Podcast trilogy explores the global rise of extremism, radicalization

Hateful, violent rhetoric online is a growing problem — with measurable, real-life consequences.

The threat posed by these vitriolic spaces is on the rise, with identity-related hate crimes being reported in communities around the world. 

In 2021, CBC Podcasts set out to investigate various strands of these radical movements, from incels to white supremacy to the origins of modern American Republicanism and its alt-right offshoots. 

The work resulted in three separate podcast series: The Flamethrowers, White Hot Hate and Boys Like Me. Each show explores how three different communities are using similar extremist methodologies and tactics to mobilize disenfranchised, vulnerable individuals and spread their ideologies globally. 

"These three series are concerned about the cultural tremors vibrating beneath the surface. All with a potential to shake our foundations," says CBC Podcasts Executive Producer Arif Noorani.

"In one corner (The Flamethrowers), there's a sizable population that mistrusts mainstream media and now science. In another (White Hot Hate), a clandestine movement being fed by fears (justified or not) about immigration, racial equity and multiculturalism. Throw in an online world (Boys Like Me) bound together by a toxic mix of loneliness, rejection and misogyny. These are three separate series that examine a bigger question: Do they have the potential to cause a cultural earthquake? And if one erupts, will the others follow?" 

The Flamethrowers

Hosted by award-winning reporter Justin Ling (Uncover: The Village), The Flamethrowers tracks the rise of right wing radio from fringe preachers and conspiracy peddlers of the 1930s to the political firestorm that rages today.

The series examines the many key players who shaped the narrative, from Canadian priest Charles Coughlin, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, FOX's Sean Hannity and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

It's the story of how radio energized and then radicalized the conservative base, culminating with Donald Trump, the president who followed the conservative talk radio playbook all the way to the White House.  

White Hot Hate

One summer night in 2019, Winnipeg Free Press journalist Ryan Thorpe met with an anonymous recruiter in a city park. Ryan was wracked with nerves: he had gone undercover, pretending that he too was interested in 'saving the white race,' and hoping to join a secretive group calling itself The Base.

Soon, Ryan uncovered that the man in Whittier Park was Patrik Mathews, a Canadian Armed Forces reservist who was trying to establish a neo-Nazi extremist cell in the Manitoban capital, and had formed sinister plans for violence and destruction abroad.

This series follows the extraordinary case of Mathews through Ryan's first-hand experience and perspective as an infiltrator — while host Michelle Shephard, veteran national security reporter, explores the rise of white supremacist accelerationism: the racist and ultra-violent ideology that drives believers to seize control, after creating chaos.

Boys Like Me

Why are some lonely, young men a growing threat to public safety? In 2018, a Toronto man drove a van down a busy sidewalk, killing 11 people and injuring many more. He was linked to the "incel" movement, a dark online world fueled by violent misogyny, extreme isolation and perceived rejection. 

In the wake of the attack, documentarian and activist Evan Mead discovers a disturbing connection to the perpetrator. They were former high school classmates; both outcasts, existing together on the fringes of social acceptance. Mead collaborates closely with podcast host Ellen Chloë Bateman to find out how two young men who started in similar circumstances ended up on such drastically different paths.

This five-part series examines how socially-isolated young men can vanish into an online world of nihilism and despair that radicalizes them into angry — potentially deadly — misogynists.