#PodcastFriday: Nazi Catboys

 frandroid is making Podcast Friday a thing and I think that's a great thing. Warning in advance that my entries will not be as regular as Reading Wednesdays, and that they will probably mostly be It Could Happen Here because that's most of what I listen to.

Like today! When we talk about The Curious Case of Nazi Catboys. (Part 2 is here.) This is a two-part episode featuring Garrison Davis, who has spent too long spelunking in the worst parts of the internet and emerged with this questionable gem. They had been teasing it on Twitter for some time and I thought it was just a reference to some anime. But no. It's a whole thing.

If you're not familiar with the podcast, It Could Happen Here is a Behind the Bastards spinoff show. It focuses on The Crumbles, or the ways in which civilizations don't exactly collapse but slowly decline, as well as how to survive during collapse and, it is hoped, build a new world in the shell of the old. It tends to be less funny than BtB, though it often does an uplifting episode about union organizing or something to balance what is typically grimdark subject matter. Nazi Catboys is both grimdark and absolutely hilarious, so it balances itself I guess.

Anyway, the important question here is why do Nazis like catboys and femboys? Why are some catboys and femboys Nazis? Aren't Nazis all about homophobia and transphobia? Well, yes, but sometimes you're such a misogynist that you swing right back to being kinda gay? It's horseshoe theory in action except the horseshoe is flung at your head and breaks your brain. Garrison does a deep dive into Alienated Youth and how online subcultural spaces are vulnerable to fascist infiltration. Along the way there is some fascinating examination of gender and power dynamics amongst contemporary fascists.

The one omission, I think, is not talking more about the Night of the Long Knives and the doomed queer ancestors to today's Nazi catboys, but you know, it's only two hours of Nazi catboy content and there is a lot to get in. Especially once they get into Nick Fuentes' catboy fetish and everyone starts laughing too hard to breathe. Seriously, it is very, very funny. I know far too much about Nick Fuentes owing to another podcast I love, I Don't Speak German, so getting to know this side of him was certainly an interesting ride.

In conclusion: We need to fight for queer and trans rights for many reasons, but one is to make a world in which queer and trans kids can just be queer and trans and wear cat ears in normal ways instead of having to hide out in horrible internet spaces where they get converted to fascism.