By David Futrelle
Seems like only yesterday that everyone to the left of Donald Trump was mad at the Nazis. Now for some reasons a lot of these same people are yelling about AntiFa. Nancy Pelosi has officially denounced AntiFa, and a piece in the generally liberalish Washington Post today declared that AntiFa are the “moral equivalent” of the literal Nazis they oppose.
Now I’m not exactly the most militant dude in the world but WHAT IN HOLY CRAP IS GOING ON. We are up against LITERAL NAZIS. One of them LITERALLY MURDERED A WOMAN with a car, and then the rest of them LAUGHED ABOUT IT and SAID IT WAS JUSTIFIED. They go to every so-called “free speech” rally they organize with the intent of doing bodily harm to as many people as possible. and unless we stop them it’s only a matter of time before they kill more people. So fuck this shit. Hug an AntiFa today.
On to the tweets. First, the dumb shit.
Pelosi puts out statement condemning Antifa violence in Berkeley. pic.twitter.com/0RlU6RlWmX
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) August 30, 2017
Opinion: Yes, antifa is the moral equivalent of neo-Nazis https://t.co/dt9vInRh1q
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 30, 2017
Now, some rebuttals. First, a good short thread on how the discussion has shifted from ACTUAL FUCKING NAZIS to endless hand-wringing about antifas.
I am perpetually amazed at the ability of lockstep, bad-faith arguments on the right to steer and transform national conversations.
— . (@swordsjew) August 30, 2017
And here’s a response to the Washington Post thing by a Mother Jones journalist who was there at Berkeley.
https://twitter.com/shane_bauer/status/902969494808625152
Some historical perspective:
https://twitter.com/thalestral/status/902614776269955074
Every time I see news coverage of a protest I remember this image pic.twitter.com/ZAL0TwI61R
— Tom Hatfield (@WordMercenary) August 30, 2017
More AntiFa stuff:
https://twitter.com/pixelatedboat/status/902790386619318272
https://twitter.com/daniecal/status/902542063543009280
Antifa dropped a piano on my head and when I popped out of the top moments later I had a lump on my head and had its keys instead of teeth
— Jules (@Julian_Epp) August 29, 2017
I defended the honor of George Orwell against an Alex Jones employee.
Orwell went to Spain to fight the fascists. With guns. He wrote a book about it. https://t.co/vdulXAE58e
— David Futrelle (@DavidFutrelle) August 30, 2017
Snopes also has a thing to say about the attempts to portray the fascists and AntiFa as somehow equivalent:
Lmao Snopes dot com is to the left of Nancy Pelosi https://t.co/Pf9aYyNBHR
— Ann 'tifa' Coulter Classic™ (@AntifaCoulter) August 30, 2017
AntiFa may have dealt with a lot of undeserved shit today, but happily our dear leader Donald Trump was also dealing with some richly deserved shit.
https://twitter.com/fmanjoo/status/903027267940491264
Turns out Trump is not making America great again. Fox News poll finds an 11-point jump in dissatisfaction with the way things are going. pic.twitter.com/YwPvEVxSoB
— Geoff Garin (@geoffgarin) August 30, 2017
Not sure that 58% believing Trump will finish his term when he's just seven months in is quite the accomplishment someone might think it is. https://t.co/QZM073IuaA
— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) August 30, 2017
Trump's approval rating among people aged 18-29 has reached a new low of 20% in Gallup's tracking poll. https://t.co/5VWTe33ZFN
— Axios (@axios) August 29, 2017
Huckabee Sanders: Trump was correct to say he'd seen Harvey devastation first hand because he'd been briefed on it pic.twitter.com/y4MmUp0aoZ
— Rhys Blakely (@rhysblakely) August 30, 2017
W. screwed up royally during Katrina but at least he didn't make a speech about how rich people need lower taxes WHILE IT WAS STILL RAINING.
