The E-meme-gency Act

From Edibles to Martial Law - A Diagolon Story

I want to acknowledge and express my deepest gratitude for the daunting, complex work of Tammy Robert as well as the admirable courage it took to publicly take on the possibility that maybe, potentially, theoretically, I’m not the perverse combined manifestation of a Marvel Supervillain and Evan Balgord's incel wet dreams.

As Tammy skillfully explains in her latest piece, and I agree, no one should feel bad if they did believe that because, what choice did you have. 

Allow me to explain.

In many ways, some privately and some publicly explained winks and nods, I intended for this to happen. 

Upon my release from the Canadian Armed Forces, it had became alarmingly apparent to me that something was very wrong with the zeitgeist of modern media. Through my own lived experiences in the Canadian military I could point to several instances of outright bold-faced lies that I can and would testify under oath to having witnessed.

Out of frustration, curiosity and perhaps just an innate, genetic predisposition harkening back to the Battle of Culloden to take on the overwhelmingly impossible task of defeating a bully. Whatever the reason, keeping my mouth shut for the sake of my best interests has never been a strength of mine. Ask anyone that knew me in the army. 

I began expressing myself online via written blog posts and eventually video streams. I found a voice for myself by studying the influence of people like George Carlin. I love to make people laugh, but I try to make a point as well. The two compliment each other like a good meal, and sometimes it just helps make the medicine go down, as they say.

To my genuine surprise, over the years I attracted a sizeable following. Initially I was sick with anxiety over how my former brothers in arms especially would receive my politically charged content. It was after my Omar Khadr protest that thousands of them reached out to me to express support and became regular supporters of my online shenanigans. 

The "Afghan Times Veteran" video struck a particular chord with many of my peers regarding a certain segment of veteran communities around the world that I'll decline to comment on further. They know what they did! *shakes fist*

Predictably, not everyone agreed with or enjoyed my presence online' or, it would seem, my existence on Earth, which is fine - we aren't all going to get along. Read a history book. It’s part of life. 

Unbeknownst to me; however, lurking in the dregs and sewers of the Internet existed what would eventually mutate into an amorphous, malignant tumor on Canadian society - the Canadian "Anti-Hate" Network (CAHN). The irony of the name for such a vicious and deliberate merchant of fear and unjust alarm, (which invariably leads to suspicion and hatred), wasn't lost on me.

CAHN’s tabloid-like, TMZ-style coverage of Canadian conservatives and even just free-thinking citizens "exposed", (translation; cyber bullied), and publicly shamed those they didn’t agree with into shutting up. It may have worked in the past, but I can assure you I have survived more living nightmares than anyone at CAHN dares dream of. Having been bullied much of my own life, I took this as a signal to throw down the gauntlet. 

As a Canadian citizen, proud veteran and man who stands on his own two feet and had to work and suffer tremendously for everything I am blessed to have, under absolutely no circumstances was I going to entertain the notion of kneeling before some wannabe white-knight crybabies on the Internet.

I was angry on behalf of many others who, despite whatever unsavoury views or feelings or opinions they may hold, have the right in this country I fought for and dozens of my friends died and continue to die for, to express how they feel. 

Remember how everyone memorized the first few levels of Super Mario in the early 90’s? Yes, like that. I knew what I could say and how to say it to make them dance, write more garbage and force them to expose their petty selves. 

The notion that a cabal of scared little boys who didn't get a date to the prom are entitled to slander and defame whoever they disagree with is heinous and has no place in this country, or any free country. 

Even in the midst of all this; however, I wanted to give the people at CAHN the opportunity to turn this around. Over the course of the summer months I had ongoing, cordial relationships with both Peter Smith and Kurt Phillips via text and video chat, under the guise that they were trying to understand the truth. Morgan and I even assisted them, willingly, with an investigation into an incident involving one of their directors that had nothing to do with us.

I should have known CAHN’s loathing and fear-driven, boy-crying-wolf psychosis was far too entrenched. They’ve never publicly acknowledged our conversations, and the moment I was conveniently put away, they doubled-down on their lies.

