Robert Fisher (New Hampshire politician)

Robert Fisher
Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
from the Belknap 9 district
In office
December 3, 2014 – May 17, 2017
Preceded byBeth Arsenault
Succeeded byCharlie St. Clair
Personal details
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations		Democratic (2012) [1]
Alma materWinnisquam Regional High School[2]
ProfessionPolitician, Computer repairman

Robert Fisher is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.[2] He represented the Belknap 9 district, which includes the town of Belmont, NH and the city of Laconia, from December 2014 until his resignation in May 2017.

Political career

In 2012, Robert ran as a Democrat for the New Hampshire House of Representatives, but was unsuccessful.[1] In 2014, he ran for the House of Representatives again, this time as a Republican. He won the 2014 election, and was re-elected in 2016.[1]

As a representative, he served on no committees by his own request.[2]

After the discovery that he founded and moderated the controversial subreddit r/TheRedPill, Fisher resigned from political office on May 17, 2017.[3]

r/TheRedPill controversy

In 2017, The Daily Beast reported that Fisher was the founder and a moderator, under the alias pk_atheist, of the subreddit "/r/TheRedPill", known for its misogynistic content.[4] According to Daily Beast, Fisher used several pseudonyms, including "redpillschool" and "Morpheus Manfred", which was used for several media interviews on behalf of the forum.[3][5][6]

Speaking to WMUR, Fisher admitted to writing at least some of the material attributed to him, which he characterized as "some injudicious things about the opposite sex following a bad breakup",[7] including, from a 2008 post:

Rape isn't an absolute bad, because the rapist I think probably likes it a lot. I think he'd say it's quite good, really. ... . I think rape is bad, I'm not arguing for it. I'm arguing against the idea of an absolute truth.[7]

Fisher also told WMUR:

That was an out-of-context quote from a nearly decade-old debate about the failings of moral relativism."[7]

Following bipartisan comments calling for him to resign from his state House of Representatives seat, Fisher stated in April that he did not plan to do so.[8]

On May 17, a Republican-led House committee voted 8-6 along party lines to recommend no disciplinary action against Fisher. Less than an hour later, while an investigation for perjury was getting started, Fisher resigned under social and political pressure.[9] House Minority Leader Steve Shurtleff had called for a perjury investigation by the state attorney general's office, but said that Fisher's resignation made this no longer necessary.[10]

Personal life

Fisher is an atheist.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Robert Fisher". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Representative Robert Fisher (r)". State of New Hampshire House of Representatives. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Zadrozny, Brandy; Bacarisse, Bonnie (May 17, 2017). "New Hampshire State Rep Who Created Reddit's 'Red Pill' Resigns". Daily Beast.
  4. ^ Bacarisse, Bonnie (January 30, 2017). "The Republican Lawmaker Who Secretly Created Reddit's Women-Hating 'Red Pill'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  5. ^ Marche, Stephen (April 14, 2016). "Swallowing the Red Pill: a journey to the heart of modern misogyny". The Guardian. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  6. ^ "US Supreme Court considers gay marriage, Newshour - BBC World Service". BBC Newshour. March 26, 2013. Event occurs at 47:48. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c DiStaso, John (April 26, 2017). "Updated: Sununu says resignation 'in order' for GOP lawmaker connected to misogynistic online messages".
  8. ^ Ebbert, Stephanie (April 26, 2017). "N.H. lawmaker accused of starting 'Red Pill' forum on Reddit won't resign". Boston Globe.
  9. ^ DiStaso, John (May 17, 2017). "Updated: 'Red Pill' creator Fisher resigns from NH House after committee recommends no action". WMUR. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  10. ^ Metler, Katie (May 18, 2017). "'Shame. Shame.' N.H. lawmaker resigns after outcry over his 'woman-hating' Reddit forum". Washington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  11. ^ Stedman, Chris (April 2, 2018). "Too Many Atheists Are Veering Dangerously Toward the Alt-Right". Vice.com. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
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