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Me and the ANTIFA after Charlottesville
8 years ago
All caring and loving people are now lamenting the death of a fellow idealist slain in a white nazi terror attack in Charlottesville this month. I say its a terror attack, but our president refuses to do that even. He once stated that Heather Hayer was a 'beautiful person'. Tell me now you who support that man, do you really think that was genuine? That he would call someone who vigorously opposed him in protestes and said he was racist a 'beautiful person'?
Just the other day i read a quote made by a man who said that "all those who support removing confederate monuments should be shot!".
I knew this would happen. That with trumps arrival that racism was going to make a major comeback. And it has. He says he does not support nazism. But keep this in mind, Trumps dad was arrested in New York in the 1930's for participating in a KKK riot. And the deplorable jeff sessions stated in the 80's that he thought the kkk were great guys.
What are we to do in this situation?
I have friends in the ANTIFA. Anyone who i overhear say that millitant white supremacists are more tolerable than millitant anti-racist groups to me is instantly a supporter of racism, homophobia, etc. Ive been to rallies and heard the ANTIFA talk. And i would much prefer their company to moderate racists.
But after a very long time of soul searching, ive come to a serious conclusion.
As tempting as it is to want to stamp out bigots and these violent persecutors, i cannot take on an act of violence to do it. My whole life was about me trying to find love and fit in as a queer furry while the white christian conservative majority used aggression, insults, and threats of violence to force me to hide being gay or even just being a gentle male. Violence is how i know the populists and fascists by. That is their history. Hundreds of years of killing, torturing, attacking queer people just for existing. That is what they are.
Im sorry ANTIFA, but if you look at history, any acts of conflict society at lare ALWAYS blames minorities and us on the social left no matter who was at fault. That is the thing about populism. If we respond with violence of our own. That will give them all the public support they need to gain more power. We have to show everyone that we are the true face of equality and tolerance and idealism. So we must committ to not using violence to back our cause...
Someone pointed out to me, this is how german nazis came to power, through violent conflict with the left that spun popular oppinion tgeir way by playing on societies animosity to minorities. These new internet based racist alt right shits are using the same tactic to try and sway popular oppinion to despise minorities, queers, and immigrants and support stripping us of rights.
If we give them violence, society lead by this lying spinster president will go to the fascist alt right and beg for 'protection from the rioting lawless left'. It plays perfectly into trumps asertion that there is an organized violent extremist minority faction tearing up good wholesome america.
Resist yourselves and your desire for violent retribution. Remember we are the people of love and equality against hate and bigotry. We must find a way to teach people this and help them see our ways are just and moral. We always know this, violence begats more violence. They did violence to us now some of us want to return that violent act. And u know very well what will happen after one of us does that. We must be the ones to stop the violence and hate and say NO.
This is how we must win
Just the other day i read a quote made by a man who said that "all those who support removing confederate monuments should be shot!".
I knew this would happen. That with trumps arrival that racism was going to make a major comeback. And it has. He says he does not support nazism. But keep this in mind, Trumps dad was arrested in New York in the 1930's for participating in a KKK riot. And the deplorable jeff sessions stated in the 80's that he thought the kkk were great guys.
What are we to do in this situation?
I have friends in the ANTIFA. Anyone who i overhear say that millitant white supremacists are more tolerable than millitant anti-racist groups to me is instantly a supporter of racism, homophobia, etc. Ive been to rallies and heard the ANTIFA talk. And i would much prefer their company to moderate racists.
But after a very long time of soul searching, ive come to a serious conclusion.
As tempting as it is to want to stamp out bigots and these violent persecutors, i cannot take on an act of violence to do it. My whole life was about me trying to find love and fit in as a queer furry while the white christian conservative majority used aggression, insults, and threats of violence to force me to hide being gay or even just being a gentle male. Violence is how i know the populists and fascists by. That is their history. Hundreds of years of killing, torturing, attacking queer people just for existing. That is what they are.
Im sorry ANTIFA, but if you look at history, any acts of conflict society at lare ALWAYS blames minorities and us on the social left no matter who was at fault. That is the thing about populism. If we respond with violence of our own. That will give them all the public support they need to gain more power. We have to show everyone that we are the true face of equality and tolerance and idealism. So we must committ to not using violence to back our cause...
Someone pointed out to me, this is how german nazis came to power, through violent conflict with the left that spun popular oppinion tgeir way by playing on societies animosity to minorities. These new internet based racist alt right shits are using the same tactic to try and sway popular oppinion to despise minorities, queers, and immigrants and support stripping us of rights.
If we give them violence, society lead by this lying spinster president will go to the fascist alt right and beg for 'protection from the rioting lawless left'. It plays perfectly into trumps asertion that there is an organized violent extremist minority faction tearing up good wholesome america.
Resist yourselves and your desire for violent retribution. Remember we are the people of love and equality against hate and bigotry. We must find a way to teach people this and help them see our ways are just and moral. We always know this, violence begats more violence. They did violence to us now some of us want to return that violent act. And u know very well what will happen after one of us does that. We must be the ones to stop the violence and hate and say NO.
This is how we must win
No lack of violence will ever be enough, peaceful protests will be labelled as 'disruptive', there are already complaints of BLM 'blocking the streets'. Not being violent or threatening, just disrupting people's lives. These have lead to the 'black lives splatter' movement and suggestions people just keep driving through the protests and they'll have to get out of the way.
