August 20, 2017 The Neo-Nazis at the Charlottesville demonstrations a week ago were as sickening as Neo-Nazis usually get. They are infantile, uninformed, and bigoted. Their mindless anti-Semitism is indefensible. However, who is worse, the Neo-Nazis or Antifa, America's nihilists / Anarchists? I don't know who is worse but the fact is that there is -or should be- a real debate on the question. Both are indefensible. The news media is right to condemn the Neo-Nazis. However, while some news people have, in fact, been critical of Antifa, Chuck Todd and PBS most notably, others, like the worthies as CNN, have decryed any comparison of rival forms of evil. For CNN's people the only real evil is on the political Right, the political Left is beyond reproach. When even the SPLC condemns Antifa you know that we are discussing a particularly vile and criminal organization -which I say with mixed emotions since my disdain for the Southern Poverty Law Center is no secret and I generally detest that organization. But this time it got things right. Antifa is a threat to everyone else. Antifa consists of violent crazies. What else is lost in all the hullabaloo are the valid grievances of the alt-Right. This is not some sort of defense of the alt-Right but a simple statement of fact: It does no-one the least good to put black people on some kind of pedestal as if skin pigmentation that has African origins makes someone morally superior to others, as if white people are all racists, as if African-Americans never need to answer to the endemic violence that characterizes maybe a fourth of the urban black population, a population that is anti-intellectual, willingly immoral, and essentially anti-education in outlook. Just maybe a large segment of the white population sees this and is disgusted and revolts against political establishments that pander to the black underclass for political advantage. Which is mostly to speak of urban Democrats but also to discuss the Bush wing of the Republican Party. These are the same people who pander to Muslims just as thoughtlessly as they genuflect to African-Americans. This said, nothing excuses the virulent anti-Semitism of the far Right. There is plenty of anti-Semitism on the Left, also, of course. In total there is even more anti-Semitism on the Left, in fact. On that score America's universities are starting to resemble Germany's universities in the 1930s, but nobody should ignore the 'classic' anti-Semitism of the Neanderthal Right. For the record, although I have said this repeatedly over the years, I regard anti-Semitism as stupid beyond belief, inexcusably immoral, and ridiculous. Not that individual Jews may not deserve criticism, that is hardly the case, Jared Kushner for openers, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rachel Maddow, George Weinberg, Paul Krugman whenever he opens his mouth about politics, among others, merit all the criticisms anyone can offer. But to identify Jews en bloc as some kind of enemy of the people is an absurdity. And doing so is pure scape-goating which has the effect of excusing oneself from being honest about one's own shortcomings and failures. Which is especially odious given the fact that we have real enemies whom Neo-Nazis habitually ignore since, you see, the lord and savior of the Nazi movement, Hitler himself, was pro-Islam and a friend of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who was an honored guest of the Third Reich and given responsibility for organizing Muslim SS units in the Balkans to exterminate Jews. Instead of protesting against Islam the Neo-Nazis vent their anger at Jews; this makes no sense at all. Which is to say that we do not need the far Right and we do not need the far Left and each can go to hell -where they belong. It is the disgrace of the American news media that it has extreme difficulty in admitting that there even is a problem on the Left. It is anything but accidental that I am a Radical Centrist who is disgusted at both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Billy ----------------------------------------------------- Editorial Calmer voices on the left must disavow antifa’s tactics — or else they will give rhetorical ammunition to Trump
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, August 20, 2017, The disgusting resurgence of white supremacists in 2017 America, aided and abetted by a White House engaging in toxic moral equivalence, has gotten an assist from a tiny left-wing cadre. This loosely organized band calls itself antifa (“anti-fascist”), and — unlike the broad coalition of activists arrayed in opposition to much of the Trump agenda — its members unapologetically embrace violence as the only sufficiently strong answer to those they see as enemies, even when those enemies are engaging in nonviolent protest. Down this road, madness lies. In a civil society — fingers crossed, that’s what this still is — unprovoked violence is illegal and wrong no matter who is on the receiving end. The answer to speech is speech, not sticks and stones. Just as important, antifa activists make a fateful strategic mistake by stealing initiative and attention from far more admirably behaved fellow travelers, which in turn gives the likes of President Trump license to blame “ both sides” for violence that one side far more clearly provoked. Rewind to the start of the chaos in Charlottesville to understand the pernicious dynamic. A group of “alt-right” protesters were gathering, ostensibly motivated by the proposed removal of a Confederate statue, but in fact to celebrate anti-black racism and anti-Semitism. Their promotional materials used Nazi and Confederate imagery. Their chants insisted “Jews will not replace us.” Their leaders openly embraced the vile notion that the United States is for white Christians and no one else. Though some carried no arms, many flaunted assault rifles, clearly to intimidate anyone who dare confront them. These were — and remain — the bad guys. Hundreds if not thousands of counterprotesters gathered to oppose them, nonviolently. They chanted, shouted, sang songs, in the best tradition of American activism. Contrary to Trump’s assertion, they had full legal permission to protest. That was the asymmetric reality: immoral and sometimes violent intimidators and their enablers, met primarily by righteous, peaceful protesters . Then antifa activists, sometimes masked, sometimes wielding pepper spray, bricks and other weapons, entered the equation. Intent on viewing virulent expressions of racism as violence, they were bent on initiating conflict. Among their victims were journalists. Taylor Lorenz of The Hill was punched in the face by an antifa for recording a fight between the two groups; she tweeted that her assaulter told her not to “snitch, media bitch.” A videographer from Richmond’s WTVR covering a counter-protest got a concussion from head blows with a stick. Of course, the single most violent act in Charlottesville was committed a the radical right-wing terrorist who drove his vehicle into a crowd. But antifa activists helped accelerate the anarchy. This is what they do. In Berkeley, Calif., earlier this year, antifa vandalism and assaults on conservative attendees forced cancellation of speeches by Milo Yiannopolous and Ann Coulter. In April, antifa groups warned off Trump supporters from marching in the 110-year-old Portland, Ore., Rose Festival: “We will have 200 or more people rush into the parade . . . and drag and push those people out.” Fearing that the police couldn’t contain violence, festival organizers cancelled the event. A violent movement that seeks to strike fear into the hearts of not just hate groups, but legitimate right-of-center individuals and organizations, has no place in a democratic society. Calmer, smarter voices on the left must vocally disavow antifa’s tactics. Or else they will give rhetorical ammunition to President Trump, himself no stranger to inciting violence, as he dishonestly conflates his ideological enemies and deviously blurs bright moral lines. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
