# Antifas - The largely imaginary boogeyman of the far right **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 2, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354 "2017-07-02T15:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/61 "2017-07-05T21:25:32Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > **Loach** ’s link leads to an interesting placemat chart that summarizes domestic terrorism events. I’m not minimizing antifa in any way, shape or form, but it is an interesting look at what fringe groups take to violence and how they carry it out. > > [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54d79f88e4b0db3478a04405/t/591b3e7886e6c06246aa4c22/1494957697235/Domestic+Terrorism+-+2015-Present+-+Targets+and+Methods.pdf](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54d79f88e4b0db3478a04405/t/591b3e7886e6c06246aa4c22/1494957697235/Domestic+Terrorism+-+2015-Present+-+Targets+and+Methods.pdf) If you want a right wing equivalent I think the militia/patriot/SovCit/Clive Bundy crowd fits better than WBC. And that faction has proven to be dangerous - they were the perpetrators of the second largest terror attack on American soil. And more recently we have Jerad and Amanda Miller, who executed two cops and wrapped the bodies in the Gadston flag - then went on to kill a bunch of other people. > **[2014 Las Vegas shootings](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Las_Vegas_shootings)** > > The 2014 Las Vegas shootings occurred on June 8, 2014, when a married couple, Jerad and Amanda Miller, committed a shooting in northeastern Las Vegas, Nevada. Five people died, including the two shooters. The couple, who espoused extreme anti-government views, first killed two Las Vegas police officers at a restaurant before fleeing into a Walmart, where they killed an intervening armed civilian named Joseph Wilcox. The couple died after engaging responding officers in a shootout in Walmart; po... ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/62 "2017-07-06T11:23:53Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > And how can we tell the difference between these guys and rightie imposters? I mean, don’t they all wear those masks? You just get 4chan to do a bit of facial recognition, a bit of googling, track down the miscreant. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/muoR8Td44UE/maxresdefault.jpg "The Bikelock Fugitive of Berkeley") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muoR8Td44UE) ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/63 "2017-07-06T11:31:38Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Hell, I condemn them just for that stupid abbreviation. What, pronouncing the “scist” part is too many letters for you? AKA Antifaschistische Aktion. More letters. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/64 "2017-07-06T13:11:09Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I have no sympathy for any violent organization, but your link shows about eight or ten incidents in which antifa groups either had street fights with white supremacists, or otherwise acted like jerks towards similar sort of organizations. But he gets to be snarky. While providing a link without an argument. Reading the link, I see two actual incidents where Antifa actually enacted violence. One is a small fight. The other is an incident where they threw objects at protesters. There’s also one incident of violence towards Antifa (due to a sticker) and one incident where there were arrests and injuries at a protest but no claim about which side did what. I do not see how that refutes the OP. He doesn’t say they don’t exist at all, just that they are overblown. The language in the report in contrast to the actual incidents seems to actually support the OP rather than refute it. I mean, I seriously had a completely different post lined up until I actually read the report and saw how little it actually has. It was just asking **Loach** to establish that the incidence matches the fear, and that this goes above and beyond what normally happens when protesters and counterprotesters meet. But now I just want to say “that’s all? I thought these guys were scary!” ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/65 "2017-07-11T00:40:02Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But he gets to be snarky. While providing a link without an argument. > > But now I just want to say “that’s all? I thought these guys were scary!” I’m bored. I’ll play. In the USA where the govt is rightist and Antifa (what there is of it Chimera) and BLM have pissed off cops…Antifa is for the most part bored, out of shape. mostly white middle class children of either hippies, or well to do parents who their children want to piss off. I bring up pissing off cops because in the USA, the police arn’t going to put up with the bullshit for the most part. In fact i could even call ‘the cops’ a third faction at these dumb protests-counter protests. A very well-armed, armored third faction that the leftists havent quite learned to treat like lions and don’t get too close or you’ll get swallowed up [by the armored lions.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lQDwFOFkQM) BUT A BIG BUT…in England or Germany? Antifa arn’t bored, fat Americans. And the [police](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq5aVVojtas) arn’t as well trained here. Not to mention as we’ve seen before European leaders are hesitant to [stop rioters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jx7dfP0sfE) In summary…i agree with the tone of Chimeras post in that all these American gatherings are 35% larping on the part of everyone. But in Europe?? enh…not so much. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354/66 "2017-07-11T03:57:41Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > …Antifa is for the most part bored, out of shape. mostly white middle class children of either hippies, or well to do parents who their children want to piss off… You know any? Did you actually see their Antifa credentials, from the Central Committee? You sure it was Antifa, and not the Provisional wing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antifas-the-largely-imaginary-boogeyman-of-the-far-right/790354.md?page=3)