Jean-François Gariépy

Jean-François Gariépy (born 1984) is a French Canadian white nationalist,[1][2][3] former neuroscience researcher,[4] and alt-right[5] political commentator. Gariépy hosts the YouTube channel The Public Space where he calls for the creation of a white ethnostate, pushes antisemitic messages, and advocates for the genetic superiority of white people.[6][7][8] The Anti-Defamation League lists The Public Space among "White Supremacist Channels".[9] Gariépy has been described as a "standard bearer of the alt-right."[10]

Personal life

Jean-François Gariépy was raised in Saint-Sophie, Québec and has been married three times. Gariépy and his third wife separated in July 2015. In December 2015, his wife gave birth to his first son. In the ensuing custody case, his wife accused Gariépy of "emotional abuse" and of "threatening to abduct their child to his native Canada." Gariépy's wife was given custody, to which Gariépy appealed. The appellate court judge ordered Gariépy to undergo a psychological evaluation which resulted in Gariépy being "very bright, intellectually", while also showing a "lack of insight and impulse control".[11]

During the custody case, Gariépy started a relationship with a 19-year old mestizo autistic woman from Texas, and eventually convinced her to drive to North Carolina to be with him and attempted to get her pregnant. As the parents objected to her daughter's relationship with Gariépy, a case was filed in which the woman was revealed to have "the social and mental maturity of a 10- or 11-year-old child”, according to a psychologist. Gariépy claimed she was pregnant with his child, but this was proven false. Guardianship was consequently transferred to the parents who severed the relationship. In an interview, Gariépy told The Daily Beast that the current family court system is designed to "harass men, to harass white, heterosexual males. Right now I’m currently being treated as a criminal by courts that don’t have the power to put me in jail, but they have the power to ruin my life."[11]

Scientist

Jean-François Gariépy studied biology at the Université de Montreal. In 2008, the Society for Neuroscience awarded Gariépy the Next Generation Award.[12] In 2012, he finished a doctoral thesis in French about the neural networks involved in the respiratory rhythm in lampreys.[13] From September 2011 until September 2015, Gariépy studied social interactions in monkeys at the Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University.[14] Over his scientific career, Gariépy published 21 research items that were cited 529 times.[15]

Gariépy told The Daily Beast he left Duke University for Canada because "he´d grown disillusioned with the scientific community."[11] Gariépy explained his departure from academia on Facebook: "Academia is a weird thing; it is populated with very intelligent, motivated and brilliant people, who are operating in a system that is simply defective to the point of impeding on the very ability of these individuals to engage in a true search for knowledge. In this sense, I am leaving research academia for the same reason that I joined it 12 years ago: in search for a better way to satisfy my hunger for a scientific understanding of the world."[16] Daily Beast author Kelly Weill, however, suggests Gariépy left Duke University as his legal status in the US came under question during divorce proceedings from his third wife.[11]

In 2014, Gariépy received $25,000 from the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to start the nonprofit organization NEURO.tv which was dedicated to education on science and philosophy via YouTube.[17] Asked whether he felt any regrets for having taken money from a sex offender, Gariépy said: "I'd cash a check sent straight from the devil if it could allow me to advance science or science education [...] I did know about the earlier conviction of Epstein when I accepted the money. I didn't know of the most recent allegations though, which are worse than I thought. In any case, I do not regret taking the money. Evil people are not just evil."[18]

In 2019, Gariépy published The revolutionary phenotype which is influenced by The selfish gene (1976) and The extended phenotype (1982) by Richard Dawkins. In it, Gariépy builds on the RNA-world hypothesis to introduce his own theory of how life emerged four billion years ago and how genetic code has developed since then. Gariépy argues that the combination of artificial intelligence and gene editing might lead to the emergence of a new life form that could potentially be controlled by machines. In October 2014, Gariépy requested another round of funding from Epstein for The revolutionary phenotype to which Epstein did not respond.[19]

Political commentator

Jean-François Gariépy made his first public appearance on episode 157 of the podcast Drunken Peasants in 2015.[11]. In 2017, Gariépy joined the YouTube channel Warski Live as co-host.[20] At Warski Live, Gariépy introduced topics like scientific racism by discussing ethnic differences with guests like Richard B. Spencer, Millennial Woes, Andrew Anglin and Sargon of Akkad.[10][21] At Warski Live, Gariépy gained notoriety among the alt-right as a moderator of the so-called "YouTube Bloodsports" where two or more mainly right-wing guests engage in often highly abusive discussions on politics.[22]