They were so obviously captivated by their hatred of me and my refusal to capitulate to their demands that all logic and reason went out the window. Any commitment to honest investigative journalism fled their cold, black hearts faster than the last dozen women who swiped right.

For context, I must mention American comedian Andy Kauffman, but to a more contemporary art form, Sam Hyde. Mr. Hyde is, in so-called "right wing" Internet circles, a famously successful troll. 

Having enjoyed success in television and his own websites and productions, what fascinated me about him, like Kauffman, was the ability to do some really outrageous inside jokes, while also making a point. Hyde had managed, with his supporters, to dupe CNN and other national level media into declaring him one of the latest mass shooters, even using Hyde's stock photos on air. 

Not stopping there, you may recall "the ghost of Kiev", hero pilot of Ukraine. Looking more closely, "Sameniov Hydenski" is just a picture of Hyde Photoshopped convincingly into an F-18 cockpit.

Gut-bursting to those of us in the know, but also powerfully relevant to the times. The media, as Denzel Washington said in 2016, is all about, “the need to be first, not even to be true anymore."

"So what a responsibility you all have — to tell the truth. In our society, now it's just first — who cares, get it out there. We don't care who it hurts. We don't care who we destroy. We don't care if it's true," Washington exclaimed to the pack of reporters gathered on the red carpet before him that night.

Peddling incorrect information, framed as "the truth" by authoritative sources is extremely harmful. People can and do base their life decisions around what they trust to be "true" from authorities. 

I did. I went to fight a war I didn't understand.

Hyde had cleverly pioneered for contemporary times a new art form. He could make us laugh while simultaneously embarrassing corporate media giants, and they deserved it. 

Light bulb💡!

I had a similar idea in store for CAHN. Bafflingly, I would even openly mock them about this concept in real time, but perhaps out of hubris, they neglected to take stock of what was happening. Or maybe they just realized they could use it to their advantage.

CAHN and other pearl-clutching media outlets were demonstrably obsessed with the boogeyman under the bed scenario of a "white supremacist militia movement". Going back to at least the late 80’s in America, this trope is a favourite of far-left alarmists particularly.

I've certainly had my fair share of weapons training and recreational firearms, hunting, etc. remains very popular in conservative circles. I know this is a scary prospect, Toronto, but you're going to be OK.

It became clear that the existence of firearms in Canada was extremely terrifying to CAHN and affiliates, so I leaned into it even more. Derek Harrison did too - we all did, on purpose. Cue more articles about, "scary Internet man with guns who wears plaid." Then of course, the obvious dog whistle of "Nazi symbolism" was too easy. 

Even I fell out of my skeptical chair after using innocent imagery like Nordic rune signs and valknut crosses, compasses, etc. discretely placed around were seized upon as "proof" of my extremism. 

I'm Danish. My grandmother, Dorte, immigrated to Canada with her mother from Denmark after Nazi occupation and the end of the war. My great-grandmother famously shoved a German officer’s own gun into his chest and told him to beat it. 

Poking danger in the eye runs in the family.

So, being one-quarter Danish, I have a cultural and family attachment to their history. CAHN knows this very well, but decided screw it anyway, just make him a “Nazi”. 

Another wild card feature of my broadcasts has been the consumption of cannabis from time to time. Like many creatives, I find it helps put me in a more fluid state of mind for added sillyness. I strongly suspect the Rick and Morty writers attend the same THC centered dimension. A long list of wild movie trailers, unsolved mysteries, game shows, character and celebrity impressions and yes - the parallel 'Tim Burton' meets 'Family Guy'  world of Diagolon. 

I will address the scourge and menace of our arch nemesis nation 'Circulon' another time. Damn 'Circs'...

Think USA v USSR but with way more over the top antics, extreme situations and assassinations ('gun or rope', 'dumpster toss' and 'eaten by wolves') that would make Michael Bay fans feel is gratuitous. Schwarzenegger and Nic Cage are still very active. Phillip has a flamethrower company, embroiled in an embezzlement and insider trading scandal. Don't ask questions, just go with it.

At this point, Diagolon was born in January 2021 as a nod to the geographical areas resistant to government mandates they felt, and I felt, were overbearing.

The deck-stacking continued. 

