Thank you for this critical update. It is very useful to me as I am a mere 1,500 miles away. May we all stay safe tonight.
Well they do specifically target symbols of capitalism like banks and major chains. It's politically motivated, not completely at random. I'm still sorting out my opinion about the antifa/black bloc people. I am unequivocally for them punching Richard Spencer and making him afraid to leave his house. Bless. Beating up Grant Chisholm (who I love how he's just been reduced to "Trump supporter" and not "well known nutso street preacher who spends his free time screaming at mostly women and minorities in public about how they're going to go to hell, including yelling outside a Hispanic church earlier that same day and was shouting that same rhetoric at the protest")? I'm not really shedding any tears but that's more ideologically conflicting. I get where they're coming from with the political property destruction, I guess, but come on. And I'm just generally not a fan of chaos and it's one of the things I'm worried about most from a Trump presidency, so my initial reaction is to get frustrated and anxious about long-term consequences when they start acting at protests, but I'm also aware that pretty much nothing has ever changed in any direction without SOME disorder and violence and that has its own role and I'd rather have broken bank windows than other alternatives (like when they've had guns drawn on them and been shot by counter-protesters). But then of course I'm worried that their actions really just do nothing but discredit the larger cause, especially since when it comes to them there is consistently very lazy and/or uninformed reporting and very lazy and/or uninformed news consumption and reaction forming and I'm aware that they just get lumped in with the left as a whole and people are quick to use their actions to make the values and opinions that overlap between the left and the antifa seem invalid while ignoring the radical differences between them and not treating them as two separate entities. Plus, I'm worried about their heightened activity making all this legislation that Republicans want to pass targeting protesters and protecting people that harm or kill protesters that much easier to push through, and then our ability to use civil disobedience as a tool - which I think is necessary - will be curtailed all in the name of tolerating anarchy. But then...I'm also filled with a lot of rage most days and I relate to a friend who recently asked "do you ever wake up and think maybe today is the day I become an arsonist?" and I just want to throw up my hands and tell them, fuck it, do whatever the hell you want comrades. Regardless of which way I'm leaning at any given time, though, I do enjoy how the same group of people who boast about stockpiling guns so they can defend themselves when they need to fight back against the government in some near dystopian future they masturbate to the fantasy of every night are also the ones who are clutching their pearls at roads being blocked or a trash can being lit on fire, because when it's done in the name of an opposing ideology it suddenly seems a bit radical.
I am far, far more afraid of radical Christians who think I my life is invalid because I'm going to hell (because reasons) than I am of any Muslim fundamentalist or pretty much any other demographic. They are already here, they have plentiful access to weaponry, they have pitiful access to mental health and they are well-represented in my government. I'm more likely to be shot by another Dylann Roof than Muhammad Adib.
While I think Milo makes a lot of good points and calls out much of the bullshit, he is also an asshole because he relishes in the chaos surrounding his appearances. Thats not excusing people rioting against opinions they dont like, but fanning the flames makes him partially culpable. Plus he does a lot of nasty shit such as posting instagram pics of him fat shaming gym goers. That being said, Berkeley is an embarrassment.
I used to be a bigger Milo fan when I would just watch him debate people and make decent points. He would systematically rip apart regressive lefties which is fun. But lately, he's gotten worse with his cruelty. Ever since he got permabanned from twitter, he's been on a crusade.
That, and a lot of people like friends and partners of his (inner circle-types) are now flat-out calling him a thief.i Also, It seems he's committed the act I hate most about celebrities: buying into their own hype.
http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/2/2/14479462/chaffetz-public-lands-backlash Looks like Chaffetz the cunt has pulled the bill to sell public lands. Good.
Read through this thread and watch some of the eye-witness videos. That should help you with your opinion. https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5rkhv4/milo_yiannopoulos_event_at_berkeley_canceled/ They may have actually beaten people to death for being Trump supporters. I would worry about that rather than what some nebulous Republican boogeyman might say in response.
A local asshole was found guilty for shooting five protestors after showing up to the Jamar Clark protests just to stir shit. Besides MN being a "duty to retreat" state, its kinda hard to claim self-defense when your phone is full of texts about shooting black guys. Very good but he still has H.R.622 out there, which would defund BLM and NFS law enforcement- a step towards another bill like 621.
For the sake of intellectual honesty, are we counting extremists as representative of the "side" they're on, or not?
According to social media accusations, he set up some sort of college fund for white dudes and then bricked with the starter cash. I think. Like I said, it's only what I'm picking up off places like Twitter or Gab.
The only truthful news these days are live feeds. Then you can SEE that Antifa are not anti-fascist, they are not anarchists, they are sociopathic little teenage pricks who like beating people with 2x4's and throwing ballpean hammer heads into the midst of crowds. And when somebody DOES Jack their ass and exposes their cowardice, they cry to the cops they hate.
I've been trying to focus on things that leadership or politicians say or do because I don't want to get bogged down in this game of "look how terrible your worst possible assholes are," but if I'm going to get dragged down there anyway, I'm certainly going to bring up the fact that a Trump supporter murdered six people in a mosque just this week.
Both sides can have people that due terrible things. Like George W said (or co-opted): Don't measure the worst examples of others against your best intentions.
I've been trying to do that, but I'm seeing a lot of people, here and elsewhere, putting a lot of weight on these antifa rioters and various jagoffs on twitter as representative of "the left."