1,550 words

There is a meme showing a girl who loves to say “I’m not like other girls” when they are in fact cookie-cutter copies of the infinite other girls who bill themselves as “not like other girls.” You encounter a similar type of person on the Internet, who insists that he is not like other Internet people. “You see, for most e-celebs, the Internet is their whole life. But me? I have a happy life and a successful career outside of all this, and I just do this Internet stuff for fun. I don’t take it seriously, like everyone else does.” But it is those who make a big show about “not being like other Internet people” who will invariably be the ones who take the Internet the most seriously. They’re the biggest attention whores, always getting involved in scene drama, flying off the handle over small insults, and so on.

When I first became aware of Gonzalo Lira in 2017, he was one of these “I’m not like other Internet people” types. He was in his late 40s, clean-cut, and his videos looked to be of broadcast TV quality. He made his videos in his London apartment, which looked like it cost him a pretty penny. They were mostly entry-level manosphere talking points tailored for a normie audience. He called himself Coach Red Pill, and the premise of his channel was that, now that he had achieved a degree of success in life, he wanted to pass on his vast life experience to younger generations. It therefore seemed plausible that YouTube was something he was just doing for a laugh. Whatever he made from YouTube had to be pocket change compared to what he must have been spending on rent in London.

The Pinochet Problem – Coach Red Pill (CRP Classics)

Lira came to the into the dissident Right’s orbit in late 2017, during the great Alt Right-Skeptic War, when he was feuding with some of the same people the Alt Right was also feuding with — namely Sargon and the now-forgotten (but at the time infamous) Kraut and Tea. He became a footnote in the history of the dissident Right around this time as well after some skeptic-community lowlifes conspired to dox Coach Red Pill, which caused Andy Warski to leave the skeptics and begin hosting a series of Alt Right-versus-Skeptics debates which became known as Internet Bloodsports.

While Coach Red Pill was “on our side,” he was not “on the team.” His position toward the Alt Right was that while race is real and white genocide is happening, White Nationalism is nevertheless a lost cause. The establishment is invincible, the forces in motion are too powerful, and the damage already done is irreversible. Thus, he was not about to ruin his life by taking up a lost cause when all this Internet stuff was just a fun hobby for him.

It is thus with supreme irony that of those on the scene at that time, it was Coach Red Pill — Mr. “I’m not like all these other Internet dregs” — who would be the one to literally get himself killed in the pursuit of likes, viewer numbers, and Internet clout.

If nothing else, Gonzalo Lira was a character. While he was a manosphere guy, he certainly put his own spin on it. He eschewed the typical musclebound “tough guy” persona that so many manosphere types adopt in favor of projecting the image of a more erudite and pretentious thinking man’s misogynist. Many compared both his appearance and delivery to Kevin Spacey. Lira’s ego was legendary, and his videos produced a series of highly quotable and amusingly inflammatory rhetoric about women, such as “You need to treat women like dogs” and “Pregnant women are damaged goods.” Lira’s hatred of women was surpassed only by his love of drama, although he started to withdraw from the Internet Bloodsports scene after falling out with Ethan Ralph and Andy Warski. He then focused on making content for his manosphere followers, as this was always his passion.

Andy Warski is Four Things

To his credit, Lira did prove one point: You’re never too old to start something new. YouTube is a young man’s game, but Lira got into it when he pushing 50, mixed it up with people half his age, and eventually surpassed many of the young bucks with which he had originally been feuding. I don’t remember exactly how many subscribers he ultimately had on his original Coach Red Pill channel, but it was in the hundreds of thousands.

My initial impression of Lira was that he was a midwit douchebag, but a relatively harmless one. That began to change, however. Over the years, his hair grew longer and his clothes became shabbier. Lira’s account was demonetized in late 2021 due to his COVID skepticism — and then Gonzo started going gonzo. He first told Americans to leave the country, because Western civilization is doomed. Moreover, he started up his own Fight Club-style Project Mayhem and ordered his followers to carry out acts of resistance against governments. His first assignment was for his supporters to buy toothpicks to be used for jamming locks. He advised his followers to do this at abortion clinics, government courthouses, and federal buildings:

You are not Jason Bourne — so don’t set your sights on Fort Knox or other impossible buildings. Be more modest — more realistic. And remember — it’s quantity, not quality. If you’re not sure — do ‘em anyway. Better safe than sorry! Don’t worry if you can’t clog every lock — but clog the ones you know will be noticed right away. Clog the ones that will cause the maximum disruption. Because that’s the goal — maximum disruption. NEVER a private home (unless it’s a politician’s property). NEVER an old folks home. NEVER a hospital, a fire station, a kid’s school. We’re men, not Leftists — we don’t mess with innocents. Any structures used by the enemies? Make that bitch squeal. You’ll be scared, the first time you do it — every virgin gets scared the first time sticking pussy. So do it to a building or structure that no one is watching or even thinking about. Do it fast — but don’t be sloppy. Practice at your home doing it while filming at least 3 times. Because practice makes perfect. Practice at home until you feel smooth and in control. Then go out there and nut in those locks. As soon as you’ve done your first — go do your next. Don’t rest on your laurels, don’t jerk off admiring your handiwork. First — next — another –and then another. Get so good it’s as casual as breathing. Video — or it didn’t happen. And make sure to film signage of the building you clogged up.

You won’t hear about that on Tucker Carlson. Lira’s Project Mayhem Telegram channel is still active, if you want to see for yourself.

So now the “I’m not like other Internet people” guy was now unironically LARPing — the most online of diseases — as Tyler Durden. The guy who did not want to join the Alt Right lest he draw the establishment’s ire was now telling people to commit crimes against the government.

Then came the Ukraine War, and this was Lira’s chance to shine. The Third World country that he had chosen to live in — rumors abound as to why he ended up there — was suddenly the center of the universe. He rebranded his channel so that his gimmick became being a pro-Russia commentator living in the middle of Ukraine. Lira thus became a global curiosity and an in-demand talking head. Of course, the absurdity of his status was clear. It’s not as if he was doing on-the-ground reporting, talking to people at the front lines and investigating war damage. Rather, he was commenting on the war from his apartment — something he could have done from any apartment in the world. It was simply that he was commenting on the war from an apartment that just so happened to be in Ukraine.

Lira was eventually arrested and then released pending trial. He attempted to flee to Hungary, but was caught in the process. Some say that he may have succeeded had he not posted a video online telling the world about his escape plan. Mr. “I’m Not Like Other Internet People” could not kick the habit of chasing Internet clout, even when it might have saved his life.

Lira’s death was announced on Friday by no less than Tucker Carlson, who received the news from Lira’s father. Ukraine has yet to officially confirm this, although the US State Department acknowledged “the death of a US citizen in Ukraine” in response to media inquiries.

Gonzalo Lira, Sr. says his son has died at 55 in a Ukrainian prison, where he was being held for the crime of criticizing the Zelensky and Biden governments. Gonzalo Lira was an American citizen, but the Biden administration clearly supported his imprisonment and torture. Several… https://t.co/F0nOG9qGvv

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 12, 2024

I feel this is like the end of Lord of the Rings, when Golem finally gets back the precious ring that he has been pursuing, and then promptly falls into a lake of hot lava. Gonzalo Lira finally got the attention he sought for — but only from inside a Ukrainian prison, and finally, his coffin.

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