FBI Labels Anti-Fascists and Anti-Racists as Violent Extremists

This is essentially my pet conspiracy theory about Alex Jones. He was a plant by the CIA, to make all conspiracy theorists look absolutely batshit crazy. By having him peddle the extreme theories right alongside the “these are a little too close to reality, and the people are getting dangerously close to figuring it out” theories, they’re able to discredit those accurate theories. Because now they don’t need to attack the individual theory; They can just attack the face of conspiracy theories.

All I know is I'm still waiting on my check

Bbbbbbbut the REAL Americans only vote for OUR people. -Corpratists that don't realize that's what they are.

Being violent doesn't mean being an extremist, though. Especially if they are opposing authoritarians.

“Defund the Police” movement members need not actually support defunding the police - supporting lowering their funding without lowering it to zero still qualifies.

I swear this was the worst slogan in the history of all of slogans, and it did irreparable harm to the reform movement.

No, it’s important to separate ideology from actions.

Which is something the FBI has chosen not to do by calling the symbols of the ideology terrorist symbols instead of calling out any particular organizations that are doing anything actually criminal.

Antifa is not an organization, so if someone is labeling protest symbols as terrorism, we know where their loyalties lie. (hint: they don't want freedom of speech, they want to suppress the ideology).

Your first half was good, but impugning terrorist actions on them wasn't the way to go.

I do agree though: setting fire to courthouses, or creating an environment of lawlessness that guarantees small mom and pop businesses get looted is also not a winning cause. Protesting and counter-protesting where normal operations can continue is essential. The moment you start fucking with people's day-to-day is where you lost.

When I was growing up in school there was only one mass shooting at the time and that was Columbine. Kids would drive to school with guns in their racks because they planned on hunting later. The notion to shoot people wasn't even a consideration. What we have isn't a gun issue, we have a mental health crisis like nothing we have seen before and we are far too unequipped to handle it. We need better mental health programs and ways for people to more easily use them from a young age.

Nelson Mandela was accused of being a terrorist because he was one. The ANC mostly killed civilians, "civilians" that just so happened to be key figures in apartheid politics (well, that was their goal, anyways, and it worked well enough)

Also, just how myopic do you have to be to point to the collapse as the Soviet Union as being "solved politically" while ignoring several decades of proxy wars and an attempted coup?

Shit, it didn't even resolve that well other than independence for the satellite states, it just left Putin in charge in the end to get a million people killed himself.

Apartheid in South Africa was solved politically.

Bullshit. The Apartheid-regime would never have been ended if it wasn't for it's military defeat in Angola and the (extremely violent) uprising in South Africa itself.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland were solved politically.

Bullcrap. If it wasn't for the IRA, Ireland would still be England's doormat.

The Berlin wall collapsed and the Cold War ended without violence.

The (so-called) "Cold War" never ended... the US just switched to new pretexts to wage war on the 3rd world.

War is diplomacy when all other means have failed. The same is true for revolution and resistance id say.

Violence isn't the only resort. It's the last one. And often unnecessary. Though not always.

Pride boys?

Voting has not worked. At all.

BoTh SiDeS

More enlightened centrism bullshit. Then difference is that one side wants people dead for who they were born as.

I’m trans. I was happy to view those on the right as “just people who I disagree with”…until they started pushing to eliminate people like me.

Start with the talk show hosts who promote this shit

I partially agree with you, but also with the rest here. Yes, as people, we should be united fighting against the elites which don't let us live the life we deserve (because we are receiving less than we should considering our productivity, and because many problems can be solved already). We are all on a planet that we need to save, even if only for selfish reasons. We should be together. But the elites have seized the opportunity to divide us with ideologies such as economics, identity politics, etc. If they need an unfair war against a country to exploit it and extract its resources, they'll say it's about patriotism or security or something like that, and many people will believe it and support it. Just look how divided we are about current affairs.

The left usually goes against these interests. Thus the red scare, the fake leftists that only makes us look bad, etc. They need to disband the left, and they have an army willing to do so for free. Here's where these opinions enter. As long as an elite, yes, but also all their supporters go against us and against basic ethical principles, we cannot sit and say: "people, do not trivialize wars on social media, it is not nice", "oil is cool, but saving the planet is cooler", etc.

I believe in stronger actions, for example, the sabotage people are doing against the shipping of weapons that are meant to kill civilians in Palestine or the blockages against deep sea mining. These are actions that can save lives without actually hurting others as the economical damages are not going against individuals but big institutions that can manage the losses.

