About TDF

What is
The Daily Former?

TDF is a community of formers that made it out- and we’re thriving. We want to share stories, commiserate about our challenges, celebrate our wins, air our grievances about the movement and show you that sometimes, quitters do win. We know traditional and legacy media don’t really know how to talk about us, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. This entire concept is created and curated by formers. We have full control over our own stories and we get to decide how we are represented- with dignity, compassion, and a great sense of humor.

Why are we
doing this?

Frankly, we were tired of having our stories exploited by a media machine that has no idea of how to speak about this world responsibly or with dignity. We speak out because we want you to hear us. We speak because we actually give a shit. Everyone involved in this project realized that the information coming out of traditional media is stale, no longer the truth for a vast majority of people that got swept up into the movement, and being shouted by people that either lost their relevance years ago, or never really left the ideology behind. We are here to be honest about how this works and how we think it can be limited. Listen or not, it won’t make any of this less true.

Why the asterisk?

We are calling attention to the things the media (and most people) miss. We didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be radical and then simply decide to stop— the story starts so much earlier, and it still hasn’t ended. TDF is the finer details, the minutiae of checking your servers all day, the exhilaration of your first in-person meet-up, the constant anxiety and paranoia of knowing it’s all so fucked up but not knowing how to get out of it. You know there’s so much more nuance to all of this, so the asterisk means exactly that— there’s always more to the story.

Meet the Team

HOST

Angela

Angela knows a little bit about a whole lot of stuff, including stuff like trauma, abuse, gender and sexuality, radicalization, and she was named most sarcastic former in 2011. Don't get her started on subjects like cats, plants, or DIY projects.

Regular Contributor

Brad

The busiest man to leave the far-right, Brad has never had a day off in twelve years. A graduate of criminology and master of dad jokes, Brad only speaks in punchlines and wisdom.

Regular Contributor

Lauren

The fastest content writer in Canada, Lauren is our resident contributor of dirty jokes and direct dismantling of far right mythos. Lauren spends her days skydiving and doing generally terrifying things.

Recent Media

For those seeking to escape extremist groups, the path out is often uncertain

Samantha discusses the ways and reasons to leave the "movement" and why it's so important to talk about.

Cover image for Terminating Hate featuring a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger

Terminating Hate: Breaking the Cycle of Extremism

Join Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, CNN's Dana Bash, Dean Willow Bay, Dr. Erroll Southers, Dr. Robert Williams, and others for a conversation on the rise in...

Photo of Lauren for her article in Toronto Life

"I spent five years in a white-power gang": Inside the twisted world of Toronto's white supremacist movement

After my dad died, I found a new family in a white-power gang. I spent years dressing like a skinhead, fighting strangers and committing petty crimes before I realized the absurdity of my beliefs.

A photo of Brad for his article in The Star

Confessions of a repentant white supremacist

Brad Galloway, profiled in the documentary Skinhead, was a normal middle-class teen before drifting into a white nationalist group.

Life After Hate

A photo of knuckle tattoos that reads "LOVE" and "HATE"

Frankly, we were tired of having our stories exploited by a media machine that has no idea of how to speak about this world responsibly or with dignity. We speak out because we want you to hear us. We speak because we actually give a shit. Everyone involved in this project realized that the information coming out of traditional media is stale, no longer the truth for a vast majority of people that got swept up into the movement, and being shouted by people that either lost their relevance years ago, or never really left the ideology behind. We are here to be honest about how this works and how we think it can be limited. Listen or not, it won’t make any of this less true.

Learn More

We know, you're extremely smart and subversive and only want to do right by Your People. But there's that itch in your brain that you can't scratch- If I'm doing the Good Thing, why does it feel bad? Why do I keep suffering the consequences of my own actions? We are sharing stories, airing grievances, celebrating wins, making fun of bad decisions, but always showing compassion for who we used to be. We've been where you are- looking for a fight, or maybe that one thing that either ties all of your beliefs together or unravels everything. Ask us a question, give us something to chew on, let us know how you really feel. We're around.

Contact Us

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