Robert Fisher (New Hampshire politician)

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.

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

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 claimed 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 17 May, 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. "Robert Fisher". Ballotpedia. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  2. "Representative Robert Fisher (r)". State of New Hampshire House of Representatives. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  3. 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. 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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