We’re back with yet another old Rantlister Interview!
This interview was done in December of 2010 with Lord Galen of SnipeMe.com.
There were many sites on the List, but very few I actually enjoyed reading regularly. Galen’s site was one of those few.
I’ll be honest, the first thing that always caught my eye about SnipeMe was the logo, which utilized the same font as the Iron Maiden logo and was animated:
Once I actually read the site though, I was impressed with the quality and caliber of Galen’s ranting. While I didn’t necessarily agree with him on some of his views, I sure as hell couldn’t deny that he was a great writer, and I still thoroughly enjoyed reading his stuff. Yes, Galen leaned a bit more to the left than me, but it didn’t matter that much because his stuff was still entertaining to read, and I even sometimes found myself questioning my own beliefs after reading some of his articles.
I enjoyed some of Galen’s articles so much that they inspired my own articles. Take my “Make porn great again” article (formerly known as “A list of shit that needs to stop in porn”). That entire article was inspired by Galen’s rant about every porn ending with the guy jerking off (I even mention this in the article). I was flattered when I received an email from Galen himself one day about my article, saying that he found it when checking his referrer logs and enjoyed it, and that he wished he had written about some of the other things I covered.
Another feature of SnipeMe was the Sniper Forums, a message board ran by Galen. I had an account there, I think I may have posted a few times, but for whatever reason I didn’t stick around, probably because I was constantly trying to manage multiple projects all the time. From what I remember though the community was moderately active, and there were even a couple members of the AJnet Forums who were also members of the Sniper Forums (sup Silicon and FYF). The Sniper Forums are gone, but according to the site they’ve been replaced with a Discord server.
Galen also had a podcast of sorts, “Sniper Radio”. While I never got around to listening to it, I can say that this definitely elevated him above most of the other sites on the List. As far as I know, none of the other sites had quite made the transition from written content to the next mediums of audio or video (this is probably also why the rant scene largely died out, with the exception of people like Buckley or I Hate Everything). Bob Smash and Bagoda tried to do a radio show with Rantlister (I even appeared on it once), but it ultimately didn’t pan out. By having Sniper Radio, Galen stood out from the rest of the List by making content in a way that most of us weren’t but probably should have.
Another relatively unique feature of SnipeMe was the fact that Galen accepted guest submissions.
This was something that I actually did here for a while (shout-out to David X.U., Brex, and Team Zack) but abandoned after I stopped writing for the first time in 2012. I’ve since removed those articles and won’t be reposting them without the permission of their respective authors. We may or may not bring back the guest article feature at some point in the future.
Galen accepted guest submissions for most of the time his site was up, and even the guest rants were just as good as the rest of Galen’s content. I even wrote one, which I’ll eventually repost here if I can salvage it from the depths of the internet. Galen definitely wasn’t afraid to post guest submissions that went against his own political beliefs, something that I highly respected, and can respect even more in this current day and age where both sides are actively trying to silence the other.
Sadly, SnipeMe fell to the same ravages of time that the rest of the sites on the List did, and the site is no more. Galen still streams on Twitch and uploads stuff to YouTube, so if you’re missing SnipeMe you can still show Galen some love there.
But anyway, here’s the interview I did with Lord Galen of SnipeMe.com, originally posted to Rantlister in December of 2010.
It occurred to me that this site needs more content, so I’m going to attempt to do monthly interviews with authors on the List. We have already interviewed Arthur of Arthur’s Hall of Viking Manliness in the past. This time, we have Lord Galen of SnipeMe.com.
1. Why did you start writing?
The same reasons as everyone else, I guess. A need to express myself and a need to be heard. I had all this shit going around inside my head and it was dying for a way out. I had ideas and thoughts about all sorts of things that were unique as far as I could tell. It wasn’t until I’d been writing this shit for a while that I found out just how many people really do agree with so much of what I say, they just needed to hear someone say it. Everybody feels a *little* connection to the brat in the store stomping his feet and screaming to have his way. I’m that brat, and maybe nobody is listening or everybody’s just getting pissed about it, but at least SOMEBODY is doing the screaming and fuckin-A does it ever need to be done! I started out writing because I needed a place to do that screaming, but I continue to do it because I feel like so many other people I’ve heard from over the years ALSO need a place to see somebody doing that screaming.
2. How would you describe your site?
50% toddler screaming at the world, 50% a god looking down his nose at the world, 25% comedy, and 100% entertaining, which adds up to 225% fucking awesome.
3. Have you ever thought about writing a book or taking your writing to another medium (aside from your radio show)?
ALL the time! I’ve seen so many people who’ve managed to become “e-famous” and get their views out there to so many people. On the one hand, the idea of being any kind of “famous” makes me wanna puke, but on the other hand, I see people on YouTube like Michael Buckley and Shaycarl who’ve made the Internet their full-time job and I think “Holy shit man, if I could make doing THIS my full-time job…. wow!” So obviously I’ve thought about YouTube and you may one day see “SniperTV” come into being. I’ve considered writing my own “Bible” (since I do call myself a god) as well. For now, I’m content with things exactly the way they are. I’m a little-known online ranter who seems to reach a few thousand people every month (which is tiny in Internet terms) and that’s perfectly fine with me. For now.
