Jim Goad

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.[1]

Goad graduated in 1985 with a B.A. in Journalism from Temple University while living in New Jersey.[2] 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.[1] 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![2]

Around 1994, the couple moved to Portland, Oregon and Goad devoted his time to writing.[3] 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.[2][4][5] Goad described Ryan as "Sweet Dracula girl" and as being "...fifteen years younger than me and a thousand times more fucked-up."[1] 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.[2][5] They divorced in December, 1997.[5]

In May 1998, Goad and Ryan had a fight in Goad's car outside of Portland.[2] Goad left Ryan by the side of the road, and fled to Washington state.[4] 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."[5] 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."[5]

Goad pleaded guilty to reduced charges and served 2+1⁄2 years, split between jail and prison. He was released in the fall of 2000.[1] When asked if he had any remorse or guilt about beating Ryan, Goad said, "Absolutely not. I enjoyed it."[1]

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.[4]

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.[4][1] In 2008 Goad became a father.[6] He currently 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.

As a writer, Jim Goad has been called the "poster boy for the transgressive school of writing."[4] Chuck Palahniuk describes Goad's writing style as being "brutally honest without worrying about being correct."[4]

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.[7] He has stated his support for Donald Trump.[8]

From 1991 to 1994, Goad self-published four yearly issues of the zine ANSWER Me!, with then-wife Debbie Goad.[6] 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,[3] influencing the suicides of three British Neo-Nazis, and a possible influence on Kurt Cobain's suicide.[1]

In 1994, Goad signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster for $100,000.[2] 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.[9]

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,[10] 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."[4] Writer John Strausbaugh described Shit Magnet as "extremely painful" in detail and comparative in drama to the autobiography of Klaus Kinski.[1] Humor is Dead calls Shit Magnet a "sordid and often shocking personal allegory of guilt and violence."[7] In 2008, a play titled "Torn Between Two Bitches," was produced in Los Angeles by Michael Sargent, based on Shit Magnet.[11]

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.[7][12][13] 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.[12][13] Willamette Week's gay columnist Byron Beck described Trucker Fags in Denial as "twisted, vile, unrepentant ... and absolutely hilarious."[12]

In 2007, Jim Goad's Gigantic Book of Sex was published.[6] The book consists of over 100 articles, op-eds and facts about sex, all written by Goad.[14]

Goad writes a weekly column for Taki's Magazine and Greg Johnson (white nationalist)#Publishing and activism. Goad has also contributed to Vice and Hustler.[7]