History suggests that martyr(s) come in handy when you want to take your political movement to the next level. And who might that be? Not hard to imagine, really. Could happen any day, as a matter of fact. One, ten, maybe a hundred martyrs. A guy on my block runs in this shadowy world, that recently has emerged in a spectacular way online. Masses of organized folks rushing walls of riot cops - this sort of overt confrontation (the charging mass) is frankly designed to create just such a martyrdom, and set off the crisis that seems almost inevitable.
Imagine this scenario. The ever-growing Antifa movement stages a protest at a Pro-Trump event. Riot police are called. The "kids" rush the cops, shots are fired, it becomes unclear who has guns (probably not the protesters - they tend to shun them) and a dozen or more people are killed. Recruitment quadruples every week, cities brace for violence, the National Guard gets called (by you-know-who), unions take sides, churches take sides, the victims of riots strap on their weapons. And most importantly, the guy in the White House shows absolutely no interest in calming things down or reaching out to anyone in the name of domestic peace. This is the "race war," "class war," "war for the soul of America" that many have been pining for. Far-fetched? Google "Antifa protests" and witness, not from the NY Times, but from ground zero. It's real, and the paranoia of infiltration from rival groups adds to the sense of urgency and desperation. We can assume that every one of these groups is under surveillance. Politicians want to call these protesters terrorists, which depending on your perspective I suppose is accurate. (But so are the skinheads and republinazis of course). But they're mostly just kids, 20-somethings following 30-somethings, and they've been around the black bloc - World Bank, Occupy, Ferguson, Berkeley. They are a very small but growing fringe. But they get attention! Think of how hundreds of thousands marched on Washington on January 21st. But on inauguration day, the Antifa stole the show. It's the protest that's still being talked about.
In many ways the current political shitstorm seems a crisis of, among other things, the Internet. How else to describe once barely noticed anarchist protests garnering hundreds of thousands of "views," with either rightist or leftist narration calling each other idiots, cowards, racists or commies?
If you're like the Q, you've been snooping around, sniffing for meat on recent "black bloc" protests, you know, this whole Antifa thing. The radical left Anti-Fascist resistance is growing by tweets and bounds, drawn out by the high profile riotous protests on Inauguration Day, nazi-punchings and counter-beatings, then planned "happenings" at Berkeley and NYU. It's not hard to see why Antifa, Occupy , #BLM and anarchist groups in all manner of Ninja outfits are appealing right now. White supremacists took the White House. It's theory no longer. This shit is real.
You're smart and curious, you read all about Trump's whisperers, the alarmingly persuasive birthers and conspiracy theorists and nationalist updated CCC thugs who now pass as policy wonks and regular ol' Steves. Bannon himself has left a long and tedious trail of films and writings that show exactly where he's coming from, and it ain't pretty. It's not even entirely surprising, or even unknown to the MSM. The very things that have been in decline (so goes the rhetoric) are the things Trump bemoaned the loss of in his bellicose bullying - Christian "values," patriarchy, white hegemony, pro-life anti-gay anti-PC anti-manufacturing you name it, if Trump hears it's in decline, he'll call it out. Of course he's really just another overweight Oligarch in search of meaning and validation. Big time daddy issues and a whale's belly of insecurity. Personality disorder. Serious nutjob, but don't cry for him Argentina - he's the President of these here United Sates.
The sieg heilers are now on speaking tours to draw out the Antifa. The Antifa respond on cue, but their numbers overwhelm even the white nationals. Antifa is now more popular on liberal arts campuses than Jagermeister and EDM. Actually Antifa probably goes well with beats and shots, so I should shut my trap about what college kids get off on. I haven't been one for a long, long time - an undergrad OR a shot-drinker. I DO know sure as shootin' that young kids love a good idealistic fight, and boy howdy do we have a dandy right now. The hood's off the KKK (turned out half of white America were closeted card carriers), the billionaires aren't content with ACTUAL power - now they want government credentials as well, and Democrats haven't a clue how to keep up with the outrageous equity canyon. School's out! And revolution has always been sexy as hell.
Of all the videos of black-clad rioters - from Ferguson to D.C. to (good lord) Omaha just the other day (I shit you not) the one bit online that stands out for me is a young woman defending the Antifa at Berkeley. She's like a Feminista Che, relaxed enough to articulate but determined as an Olympian shot putter. Check her out, absolutely destroying a local news anchor who probably assumed she'd easily shred her guest, but ends up looking ridiculous herself.
