We Hunted The Mammoth
By David Futrelle
Incels.me — one of the most active online hangouts for self-identified “involuntary celibates” — is such a cesspool of misogyny and rage that I could probably write ten posts a day based on the hair-raising stuff I find there and never run out of material. Thing is, I don’t have the stomach for that and I doubt many of you do either.
By David Futrelle
In case you thought that all the mainstream media attention they’ve been getting lately might lead some of the internet’s so-called “involuntary celibates” to reflect upon and maybe even reconsider their hateful beliefs, the answer so far seems to be a huge “no.”
By David Futrelle
The “involuntary celibates” who congregate on the Incels.me forum have previously celebrated such lovely fellows as Toronto van killer Alek Minassian, a self-described incel who murdered ten pedestrians in a symbolic attack against sex-having “Chads and Stacies,” and Elliot Rodger, the incel “saint” whose 2014 murder spree in Isla Vista California helped to inspire Minassian’s rampage.
By David Futrelle
In the wake of the Toronto van attacks, the mods on Incels.me have apparently decided to hide some of the more incriminating discussions on the site. Like this little thread, which they deleted — but not before the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine grabbed a copy of it.
By David Futrelle
Check out my piece on The Cut exploring incel mass murderer Elliot Rodger’s weird and creepy cult following.
By David Futrelle
I‘ve got a piece up on the Elle website about Toronto van attack suspect Alek Minassian and the dangers of future “incel” terrorism.
UPDATE: The CBC has confirmed with Facebook that Minassian’s post declaring himself an incel and hailing Elliot Rodger is real.
By David Futrelle
As I write this, it’s still not completely clear if Alek Minassian, the alleged driver of the van that killed ten pedestrians in Toronto yesterday in what appeared to be a very deliberate attack, is in fact a self-identified “involuntary celibate” trying to take revenge against the “Chads” and “Stacies” and other “normies” he blames for ruining his life — or if these reports are simply some sort of 4chan-style hoax.
UPDATE: The CBC has confirmed with Facebook that Minassian’s post declaring himself an incel and hailing Elliot Rodger is real.
By David Futrelle
Earlier today, a van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Toronto, killing ten before speeding off; all indications are that it was a deliberate attack. Police have arrested 25-year-old Alek Minassian, the man they say was the driver.
By David Futrelle
When rumors began to spread yesterday afternoon that the YouTube shooter was “a woman wearing a head scarf,” many on the right assumed that their gut instinct was right: the attack on YouTube, although it took no lives other than the shooter herself, was an act of Islamist terrorism. When the name of the shooter was released, and it turned out to be Nasim Aghdam, this was all the confirmation the Islamophobic right needed.
By David Futrelle
The motives behind the deadly string of bombings that 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt unleashed upon Austin before blowing himself up remain a mystery. A press conference yesterday, in which police revealed that Conditt had made a 25-minute recording confessing his crimes, left observers of the case with far more questions than answers.