Mike Cernovich

Who he is

Mike Cernovich is an American social-media personality who bridges the manosphere and the alt-right. In 2015 he self-published Gorilla Mindset, a self-help bestseller that became a staple of manosphere "mindset" culture; he then became, per Wikipedia, influential "as part of the manosphere" and one of the most visible promoters of political conspiracy theories. ^[1]

Why he matters here

Cernovich is the clearest bridge figure between the manosphere's self-improvement register and the alt-right's conspiracy media. Gorilla Mindset sold the familiar "control your mind, control your life" red-pill self-help — while the same personality "helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that John Podesta and other high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child-sex ring", and was described by Politico as "an avid consumer and progenitor of conspiracy theories". ^[1] He matters here because he demonstrates how a manosphere audience, gathered around self-improvement, can be routed toward political conspiracism — the same crossover visible in Stefan Molyneux.

In the record

The New Yorker profiled Cernovich as part of the pro-Trump online right in 2016, describing him as

the meme mastermind of the alt-right

^[2] and reporting that he was among the first public figures to insinuate that Hillary Clinton had a grave neurological condition — an unsubstantiated claim with no medical basis. ^[2] In July 2018, Vice reported that Cernovich

published a number of blog posts and posted a video on Twitter

^[3] resurfacing years-old, offensive tweets by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and criticising Gunn's political views; Disney subsequently fired Gunn from the franchise. ^[3]

Cernovich was not offered a right of reply for this initial profile; if that offer is made, it and any response will be logged here.