all time. You can say what you want about the USA and it politics, but this isn't it. He will disappear soon when a new far right face comes along with better bells.

Alaska Baked will soon be dead.

Bearded Beardy? The 'troll of the internet', wouldn't last 3 minutes on the GN forum of P&B without losing his shit.

2nd Episode  was shite.

Never watched the 3rd.