In your town, there is gonna be a KKK rally. You despise those guys.
So you, and a few of your like and right minded buddies go to the KKK rally to counter demonstrate. You maybe carry some heavy signs in case you see those hooded idiots start whuppin on some black dude so you can go help him. Maybe one of those KKK goons gets in someones face , there’s a little fight and the KKK guy gets punched.
Congrat! You are Antifa. You Imaginary Antifa ID card will not be on it’s way to you. You can not attend the next meeting to elect the nonexistent officers. You may or may not say you are antifa, it doesnt matter.
Antifa is what you do, there is no membership, no officers, no organization except a few dudes calling other dudes. No dues, no cards, nada.
See?
Now let us say you go to that rally and break some windows and burn a car. Someone yells at you and you say “I am antifa!”. You are not antifa, even tho you claimed to be.
I suggest you think of it this way:
[ul][li] 96% of the protestors are peaceful, and condemn the looting. Many protest sites have no looting at all.[/li][li] 2% of the protestors are so frustrated and/or excited that they resort to opportunistic looting.[/li][li] 1.5% of the protestors are professional looters.[/li][li] 0.45% of the protestors are Proud Boys, Black Bloc, hate-filled racists pretending to be Antifa, or other Trumplickers instigating riots as a “false flag” operation; they think that’s how to Make America Great Again.[/li][li] 0.05% are miscellaneous people who actually do fit the Kremlin-Infowars scenario that infatuates right-wing media. This group includes antifas turned criminal, and the nephew of George Soros’ sister’s hairdresser.[/ul][/li]@ OP — Stare at these numbers for a while. Might the antifa-turned-criminal group be as high as 0.10% instead of just 0.05%? Sure! But is this numbers game so important? Is it really the key to your reaction to the protests? Stare at the numbers again. (If you think my extremely crude estimates are way off, post your own.)
No. In this era of post-reality journalism, someone admitting to reading Washington Examiner or even Washington Times elicits barely a chuckle. @ Urbanredneck — Your contributions would be more appreciated if you quoted from Infowars.
I’m angry at mobs of people who use violence to terrorize and silence people. Antifa is barely better than the KKK. I’m angry that we have folks who defend the suppression of basic freedoms because it supposedly advances their political agenda.
Thats right. Ignore them. Let them march. Let them talk. But give them no audience. No tv. Dont go sticking their faces all over the news. Let the cops arrest any who try to harm anyone (imagine them being thrown into prison!). They will get their hour or 2 and then forced to leave.
The minute they are gone THEN have a party or a picnic or something where you bring everyone together.
Good grief the kkk is maybe 10,000 or so people nationwide. I’ve never met one and know only a few who have (mostly thru gun clubs). They are NOT a threat.
It’s what people in Topeka did to the Fred Phelps bunch. They ignored them and they basically went away.
Oh wait. Some did better. They had “Fredathons” I think that was what they called them. For every hour or so his group was out money was donated to whatever group they hated the most.
Anyways their is NO MAJOR FASCIST THREAT so no need for antifa.
People always like to say things like this but they never tell me what source of propaganda is an accepted source of unbiased news? Please do. I need a good laugh.
Good thing those neo-Nazis have you to bravely defend them on the internet! You don’t get to yell “FIRE!” in a crowded theater, you don’t get to call for the assassination of a political leader you don’t like, and you don’t get to march screaming “JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US!” without pushback.
Because that’s totally what’s being argued. If you have evidence that ANTIFA (HOLY SHIT I’M SCARED) are starting anything, feel free to let the FBI know. So far, they got nothin’.
From all reports, that’s almost assuredly white supremacists. You’re almost Antifa, yourself!
Yeah, Antifa has lynched thousands of people and spent the last century and a half terrorizing families! Milk shakes are DANGEROUS and exactly equivalent to murder, rampage, state-endorsed terror campaigns, rape and pillage!
You folks don’t get it. Mob violence to deprive people of their constitutionally protected civil rights is wrong regardless of the underlying ideology used to justify the terrorism. You realize it’s possible to be opposed to terror from anywhere in the political space don’t you? One can be both anti fascism and anti communist. And even though I’m against those ideologies I’m not going to engage in mob violence to silence proponents of those ideologies either. It’s not that hard actually respecting fundamental principles such as freedom of speech or freedom of the press.
This is rich considering that Trump and many Republicans, that continue with their 3 monkey act regarding what Trump does, do not care about those freedoms.
So…nothing on Antifa actually doing anything? I’m shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you!
We’re don’t trust the FBI? I thought that was a Trumpist idea. Besides, if an organization that has been historically anti-left can’t find anything, why should I expect anything to be there?
You folks don’t get it… as has been explained ad nauseam , support for fundamental rights does not imply advocation of a specific message. It’s a concept you should have learned in elementary school. You can be for freedom of religion and not endorse a particular or any religion.
What I am against is terrorism, regardless of the stated ideals, using actual criminal violence to deprive people of protected rights. I’m also very much against those who enable mob violence because it fits their supposed short term political agenda.
Therefore, Antifa and their foolish allies are a danger and I think they are highly counterproductive.