ACAB

ACAB

Fuckin pigs

Minutes ago: Atlanta cops tasing a restrained student protester at Emory University

Not like it really helps anyway

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Genuine question here.

If being Anti-fascist, yet trying to dictate what others can do or vilifying / condoning violence towards people who have different views, is that not a derivative of fascism? Trying to dictate what others say or do because you believe it to be in everyone else’s best interest? Although we are all individuals with our own goals and beliefs.

As it seems you are forcibly trying to oppress the opposition or people with alternative views even if they do not forcibly oppress others but wish to live their life in their own ways. As you believe what you want is in everyone’s best interest but it is almost impossible to be completely neutral and not have some sort of bias due to your own beliefs and upbringing.

Ah yes, the old “anti-fascists = fascists” line of reasoning.

We're going (very generously) assume that you are being genuine and are just this ignorant about fascism and anti-fascism, Anon, because we know a lot of people out there are. First off: you seem to think fascism = "telling people what to do" or "being violent." That's like saying that fascists often wear pants, so wearing pants = fascist. Yes, fascists are fond of "telling people what to do" and "being violent." So is every other state and governing structure in existence. If that's all that fascism was, then every society with both rules + a way to enforce those rules (which inevitably falls back on violence/"forcible oppression" = "derivative of fascism," rendering the category of fascism meaningless and, quite frankly, insulting the victims of fascism by equating what they suffered with, say, speed limits. So from jump, you clearly don't have a useful understanding of what fascism is. Not to worry, Anon, a lot of people don't and we can help you with that. Let's start with this poster from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

If reading is your thing, we’d also recommend The Anatomy of Fascism by Columbia University historian Robert O. Paxton; if reading is not your jam this video by Philosophy Tube is a useful starting point for understanding what fascism actually is. If you’re going to espouse your opinions about fascism and anti-fascism, Anon, these learning resources are not optional for you. Next, let’s talk about violence. If you think the fascists’ take on/use of violence is the same thing as anti-fascists’ take on/use of violence, you’re once again demonstrating a real ignorance on the matter.

For fascists, violence isn’t just a tactic or strategy; it is the tactic/strategy. Fascists consistently and repeatedly glorify, prioritize, and valorize violence as a legitimate and desirable means to accomplish their goals. By contrast, violence employed by anti-fascist is always in defense of ourselves and our communities. Anti-fascist violence is typically employed as a last resort and is typically proportional to the threat being confronted. A few examples to illustrate: 1) The Proud Boys reserve the highest level/rank within their gang/terror group for those members willing to commit acts of violence.

We defy you to name and provide evidence of an anti-fascist group that does this.

2) The Center for Strategic and International Studies looked at 900 acts of politically motivated violence in the US that resulted in deaths. Here’s what they found when they compared violence committed by antifa, the left in general, Islamic extremists, and the far right:

As you can see, the overwhelming number of deaths from political violence is caused by far-right extremism. 3) Maybe you heard about the “violent” Black Lives Matter protests “burning down our cities” a while back. Researchers at Harvard looked at over 7300 BLM protests and discovered that less than 4% of those protests saw any vandalism or property damage and in less than 3% was anyone injured. In that 3% of protests where someone was injured, as the researchers note, “when there was violence, very often police or counterprotesters were reportedly directing it at the protesters.”

Now let’s talk about your mischaracterization of fascist ideology as a “differing view” or “opinion.” Let’s be absolutely clear that the “viewpoint” or “opinion” of fascists is that people who differ from the fascists in terms of ethnicity/race, religion, language spoken, geographic origin, migration status, gender or sexual identity, or disability should be dehumanized, scapegoated, persecuted, driven from the community, and eliminated, preferably by force.  The viewpoint/opinion of anti-fascists, in contrast, is that people should be allowed to live their lives free of fear of persecution and violence being directed at them because of their ethnicity/race, religion, language spoken, geographic origin, migration status, gender or sexual identity, or disability. The anti-fascist position is captured by the slogan Respect Existence of Expect Resistance. We’d go so far as to argue that the fascist position isn’t even an opinion because (as any first-year philosophy student could tell you) opinions must be defensible; something the fascist position clearly is not. Look Anon, if fascists were arguing about whether pineapple belongs on pizza or how much tax money libraries should receive, we’d happily debate them on those opinions or viewpoints. But whether or not certain groups of people deserve basic human rights or if they should instead be persecuted, forcibly removed, enslaved, and/or murdered is not a matter up for debate and people trying to spread that ideology must be stopped. If you think that they should instead be defeating in the free market of ideas through vigorous debate, please consider a couple what Michael J. Dolan succinctly explained; that "when you argue that fascists should be defeated in debate what you're actually suggesting is that vulnerable minorities should have to endlessly argue for their right to exist and that at no point should the debate be considered over and won." If fascists want to “live their lives in their own ways,” they should fuck off to some part of the planet no one else lives in or holds claim to and do it there (maybe Elon Musk go lead them on a Mars colonization project?); so long as they continue attempt to do it in communities other people live in, they pose a clear threat to those communities and need to be shut down by any means necessary.

It sucks so much when you work so hard for something and give it all you got and you do everything you can, but it still doesn't work out and you still fail.