At some point a line must be drawn. On one side actions too extreme to be taken, on the other vocal resistance. Minorities and opposition are always tagged as violent and depraved. It's where we get the saying that 'rich blacks are more violent than poor whites' and the endless suggestions that gays are a risk to children. There's nothing to back this up, but there doesn't have to be, hate finds its own logic. (And is very good at misappropriating or just making up reasons if need be. From The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to modern ANTIFA Manuals it is simple enough to put words in the mouth of your enemy.)
I cannot condone shooting someone, or stabbing or running them down with your car, tat is the sort of thing that gives credence to 'On both sides', but I should hope that any right-thinking person would likewise reject such actions. But I cannot blame those who fight back, those who see how little has been done and become vocal with their anger. For historically many movements have also got into power simply because nobody fought back, either against actions or words.
However, I'm not above reading it and agreeing with things that coincide with my own morals and logic. You're right; this violence is not the answer. What happened in Charlottesville was a fucking tragedy. 3 people died over a statue, and by the time that they did, I'm pretty sure everyone there had forgotten why they gathered in the first place. There is only one protester from the "right" that actually made any sense to me, and it was a young man saying that he didn't want the country he lived in to reject his culture and his race, and erase his heritage from public areas. And I respect him, even if he probably made a mistake in showing up with actual KKK members, and Neo-Nazis. Real Nazis, not just people the mainstream media finds to be a threat like PewDiePie, of all people, if I were to take the most ridiculous example of people being witch-hunted because someone said the word "Nazi".
But one problem with what you wrote is that I think you're making a correlation vs causation error - just because this happened after Trump became president does not make this Trump's fault. I'll admit that the poor guy is probably in over his head - hell his follow-up remarks to the press after they got pissy about him not calling out a specific group in his condemnation of violence is mostly off-script and most of his advisors are pretty pissed at him. He even actually stated something false, in claiming that Antifa didn't get a permit to counter-protest (which, in most reports I've read, they actually did have a permit to be there as a counter-protest). However, I don't think Trump had as much to do with this rise in Fascist ideologues and actual White Supremacists, as I think the left's reaction to Trump has caused them to start coming out of the woodwork. They've become excessively hostile to even the slightest of right-wing functions, including people that don't want anything extreme or really out of the norm; in fact, leftist groups are now interrupting more right-wing events now that have been happening for years. And, if I were to guess, it had to do with the fact that Trump got elected, and they're scared over basically nothing.
Not to mention you have people jumping off the deep end and saying that white people should feel guilty for their entire lives because of their ancestors, and adding rules and exceptions to dictionary definitions like "racism."
The left has turned Trump into this evil, racist boogeyman, when he's actually not that bad. In fact, he doesn't even suggest anything too strange, other than that stupid wall between the US and Mexico - yeah, I don't see that one happening anytime soon. But, personally... I haven't watched all of his speeches, but I have yet to hear him say something that's actually anti-gay, or actually racist. And I have seen quite a lot of his news coverage. He is anti-Islam, but I don't really call that being racist, because Muslim is not a race. I agree with his sentiments, but that's a whole other can of worms that I don't think is relevant to open right now - we're talking about Antifa and Charlottesville - this could become a whole other discussion on its own.
I know I'm not going to straight up convince you that Trump was the right choice - I personally think the US got screwed this election, no matter who got voted in. I don't think Trump is a good president. But, regardless, this was just some food for thought about possible other explanations for why the ult-right has grown so rapidly, that's mostly independent of Trump. If Antifa weren't beating people up from the other side, they probably would be better off, and Charlottesville probably would never have happened... at least, not in that particular way. I mean, people probably wouldn't have fucking died, at least.
I know I'm not going to convince you with just this argument, it's just something to entertain. If I were you, I'd watch the entire press conference... in fact, all of them, about Charlottesville, where Trump is on screen. The media does actually get him to call out the people we're both mad at - the White Supremecists, and the White Nationalists. But he does stick to his guns and say that Antifa is not innocent either, which sounds like what you're trying to say about Antifa's methods. I'm not trying to suggest that you are like Donald Trump, but maybe that he's not as bad as you think, or that you can find common ground with him.
I really wanted to cut a lot of this comment, and be more reticent, but I felt that this is a very complex situation - there are a lot of misguided and misinformed people out there. A lot has happened and there's a lot to unpack.
Hell, this comment doesn't even scratch the surface, but I got the basics down.
I see through all your arguments and all your ideology that you and your friends champion. You scream hotly about not being racist or bigoted or whatever.... but proving whether or not you are is not necessary for me to determine my thoughts about the person you are Danny Skunk. What I see at the core of all of your social political ideas is self-protection. You see a reality that you have determined is 'the way it is' and are acting only to preserve that which makes your life enjoyable and comfortable. You are not a compassionate person Danny. You have a self centric view of reality and any love you show is selectively given. You rarely ever look in hindsight or question your thoughts or position in the human world. And the complexity of our human world is something that threatens and infuriates you. You do not give freely. You do not look for commonality from those who are vastly different. You do not trust in the goodness of others or in what is supposed to make us essential humans. You forsake humanity by committing wholeheartedly to this fanatical new religion of national identity, a selfish protectionist identity, that pits you and your patriots against the rest of the world, and any other human out there is second (or even absolute zero) on the world stage to you and your flag.
Bottomline Danny, you have give up on humanity and whatever strife or suffering may happen elsewhere or to others unlike yourself means no consequence to you. If there are any people in the world whom I may resent, its this kind of person.
I do not like you. I do not know if you even look at my art, but my creations were not made for people like you, they all contain my essence of the free, collective, chaotic love I dream of and wish I could live in. I would not be troubled if I never heard from you again. I do not love those who cannot show generous love.
But, hey, at least you've got the decency not to block me. I can respect that.