— L O L G O P (@LOLGOP) August 30, 2017
Meanwhile, the creator of Pepe is taking the Pepe Nazis to court and winning:
https://twitter.com/MaxTemkin/status/902700195577823232
And here are some animals!
https://twitter.com/awwcuteness/status/902839313276252160
https://twitter.com/CuteEmergency/status/902748977531162625
https://twitter.com/MeetAnimals/status/903024790675611648
https://twitter.com/lordflaconegro/status/902687000544911362
Besom! <3 Thank you for commenting. You got right into it. Thank you especially for the comments on social anxiety. I thought I was the only one to have to leave a comment thread at the slightest hint of social aggression! I mean, I know that isn't true in a number of ways, but it sure feels like it sometime, and it's certainly a reason why my comments get thin at times. Thank you for clarifying what was unclear.
I'm sorry for how west-centric the comments can be. It can be quite difficult to focus on things outside of that sphere here! The news basically ignores anything but the largest disasters outside of the west, and even those get sparse coverage. Canada's not quite as bad as the US, but we could do much better.
Fascism problems are absolutely everywhere right now, your part of the world longer than a number of others. It's terrible. Here's hoping that it really is an extinction burst.
Thanks for commenting!
@ opposablethumbs
Indeed. And it’s a ‘prescribed organisation’ which means mere membership, or association with, is an offence in itself.
There is a bit of controversy here over that law because the only evidence required to prove membership or association is that a police officer of the rank of Inspector or above says you are. But groups like this are regarded as terrorist organisations and the theory is that if you have to give evidence in the usual way, that will either expose intelligence gathering methods or the presence of undercover officers or informers, or leave witnesses open to intimidation.
The media has made it very clear they are too wedded to the “both sides” bullshit. If you’re worried about optics at this stage of the game you’re fighting the last war. The optics won’t change if Antifa plays nice-nice. They’ll change once the weight of public opinion makes it clear that “Both sides” won’t play anymore.
@Scildfreja Unnyðnes
It’s a huge problem! As well as how selective our broadcast media is about news from the other part of the world. If you watch some of this….. well, it doesn’t justify the xenophobic, racist attitudes elsewhere. But you can see how the machine churns out bigotry by amplifying division and hysteria.
I do consume US media, but I try to stick to news institutions with some tradition of excellence, rather than cable news. Cable news’ business model is to keep anxiety ramped up to 11 so you keep watching, so they can keep selling ads. And I try to work in reputable news sources with editorial slants that run counter to my biases. The Wall Street Journal as well as the Washington Post, so my basic assumptions are challenged. Echo Chambers are dangerous, after all. But even with the ‘Failing’ New York Times and it’s ilk you still get only Angloshphere-centric news.
IMHO, it’s worth putting a few outside sources in one’s news rotation cycle. I try to drop in some CBC, BBC and Al Jazeera. Especially with the latter, one comes quickly to realize that there’s a huge world out there we’re just not hearing about, but that absolutely is relevant all over the world. It’s sad that we have to actively seek it out, but we do. So, I do.
(Obviously, I should add, CBC and BBC are still Anglosphere-centric news. But they do have more of a commitment to their World News desks. Any other reputable non-Anglosphere news sources with English channels/editions, I’d love to hear about. Russia Today doesn’t count.)
I have a bit of a soft spot for the BBC World Service.
@opposablethumbs
That’s good. The military often takes these things seriously. If not out of virtue, then out of the animating myth they need to drive our forces. “Beware your fellow American troops” under any flavor is a really, really terrible narrative for the military. Divide and conquer is the time-tested rule of breaking a force, and they can’t allow it to live among their own service members. They need, instead, to sell “Peace and justice through Pax Americana” or some variant. Which is pretty shitty in its own right, but you know
Or, I’m possibly just talking shit, because I’m not all that experienced with military matters. Feel free, anyone, to correct me on this.