So why bring up civil war, or at least widespread violent confrontation? Because the right is obviously fixing for a fight, and have been for a long time, and they feel emboldened. The left is feeling angry, cheated and helpless. All it takes is for one of these many, many bigger and bigger confrontations to devolve into lots of shooting, bombs and/or heavy casualties, and now you've got Kent State times 100. Rodney King times 1000. The riots, sorry Uprising, in L.A. is not so long ago. The Occupiers haven't all moved to Canada. The White Lives Matter crowd didn't suddenly grow up and apologize. And of course, the police, while often full of well-meaning decent people, have hotheads and rednecks on staff in every precinct in the country.
Chilling? Maybe you're not buying my premise, and the Q hopes he's wrong. (sort of - I've been fixing for a fight for weeks.) But for unsettling, nothing gets to me like this ad for just the kind of firearm that could set off the national emergency.
Civil War happens when all else fails. And lately, a lot of taken-for-granteds ahve failed. Miserably. Throw in a comrade to die for, and, well, I shudder to think.
18 comments:
Sweet Jesus. Listening to this weather underground lady is scary (part of me feels she is misguided, but the other half of me feels like she makes sense). In my humble opinion, she might be playing right into Bannon's hands. Bannon is a proponent of chaos politics and chaos government--rule by confusion. This lady and her "black bloc" seem to be adding confusion and shinning a big, celebrity spotlight on Milo. Seriously, why not let him speak to 500 people? Because it's Berkley, I guess...
Despite my being basically a liberal reformer I sympathize with the anarchist's [if that's what they are–I saw a red & black anarcho-syndicalist flag in the video] goal and have no problem with individuals (as opposed to gov't) trying to silence speakers spouting hatred and incitements to violence. OTOH, I wonder what it would take to provide Bannon, Trump, et al with their own Reichstag fire opportunity.
These are INTERESTING times, in the sense of the purported Chinese curse.
Well Q, I have not felt this sick since the months leading up to Irag war. I still remember riding across the Manhattan bridge looking over the lower part of the city the morning after the space shuttle disintegrated upon reentry. That was a few weeks before the invasion and for some reason it seemed way too convenient for it to be a coincidence.
So I apologize. I'm not the crazed conspiracist that one meets from time to time if one decides to venture from their comfortable circle, but this whole thing seems like a set up. It's as if the power elite or whatever you want to call them have sensed that the pressure in America has expanded to dangerous levels and have decided on a solution. I'm reluctant to use the the term illuminati because once you do people shut down, but we cannot deny that power and money runs the world and they ain't no monarch that is ever going to lose their head again because they told the people to eat cake. Hope I got my history right, too lazy to use google, sorry.
My point is, streets haven't burned in a while. We're not like Europe or South America where if the price of bread or wine or beer goes up, people start breaking shit. And not just one group, but the whole middle and lower class come together and burn the fucking towns. Us Americans tend to bitch and moan and then bend over and take it. What we're witnessing with this administration just seems so ridiculous. And believe me, I am not denying the amount of sick, misinformed, and racist people in this country that are buying into it, but I'm starting to think its a huge ploy. No one is talking about BLM. No one is talking about abusive cops. No one is talking gay rights anymore. The cost of higher education, the cost of childcare, the cost of health insurance. Yes it's still in the house, but everyone's attention is on what a doofus our president is. They can laugh at Saturday night live and feel better about it all before the head hits the pillow. He'll get his appointments. Some of his orders hold true, of course the immigration one won't, but that wasn't the point. And then the economy goes south. Prices go up - on tomatos, potatoes, lettuce, avocados, limes, whatever. Tvs, iPhones, xboxes. Everything at Target and Walmart basically, which is where all his supporters and adherents, let's just say it, America does their shopping. On top of that the education system falls to pieces more than it already has. Probably some foreign affairs mishaps. Everyone, even his supporters abandon him because socks are fucking expensive now. What happens at Berkley becomes the norm. Maybe it's let run for four years or maybe they find a reason to impeach and he's out. The safety valve released the pent up anxiety and anger, cities burned, people got theirs emotionally...a victory of sorts. A new day dawns, people feel vindicated. Healthcare may cost as much, but an 18 pack of Coca Cola is back to Bush 2 levels - it's all good.
