I’ve hesitated on posting this numerous times, because every time I’m about to hit that publish button, some new, idiotic bit of info pops up in my news feed pertaining to the topic at hand. I then feel the need to amend and add to what I’ve already written here on the subject. I’ve come to the realization however, that things are only going to get more ridiculous, so I might as well commit and move on to other things.
The fact of the matter is that there’s a disturbing trend happening as of late that I’m none to thrilled with, and quite frankly, you shouldn’t be either. It seems a portion of the population that likes to fancy themselves as “tolerant” and “accepting” are displaying quite the opposite attributes. In fact, they’re turning out to be the most violent and destructive force in our society today. By all accounts, what is being displayed is nothing short of fascism, and at its most extreme, domestic terrorism.
To bring you up to speed, in case you’ve been living under a rock, waves of young kids (and emotionally stunted adults) claiming to be liberals are displaying violent, fascist behavior under the guise of fighting the good fight. Ironically, they’re engaging in dangerous, fascist behavior, in the name of “fighting fascism”. Let that sink in for a bit. Good job, U.S. education system.
I’ve probably written about this a few times to some degree, but I don’t see this trend slowing down, and thus still view it as a problem worth writing about.
In the last few years, it’s become normalized, via the preaching of left-learning media, pandering celebrities, and the education system, to engage in violence as a means to push one’s agenda while stifling someone else’s freedoms.
This is the effect of indoctrination. When impressionable people are taught that it’s ok to violently attack people with differing views, they feel completely justified in doing so. It’s unfortunately also the result of individuals having a complete lack of education in basic history. You can’t look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you are the very fascist you claim to be against, if you don’t actually know what fascism is.To paraphrase George Santayana: “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
fascism (noun) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice
Historically, fascism has been marked by one side trying to silence another side via censorship, violence, and the use of government force. This is far removed from a democratic debate of ideas, with both sides being allowed to express their ideas while remaining free from harm and prosecution.
Throughout history, from Stalin’s Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to Hitler’s National Socialist Party, to Mao’s Communist Party of China, government force has been used to control the narrative through authoritarianism.
authoritarianism (noun) the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom
When a group of people disagree with another group and make the decision to “win” the war of ideas by using violence to silence, they are engaging in fascism. Yet the folks we see engaging in these activities today, don’t seems to want to accept that they are the very enemy they claim to be fighting. I’ve come to the realization that the reasons these fascists don’t realize they are fascists, is because they are twisting definitions to conveniently omit themselves from the equation.
Their minds reason this out in the following way: Fascism is a “right wing” ideology according to the definition. They fancy themselves liberals/Democrats, therefore they can’t possibly be fascists. The problem with this logic, is that merely calling oneself liberal doesn’t make one a liberal.
liberal (adjective) open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values
Liberals, by definition, are open to differing ideas and opinions. People who try to shut down differing ideas and opinions, are by definition, not liberals. Given all the above definitions, people like Antifa™, are (ironically) not liberal, or anti-fascist, but in fact anti-liberal, and the very definition of fascist. A surprising portion of the modern leftist movement shares very little in common with classical liberal values at this point. They’ve almost become the far-right of old.
Antifa™ represent the absolute worst of regressivism in modern society. These people are completely delusional about the way they look in the grand scheme of things. They view themselves as freedom fighters, saving the world like some sort of superhero collective. The problem is that they’re viewing themselves through a funhouse mirror. That funhouse mirror, being a lack of historical context, combined with positive reinforcement from a dishonest, delusional establishment.
A big part of this issue is that the rampant civil disobedience has been normalized as of late. Intellectual discussion and civilized debate are a thing of the past. If something doesn’t turn out in your favor, you now get to destroy stuff. If you don’t get your way, you are allowed to lash out like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Unfortunately the outgoing administration took a stance of never holding anyone accountable for their actions, so now we have bedlam every time an entitled group of people don’t get their way. What used to be an exception, is now becoming the norm.
Teachers at prestigious (citation needed) educational institutions are glamorizing, even outright encouraging this type of destructive behavior, passing down the indoctrination that was passed down to them. Instructors who were failed by their own educations, romanticizing tyrants and murderers like Castro and Guevara, continue this cycle, failing the next generation under them. It’s the educational equivalent of the child who was beaten by his father, going on to abuse his own kids.
This is all an unfortunate repeat of history. In fascist regimes, the youth were indoctrinated to fight the good fight by violently suppressing the opposition. In communist countries, this was done via smashing up evil capitalist businesses and ratting out everyone who dared dissent, to big daddy government. Anyone who showed any indication of opposing the regime was systematically destroyed. Tall poppy syndrome was in full effect. Don’t stand out at all, lest you become the target of the violent hive mind.