@Bobbie – this was a UK case, but much the same applies (and although there is considerable overlap and significant US influence in this respect, we still have Hate Speech laws and it’s still somewhat less unthinkable to question the old Frozen Peaches :-s)
What’s really good is to have it straight-up acknowledged that a white supremacist organisation is a terrorist organisation.
The Merry Go Round Broke Down? As in the Warner Bros. cartoon theme performed by Roger Rabbit here?
DISTURBING.
Sorry to get the Necronomicon out, but I thought this was quite funny.
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to watch that TV series about them.
I got this fucking gem from a “friend” now blocked on facebook, who’s been wringing his lily-white hands over all the hateful rhetoric ” I promise you, white supremacists see you as just as evil, so saying violence against them is justified because they are evil does not get you off the hook.”
I’m fucking livid right now.
@opposablethumbs:
Except that from what I’ve seen the American military is less than interested in dealing with white supremacists in their midst (if any christian feel put upon by my implicit grouping of dominionists with neo-nazis (did I just make it explicit? Oops) here they are welcome to swallow it in silence and stew. Being defensive about this wouldn’t make one look good).
Knowing, as we do, that fascism (like other dictatorial movements) have infiltrating the military as their most basic tactic, this is one of the reasons that some of us feel that American tendencies of normalising fascism is somewhat more alarming than here, where conscription was the norm.
Somewhat, here, should be interpreted as “They carry firearms openly” whereas at my home it’s “They hide the knives they carry”.
One thing that Americans should be aware of is that when Europeans less familiar with American gun-wanking than us globalists see pictures of neo-nazi marchers with AR-15s and combat vests the immediate response would be “So it’s a Nazi takeover then. Game over, innit?” I’ve been well accustomed, over the years, with how Americans give right-wingers with weapons a carte blanche when it comes to political intimidations, but I was still saying “Neo-nazis with firearms, who the fuck allowed this‽”, and that is still a relevant question. Who allows this?
@Schnookums Von Ghostface Fancypants Killer:
I mean, the proper response to that is to drown the offending fuck in a well-used outhouse. But let’s look at it:
‘I promise you [yes, I see the you are well familiar with white supremacy],
white supremacists see you as just as evil [on account of being a Person of Colour, anywhere near LGBTQ, Jewish, leftist, Roma, disabled, middle eastern, etc.],
so saying violence against them is justified because they are evil [because they want to murder everyone who is a Person of Colour, anywhere near LGBTQ, Jewish, leftist, Roma, disabled, middle eastern, etc.] does not get you off the hook [with the people shielding white supremacists].’
Of course I’m not telling you anything you don’t know here, Schnookums, but some of our listeners might find some use of this ‘insertion of the unspoken words’-technique.
@Alan Robertshaw That was brilliant!! <3
@ Old Besom
ISTR someone with a similar nym around here before, but I’m bad with names, so…
Blushing furiously over here.
@OldBesom Oh, hey, thanks! And welcome back.
And thanks to everybody. Top notch work all around. And you’ve banished Leo, the possible tulpa! I’m sorry it’s taken me this long. There’s this hurricane coming, so me and my bat’leth are off to brave the wilds of pre-evacuation Target for the last bottle of Perrier in the state. Be safe out here, and keep keepin.
I read today in the newspaper that a white nationalist here in the UK just had his sentence reduced from 4 to 2 years, with the Judge stating the initial sentence was excessive, partly due to him being in his 20s. : / I suppose 2 years is still better than nothing and at least something seems to be being done over here, but…
@Besom
@Scildfreja Unnyðnes
No, not social anxiety disorder, that’s not what I said. OCD, and also panic disorder. It’s the OCD that makes me need to explain, with that it can be very hard to leave it even if you want to. Yes, it did trigger panic attacks for me, I find conflict very upsetting, but that’s not really the point. It should at least be apparent that I’m not yelling at anyone, and I have done as requested and listened even though people continued to respond.