I also believe in dialogue. I actually dislike how we stop listening to each other as leftists: how moderate, often liberal-leaning leftists censor radical leftists such as marxist-leninists ("tankies") or gender critical feminists ("TERFs"), without listening to them. No, they do not necessarily promote hate and they have valid points that may need further exploration. That said, I believe in the censorship of hate speech, explicit hate speech like the videos circulating about how others deserve to die or deserve to suffer. That's unacceptable, no matter the group of people you are talking about. Indeed! If we say that we need to kill white supremacists, it is no better than them saying they need to cleanse the population. Still, we need to keep their hate and all hate out of the normal discourse and we need to defend ourselves in case others turn to violence.

In a nutshell, it's about defending the wellbeing of beings in the most peaceful and civil way possible. It is about defending ourselves while doing that, because the people in power and their supporters won't often like it.

Do you want a crude example? Read about the people defending the wild life in Mexico. Politicians and organized crime want to profit off those lands. They rob lands from people, often indigenous people; they get into illegal or non-sustainable logging; they enlarge the black markets, hurting and endangering populations; they transform regions, affecting the whole ecosystem. There are people, usually biologists, who warn against this and dedicate their lives to the protection of the forests, rain forests, etc. They end up dead. It is very dangerous to protect the monarch butterflies, the wolves, the big cats... Isn't that ridiculous and terribly sad?

This is how it has been for a long time. Speak words of freedom in the kingdom and you might lose your head. Stop the machines and they'll justify killing you. I mean, read Lord Byron's defense of the luddites and then think about how they dismissed it...

Personally, I do not see rightists as my enemies, I see them as people tragically going against others' and their own interests. The ones that are in power are blinded by it, and the ones that only follow are blinded by hope: "Someday I'll be rich, if only I defend the status quo a little longer".

My personal enemies are the horrid ideas, feelings, and values that accompany most of these acts I disapprove of. Selfishness, vanity, etc. Some people, many people (I am no exception), naturally tend to them in varying degrees, and I can only feel disappointment for the number of people that embrace them. That leads me to my secondary enemies, the things that make people do not defy them. Cowardice, apathy, dogmatism, etc.

Edit: And I do not have final answers. I do not know if we are in need of a revolution, a reform, an extinction, time... I know very little.

I am very sorry you got caught in one of my rambling, ranting comments. My point is that it is not a situation in which two sides are equally wrong, but a bunch of the population that sides with the tyrants you yourself allude to in your comment. People who still deserve our respect; that respect doesn't mean passivity when they actively affect others.

You are absolutely right and we need to fight against corruption and many other things, and that's why I consider myself a leftist: you name it whatever you like. These are my attempts at rationality and correctness, and, while I might be a minority in the details, I know I am in good company in the broader ideals. Many of us disagree in a very trivial way... Sorry, and thank you for reading this far.

Any beginner's guides you'd recommend?

Part of why I like redesigning the US flag, I feel like the left needs their own banner that can read patriotic while still sending a strong message.

Latest direction I've gone has been switching the stars and stripes to represent the 7 original articles of the constitution and the 27 amendments that have since passed.

The old flag represents America's growth via manifest destiny, its growth as an empire via conquest, while this represents America's growth as a democracy via reform and the expansion of rights.

For reference:

https://i.imgur.com/qiwF7eT.png

That's what the sneks want you to think.

I am wearing my "no step on snek" tee-shirt right now, actually. It's a great strategy to prevent a trip to the hospital, and I just wear the shirt for "snake awareness" reasons.

However, the "no step on snek" stickers and such are awesome. I see it as a clear jab at how some people grossly misunderstand history and any associated symbols. Meh. You can't always fix "stupid" but you can always make fun of it.

It's not a bad thing to kick a Nazi

There are 350 million people in the US, I have a higher bar for them tearing huge holes in our society to catch a tiny tiny amount of people.

Especially when we could put the insane amounts of money we throw at these bigots into giving people healthcare or other social support services and save far far far far more lives.

Also, as I said elsewhere the FBI utterly failed to anticipate or prevent an attempted violent coup of the U.S. government that would have likely resulted in direct body violence against serving U.S. politicians at the VERY least. I am not sure the FBI could have failed at anything more basic to what they do.

No, but I'm expected to vote for the guy who's in charge of the FBI.

Unless Biden doesn't have control over the FBI, in which case we have bigger problems.

If you don't think the Dead Kennedys are a punk band then I guess punk bands don't exist.

No true Scotsman....