A notorious Internet troll reportedly convinced The Guardian to publish a fake news story Monday on his journey to becoming a racist member of the “alt-right.”
Godfrey Elfwich, who jokingly describes Xirself (preferred gender pronoun) as a “Genderqueer Muslim atheist,” has gained a large Twitter following for trolling the far-left. In 2015, Elfwich famously made his way onto a BBC radio show and convinced the host that Star Wars was racist because Darth Vader was black.
In what could be the most trollish act yet, Elfwich appears to have had an article anonymously published on The Guardian entitled, “‘Alt-right’ online poison nearly turned me into a racist.”
“It started with Sam Harris, moved on to Milo Yiannopoulos and almost led to full-scale Islamophobia,” the article states. “If it can happen to a lifelong liberal, it could happen to anyone.”
The story chronicles Elfwich’s imaginary journey from innocent European liberal to hateful critic of “PC culture.”
“It hit me like a ton of bricks. Online radicalisation of young white men,” Elfwich says. “It’s here, it’s serious, and I was lucky to be able to snap out of it when I did.”
The story was immediately spread online by several prominent left-leaning journalists, eager to use the fabricated narrative to confirm their own biases.
CJ Werleman, a columnist for the Middle East Eye and author of “The New Atheist Threat,” used the story as an example of how “new atheism” is a gateway to “neo-Nazism.” Toby Moses, an assistant opinion editor at the Guardian, also proudly shared the story online.
Great read on how New Atheism is a gateway to Alt-Right (neo-Nazism). https://t.co/OvZEdAVxpZ
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) November 28, 2016
‘It was so subtle, at no point did I think my growing Islamophobia was genuine racism’ on the ease of radicalisationhttps://t.co/yxNuPhn3fI
— Toby Moses (@tobymoses) November 28, 2016
RT @MoAnsar: Many in the mainstream should take note. ‘Alt-right’ online poison nearly turned me into a racisthttps://t.co/zi8M03F04j
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) November 30, 2016
I’m so grateful this was written-Islamophobia is the “alt-right” gateway drug for so many young white men. https://t.co/iP6mfpsBNW
— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) November 29, 2016
The “anonymous” Elfwick eventually took credit for the article, showing screenshots of word files from late October using the article’s headline.
This is not a joke btw. I genuinely wrote it.
— Godfrey Elfwick (@GodfreyElfwick) November 29, 2016
Only this. I wrote it a while ago for the lols. @pierbove @ImLiterallyBen pic.twitter.com/hVhKObRk1S
— Godfrey Elfwick (@GodfreyElfwick) November 29, 2016
Sam Harris, the atheist author who was jokingly criticized in the story, immediately began questioning journalists who shared the article. Other reporters began picking up on the alleged hoax soon after.
This appears to have been a hoax, Glenn. You retweeted it 3 times to 779K people. Got anything to say?@ggreenwald https://t.co/bbvljbrQrZ
— Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) November 30, 2016
It appears that Godfrey wrote this as a joke. Quite spectacular, if true. @SamHarrisOrg @LaloDagach @GadSaad @DouglasKMurray https://t.co/XxdonNV2NU
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) November 29, 2016
According to one blog covering the story, The Guardian states that it stands by the article’s publication.
“We are confident of the identity of the author and the sourcing of the article in question.”
The Truth About Fake News
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