Lauren Southern

Lauren Southern is a Canadian (possibly former) white nationalist and far-rightLauren Southern: Far-right Canadian activist detained in Calais and banned from entering UK. The Independent. 13 March 2018. activistCanadian far-right activist Lauren Southern barred from Britain for anti-Muslim views. National Post. 12 March 2018.Vicky Mochama, Many More Apologies are Owed to Canada's Muslim Community, Toronto Metro, 3 Feb 2017, Accessed 13 Feb 2017 from British Columbia who, in March 2018, was banned from entering the UK for distributing leaflets saying "Allah is a gay god", which under British law may be considered incitement to religious hatred against Muslims.Why 3 anti-Islam activists were refused entry to the UK. BBC, 14 March 2018. Far-Right Activist Denied Entry to the UK After Distributing Racist Material in Luton. Luton Today. 12 March 2018. The political views she espoused were in staunch opposition to Islam, liberalism, multiculturalism, and feminism, while being in favor of paleoconservatism, cultural nationalism, and the right to keep and bear arms. She has immigrated to Australia, despite being a fervent anti-immigrant advocate during her career. Since her return to public life, Southern has returned to film-making, while being an anti-masker on SkyNews. Despite claiming in her famed "Why I Left, Why I'm Back" video that she has "changed", Southern has unsurprisingly shown to be the exact same person she was when she left the internet. This became evident in November of 2020 when she threw a tantrum on her Wikipedia page that refers to her as a white nationalist — despite the fact that this labeling is just one of the many consequences of her actions. So much for personal responsibility.
Southern was described as alt-right by the Southern Poverty Law Center.Lauren Southern: The alt-right’s Canadian dog whistler. Southern Poverty Law Center, 7 November 2017.
Southern contributed to The Rebel Media, a hard-right wing Canadian online political and social commentary media platform owned by conservative political activist Ezra Levant, where she hosted the talk show Stand Off with Lauren Southern.Lauren Southern, The Rebel Media, Accessed 13 Feb 2017Responding to Thunderf00t, Lauren Southern [YouTube channel], 27 Jan 2017, Accessed 13 Feb 2017
Southern, a former member of the Libertarian Party of Canada,Lauren Southern, Libertarian Party of Canada, Accessed 13 Feb 2017 considers herself a cultural libertarian.Allum Bokhari, Rise of the Cultural Libertarians, Breitbart, 24 Aug 2015, Accessed 13 Feb 2017Lauren Southern - You might be a "cultural libertarian" if..., Rebel Media, 27 Aug 2015, accessed 13 Feb 2017https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/4zlf89/lauren_southern_ama/d6wtoex/ "I'm a libertarian like how Christina Hoff Sommers is a feminist. I want small government but I think the majority of libertarians are going about it in the dumbest way humanly possible. Will open borders achieve smaller government? No. We live in a democracy and a welfare state — it would be small government suicide to open the borders up." However she holds many reactionary and nationalist views that seemingly oppose libertarianism. She has expressed support for Donald Trump
Trump supporter BLOCKED by Facebook for complaining about site's censorship of right-wing activists, Daily Mail, 22 May 2016, Updated 23 May 2016, Accessed 13 Feb 2017 and for Nigel Farage.
