Jim Goad

James Thaddeus Goad (born 1960 or 1961)<ref name="NYPress1"/> is an American author and publisher. Goad co-authored and published the zine Answer Me! and The Redneck Manifesto.

Personal life

Early life

Goad grew up in Philadelphia, describing himself as a loner, misanthrope and weirdo. He attended a Catholic school run by nuns. He experienced violent treatment from his parents and bullies at his school, eventually learning to fight back. Goad moved to New York City to study acting and was accepted to study at New York University under Stella Adler.<ref name="NYPress1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1980s–90s

Goad graduated in 1985 with a B.A. in Journalism from Temple University while living in New Jersey.<ref name="LLC1999"/> In the early 1980s, Goad met Debbie Rosalie, who was eight years older, in New York. They relocated to Los Angeles and were married in 1987.<ref name="NYPress1"/> Goad worked at the Los Angeles Reader, covering local news, but wished to cover more fringe subjects, so the couple began publishing their own magazine, Answer Me!<ref name="LLC1999"/>

Around 1994, the couple moved to Portland, Oregon and Goad devoted his time to writing.<ref name="Bizarre1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 1997, Goad began dating then-stripper Anne "Skye" Ryan about the time that Debbie was diagnosed with the ovarian cancer that later killed her.<ref name="LLC1999"/><ref name="PXLife">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="WWRage">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Goad described Ryan as "Sweet Dracula girl" and as being "...fifteen years younger than me and a thousand times more fucked-up."<ref name="NYPress1"/> In November 1997, Debbie was granted a restraining order against Goad, after stating that he had hit, kicked, and spit on her and threatened to kill her.<ref name="LLC1999"/><ref name="WWRage"/> They divorced in December, 1997.<ref name="WWRage"/>

In May 1998, Goad and Ryan had a fight in Goad's car outside of Portland.<ref name="LLC1999"/> Goad left Ryan by the side of the road, and fled to Washington state.<ref name="PXLife"/> When police met Ryan in a hospital emergency room, she had a blackened eye that was swollen shut, "bite marks on her hand and she was bleeding in several places."<ref name="WWRage"/> Goad was charged with assault and kidnapping, facing a potential 25 years in prison. After his arrest, Goad's ex-wife Debbie filed a motion to withdraw her restraining order, stating that Goad "has seeked counseling for three months and we are now friends after our legal divorce…. If I have a relapse from my ovarian cancer, [Jim] will take care of me and help me out."<ref name="WWRage"/>

Goad pleaded guilty to reduced charges and served Template:Frac years, split between jail and prison. He was released in the fall of 2000.<ref name="NYPress1"/> When asked if he had any remorse or guilt about beating Ryan, Goad said, "Absolutely not. I enjoyed it."<ref name="NYPress1"/>

While Goad was in prison, author Jim Hogshire started a "Free Jim Goad" website, claiming that Goad told him he was innocent. After his release, Goad disputed the concept of the website, calling Hogshire a "nutty Muslim junkie." He stated that while he had said Ryan was lying, he never claimed innocence, but was not able to speak freely while incarcerated.<ref name="PXLife"/>

2000s

Upon his release from prison in 2000, Goad returned to Portland and was on parole for a time. He wrote for Exotic, a free guide to the sex industry of the Northwestern United States and worked as a country music DJ.<ref name="PXLife"/><ref name="NYPress1"/> In 2008 Goad became a father.<ref name="BigCityRDNK"/> He currentlyTemplate:When maintains his website, JimGoad.net, and writes for Taki's Magazine.

According to Goad, he was diagnosed with a "plum-sized" brain tumor in 2008. The situation was outlined in his book The Bomb Inside My Brain. During a nine-hour operation, the tumor was removed. He was subsequently prescribed radiation and anticonvulsive medication.

Career

Writing style and beliefs

As a writer, Jim Goad has been called the "poster boy for the transgressive school of writing."<ref name="PXLife"/> Chuck Palahniuk describes Goad's writing style as being "brutally honest without worrying about being correct."<ref name="PXLife"/>

Goad's work examines American culture, often popular and political culture. His early work reads anti-politically correct and as shock value, while his later work, like the Redneck Manifesto, and journalism contributions have marked Goad as a political and societal commentator. In his political commentary he has described conservatives and liberals in the United States as "two asscheeks surrounding the same hairy bunghole," and that politicians know how to take advantage of lower- and middle-class people because of a human's innate tribalism.<ref name="HumorisDead"/> He has stated his support for Donald Trump.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ANSWER Me!

