CHARLOTTESVILLE, USA – August 12: White Supremacists and counter protestors clash at Emancipation Park where the White Nationalists are protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument in Charlottesville, Va., USA on August 12, 2017. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
In a race to the bottom nobody wins.
But that’s exactly what’s happening in the war between the far right and the far left, which now escalates into violence on the slightest provocation. It’s a race to the bottom an no one will win.
Yet, both sides spend so much time justifying “their sides” youthful indiscretions that they refuse to see the damage it’s doing to free speech and the right to assemble. Regardless of the argument, violence is destroying our freedom.
Believe me, I understand. We are busy living our lives and all this craziness seems far away and lost in the rest of the world’s problems. Make no mistake however, if we fail to act, Germany of the 1930s is just around the corner.
There is no safety in denial. The effects of this violence are pervasive and will take decades to correct. The far left and right have already divided into guarded camps where membership requires total dedication and where any compromise is weakness. With a wink and nod, too many of us tolerate violent extremism because the perpetrators fall somewhere on our side of the political spectrum.
There is no agree to disagree. We demonize political opponents as not only wrong – but evil, and never find fault with the outrageousness on our side of the fence.
Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer, monitors domestic militants at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State. He told Politico, “The same way white nationalists used Obama as a figure to rally about … now Antifa and anarchists see in Trump a broad-base [enemy] that has united them.”
In this war between the extremes, the media thrives on the conflict. Watching it daily, it begins to look mainstream and we see devils everywhere.
According to The Daily Mississippian, students at Ole Miss had to cancel a weekend fraternity retreat because one student left his banana peel in a tree (no trashcan available). Several students got upset – seeing racist connotations in the act. That is insane.
While some on the fringes are happy to make us afraid of banana peels, others just want to have fun – fighting.
Jonah Goldberg wrote last week, “It seems to me the elephant in the room that people keep breezing past, is whether or not these people [at both ends of the political divide] are psychologically similar. I remember when ANTIFA types first started showing up on television breaking stuff, setting fires, punching people, and the like, my wife said, ‘Those are just idiot boys looking for an excuse to break stuff and get in fights.’ The point is, young people, particularly males, love to create drama, defy authority, and anoint themselves the heroic warriors of their tale.”
Tragically, it suppresses any honest debate or comment from those who would rather not join in the “fun.”
Lee Russim, a psychologist at Rutgers, sees the problem as a new sort of McCarthyism targeting sexism and racism. “I am concerned that such stigma and blacklists will include researchers who study group differences, especially evolutionary or biological bases of group differences [and] anyone who has the temerity to question the wisdom of diversity programs, affirmative action, bias reporting systems, microaggression training, implicit bias training, and the like.”
The Mayor of Berkeley California recently told voters, “I’m very concerned about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter and some of these other right-wing speakers coming to the Berkeley campus, because it’s just a target for black bloc to come out and commit mayhem … I obviously believe in freedom of speech, but there is a line between freedom of speech and then posing a risk to public safety.”
His solution? Suppress free speech.
Would he have offered a similar solution if it had been a Black Lives Matter or ANTIFA group being turned away over the threat of violence?
Sadly, the violence is rapidly becoming a game of one-upmanship. It will continue until both sides declare enough is enough.
According to Fox News, in documents that stretch back to last year, the FBI and Homeland Security warn that, “Anarchist extremists and Antifa groups were the primary instigators of violence at public rallies. They blamed these groups for attacks on police, government and political institutions, racists, fascists and ‘symbols of capitalism … the rise of fascist, nationalist, racist or anti-immigrant groups in U.S. political discourse could lead to violent backlash from these anarchist extremists.”
It’s a race to the bottom – that nobody will win.
Punchbowl Shelter
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The race to the bottom
Posted in Political Commentary, tagged antifa, charlottesville, conservative, politics, riots on September 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
CHARLOTTESVILLE, USA – August 12: White Supremacists and counter protestors clash at Emancipation Park where the White Nationalists are protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument in Charlottesville, Va., USA on August 12, 2017. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
In a race to the bottom nobody wins.
But that’s exactly what’s happening in the war between the far right and the far left, which now escalates into violence on the slightest provocation. It’s a race to the bottom an no one will win.
Yet, both sides spend so much time justifying “their sides” youthful indiscretions that they refuse to see the damage it’s doing to free speech and the right to assemble. Regardless of the argument, violence is destroying our freedom.
Believe me, I understand. We are busy living our lives and all this craziness seems far away and lost in the rest of the world’s problems. Make no mistake however, if we fail to act, Germany of the 1930s is just around the corner.
There is no safety in denial. The effects of this violence are pervasive and will take decades to correct. The far left and right have already divided into guarded camps where membership requires total dedication and where any compromise is weakness. With a wink and nod, too many of us tolerate violent extremism because the perpetrators fall somewhere on our side of the political spectrum.
There is no agree to disagree. We demonize political opponents as not only wrong – but evil, and never find fault with the outrageousness on our side of the fence.
Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer, monitors domestic militants at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State. He told Politico, “The same way white nationalists used Obama as a figure to rally about … now Antifa and anarchists see in Trump a broad-base [enemy] that has united them.”
In this war between the extremes, the media thrives on the conflict. Watching it daily, it begins to look mainstream and we see devils everywhere.
According to The Daily Mississippian, students at Ole Miss had to cancel a weekend fraternity retreat because one student left his banana peel in a tree (no trashcan available). Several students got upset – seeing racist connotations in the act. That is insane.
While some on the fringes are happy to make us afraid of banana peels, others just want to have fun – fighting.
Jonah Goldberg wrote last week, “It seems to me the elephant in the room that people keep breezing past, is whether or not these people [at both ends of the political divide] are psychologically similar. I remember when ANTIFA types first started showing up on television breaking stuff, setting fires, punching people, and the like, my wife said, ‘Those are just idiot boys looking for an excuse to break stuff and get in fights.’ The point is, young people, particularly males, love to create drama, defy authority, and anoint themselves the heroic warriors of their tale.”
Tragically, it suppresses any honest debate or comment from those who would rather not join in the “fun.”
Lee Russim, a psychologist at Rutgers, sees the problem as a new sort of McCarthyism targeting sexism and racism. “I am concerned that such stigma and blacklists will include researchers who study group differences, especially evolutionary or biological bases of group differences [and] anyone who has the temerity to question the wisdom of diversity programs, affirmative action, bias reporting systems, microaggression training, implicit bias training, and the like.”
The Mayor of Berkeley California recently told voters, “I’m very concerned about Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter and some of these other right-wing speakers coming to the Berkeley campus, because it’s just a target for black bloc to come out and commit mayhem … I obviously believe in freedom of speech, but there is a line between freedom of speech and then posing a risk to public safety.”
His solution? Suppress free speech.
Would he have offered a similar solution if it had been a Black Lives Matter or ANTIFA group being turned away over the threat of violence?
Sadly, the violence is rapidly becoming a game of one-upmanship. It will continue until both sides declare enough is enough.
According to Fox News, in documents that stretch back to last year, the FBI and Homeland Security warn that, “Anarchist extremists and Antifa groups were the primary instigators of violence at public rallies. They blamed these groups for attacks on police, government and political institutions, racists, fascists and ‘symbols of capitalism … the rise of fascist, nationalist, racist or anti-immigrant groups in U.S. political discourse could lead to violent backlash from these anarchist extremists.”
It’s a race to the bottom – that nobody will win.
Punchbowl Shelter
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