==Early life and education==
Southern studied political science at the University of Fraser Valley for two years before dropping out, calling the program "a waste of money to pay for knowledge she could get on her own." During her time there, she was heavily political to the point that most of her peers either saw her views as absurd or simply believed it better not to discuss politics with her due to how unpleasant she could get, and described herself as being into the kind of "Ayn Rand bitch style of libertarianism." She applied to be a military intelligence officer after leaving the university, but would become a poster child of the alt-right after attending a Toronto conference headed by Ezra Levant.https://news.vice.com/story/lauren-southern-is-the-alt-rights-not-so-secret-weapon
==Views==
===Immigration===
On 15 July 2017, Southern published the video "The Streets of Paris", which featured footage of Paris that included nonwhites (gasp!) and this hilarious description:, Lauren Southern, YouTube
Southern later expressed linguistic horror on behalf of the French:Tweets:
*, Lauren Southern, Twitter
*, Lauren Southern, Twitter
On 3 July 2017, Southern published the video "The Great Replacement", which featured Southern narrating statistics over chaotic footage of migrants., Lauren Southern, YouTube Southern describes the Great Replacement as "a very simple concept: you have one people and in the space of a single generation you have a different people" and claims that "the future of Europe looks pretty halal". Southern lists several reasons why the Great Replacement is occurring:
* First, "white people hate themselves" because "many white people feel that replacing themselves will relieve guilt of past crimes" and "unlike almost every other culture in the world, that wants to preserve itself and remain homogenous, Europeans actively invite the destruction of their tradition".
* Second, "replace-ism", the idea that all people are interchangeable and can be replaced without consequence. (We wonder what ideology would suggest different human groups are not interchangeable.)
* Third, birth rates: the West "tax[es] people into oblivion to the point where they can't afford to get married, buy a house, or have lots of kids, then we spend their tax dollars importing people and paying their welfare for their large families". This is, of course, absurd: the is the cause of reduced birthrates, not taxation, and immigrants are net economic contributors. Also, most white people in the West who "can't afford" to start a family cite low wages, high debt (especially medical and student loan debt in the U.S.), and high living (especially rent) costs in the U.S. as disincentives and barriers to having children, not taxes.
The Christchurch terrorist referenced this conspiracy theory during the shooting. 
Southern pretends that she's not racist, but on a Sky News interview, she considered that it would be easy for a white non-migrant to come to Europe if he wanted to as long as he puts some "bronzer" and gets on a "dinghy boat".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r4_OJF-ARAhttps://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/706308/sky-news-lauren-southern-kay-burley
===White genocide===
On 25 June 2018, Southern published a video "FARMLANDS (2018) | Official Documentary" which claims that South African farm attacks constitute an ongoing or impending genocide against whites., Lauren Southern, YouTube This is a (false) common talking point for white nationalists.Trump’s tweet echoing white nationalist propaganda about South African farmers, explained, Vox Southern previously interviewed the a group of "race war preppers" headed by Simon Roche. Roche frequently appears as a talking head without Southern mentioning his extremist views or links to Identity Evropa and the League of the South.How a cult of South African Völkish race war preppers instigated the Fox News obsession with ‘White Genocide’
===Nationalism===
Southern believes that people should consider their nation as their extended family — which is literally fascist rhetoric — and also supports "pan-Western nationalism", which is a fancy way of saying "white nationalism":
===Islam===
Southern thinks, pointing to Ben Shapiro's video "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority",Ben Shapiro: The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority, TruthRevoltOriginals [YouTube channel], 15 Oct 2014, Accessed 13 Feb 2017 that a majority of Muslims in the world hold views that "do not align with Western values", and she states that she does not want such Muslims in the West, "changing the base culture of the West".Lauren Southern Fights Back Against Establishment Media, Rebel Media, 20 Jan 2017, Accessed 13 Feb 2017
Southern believes that Hitler was simply too friendly to the Muslims:
However, even if Hitler was allegedly an "Islamophile", over 5 million Muslim soldiers volunteered to fight against him and the Nazis in World War II (over 1.5 million died in action and an unknown number were wounded).Muslim Soldiers During World War II. Materia Islamica. Retrieved May 14th, 2020.