Take it with a grain of salt. I'm one of those that believe they made higher education so expensive and so connected to the American Dream that people would indebt themselves for a good portion of their lives to attain that dream. After the 60s, they decided enough was enough and convinced people to follow that dream so that everyone would be working so hard and be so tired they would not mentally or physically be jazzed to break shit. Combine that with Internet, social media, and Netflix and you don't even need to leave your house to feel good about throwing your weight behind something...just click the mouse.
-Josh
Since about 2000, to the Socialist/identity-politics wing of the Democratic party every Republican is "Hitler" --until the Republican loses. Then in the next election cycle, the former "Hitler" (graciously out of power) is contrasted with "literally Hitler" (the Republican with a chance to win). Now, the "Republcans-are-Hitler" cries are going past the election, because a Republican won.
Representative democracy is less about having the ability to win, than accepting defeat while maintaining the social fabric. I suggest that all those hysterically repeating "Hitler" etc have a good introspection about whether they are a healthy part of our society or promoting something else.
George W. Bush was described by the rabid left as fascist. He was not, however, an actual fascist. Or neo-Nazi. However, now we have ACTUAL fascists and neo-Nazis who ACTUALLY believe in white supremacy as a doctrine at the highest levels of government.
What would you have a good patriot do? Sit by and watch the country be taken over by the Far Right? Of course not, unless you ARE the Far Right. If you give the Tea Party its due (I assume you would), then forgive the left from exercising its right to free speech as well. When the demonstrators are willing to go to jail for destruction of property or assault, we pretty much have to put up with them. If they start to murder? That's terrorism. In the meantime, I think a healthy amount of confrontation is justified. One could easily argue that the mass incarceration of drug offenders (sometimes innocent mind you) is WAY more destructive than a few broken windows on bank branches.
You're scared Anon. As well you should be.
Meanwhile, away from the speculative fiction of dreamy revolutionaries, back on the solid ground of gentrifying Brooklyn real estate, there is reality: Guns, Drugs and Bullets Seized from Two Lefferts-Gardens Homes in NYPD Raid
Are these gun-toting jailbirds Trump supporters?
Earzel Riddick, 28; Gilbert Johnson, 22; Dominique Workman, 26; and Monique Workman, 50, face multiple counts of criminal possession of weapons...Maple Street
...police also executed a search warrant at Brooklyn and Lefferts avenues. There, police watched as two men, Uriel Bryant, 35, and Brandon Ryals, 25, tried to dump bags of guns and ammunition from a bedroom window...
Jabbering nervously about Trump, pretending Trump is the source of the towering anxiety that has already unleashed the inner cry-babies of millions of crushed Hillary-ites, well, none of that will stop or alter the regularly scheduled programming of urban gun-play. 8,000 murders per year.
8,000 murders a year...sounds like nothing compared to the dismantling of the Republic.
If you're so concerned about the 8,000 murders in a country of 320 million, I suggest you move somewhere truly safe. I hear Antarctica is lovely this time of year (literally).
And now that NoSlappz is back (offering the "alt-right" perspective), let me add that even if I agreed with DJT on certain issues, I could never abide is lack of discipline and civility. He's debased the political discourse to such a degree I'm not sure we'll ever recover.
Though perhaps it's best to see the Republican Party as it truly is - a perverted coalition of racists, religious zealots, fear-mongers and oligarchs.
I suspect, Mr. Slapz, that you fall into at least two of those categories.
Clarkson writes ominously: Civil War happens when all else fails.
Really? A war to be fought over what? High anxiety?
Lefties are hard at work trying to stop Milo from speaking. Have righty groups emerged and shut down, or attempted to block lefty speakers? No.
College campuses have reached such a state of looniness that comedians including Seinfeld have stopped performing at them.
When making jokes offends the left, you know some kind of madness is in the air. Lefties are justifying violence against those who commit the offense of being verbally offensive. As though we've been transformed into an Islamic nation where the law punishes those who disparage the faith.
But we are not transforming into that. Even though the media, in all its forms, will provide the platform for spreading the worries of the left, most of the country has other concerns. It's all wearing thin.
The country will become inured to the constant blast. Eventually the ranting and raving of the left will be tuned out.
Clarkson writes: ...the Republican Party as it truly is...a perverted coalition of racists, religious zealots, fear-mongers and oligarchs.
I suspect, Mr. Slapz, that you fall into at least two of those categories.
Hmmm. Okay. By what measures do you believe that you yourself are not a racist? How do you define and profile yourself when it comes to this favorite lefty characterization?
Very simple, sir. An American Racist believes that blacks are inferior or not worthy of the generally accepted civil rights granted by our Constitution.