4. What’s your favorite website, other than your own?
Hmm… that’s a tough one, but I guess I’ll give a shout-out to ThinkAtheist.com and YouthRights.org. They’re my homies, lol.
5. How did you hear about Rantlister?
This dude just e-mails me one day like “Hey, we want to add you to our site” and I’m like “ok.” To be honest, I dismissed Rantlister as just another shitty little link farm, until a few months went by and I noticed a lot of referrers coming from that site and decided to go check it out. I found a pretty good community of people who enjoy the specific style of writing that we call ranting. I don’t dismiss RL anymore
6. Describe your perfect day.
The day that I find out Bill Gates LOVED my site and he’s left me a few billion dollars in his will. HA! Well, more realistically, I’m a pretty simple guy to tell the truth. Sitting here, completely alone, just doing whatever the fuck I feel like doing, that’s a pretty perfect day and I have many of them, so I can’t complain too much.
7. Who or what do you hate most?
I call myself a god and I’d define Stupidity and Ignorance as the Devils opposed to me. I ***DESPISE*** stupidity. Just thinking of that abstract concept in general makes my stomach burn with a low-boiling rage. I never cease to be amazed at just how fucking STUPID people can be. There are times when I can sympathize with the character of God in the story of Noah’s Ark. I, too, would often like to wipe the fucking planet clean and start over (anybody wanna take bets on whether I get a visit from Homeland Security over THAT statement?). Right now the “who” I hate most would have to be Sarah Palin, as she is the absolute incarnation and embodiment of this country’s hero-worship of Stupidity and Ignorance. Americans aren’t just stupid, we LOVE Stupid! We hoist Stupid up on our shoulders and shout its fucking name! Three cheers for Stupidity, YAY!
8. Do you read any of the other sites listed at Rantlister?
I have before and I sometimes do, but to be perfectly honest I try to avoid other rant sites because I just know that I’ll find something that somebody has written and I’ll be like “GODDAMNIT, WHY DIDN’T I THINK TO WRITE THAT FIRST?!” and then, well, I can’t even fucking write about it because I’d be ripping the other writer off. I do indulge sometimes and when I feel like reading other rant sites, Rantlister is the ONLY place I go to for that shit. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are AngryJerk and DrakeGTA, but there are others.
9. Being a ranter, it is almost inevitable that you have been compared to Maddox from “The Best Page in the Universe” or accused of ripping him off at some point. What is your opinion of Maddox and his website, and your response to people who compare the two of you?
I wrote an entire rant about this in ’04 (LINK: http://www.snipeme.com/archive.php?year=2004&rant=maddoxrip). To sum it up, I enjoy Maddox and what he does, but what he does is NOT what I do. Anybody who takes more than a cursory glance at my site can see that, so those who don’t see that don’t concern me since they obviously are illiterate and retarded.
10. On your website, you say that you are a staunch supporter of youth rights. How long have you held these views, and what led you to hold them?
I’ve held these views, really, since I was very young myself and what led me to hold these views is that I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be young. I remember how it felt to be treated like “some stupid kid” when, in fact, I was smarter than most of the adults around me. I remember what it felt like to know better than the adults about most things and yet still be treated like a dumbfuck just because I wasn’t old, decrepit, and wrinkly like them. At 32, I’ve seen it from the other side and now know for a goddamn fact that adults don’t really know what in the hell they’re doing any better than kids, they’ve just had more experience at bullshitting their way through life. Plus, the aforementioned celebration of Stupidity common among all ages. If the fucking retarded idiot adults in this country are allowed to vote, have rights, etc. then I find it OBSCENE to deny the same rights to young people who are, at the very least, no worse than the adults. You’ll find just as much raw Stupid among middle-aged people as you will among teen-aged people; the adults just have all the power and that’s what it all comes down to. Stupid people with power. I’m ALL for stripping some of that fucking power away.
11. Picture yourself being given unlimited and unconstrained authority over the United States. What are some of the main things would you change?
Shit, that’s a good topic for a rant, I might steal that. I kinda have ranted about that before, but there’s just no way to go into all the detail I’d want to go into. Suffice to say, Republicans in this country would label me the anti-christ, and so would many Democrats. I’ve always said that I’m not in favor of dictatorships unless I’m the dictator. I can guarantee that everyone would hate me at first, but praise me in a generation or two for fixing this fucking broke-ass country. You asked for specific things, so I’ll name a few. I’d make it CLEAR that SEPARATION of Church and State MEANS they be kept SEPARATE; the two shall never meet again. I’d put an end to the abortion debate by making it law that I don’t give a fucking shit what “pro-life” people think and they can go fuck themselves, the law is NEVER changing. The penalty for government corruption (bribes, connections to industries that you fight for, etc) would be PRISON time; for example, if I find that you’re fighting against SiriusXM because you’re on the payroll of the National Association of Broadcasters, I will throw your fucking corrupt ass in prison. Also, I would build more prisons. Fuck it, let’s just make Alaska one giant prison; they suck. Texas too. Speaking of Texas, the next time that assgoblin talks about succession, I’d charge him with treason and put him in front of the firing squad….. Ok, I’m done now.
12. Write your own question and answer it.
Galen, would you like to have all of our wives, girlfriends, mothers, sisters, and daughters as a token of our great admiration for you?
Yes. Yes I would. Thank you.