===Alt-right===
Southern rejects the alt-right label despite agreeing with many of its goals. She stated, "It's hard not to sympathize with a lot of the alt-right causes and I do align with a lot of them. I keep a healthy skepticism of any movement that I join or sympathize with, or just talk about. […] and the alt-right certainly deserves a healthy skepticism."https://soundcloud.com/spikedonline/the-alt-right-a-losing-battle#t=7:46 When described as an alt-right journalist by Thunderf00t, Southern stated that "[w]hile I certainly have crossover with alt-right on a decent amount of subjects, I don't focus on white identity as one of my main topics. […] And because of this most of the alt-right do not refer to me as alt-right. […] Many people on [the] alt-right would find the description of me [as alt-right to be] inaccurate and laughable".https://youtu.be/Dh8H6tOQh10?t=6m1s
===Traditionalism===
Despite claiming to dislike feminism and advocating a return to traditionalism, Southern (and other women in the Alt-right) has complained about harassment from male members of the Alt-right for not being married with children at age 22 years old. Gee, the racist and hateful audience that she has amassed are also sexist? Who could have guessed?! In a YouTube video, she argues that it would be more "degenerate" for her to have children now without finding the right man.https://www.avclub.com/alt-right-women-discover-that-bitter-racists-are-also-1821030509 Regardless of whether she supports feminism or not, we're sure many feminists would respect Southern's right to marry and have children whenever she wants to, as do we.
==Religion==
When she was asked about her religion, specifically to the question whether she is Christian, she answered she is "searching".Lauren Southern Fights Back Against Establishment Media, Rebel Media, 20 Jan 2017, Accessed 13 Feb 2017 She has since converted to Catholicism as a result of marrying a Catholic man.The Alt-Right's Star Racist Propagandist Has No Regrets, The Atlantic, 16 October 2020, Accessed 22 February 2022
==Political activities==
Southern has run as a candidate for the Libertarian Party of Canada.https://www.libertarian.ca/candidate/lauren-southern She is the force behind "The Triggering", an event to "defend freedom of speech by posting 'offensive content' on social media". "The Triggering" occurred on 9 March 2016, the day after International Women's Day, which may have been intentional.http://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2016/03/08/internet-jerks-pledge-to-be-extra-jerky-tomorrow-during-thetriggering/ Needless to say, her fans rejoiced and took part in the event.
She appears to be buddies with British right-wing activist Milo Yiannopoulos, a former senior editor for far-right news and opinion website Breitbart News, as they appeared together in October of 2015 during a Slutwalk to share their "opinions" on rape culture.http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/10/03/breitbart-editor-ejected-from-amber-rose-slut-walk-by-police/ She did the same thing in a Vancouver Slutwalk in June of that year.http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/11/reporter-trolls-slutwalk-saying-theres-no-rape-culture-in-the-west-5240499/ Classy. She also attended an Antifa rally with The Rebel Media in London following Brexit and received a hostile reception from protesters.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAMS2BjBQeg
Southern has accused the left of promoting a culture of decadence and laziness, and wants the youth to resort to a culture of "traditional values".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-L5K_XMww4
===Far-right connections===
Southern has since claimed allegiance to two radical Identitarian, alt-right groups, Defend Europe and Generation Identity (specifically its French branch). Their activities have included interfering with humanitarian vessels trying to rescue migrants by shooting flares at them and yelling hate slogans.Barbie Latza Nadeau, Alt-Right Group Plans to Hunt Migrants at Sea. The Daily Beast, 5 June 2017.Mark Townsend, Far right raises £50,000 to target boats on refugee rescue missions in Med. The Guardian, 3 June 2017. In a Twitter video, she called for 4chan's infamous /pol/ board to join the fight.Lauren Southern, Stay tuned for the landing page - we need you to track down the boats for us! Twitter, 12 May 2017.
The groups have been labeled as anti-Islam, anti-immigration factions that wish to protect Europeans from the threat of an invasion. Besides the obvious reactionary claims, they have also justified their xenophobia on the pretense of wishing to stop the alleged human trafficking of refugees drowning in the sea caused by corrupt humanitarian aid workers who supposedly cooperate with smugglers by... trying to sink boats of refugees themselves instead.Sophia Tesfaye, Europe’s alt-right launches campaign to “chase down” refugee boats at sea, quickly raises $100,000. Salon, 5 June 2017.
