Proud Boys clash with Antifa in Portland

LARPERS. All of them

B-but I thought Antifa doesn't exist??

Are Proud Boys the violent section of Pride?

[quote]B-but I thought Antifa doesn't exist??

It doesn't, not in the sense in which Fox decries. The Proud Boys show up in order to beat the shit out of whomever they find protesting social justice issues - BLM, whoever - and both they and right wing media label them 'antifa,' irrespective of who they actually are.

Far-righters like the Proud Boys are often dressed in black, and are purposely mis-identified in pics and videos as 'antifa,' particularly if they're violent or engaging in property destruction. Sometimes it's not a mistake, and the right-wingers are actively impersonating leftists as a media smear.

Many among the protestors are urged by Twitter messaging to 'burn it all down,' and act on it (which, more often than not, have their origins among Russian and alt-right trolls). Still others are without a political alignment at all, and are simply using the opportunity to burn and loot. But none of this is the work of an organized "antifa" movement, in the sense in which Fox and other far-right media sources try to make out. The Fox fantasy boogeyman of "antifa" is as absurd as Pat Robertson's infamously histrionic claims that feminism makes women "kill their children, practice witchcraft, and become lesbians."

Yes, R4, it's all a big conspiracy by every news organization across the world and "actors" pretending to be Antifa in fake videos.

"Every news organization across the world" isn't involved, R5. It's mostly the pro-Trump far right media that's screaming about 'antifa' and what a threat it is to everyone.

𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞

"But the group the Trump administration has labeled a menace has mostly been nonexistent, experts and law enforcement officials say, and certainly has not been orchestrating what have been largely peaceful protests. Despite warnings of antifa incursions in scores of cities, there is no evidence linking outbursts of violence to an organized left-wing effort. And those associated with the autonomous groups that went up against far-right figureheads four years ago — and whose roots go back to earlier left-wing causes — say there is no such centralized organization."

I guess CBS is in on the conspiracy, too.

And Yahoo news is also part of the conspiracy.

In R8, the reportage depends upon a narrative offered by Andy Ngo, a far-right journalist.

And the R9 story is by National Review, a far-right publication.

Give it up.

Oh no, even the BBC is in on the conspiracy!

You're not even reading your own links, R11.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲?

The rally had mainly been promoted by Joe Biggs, a member of the far-right Proud Boys group and former employee of Alex Jones's Infowars.

Proud Boys - which The Southern Poverty Law Center, a major US civil rights organisation, has classified as a hate group - have been involved in previous far-right rallies, and violent street clashes, in Portland.

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 incidents of violence allegedly involving members of the loosely organised antifa movement, an international coalition of militant activists and protesters opposed to the far right - justifies a ban.

Members of the local Rose City Antifa group mounted the counter-demonstration in the city.

A statement on its website accused far-right groups of planning "to bring their branded political violence to our streets" and encouraged people "to defend Portland against far-right attack".

As well as Proud Boys, a number of other far-right groups said they would be there - including the American Guard, which the Anti-Defamation League has called "hardcore white supremacist", and the militia group Three Percenters.

______________________________________________________________________

All of the violence is being perpetrated by right-wingers. And "Rose City Antifa"? A website does not a movement make, nor does a counter-protest (consisting of how many, exactly?).

Trying to characterize everyone there who's not a Proud Boy as 'antifa' is just more right-wing reindeer games.

Thanks R10. We need to keep up with the facts and keep pushing the threads to the top. You can see people are working overtime to bury important news. I appreciate that you consistently post factual rational replies, without insulting them. Even though I'm an atheist and all religious discussion is like arguing about astrology, you've helped me understand context and history and helped me find sources to clear up questions I've had my whole life. You're obviously a good mensch. Thank you, it's people like you that keep me here.

Thank you, R13.

Half the post here are by R12. Canceled.

The posts by the far-right advocate (R2, R5, R8, R9) have apparently been removed.

Oh, and R11.

ANTIFA is deplorable propaganda

The posts by the crazy Antifa advocate (PoisonedDragon) have been removed.

R19 are you blind, crazy, or just a liar?

MY fascist thugs are justified. YOUR fascist thugs are not justified.

People should listen to the Darkhorse podcast of Brett Weinstein and Heather Heying. They are science professors. They live in Portland. Brett Weinstein considers himself “far-left” (although I think they’re actually center-left politically and actually on the conservative side of academia). They are the equivalent of Atheist Experience for Woke ideology. They are very critical of the anti-racist and BLM movement.

Brett and Heather say that for the last 60 days, although the protests have been “peaceful,” they reliably turn into riots every night, lighting fires and doing property damage, and the police basically do nothing to stop them. The Mayor who is also the chief of police has completely abdicated his responsibility by caving to the mob. They say it is intellectually dishonest to say the protests are “mostly peaceful.” It doesn’t matter if most of the protesters are peaceful, this is all obfuscation for the riots that routinely happen at night.

It was only a matter of time before people got fed up and the Proud Boys showed up.

So that's how we deal with crime in America, just release jack-booted nazi thugs to crack some skulls?

R16 are you blind, crazy, or just a liar?

R22, Brett Weinstein and Heather Heying are members of what's termed the '𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑊𝑒𝑏', an appellative coined by Brett Weinstein's brother Eric. The group is a collection of thinkers whose ideas are outside of, or have been rejected by the mainstream for various reasons. (As its name is taken from the '𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑊𝑒𝑏,' one should probably stay away from it.) A lot of conspiracy theories and movements find a home among this group, such as anti-vaccination. It's at least accurate that you describe Brett Weinstein as considering himself 'far-left' because, given that what he, his wife Heying, and the rest of the group are doing, nobody else on the left would. The 'Dark Intellectual Web' is united in criticizing and attacking what are easily identifiable as the alt-right's main antagonisms: liberalism, feminism, diversity, social justice, racial equality, etc. Their output tends to serve as a gateway towards radicalization to the alt-right.

In short, 𝑛𝑜, people should 𝑛𝑜𝑡 listen to the Darkhorse podcast of Brett Weinstein and Heather Heying.

No, R24 - I had run the 'ignore' feature in order to identify who was posting all the alt-right crap on this thread, and although I had clicked the 'x' to take you back off 'ignore,' the system apparently glitched and put you back on there. I didn't realize that until after I posted R16 and R17. I checked it a couple of times last night, and kept trying to restore you, but you were still on ignore today. Maybe this time it will take.

Anyone else ever had 'ignore' malfunction like that?

R25, bullshit. We need thinkers like Brett Weinstein to challenge the orthodoxy.

Mainstream social science Is so politically driven and biased and it lacks replication. One article in Science magazine talked about a sample of 100 psychology studies published in top journals and over 50 percent of them had not been replicated.

Just because the Left isn’t dominated by religion doesn’t make it immune from being blinded by its own ideology.

Ad a life long Dem, it breaks my heart to see whack jobs on the left who are just as retarded as the alt right dickheads. Leftists who deny the existence of radical liberal groups like Antifa. That is like the alt righters denying the existence of white supremacists and other Neo Nazis having a presence in their base.

Black Lives Matter has become like Twilight. It’s this overexposed, overhyped, super popular, annoying phenomenon. Hopefully people get tired of it and it goes away soon.

Antifa is not a “group” and you are not a “life long Dem,” Boris @R28.

R30, there's that 'identity trope' used by trolls - "As a life long Dem..." :D

[quote]Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.

But it sure is one tired old "joke".