Charlottesville and Antifa

[Darth Wedgius]

Sometimes, violence is not only effective, but politically necessary.

If there's hundreds of angry Nazis surrounding a few priests and rabbis, chanting blood and soil, well, that seems like the perfect time to employ some strategically placed fists to the jaw. I'm not about to condemn the Antifa for doing that.

Then you and I will disagree about that,. And probably about many other things in life.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

To clarify, do you disagree that violence is ever politically necessary, that it is sometimes effective, or that Antifa should not be condemned for saving interfaith clergy from the violence of homicidal Nazis?

[cilantro]

So who did Antifa murder at Charlottesville? Because I thought that guy who rammed his car was for the Alt-Right?

[Admiral X]

Yeah, it's not like they go around initiating violence or anything. But they haven't actually managed to kill anyone yet, so that totally makes them cool and not a bunch of violent thugs.

[excalibur]

As much as I hate Nazis, they are legally free to preach their bullshit all they want as long as they are peaceful about it. Freedom to assembly is part of our rights as Americans. They weren't the ones throwing punches, beating people up and setting things on fire. The police are meant to maintain order. As long as you conduct yourself in an orderly fashion, what are they supposed to do?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

As much as I hate Nazis, they are legally free to preach their bullshit all they want as long as they are peaceful about it. Freedom to assembly is part of our rights as Americans. They weren't the ones throwing punches, beating people up and setting things on fire. The police are meant to maintain order. As long as you conduct yourself in an orderly fashion, what are they supposed to do?

Um...did you read the news?

Yez, the Nazis totally WERE the ones setting things on fire and beating people up! They came with torches, and they used those in conjunction with oil to FLING FIRE AT PEOPLE.
Did you not hear the account from one of the clerics at the interfaith peaceful protest group, about how if not for Antifa, the Nazi's would have killed them?

[LittleRaven]

I sympathize with some of the posters here that get frustrated when Antifa and the Alt-Right are equated, because that really isn't fair. When Antifa gets rowdy, they break windows, burn cars, and start fist fights. None of that is good, but frankly, it's not too much worse than what happens when the home team wins the big game. Windows can be fixed, cars can be replaced, and while violence is almost always regrettable, Antifa isn't being particularly terrible in that regard. Riots are just one of those annoying things that any urban population runs into sooner or later - we're a terribly violent species.

As I see it, the existence of Antifa doesn't represent any particular danger. There are always going to be young punks just itching for a fist fight and happy to sign up for any cause which promises a little mayhem. What disturbs me is the number of people that I see justifying, even praising Antifa's more violent actions. The old 'it's ok to punch someone when they're a Nazi.'

America is a strong nation, with strong institutions. We can survive bad ideas, bad ideologies, even bad presidents. What we can't survive is the normalization of political violence. That doesn't work well in the most homogeneous of nations, and it would be downright disastrous in the USA. It's nothing short of miraculous that we can get 330 million people from all over the world spread across thousands of miles embracing wildly different values and principles to stick together without relying on absurd amounts of force. If we ever allow violence to normalize, even in support of a good cause, that won't last.

[cilantro]

As much as I hate Nazis, they are legally free to preach their bullshit all they want as long as they are peaceful about it. Freedom to assembly is part of our rights as Americans. They weren't the ones throwing punches, beating people up and setting things on fire. The police are meant to maintain order. As long as you conduct yourself in an orderly fashion, what are they supposed to do?

Um...did you read the news?

Yez, the Nazis totally WERE the ones setting things on fire and beating people up! They came with torches, and they used those in conjunction with oil to FLING FIRE AT PEOPLE.
Did you not hear the account from one of the clerics at the interfaith peaceful protest group, about how if not for Antifa, the Nazi's would have killed them?

Yeah, that is the thing here folks-I, you know that whole ramming a car into a crowd of PEACEFUL Protestors, that were protesting the KKK/Neo-Nazis was a big decision in revealing which side was the most violent ones. Plus, AntiFa literally protected an interfaith group from Neo-Nazis and they didn't get pictured in clubbing a black guy:






So, sure there is the 1st Amendment but why is it so hard to say that violent Neo-Nazis/KKK/White Supremacists are bad?

[Antiboyscout]

Beating up black people? I guess they're in good company.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uprofx1iID8

[LittleRaven]

So, sure there is the 1st Amendment but why is it so hard to say that violent Neo-Nazis/KKK/White Supremacists are bad?

It isn't. They're bad. Almost everyone is saying this, with, granted, the very notable exception of our President.