The current hive mind, much like the hive minds of yore, largely consists of useful idiots, who expedite the erosion of basic liberties. Complaining to the authorities to block anyone’s dissenting opinion, effectively takes away everybody’s freedom of speech in the long run. These people are essentially fighting to limit free speech and “wrong think”, opening the doors for government to step in and limit our first amendment. After all, it’s the government that ultimately has the power to remove your freedoms,and not Nazis, the Taliban, or any other scary scapegoat.
As a matter of fact, most dystopian science fiction literature revolves around societies that were ruined by overreaching progressivism and emphasis on collectivism. From Nineteen Eighty-Four, to Fahrenheit 451, to Brave New World, the futuristic societies portrayed were often destroyed by governments stepping in to “protect” the collective at the expense of individual rights. If your feeling get hurt by somebody else exercising their freedom of speech, the government will “fix” things by removing everybody’s freedom of speech. I’ll probably write an article about this topic another time, because it’s simultaneously interesting, and alarming.
it’s not just the uneducated educators who are guilty of pushing this dystopian future forward however. That bastion of out-of-touch arrogance know as Hollywood has been throwing it’s hat into the ring as of late. Every time there is an award show to hand out validation to these over-paid, attention-starved, professional pretenders, you can be sure somebody will take the opportunity to grandstand. Don’t expect any nuance however. People in gated, guarded communities tend to be a little out of touch with the realities us common-folk face.
Hence those glorious acts of millionaires pandering to the lowly peons who pay their salaries, by doing their best impersonations of a Braveheart speech. The problem here, is that it isn’t these clowns’ communities that are destroyed every time the irrational and lowly get whipped up into a frenzy and “protest”. It’s always the poor communities that suffer when people take out their anger with bedlam rather than words. These empty orations always garner the Hollywood elite ample media coverage the next day though, and if anything is evident, it’s that actors are desperate for any attention they can get.
It doesn’t necessarily matter if the actors, journalists, and those in the academics aren’t the ones throwing bricks and assaulting people themselves though. Those who might stoke the fire are no doubt guilty of the fire that may ensue. Inciting a riot is a felony after all.
It’s dangerous that people with this mindset are increasingly ending up in positions of power. They’ve already started to infest the media in places like BuzzFeed, i.e. the special olympics of journalism. Once these people start making it into politics, we’re going to be in for a bumpy ride. It’s already started to happen in Canada, where a guy set to go down as the least productive leader in western history is currently the Prime Minister. A ski instructor/drama teacher somehow bamboozled his way into the highest position in a country by pandering and having good hair. Of course, in the U.S. we ended up with a reality star, so I probably shouldn’t throw rocks in this glass house.
Now theses pseudo-revolutionary types are engaging in this childish act of trying to normalize violence against people they consider “Nazis”. The problem is, they consider absolutely anyone they disagree with a Nazi. So essentially the long and short of it is that they are trying to normalize being irrational and violent towards anybody they disagree with. What age group of person does this remind you of. If you guessed 3-5 years-olds, you are correct.
Which brings us back to Antifa™. The revolutionary cosplayers who seems to operate on a combination of lack of historical knowledge, and emotionally-driven violent tendencies. They wear masks to hide their identities, much like bank robbers, muggers, snowboarders, and other people who often engage in degenerate, anti-humanitarian deeds. They’re essentially junior terrorists whom the extreme left refuses to call out for being terrorists.
“But their name means ‘Anti-Fascist’, so how can they be fascists?” If I had a buck for every time I’ve seen this ridiculously daft question posed, I could pay my rent for a month or two.
If I go around calling myself a Korean woman, does that make me a Korean woman? I can call myself whatever the hell I want to, but facts and actions dictate what I actually am. If I go around engaging in intimidation and political violence, I’m a terrorist by the very definition of that word. If I then want to use force to shut down any view differing from my own, I’m a fascist by the very definition of that word. Engaging in these activities dictates what I am, and not whatever cute misleading term I choose to use to label myself.
In reality, Antifa™ are nothing more than kids who have been failed by the education system. They “fight” fascism by ironically acting out in the same manner as Hitler youth and children in Mao’s China, “smashing capitalism” with violence and destruction. Education has failed them, in that they are completely incapable of fighting opposing idea with their brains, and thus need to rely on their fists. They act purely on emotion, and nothing else. Unfortunately, history doesn’t look back favorably on you merely because you “felt” you were doing the right thing.
I’d be willing to give some of these Antifa™ kids the benefit of the doubt, but the truth is that I have yet to converse with one online that didn’t give off the impression of being anything beyond a D+ student at best. You can’t expect a D+ student to have a very solid grasp of history or politics though. Hence them largely being fueled by emotion rather than intellect.
I’ll end this here, because I have no doubt I’ll end up writing about this 40 more times in the not too distant future. It would be nice if the journalists whose responsibility it is to objectively report on things like this were actually doing their jobs, but that evidently doesn’t happen any more. Partisanship and towing the line have replaced merely reporting facts and reality. One step closer to that dystopian future.