So then there should be consensus bipartisan AGREEMENT. Since EVERYONE sees them as bad, what is there to fuss about exactly? Oh wait on "no one" agrees with white supremacy .... 5-7% FAVORABLE view of White Supremacy, Neo-Nazis, KKK. (17% "Don't Know") Since that is % of ALL polled, if it was JUST Rightists polled itd probably be 10-12% of them, 25% "dont know") {From Major's post} Again, itd have to mean Antifa is EQUALLY EVIL to Nazis for Antifa to be EQUALLY reviled. Since theyre not, then critique is slightly lessened. Its like difference between selling legal amounts of weed and being in a violent meth/heroine drug cartel. Both are NOT SAINTS, though one is MUCH farther removed from humane ethics, and we know which one THAT is. *To Add:* If its saying Antifa helped instigate the violence, could be something to that. Most reports dont indicate that though}
I haven't followed this thread much. Any mention of the peaceful Boston protests? Seems a lot of finger pointing and anger in this forum.
These alt-right lunatics are attempting to paint all anti-Nazi, anti-Klan protesters as Antifa anarchists and communists. 40,000 strong apparently. Look a tweet, a youtube video, ignore all evidence to the contrary. Typical right wing smear politics.
This First Hand Account From Charlottesville Challenges All Conventional 'Wisdom' The following is a first hand, personal account of the events in Charlottesville last weekend. The person who posted this on Facebook requests that their identity remain anonymous. Warning: Some people may find parts of it to be very graphic and very disturbing, as we all should:
I guess that's similar to those trying to paint half the country as nazis or white supremacists based on a small group of people. I would agree that it's not fair to suggest that the majority in Boston were AntiFa, not even the majority of the violent people at the protest of the free speech rally. For the most part it was just run of the mill really stupid liberals who were filled with hate and whipped up into a frenzy. AntiFa is a relatively small group of violent Communists. We shouldn't be blaming everything on them.
This is the bigger problem facing us -- not fringe cultists chanting about the superiority of the white race. But rather the much larger segment of the population -- overwhelmingly conservative white males -- who act as enablers by denigrating those who choose to stand up against them.
LOL, yes, they stand up against white supremacists by throwing rocks and bottles of urine at police officers..... If anything, when brain dead liberals take to the streets and attack cops when there's otherwise no opposition and write puff pieces about extremist groups like AntiFa instead of "standing up against them", all you are doing is creating propaganda for those other fringe groups. Especially when for the most part this is what they were actually "standing up against"
Here's a detailed timeline of events at Charlottesville from a local news outlet: http://www.c-ville.com/stand-charlottesville-say-no-hate/
I'm defending nonviolent protesters who came to the rally to protest neo-Nazis -- who you seemed to characterize as really stupid, filled with hate, etc. Not really interested in defending Antifa or anyone else (and, yes, it did happen on both sides) attacking people who were trying to keep the peace or were not engaging in the melee. I don't agree with the narrative that these people were totally innocent and don't share some responsibility for the deaths that occurred.
People who show up to protest neo-Nazis where no neo-Nazis are present such as in Boston are pretty stupid. If they then get upset that there isn't really anyone to protest which leads to them attacking police instead, I'd consider them stupid and filled with hate.
People can hold rallies wherever they like, and a rally against racism sounds perfectly fine to me, so long as they are doing it in a lawful and peaceful manner. Staging an anti-racism rally as a counter-protest to a free speech rally does sound silly if one chooses to ignore the context of the preceding week (which had something to do with why racist groups initially planning on intending dropped out). Anyway, good topic for discussion in the Boston thread.
One thing I really really don't understand is today's white nationalist targeting of Jews. I have studied and understand where the targeting of Jews came from in Weimar Germany. There were many factors, and none of them excuse the behavior, but you can see why Jews made a viable scapegoat via misinformation and stereotyping after vast numbers of them flooded Germany after the fall of Czarist Russia, etc., and the hardest of hard times befell Germany, etc. But today? I get where white nationalists want to hate people of color and think BLM is trying to elevate other ethnic groups over them, etc. (even though I think that's a crazy way to view it). But where oh where do today's "suffering" young white men come up with hating Jews? Do they even know what a Jew is? Do they know any of them? Do they just identify them with liberal media b/c AM talk radio / Alex Jones type of stuff? Somebody help me out here.
Sadly got a cousin that's 22 that's a Trump supporter. Former heroin junkie that watched conspiracy theory videos on Youtube linking the Rothschild's as being the true masterminds of the global economy. He genuinely believed that the Jews had a weather controlling machine that would enable natural disasters to countries like Haiti. Dude is nuts.
Residual stupidity. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chaos-charlottesville-city-council-meeting They're blaming the city for "not doing enough" to keep the rally out, when in reality, city officials did everything they could to illegally silence the rally. Then once they lost in court, the city withheld promised police support, declared unlawful assembly, spilling tons of protestors and counter protestors into the streets, which led to more violent clashes.
Nothing like fighting self-righteous anger with a different variety of self-righteous anger. I saw clips from that meeting and it was absolutely ridiculous (of course). We will have the kind of country that people select with their behavior, be it in person, in writing, or on the internet. Each person carries a big responsibility there. I do understand their frustration. The more first-hand accounts I read, the more terrifying Charlottesville's white nationalists really were. Jeebus.
And that's what they've always been. Of course it won't stop people from calling them "heroes" for being violent assholes.