A person who has lived in America for more than a minute can recognize that the way we treat and depict and stereotype and even simply respect non-whites has racist and colonialist overtones. From hiring practices to education to segregation to real estate we are a racist society, even when individuals don't personally ascribe to the above. Most whites are recipients of the entitlement of dominant culture.
Btw, racism is not what happens when people describe social and cultural and even physical differences. It's what they do with that information that can become racist.
For my purposes, however, a racist believes #1. Everything else is varying shades of gray. Oh, and I don't believe in "reverse-racism." It doesn't exist. What most people refer to as reverse-racism is a different thing entirely worthy of its own debate.
I'm sure you've been called racist so many times you've become immune to the sting and now consider yourself post-racist. Since becoming engaged politically in Central Brooklyn I've been called it a few times too, though I'm more likely to examine my motives and assumptions than perhaps your average racist.
I'm no better than you, Slappy. Just less of an asshole.
Clarkson puts down his bet: I'm sure you've been called racist so many times you've become immune to the sting and now consider yourself post-racist.
Funny. White guys online, and occasionally to my face -- if they're not alone -- throw down the accusation. White guys.
But, you know who doesn't? The black guys at my gym. The gym can be a chatty place. It's not a first-class operation. Cheapskate facility. People get to know one another if they're regulars of some duration.
A few of the guys have, shall we say, a violation or two in their personal histories. I think one wears an ankle bracelet covered by his sweat pants. They tell me their stories. None of their stories includes an episode about taking a course in calculus. More often it's a story about time in the Army or the Marine Corps.
Sometimes I wonder why 75% of the students at Stuyvesant High School are Asian? Or Brooklyn Tech, where at least 60% are Asian. And why the percentage of black students at those schools is close to zero? Do you have opinions or explanations for the disparity?
Are there racist points awarded or subtracted for noticing the superiority demonstrated by Asians in many areas of US society?
I don't recall millions of Asians being enslaved, though as an immigrant group they've been much maligned at times.
I suppose you don't think that slavery, Jim Crow, KKK, abuse, segregation, never-ending depictions of you as inferior and incapable have anything to do with anything.
I think institutional racism is definitely a huge part in any kind of achievement gap, and it's been studied greatly. There hasn't been an Asian president though, and one could certainly call that some of sort of "achievement." Not to mention the fact that he was brilliant and capable.
I hope one of those guys at the gym accidentally drops a barbell on your head. Your intelligence is being put to waste.
Spend more time reading The Root online and less time with the Daily Stormer. You might learn something.
Clarksonian amnesia: "I don't recall millions of Asians being enslaved..."
Hmmm. 1942. Maybe not millions, but FDR did send 110,000 Japanese to internment camps for the duration of World War II. Before he took that action, he signed the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which required all non-citizen adults living in the US to register with the federal government.
In related events, we bombed Japan with conventional bombs and two atomic bombs. We bombed and shot Koreans and Chinese in Korea from 1950 to 1953. We bombed and shot the Vietnamese rather intensely from about 1965 to 1972.
Despite the abuse, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese and other Asians come here in droves. Go figure.
Fuzzy Clarksonian thinking: I suppose you don't think that slavery, Jim Crow, KKK, abuse, segregation, never-ending depictions of you as inferior and incapable have anything to do with anything.
Have you seen the media characterizations of the Chinese, Japanese and Jews when they were the "out-groups" in America and the world?
Let's consider anti-Semitism today. When it comes to Jews, Louis Farrakhan seems to have scooped up everything at the Third Reich garage sale. A big score for Louis. You should read his "newspaper", the "Final Call." Anyway, if you go to the back pages of the Final Call you can order copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Mein Kampf, Nazi propaganda cartoons and dozens of other publications detailing the evils of Jews and the evils of your average white guys.
Or take your pick of Islamic nations and their current depictions of Jews, and subsequent actions taken, such as trying to kill them. Your immersion down to the cellular level of life in one sample of the Brooklyn corpus seems to have impinged on your vision. An intellectual myopia is evident.
Wow. Slavery and internment. Not the same thing, man. Both heinous. One heinouser by a power of, oh, a million.
Louis Farakhan is such old news. He barely comes up on the black blogs at all. Most cult-like "leaders" can be accused of fuzzy thinking, anyway. He had a shot, though. A real contender. No longer relevant, but he gets trotted out every time someone wants to make the case about blacks being racists in the country that enslaved them.
