Lauren Southern, a Canadian university student, freelance journalist and activist, discovered cultural libertarianism due to her frustration with the illiberal mindset of modern progressivism and feminism. Drawn into alt-right circles, Southern, now 21, initially assumed that the racism and anti-Semitism she saw and heard was simply provocative humor. Then she began to realize that many of her new allies meant it.
Southern, who recently spoke to me by email and phone, still believes there are “sane” people who consider themselves alt-right and is not sure if the “hateful” ones are a majority. But she has been increasingly disturbed by the vitriolic bigotry—and the effect it was having on her.
“I’ve been joking along so much that I think I’ve lost myself a little,” Southern told me. “Sometimes I feel like I’m becoming a sociopath.”
Having soured on the alt-right, Southern is still passionate about cultural libertarianism. However, she says, “you can defend free speech while not [condoning] what these people are saying.” She points out that while Twitter’s cultural libertarians oppose bans on offensive speech, “we also condemn those who make #killallwhitemen memes and genuinely hate men or whites. I don’t see why this shouldn’t be treated similarly.”
