Jonathan Keeperman
Jonathan Keeperman | |
|---|---|
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| Other names | Lomez |
Jonathan Keeperman, also known by his pseudonym "Lomez" (stylised L0m3z), leads Passage Publishing, also known as Passage Press, an American far-right and "new right" publisher.[1][2][3][4][5] Keeperman was a University of California, Irvine, lecturer from 2013 to 2022.[1]
Founded in 2021, Passage publishes works from online personalities, reprints and new translations of fiction and nonfiction from historical fascist and reactionary authors.[1]
Biography
[edit]Keeperman was born to a Jewish family and was raised in Moraga, California.[1] He celebrated his bar mitzvah in 1996.[1][6] In college, he played for the University of California, San Diego, basketball team.[1] Keeperman was a master of fine arts student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and was a lecturer in the university's English department from 2013 to 2022.[1][4]
He began blogging with the "Mr Lomez" pseudonym in 2006, according to The Guardian.[2] He used the Lomez identity from 2012 to 2014 in the comment section of Steve Sailer's blog posts, and then on Twitter accounts since around 2015.[1] Lomez has used anti-gay and anti-Asian slurs, referenced white nationalist memes, proposed journalists should be lynched, and promoted a conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is gay.[3] In the 2020s, Lomez wrote in The American Mind, The Federalist, and an anti-feminist essay in First Things.[1]
In 2024, the "Lomez" Twitter persona associated with Passage Publishing was revealed by The Guardian to be Keeperman.[2] In an interview with The Blaze, he indicated that "Lomez" is a Seinfeld reference.[7]
Publishing
[edit]Passage Publishing
[edit]Passage Publishing, also known as Passage Press, is a far-right and "new right" publisher led by Keeperman.[1][2][5][3] It was founded in 2021 out of the Passage Prize, an online writing and arts competition offering a $20,000 cryptocurrency prize for selected works. The judges were neoreactionary Curtis Yarvin and self-published author "Zero HP Lovecraft."[8][1] Passage Publishing has published two books resulting from its Passage Prize writing and art competitions.[9][independent source needed] In 2023, Passage Prize was rebranded as "Passage Publishing," and was expanded through acquisitions of Mystery Grove Publishing.[10] Passage has published compendiums from online figures Nick Land,[citation needed] Steve Sailer, and Curtis Yarvin.[1] Through its imprint Passage Classics, Passage Publishing also offers works by, as described by The Guardian, "radical German nationalist and militarist Ernst Jünger; Peter Kemp, who fought as a volunteer in Franco’s army during the Spanish civil war; and two counter-revolutionary Russian aristocrats, White Russian general Pyotr Wrangel and Prince Serge Obolensky".[1][11]
Passage Publishing also engages in cultural projects, including sponsoring events.[12][13] Fashion designer Elena Velez, a habitué of the Dimes Square scene,[14] has been sponsored by Passage[15] and cited the company and its founder as inspiration.[16]
Man's World
[edit]Man's World is a bi-annual men's magazine published by Passage Publishing.[1][17][18] Raw Egg Nationalist, the pseudonymous British writer who leads the magazine, and Keeperman, were described by The Guardian as "prominent members of the so-called 'new right.'"[1] Raw Egg Nationalist is a "key thinker within frogtwitter" and a member of the right-wing bodybuilder community whose cookbook with the white nationalist publisher Antelope Hill advocates "the massive consumption of raw eggs", as described by the Global Network on Extremism and Technology.[19]
Man's World describes itself as having been founded for "one simple aim: to make men's magazines great again."[20] Scott Burnett, an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University, told The Guardian that "Man's World represents a paradigm case of how masculinity is being articulated at the heart of rightwing politics."[1] He said there was "stuff in Man's World that is fascist, sometimes bordering on neo-Nazi", but that it was draped in "an ironic gauze".[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wilson, Jason (May 14, 2024). "Revealed: US university lecturer behind far-right Twitter account and publishing house". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
The emergence of Passage Press and other such publishers has been a key part of the development of a swathe of the current American far right
- ^ a b c d Breland, Ali (June 10, 2024). "The Far Right's New 'Badge of Honor'". The Atlantic. Washington, D.C. ISSN 1072-7825. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
The far-right publisher known as 'Lomez' kept his identity private, and for good reason. His company, Passage Publishing, has printed books from a German nationalist, anti-democracy monarchists, and white supremacists promoting 'human biodiversity.'
- ^ a b c Beauchamp, Zack (August 27, 2024). "An inside look at how the far right is mainstreaming itself". Vox. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
- ^ a b Ahmari, Sohrab (May 16, 2024). "America's dime-store Nietzscheans". New Statesman. London. ISSN 1364-7431. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ a b "Extremism Headlines: Pelosi attacker, Atomwaffen plot, far-right university lecturer". Southern Poverty Law Center. May 17, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
the prominent 'new right' publishing house Passage Press ... Passage Press and similar publishers play a role in the development of the American far right
- ^ "Life-Cycles - B'nai Mitzvah". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. November 29, 1996. p. 44. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
- ^ Himes, Matt (May 30, 2024). "Why is the media out to get Jonathan Keeperman?". The Blaze. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
- ^ Wilson, Kit (November 24, 2021). "The rise of the neoclassical reactionaries". The Spectator. London. ISSN 0038-6952. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ "Passage Publishing". Passage Publishing. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ @PassagePress (December 11, 2023). "🚨🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨🚨" (Tweet). Retrieved May 9, 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Passage Classics". Passage Publishing. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Friedman, Vanessa (September 14, 2023). "Post-Pandemic Dressing Finally Takes Shape". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Testa, Jessica (September 13, 2023). "Should Making It in Fashion Be This Hard?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Tashjian, Rachel (February 12, 2024). "Fashion's problematic fave is Elena Velez". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 11, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Moore, Booth (February 13, 2024). "Elena Velez Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear: Finding Opportunity Beyond the Runway". Women's Wear Daily. New York City. ISSN 0043-7581. Archived from the original on February 13, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Lee, Justin (September 19, 2023). "What I saw at the Longhouse Fashion Show". First Things. New York City. ISSN 1047-5141. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
- ^ Burnett, Scott (2023). "Healthy White Nationalists: Far-Right Selbstbilder in a Digital Age". In Brookes, Gavin; Chałupnik, Małgorzata (eds.). Masculinities and Discourses of Men's Health. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 161–188. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-38407-3_7. ISBN 978-3-031-38407-3.
- ^ Tebaldi, Catherine; Burnett, Scott (January 18, 2025). "The Science of Desire: Beauty, Masculinity, and Ideology on the Far Right". Journal of Right-Wing Studies. 2 (2). doi:10.5070/RW3.1604. ISSN 2770-9698.
- ^ Molloy, Joshua (October 10, 2022). "The Emerging Raw Food Movement and the 'Great Reset'". Global Network on Extremism and Technology. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
- ^ Raw Egg Nationalist (Spring 2022). "Man's World Issue 5". Man's World. No. 5.