Jews were not enslaved in this country. Not relevant.
What we did to other countries during times of war? Not relevant. Lots bummers, though.
The way the first immigrants (i.e. the British, then Germans then Scandinavians) treated the Indians, Irish, Italians, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans...big bummers all. Still...not relevant.
We have saved a special place in the depths of our secret hearts for blacks. And you know it. You care not to admit it, because you are oh so color-blind at your gym, where you deign offer your sympathetic ear to ex-cons. Your mercy and generosity are things to behold.
I still have no bloody idea why you live in Central Brooklyn at all. It must gnaw at you every day, witnessing all these black folks with their extended families, their joys and frustrations, their struggles and victories, laid out for you to leer at through jaundiced eye-holes. How the mighty have fallen! To think your entitled ass has been dragged down to this god forsaken ghetto! Unless you're some sort of anthropologist doing field work, I can only imagine how miserable you must be. You're still perfectly safe though. The cops don't want to throw you in the back of van or shoot you when you're unarmed. Or shove a baton up your ass or even ask for your ID.
If you move to Staten Island, you will likely be crowned for your towering intellect. Here in the borough of Kings, you're a minority, in many more ways than one. I'm still looking forward to you emerging from the shadows. You know where to find me. I'll even buy you a pot at IHOP if you do.
Had a nice get-together of parents and kids from the school my girls attend, a nice diverse group. Brought up a lot of the crap I've heard from Slappy and got some great responses.
People who spend so much time parsing statistics about race are typically the sorts who can't see anything BUT race. As in, within the demographics on the census there is a dizzying diversity. As in, stereotypes are just that. They only disappear with proximity and acquaintance, friendship, fellowship, love.
As long as people see "other," they'll continue to circle the wagons round their own tribe. Watching an entire religion get cast as dangerous and other is so disheartening. And because of the numbers - in the billions - one can only imagine that war is imminent. Either that or the country will throw off its current leadership, band together and get about distributing resources and hope more fairly. I fear war is trending...
This is the moment that arises but once a generation. I don't think it's fair to think we can sit idly by and simply hope for the best. We've been given every advantage that history has to offer. We really ought to use our freedom in the moment its needed most. We will be judged harshly if we fail.
Amen Q...Well said!
A little reminder that Louis Farrakhan still draws national attention with his raging anti-Semitism. And now the madness of Islam has arrived in Times Square.
Thousands chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ for Farrakhan in Detroit
February 20, 2017
By Kyle Olson
The Nation of Islam had its annual gathering in Detroit over the weekend and thousands of attendees chanted “Allahu Akbar” as Louis Farrakhan made his way onto the stage.
During his appearance at Joe Louis Arena, Farrakhan denounced Jews and told them they are not God’s “chosen” people.
“I want to disabuse the Jews today of the false claim that you are the chosen of God — that Israel or Palestine belongs to you,” he said.
“I want to disabuse you of that. I’m going to tell you about your future. You that think you have power to frighten and dominate the peoples of the world. I’m here to announce the end of your time,” Farrakhan said, slamming his hand on the podium.
He blamed the world’s ills on white people.
“For 6,000 years, the people of the earth have suffered under a mischief-making rule. Bloodshed and war, hatred and strife, all because a man with a new color — or the lack thereof — thought that he was better than all of those who inhabited the earth before he was even a thought,” Farrakhan said.
“But I am here to announce today the end of his world and the beginning of a brand new reality that all human beings will enjoy peace, freedom justice and equality under the rule of Allah.”
And this:
Loud Muslim Call To Prayer In Times Square As Muslims Protest Trump, Shout ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (VIDEO)
Cristina Laila Feb 19th, 2017 8:14 pm 412 Comments
Muslims and Muslim sympathizers protested Donald Trump today in New York’s Times Square. Chelsea Clinton boasted about being there with her daughter, Charlotte. Hamas darling, Linda Sarsour was also there spreading hysteria and propaganda about President Donald Trump.
In Sarsour’s speech, she reminded people about the executive order that Democratic President FDR passed which put Japanese Americans in internment camps implying that Muslims and minorities could possibly suffer the same fate under a Trump presidency.
There was also a loud Arab call to prayer during this protest in NYC. In an Islamic call to prayer (adhan), the Muslim is shouting Allahu Akbar which translates to ‘God is greater’ or ‘God is greatest’. They mean that their ‘god’ is greater than your God and or the government. This is a blatant act of Islamic supremacy.
Post a Comment