As expected, international human rights activists have widely condemned the groups and their actions.Tim Hume, Europe’s alt right is chartering a boat to stop migration to Italy. Salon, 19 July 2017. Perhaps then it's not surprising that Patreon later deleted Southern's account on the grounds that she was "raising funds in order to take part in activities that are likely to cause loss of life."Graeme Gordon, Why Lauren Southern Got Banned From Patreon. canadalandshow.com, 27 July 2017.
When Southern and alt-right dark wizard Stefan Molyneux embarked on a speaking tour of Australia in 2018, they met with the Lads Society, a far right men's only society led by convicted criminal and Neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell.Ben Graham, Secret location of Aussie underground fight club leaks. news.com.au, 30 November 2018. They were also photographed with the group performing white nationalist salutes.
==Calling it quits==
On June 2, 2019, Southern announced that she was quitting political activism.A new chapter. laurnesouthern.net, c. 2019.
Right-wing blogger, podcaster, and Fox News favorite, Allie Beth Stuckey expressed regret about Southern quitting activism. In a reply tweet, she wrote: "This made me sad, but I’m happy for you! I’ve been meaning to message you to say that Borderless was a masterpiece. So much courage and empathy. God bless! ❤️", Allie Beth Stuckey, Twitter
On June 19, 2020, Southern uploaded a video, explaining why she returned and touched slightly on how her views had changed.Why I left, and why I’m back. She immediately got in a (now-deleted) Twitter spat with Paul Joseph Watson. She then made a verified account on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Lauren_Southern/Archive_7#I_see_that_User:Lauren_Cherie_Southern_has_been_unblocked and unsuccessfully tried to remove from her article the line, "She has been described as alt-right and a white nationalist," and that she had supported "The Great Replacement Theory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Lauren_Southern#The_Great_Replacement_Conspiracy
==Returning as a useful idiot==
In 2024, Southern was listed as one of six employees of Tenet Media; the US Justice Department indicted Tenet Media in 2024 as a Russian front company . She was one of six right-wing commentators, along with Tim Pool, Dave Rubin Tayler Hansen, Matt Christiansen and who received contracts to produce content for the company.DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars by Zachary Cohen et al. (September 5, 2024) CNN.Well-known right-wing influencers duped to work for covert Russian operation, U.S. prosecutors say (Sep 5, 2024 10:24 AM EDT) PBS. Tenet Media is purportedly a project of YouTube blogger Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan. Chen was fired by her other employer, Blaze TV, shortly after the revelation of her connection to Tenet.
==Personal life and hypocrisy==
Lauren Southern, in spite of her fervent white nationalist and "traditional values" views, became pregnant by a man of part-Asian descent before being married, with their relationship somewhat at odds to her racist ideas. Despite being in an interracial marriage, with a mixed race baby, she expressed no real regrets over her advocacy, even after pushing endless vile ideas for years which proved an inspiration to racist mass murders (one wonders what her husband thinks of all this).The Alt-Right's Star Racist Propagandist Has No Regrets, The Atlantic, 16 October 2020, Accessed 22 February 2022 He eventually left her; according to Southern, he lost his job because he was married to her.
It turned out that life as a "tradwife" was indistinguishable from modern slavery. She found herself in Australia without an income and completely isolated, while suffering from an abusive husband every single day, who called her worthless and pathetic, and even punishing her by leaving her and her baby locked out of their house, out in the rain.
==See also==
* Brittany Pettibone
* Tara McCarthy
* Sargon of Akkad
* Black Pigeon Speaks
* Michael Coombs
==External links==
*Official webshite
*Lauren Southern on YouTube
*Lauren Southern on The Rebel Media
*Lauren Southern on Twitter
*The Great Replacement Isn't Real - ft. Lauren Southern, Shaun
*Pseudo-Journalism with Lauren Southern, José
*Lauren Southern tags on Anti-Fascist News
*Debating Lauren Southern on immigration, Destiny
==References==
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