Much like Claudius naming the bugshit crazy stepson Nero as his successor in hopes that the Roman people would be so fed up with emperors that they would go back to a Republic.*
* From “I, Claudius” and probably entirely fictional.
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OK, Now I have one enemy. How dense do you have to be to think that because I don’t like bullies with masks and clubs deciding who gets to speak, that I side with Nazis.
That’s a nice bunch of italicized words that you tried to sneak into my speech bubbles, but i’m only going to touch on two points therein.
- Firstly, i don’t give a flying fuck if Richard Spencer calls himself a Nazi or a moose-worshiper. What i care about is exactly what you pointed out for him: he’s a racial supremacist. Specifically, he’s a supremacist for a race which still has a near monopoly on most types of power in our society (political, cultural, economic, etc.). This in a society still suffused with white supremacy.
- This leads us to my second point: your contention that Mr. Spencer has not advocated genocide. While he may not have explicitly so advocated, what he has advocated for is the imposition of racially homogenized ethno-states. Setting aside the obvious issue of forced relocation that would be needed, i have to ask, what do you imagine would happen to mixed race people like myself or mixed race families?
Note: I’m not even defending the use of violence on Richard Spencer. Although i do find the image viscerally pleasant, i am on the fence about the tactics and ethics.
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One should not be afraid to use violence to counter violence. White Supremacist speech intends violence, threatens violence and incites violence. A person actively working to commit violence against others, isn’t looking to appreciating free speech. They are looking to find ways for violence to be committed in their name, but don’t want to get their hands dirty.
If they cared so much about free speech, they would refrain from violence and inciting violence as well. But they don’t. The violence you criticize is a drop in the bucket in comparison with the terror and murder Spencer’s cohorts advocate and commit. Murdering people in the name of a racist agenda attacks free speech too. Talk about that first or shut your piehole.
If someone feels the need to harm Richard Spencer, I will applaud them. If Spencer gets hit by a bus, I would give the driver at least a case of decent beer.
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So where is your criticism of White Supremacists using violence to quell free speech?
Number of people killed by White Supremacists since 9/11 = about 70
Number of people killed by White Supremacists in service of suppressing free speech and voting rights = about 50
Number of people killed by Antifa and in service of their agenda = zero
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Early every year the seeds are growing
Unseen, unheard they lie beneath the ground
Would you know before their leaves are showing
That with weeds all your garden will abound?
If you close your eyes, stop your ears
Shut your mouth then how can you know?
For seeds you cannot hear may not be there
Seeds you cannot see may never grow
In January you’ve still got the choice
You can cut the weeds before they start to bud
If you leave them to grow high they’ll silence your voice
And in December you may pay with your blood
So close your eyes, stop your ears,
Shut your mouth and take it slow
Let others take the lead and you bring up the rear
And later you can say you didn’t know
Every day another vulture takes flight
There’s another danger born every morning
In the darkness of your blindness the beast will learn to bite
How can you fight if you can’t recognise a warning?
Today you may earn a living wage
Tomorrow you may be on the dole
Though there’s millions going hungry you needn’t disengage
For it’s them, not you, that’s fallen in the hole
It’s alright for you if you run with the pack
It’s alright if you agree with all they do
If fascism is slowly climbing back
It’s not here yet so what’s it got to do with you?
The weeds are all around us and they’re growing
It’ll soon be too late for the knife
If you leave them on the wind that around the world is blowing
You may pay for your silence with your life
So close your eyes, stop your ears,
Shut your mouth and never dare
And if it happens here they’ll never come for you
Because they’ll know you really didn’t care
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i think most antifa folks recognize that not everyone can or will use the same tactics that they do. and that’s okay.
they’ve made a choice to do things like stand between the white supremacists and the non-violent demonstrators in charlotte. because they know not everybody can risk arrest. and, not everybody is able to physically fight.
the rest of us just need to do what we can.
anything at all would be better than the “we’re all equal beacuse i’m not racist” attitude white liberalism has had for the last 40 some odd years.
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It’s all the Antifa gangs in prisons going back 40-50 years that worry me. /s
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Yeah, there won’t be an election in three more years.
(BTW – Trump DID joke about doing away with term limits, and that IS new and troubling – hence my assertion this is a test of the system. I’m predicting it will hold firm.)
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Um, no let’s not 
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I think you are sort of just restating my point.
I just happen to think that just because someone can behave themselves, doesn’t mean they aren’t murderous inside… antifa types as well.
I feel like “the 2020 election will still happen” is the lowest possible bar you could set for American government managing to constrain and check authoritarianism. I’d like to maybe set it a little higher than “corrupt as fuck authoritarian strong man shuts down investigation into the criminal behavior of himself and his associates while the rest of his party follows him through the looking glass”.
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That’s the lowest bar only if you lack gratitude for the Constitution and tradition of democracy that very, very countries around the world enjoy.
But you’re right, that doesn’t mean it would be nice to see an untainted investigation – but here’s the more troubling aspect for you to consider: many of the things Trump has done are probably NOT illegal.
That is definitely a concern. And we can do better. Much, much better.
But my sense is that the hysteria around Trump only tends to make things worse…
I think there was a scene like that in X-Men: First Class. Magneto was NOT HAVING IT.
but that was because he was just as bad as they were /s
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For those commenters still defending the right of White Nationalists to freely spout their ethnic cleansing proposals, you can look forward to a day when you will tell your grandchildren that at a time when peaceful demonstrators were being ran over by Fascists, when armed White Supremacists marched through the streets of American cities under the Nazi and the Confederate flags, when Alt-Right-linked shooters killed students in their schools, when African Americans were being killed by bombs, and when the US President acted sympathetic to those groups, you had the courage to speak up and defend the rights of those White Nationalists to speak freely and undisturbed. I am sure that your grandkids are going to be very proud of your principled stand.
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No, I’m completely mocking your point as being a garbage nonsensical statement that there are friendly unicorn Care Bear Nazis who believe in an exclusive and very narrow straight white male homeland that involves using magic wands to non-violently whisk all the others away to Narnia, Middle Earth, or Never-Never Land.
If they self-identify as Nazis, then they have to carry all the baggage that goes with it.
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“We fought their hatred and killing with words. It was so worth sacrificing other people’s lives for the sake of our nonviolence.”
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You didn’t read my post – I’m saying history teaches us that we should be very, very careful how we conduct ourselves, and there are OF COURSE times that call for measures other than peaceful protest and political activism. But you better know what you’re doing…
Nonviolence is more powerful than most people recognize.
There are also democratic and legal structures at your disposal that you should use before you risk a breakdown in civil society (and a breakdown is very, very easy to accomplish – more easy than moving forward).
The application of violence can also carry with it the risk of a backlash, or ceding moral ground to the villains; this has happened before.
I’m talking about practical political action – if an individual feels we’ve exhausted all avenues, and antifa violence is the only remedy, that individual knows nothing about history, is probably bent on burning property and causing mayhem, and doesn’t really give a shit about taking on the far right.
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