Any Thoughts?
The people who monitor this stuff agree: the failure of the Unite The Right 2 rally is not indicative of the White Power movement as a whole--yes: they have suffered setbacks--but Kessler (a) burnt a lot of bridges in the movement and (b) big names like Richard Spencer were saying "Don't Go."
When power-nazi Spencer bails on you, you're kind of fucked. The turn out for the nazish Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer movement in Seattle the week before got around 400 people so clearly these crowds can come. They just didn't here.
More importantly though, we need to be clear on a few things.
1. Antifa Made A Mess Of Themselves
Right now The Omnivore avers that the White Power guys are going over the after-action notes and coming to the conclusion that if you get a bunch of Antifa and Police together you get a nice, tasty, anti-police riot. This will not be lost on them--look for them to encourage this with willing angry lefties attacking journalists and chanting anti-cop slogans (and anti-white, western, whatever). This is gold for the White Nationalist movements and they will dig for it.
Observation: A Win for The Nazis
2. Unite The Right I Was a Disaster For The Movement. UTR II Was For Kessler
Kessler was always a loser and now he's a major league loser. The one thing these guys can't stand is looking humiliated. It may not destroy them--but it sure hurts. In a clamor for recognition and respect, if you make your case and wind up looking like a crybaby it's not the emotional charge that will draw people to your movement (The Omnivore wants to know what the Crying Nazi is up to these days).
This might well be the end of Kessler as a leader (he was already hurting). The other thing to keep remembering was that the murder at UTR I got these guys kicked off electronic payment platforms. That hurt more than any think-piece The New Yorker ran. Keep focused on that.
3. Antifa Kinda Works
The majority of Antifa isn't throwing rocks at cops or chanting stupid slogans--it's outing Nazis to their friends, families, and employers. This year a bunch of the nazis showed up covering their faces (like Antifa--who is afraid they'll be killed by nazis if doxed). This is good: one thing that everyone learned from the Klan was that it's scary not to show your face and look like a terrorist--and if you want to recruit people and mainstream yourself, you don't want to look scary.
Spencer was pretty effective--until he got punched in the jaw. Kessler gave good radio--and looks dorky but not scary in a suit. Neither of them are getting a job in normal-world any time soon. The forcing of these guys to cover up in public is effective at harming them. Punching Spencer--which was part of what led to his hanging up the lecture circuit--was, you know, effective.
Conclusions
The failure of UTR II will be a learning experience for everyone. It's not evidence that the movement has dried up--just that it needs to evolve. New leaders will emerge. Things will change. It is hard to draw too much inference from this one point--so don't let anyone tell you that it's all over now--but definitely understand that taking lessons from this is important to both sides. The nazis definitely are.
Antifa is good? The police and journalists they attacked weren't Nazis. They cover their faces because they're anarchists who don't want to be identified. Most are upper middle class white boys. These are the same thugs who attacked Trump rally goers. They're not anti facist. They're anti Trump
ReplyDeleteYou gotta read the whole article--and if that doesn't work, maybe ask someone in your home for help. Antifa was counted as a win for the nazis.
DeleteIt says "Antifa kind of works"
Deleteand goes on to defend the majority of antifa. I didn't write this dribble but I can read it
Antifa’s stated goal is to fight fascism. He talks about how they are fighting fascism (doxxing people who go to shit like UTR). What is unclear about that?
DeleteYou (Dawn Sweeney) wrote, "Antifa is good?"
ReplyDeleteRight? I mean that was you? Or was your account hacked by someone who was having trouble with reading comprehension?
Because -- nowhere -- in the article -- does it say "Antifa is good."
That's your (inaccurate, illiterate) summary.
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Antifa kind of works isn't exactly a condemnation. Would be nice to have a civil discussion without snark but I know that's not possible on this site.
DeleteAntifa claims to fight fascism but attacked a police officer and 2 journalists. They don't sound like the good guys
ReplyDeleteA couple of things (this is The Omnivore).
Delete1. I'm fine with calling for "no-snark"--and I think it should be observed--but that goes hand-in-hand with not putting words in the other person's mouth. Okay?
2. I am actually surprised to find Antifa's methods as effective as they were--and I think it should be called out. They should also be hammered for attacking cops, chanting bullshit slogans, and attacking reporters. Which I did--just not sufficiently to your liking--but I did it first, and clearly.
3. As to the effectiveness: One of the learnings from how fascism rose in Italy was that there wasn't anyone standing between the fascists and the people they were attacking. They were not KILLING the leftists they were going after--they were humiliating and beating them--as well as marching, rallying, and showing force (intimidation).
When Spencer got punched I was of the opinion that he would capitalize on that--use it as a rallying cry / martyrdom -- in order to improve his visible profile and gain sympathy from the "no violence" crowd. He did try--it didn't work.
Similarly, the host of fired nazis has led to the group having to vastly realign how it plans to work. The move was thought to be going from hoods to suits--which was a bloody good move until they got doxed and fired.
I, of course, pay attention to Antifa and nazi communications--so I got to watch this play out over time (I'm not an insider--but I follow people who are) and am interested to see that it *worked*--like *all of it worked*. The shows of force, even with the black masks and (vile) communist flags worked. The doxing worked. The clashing worked--The nazis are afraid of antifa and afraid of being doxed--and they should be.
That's a key observation of mine--and I wrote it up.
-The Omnivore
There's a world of difference between "Antifa is good" and "Antifa is effective." Effective =/= good.
ReplyDelete