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} From 1991 to 1994, Goad self-published four yearly issues of the zine ANSWER Me!, with then-wife Debbie Goad.<ref name="BigCityRDNK"/> It featured illustrations by Nick Bougas. With a circulation of 13,000 the magazine sought to upset politically correct thinkers by covering subjects about race and feminism. The publication was banned and seized by customs officials in several countries, and the final Rape Issue was rejected by some bookstore owners. The zine, called "massively influential" by Bizarre, would also be credited as an inspiration by Francisco Martin Duran, who took 29 shots at the White House,<ref name="Bizarre1"/> influencing the suicides of three British Neo-Nazis, and a possible influence on Kurt Cobain's suicide.<ref name="NYPress1"/>

The Redneck Manifesto

In 1994, Goad signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster for $100,000.<ref name="LLC1999">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats was published in 1997. The book explores the idea of poor whites celebrating their heritage similar to poor African Americans, and that discrimination in the United States is focused around social class, not race. His thesis is that the rich elite blind the poor, and cause them to fight one another, instead of working together for their mutual benefit.<ref name="Colorado">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Shit Magnet

Shit Magnet: One Man's Miraculous Ability to Absorb the World's Guilt, is Goad's second book. Major New York publishing houses declined to publish Shit Magnet,<ref name="Offend1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and it was published in 2002 by Feral House. The book, written while Goad was in prison, is an autobiography. It examines Goad's childhood, teenage years, his relationships with former wife Debbie Goad and ex-girlfriend Anne Ryan, and reflections about his time in prison and his experience with the judicial system. The book includes great detail about Oregon prison life, including detailed descriptions about fellow prisoners, of whom he writes "forced sterilization maybe wasn't such a bad idea."<ref name="PXLife"/> Writer John Strausbaugh described Shit Magnet as "extremely painful" in detail and comparative in drama to the autobiography of Klaus Kinski.<ref name="NYPress1"/> Humor is Dead calls Shit Magnet a "sordid and often shocking personal allegory of guilt and violence."<ref name="HumorisDead">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2008, a play titled "Torn Between Two Bitches," was produced in Los Angeles by Michael Sargent, based on Shit Magnet.<ref name="LAist">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Other work

He wrote a comic called Trucker Fags in Denial, which was originally published as a comic strip in the Portland-based publication Exotic and was published as a comic book by Fantagraphics in 2004.<ref name="HumorisDead" /><ref name="SwagRag">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="SG">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The comic, written by Goad and illustrated by Jim Blanchard, is about two truckers named Butch and Petey. The two characters are homophobic and beat up gays between trucking. The characters contradict their behavior by having a homosexual relationship with each other. Goad came up with the idea for the comic while in prison, where he frequently observed male prisoners insulting each other as being "fags," and as "fagging off,' despite engaging in homosexual acts themselves while incarcerated.<ref name="SwagRag" /><ref name="SG" /> Willamette WeekTemplate:'s gay columnist Byron Beck described Trucker Fags in Denial as "twisted, vile, unrepentant ... and absolutely hilarious."<ref name="SwagRag" />

In 2007, Jim Goad's Gigantic Book of Sex was published.<ref name="BigCityRDNK">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The book consists of over 100 articles, op-eds and facts about sex, all written by Goad.<ref name="MetroTimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Goad writes a weekly column for Taki's Magazine and Greg Johnson.Template:Citation needed Goad has also contributed to ViceTemplate:Citation needed and Hustler.<ref name="HumorisDead" />

Acting and music

Jim Goad has released music and performed as Big Red Goad, performing covers of classic and trucker-themed country songs. In 2007 he toured as the opening act for Hank III.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="SG"/>

In 2002, Goad acted in The Suzy Evans Story, a film about a police detective who protects a battered woman named Suzy and proceeds to abuse her himself. Goad joked that it was typecasting.<ref name="NYPress1"/> The film was never released.<ref name="TheCult">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Political views

Goad is referred to as the "godfather of the new right"<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is associated with the alt-right movement, with Proud Boys figure Gavin McInnes citing him as one of his favorite writers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Goad does not consider himself part of the alt-right movement.<ref name=":0" />

Works

• Goad, Jim. The Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Became America's Scapegoats. New York: Simon & Schuster (1998). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim. Shit Magnet: One Man's Miraculous Ability to Absorb the World's Guilt. Port Townsend: Feral House (2002). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim & Blanchard, Jim. Trucker Fags in Denial. Seattle: Fantagraphics (2004).
• Goad, Jim. ANSWER Me!: The First Three. Baltimore: Scapegoat Publishing (2006). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim. Jim Goad's Gigantic Book of Sex. Port Townsend: Feral House (2007). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim & Kopp, Hollister. Gun Fag Manifesto: Entertainment for the Armed Sociopath. Nine Banded Books/Underworld Amusements (2013). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim. The Headache Factory: True Tales of Online Obsession and Madness. New York: Thought Catalog Books (2014).
• Goad, Jim. Whiteness: The Original Sin. (2018)
• Goad, Jim. The New Church Ladies: The Extremely Uptight World of "Social Justice" (2017). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim. The Bomb Inside My Brain. (2019). Template:ISBN
• Goad, Jim. Gender Psychosis. (2020). Template:ISBN

Discography

• Truck Drivin' Psycho 1996 (World Serpent)
• "Let's Fight!" with Jim Goad 2001 (Exotic)
• Hatesville, The Boyd Rice Experience, 2009 (Caciocavallo)

External links

• Template:Official website
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• 2011 interview with Jim Goad Template:Webarchive by Tomislav Sunić