One member here mentioned that Rob posted a lot more on Gab in a few months than he did on NP in 8 years. 1760 posts in 5 months is not bad, it can be described as active engagement in a forum.
Personally, I have never seen any of Rob's posts inside Gab – only those that have been shown to me in a thread like this one. So I have no idea whether that number is accurate or not.
Because Gab.com is just 1 domain that caused a scandal (out of hundreds of thousands of domains at Epik that get our attention), and because Gab is utterly detached from Epik's actual operations (which has been my role), and because Rob's posts inside Gab would be about politics (which is personal and nothing to do with Epik policy), it seems obvious to me that this was Rob being Rob and not Epik.
I can't swallow Rob Monster's claim that the "only" reason he is allowing Gab to flourish on Epik is due to his neutral championing of free speech
… Rob is not merely a detached ISP for Gab, but an active participant, and perhaps even a sympathizer.
… But the evidence I see, tends to establish that Rob chose this particular group Gab for a reason, and supports them and their thinking, at least on some level.
I don’t remember Rob claiming that he had nothing in common with Gab members. But that doesn't necessarily imply that Rob shares the extreme racism found in Gab posts like the one above. Also, I can't say if such posts are representative of the entire forum because I don't visit Gab.
"On some level" is the key phrase. Perhaps what Rob found he had in common with many Gab members were such things as
- Concern about censorship and de-platforming
- Distrust of the mainstream media
- Concern about rapidly changing demographics due to immigration
- Support for Donald Trump
- Christianity
- Conservative / right-of-center social and political views
- Interest in conspiracy theories (or what others would call conspiracy theories)
- Distrust of the government
I am not implying that Gab is merely another venue for mild-mannered Republicans. Gab achieved notoriety because of the extreme racism found inside the forum. But what I'm getting at is this: The qualities enumerated above are almost certainly found inside Gab, alongside more virulent ideas. And what Rob may share is simply this right-wing viewpoint. So would most Fox viewers or Rush Limbaugh listeners.
Given Rob's focus on censorship issues, that might have been enough common ground. Why overlook the more extreme racism? As I've said before, I believe this is due to Rob's christianity – a sincere belief that he can break bread with sinners, establish genuine trust, and eventually convert them.
When Rob sees a need, he engages. That might mean identifying censorship concerns to build services that people want. (After all, Rob cares about censorship and registrant rights. That's why Gab.com ended up at Epik.) Or it might mean ministering (in the christian sense) to racists whose extreme views Rob believed he could make less obnoxious. (Though some will laugh, I know this was 1 of Rob's sincere motivations. And it really shouldn't be laughed at. Someone has to persuade hardened racists to be less racist. And that can't be done by condemning them from afar, as most progressives are doing. No, it means going into the lion's den, inside Gab or wherever they are, to talk to them. Rob did that. It's easy to misconstrue.
If Rob were say, some fat cat capitalist with a cigar, hosting whatever content just for the almighty buck, tongues might wag, but at worst, we could say that the guy doesn't care one way or another about anything.
It's ironic in a sense, that Rob is being judged more harshly because he is NOT a cynic who is just after money. Instead, he's an idealist who believes in the causes he fights for. Rob isn't perfect. Nobody is. But I don't believe Rob is a Nazi or a white supremacist. I have observed the way he actually interacts with people who are very different from himself, and I have never observed discrimination.
When I resigned Tuesday afternoon, I spoke to Rob about the antisemitic chart that someone brought up earlier. Rob had retweeted it hastily, without noticing that the color-coding showed which CEOs are Jewish. Rather, he only noticed the labels about mainstream-media control. (I'm relying on memory here. So apologies if I'm getting it wrong.) That explanation is actually credible. Rob often acts very quickly. I've often bemoaned the fact that my longwinded emails, full of well researched detail, only get skimmed when Rob replies. Sometimes he misses the details because he has a large pile of things to look at each day. Personally, I'm always afraid that by "liking" a NamePros post I might have missed some horrible offensive detail buried in the middle somewhere. I'm the measure-twice-cut-once kind of guy. Rob is the charge-ahead kind. Both personality types have their pros / cons. But I do believe Rob spread that post in error. I have never observed anything in his comments or behavior that would indicate he is antisemitic. And Rob has always professed the opposite.
The post about Islam not being a real religion, just a takeover plot – that bothers me more because it seems to reflect a real misunderstanding. But I must admit that a lot of Americans have these misconceptions about Islam. Especially since 9/11, authors and pundits in the west have spread the notion that Islam is fundamentally violent or repressive. Though I would criticize Rob on that point, half the American population sees Islam the same way, to my chagrin. It's very easy for people in a likeminded group online to share an obnoxious meme amongst themselves without considering how it might offend their acquaintances in other contexts. In Rob's defense, he does treat his muslim employees with respect. Likewise his muslim customers. You can all see in this NamePros thread that Rob has shared his concerns about Islam but also listened attentively to muslims who explain their own faith. When all is said and done, Rob practices what he preaches about tolerance.