The Diagolon meme snowballed over the weeks and I decided we needed a flag for two reasons. 

1. Symbolism and branding is effective marketing and I wanted to further the sense of community I was building for people who really didn’t seem to have one previously;

2. I knew CAHN would undoubtedly try to frame it as some kind of ominous symbol of death like the Waffen SS' totenkopf division emblems. 

Which they did. 

I even mused openly that someone would seize upon the "white stripe" to be symbolic of white supremacy. The video clip of myself with collaborators Alex Ferryman and our black\Indian friend “BGB", (whom CAHN refuses to acknowledge at all, which is curious. Racist, but curious), laughing hysterically was about disbelief that a Canadian senator could made this utterly baseless claim on national television, in senate chambers, with no evidence.

Tired of hearing claims made by CAHN that we were a "dangerous militia of Nazis”, I bought some very scary Dollar Tree masks and at a gathering and BBQ of 50+ people, I had a few of my friends don them and pose for a photo in front of the flag in an ominous manner.

I posted it to my Instagram with caption, "Very scary and serious militia threat, be afraid!"

CAHN took the bait and other national news outlets ran with the photo as though it had been leaked - not intentionally posted to embarrass CAHN.

To conclude this sordid tale of Internet war gone wrong, law enforcement’s actions must be addressed. 

While it was very much my private intentions all along to troll CAHN and legacy media, my miscalculation was now in the hands of law enforcement and national intelligence.

It was my belief that as I inevitably drew the attention of these organizations, there was simply no way any self-respecting law enforcement or security professional would survey this landscape closely and fail to see it for what it was.

I suppose I'm guilty of having too much faith in them to do their jobs.

Instead, the framework of CAHN’s slanderous fraud and outrageous abuse served as “intelligence" (as evidenced in all kinds of legal and public disclosures) for law enforcement on the imminent danger posed by "the Diagolon". 

Yet Phillip, the goat mascot, is never mentioned in these reports despite being the most controversial and violent fictional figure in the movement, for example.

At any rate, my attempt to model Hyde and expose the media establishment in Canada as the lazy, self-serving, politically influenced propaganda machine that it is, suddenly expanded to include law enforcement and national intelligence for the same reasons. Clearly that was not my intention and something I never predicted.

How scary is that? I have not been questioned once, ever, about Diagolon or Coutts, Alberta. Not one question from anyone in any official capacity, despite the fact they had clearly framed me for all of it.

The only instance to-date on which I've been questioned by anyone was at the Emergency Act Hearings. The media frothed at the mouth to be able to see and hear my testimony, only to have their mouths deservedly shut by yours truly. Of course, not one media outlet even touched it.

I would encourage you, as Tammy said, to observe what I said that day for yourself, (starts on page 138). I stand by my testimony, which I gave as expediently as I could from inside a Saskatchewan prison, where I’m being held under heinous conditions for politically-motivated charges with comically poor foundations. 

If I'm guilty of anything, it was the belief that despite the political influence, the federal government funding to CAHN and the media’s clear desire to see my friends and I positioned as some sort of national threat, that the professionals, the adults in the room could be trusted to parse fact from fiction, (like, say the difference between Al Qaeda and Phillip the goat mascot):

That the truth was above this sort of political mudslinging. That those authorities couldn't or wouldn’t be influenced by hatchet jobs published by tabloids. 

That despite my right to criticize them for what I believe was a national failure in the Portipique, NS mass shooting, their honour as men and women of law enforcement would hold the Nova Scotia RCMP to a higher standard. 

I was wrong.

Now, it's up to the court and justice system to sift through this ungodly mess of lies, political influence and evidently, my imagination, which is apparently so dangerous and so powerful it summoned the full weight of federal government to declare martial law upon it and all of Canada.

And I did it all without so much as honking a single horn.

That's the problem you face now, ladies and gentlemen. 

I used my voice with the help of some friends. 

They used the RCMP, CSIS, Senate, House of Commons and invoked the successor to the War Measures Act in response, based upon the screeching of smear merchants.

I think Canada will want an explanation soon. It deserves one. 

- Jeremy MacKenzie (RD) \\\

Ragingdissident.com

Diagolon.org