After a falling out with his co-host, Andy Warski, in April 2018, Gariépy founded his own YouTube channel "The Public Space". The channel has, among many others, featured white nationalists and alt-right figures like Richard B. Spencer, David Duke, Mike Peinovich and Greg Johnson.[22]

Selected works
  • Organisation et modulation du réseau neuronal de la respiration chez la lamproie (PDF). Montreal: Université de Montreal. 2012.
  • The revolutionary phenotype. The amazing story of how life begins and how it ends. Élora Édition. 2018. ISBN 978-0-359-57079-9.
gollark: I don't know. Apioformic lock-in?
gollark: On Arch.
gollark: `systemd` is a dependency of almost all things ever so you cannot not install it.
gollark: You can't not install systemd because all the stuff depends on it.
gollark: However, Alpine includes UTTERLY almost no GNU software.

References
  1. O'Brien, Luke (2019-05-30). "Twitter Still Has A White Nationalist Problem". HuffPost. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  2. Weill, Kelly (2018-09-18). "Inside YouTube's Far-Right Radicalization Factory". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  3. Koh, Yoree (2018-11-03). "Hate Speech on Live 'Super Chats' Tests YouTube". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-02-16.
  4. Weill, Kelly (2018-03-15). "Alt-Right YouTuber Accused of Luring Autistic Teen in Pregnancy Plot". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2020-02-16. A former neuroscience researcher at Duke University who left suddenly in 2015, Gariepy now makes videos attempting to prove white superiority, calling for all-white separatist states and a crackdown on immigration.
  5. "Alt-right is dying, but powerful conservatives are mainstreaming its ideas". Salon. 2018-03-19. Retrieved 2020-02-16. Jean-François Gariépy, a prominent alt-right YouTube personality who works closely with Spencer [...]
  6. "Maybe It's Not YouTube's Algorithm That Radicalizes People". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-02-16. The most exteme category, the “Alt-Right,” refers to those who push strong anti-Semitic messages and advocate for the genetic superiority of white people, including [...] Jean-Francois Gariepy.
  7. "Names of prominent far-right commentators spray-painted onto Plateau buildings". CBC. 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2020-02-16. Jean-François Gariépy, originally from Quebec, is an online white nationalist personality, who supports ideas of white superiority and white "ethnostates."
  8. "Fallen Star: Jason Kessler went from a high of 'Unite the Right' to a pariah among other racists and in his hometown". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2020-02-16. Jean-François Gariépy, a YouTube personality who promotes the idea of ethnostates and has expressed antisemitic views.
  9. "Despite YouTube Policy Update, Anti-Semitic, White Supremacist Channels Remain". Anti Defamation League. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  10. Béland, Gabriel (25 May 2019). "YouTube payant pour l'extrême droite". La Presse (Canadian newspaper). Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  11. Weill, Kelly (15 March 2018). "Alt-Right YouTuber Accused of Luring Autistic Teen in Pregnancy Plot". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 31 August 2019. The psychologist found Gariepy to be “very bright, intellectually,” but said he showed a lack of insight and impulse control, a “sense of being treated unfairly, or victimized,” and displayed distorted thoughts suggesting “overt psychosis.”
  12. "Next Generation Award". Society for Neuroscience. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. Gariepy, Jean-Francois (2012). Organisation et modulation du réseau neuronal de la respiration chez la lamproie (in French). Montreal: Université de Montreal. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  14. "Jean-François Gariépy". Duke University. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  15. "Jean-Francois Gariépy". ResearchGate. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  16. Flaherty, Colleen (11 September 2015). "The Rise of "Quit Lit". Soon-to-be former academics are taking their grievances public". Slate (magazine). Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  17. "Front Page". Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  18. "Dirty Money". GenomeWeb. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  19. Aldhous, Peter (26 August 2019). "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  20. Haskins, Caroline (12 February 2019). "How YouTube Drives Shane Dawson and Other Creators to Conspiracy Theories". Vice News. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  21. Silverman, Robert (20 August 2018). "The Far Right Is Conning IMDb: They're Exploiting 'a Weakness in the System'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  22. Holt, Jared (12 December 2018). "White Nationalist YouTuber Says Jeffrey Epstein Once Gave Him $25,000". Right Wing Watch. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
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