What is wrong with Antifa and the Alt-left (no images, only a few thoughts)

First off, I have to admit I'm fairly ignorant about these issues. I rarely if ever watch any "news" as I find it mostly a bunch of meaningless noise and promoting fear. I check headlines online from two mainstream sites, nytimes and theguardian, and then a bunch of alternative sites. I don't watch "news" as well because normally it is just the symptoms of a problem. It takes time to reflect on the causes in retrospect. The two articles below informed my opinions here and I would recommend especially reading the first by Chris Hedges.

Hate vs. Hate

I'm not posting pictures here because I'm not appealing to emotions or glorifying any of the stupid non-sense that has been taking place on the streets of the U.S. lately. Are the Alt-Right racists idiots and jerks? Yes. Is it responsible and productive to respond to them with hate? Of course not. I know it is tempting to respond with anger and outrage, but unfortunately the deep roots of stupidity and prejudice aren't going away any time soon. When we respond in kind we fan the flames, and in the fire we burn up the commonality we share. The country is suffering at the hands of the elite, the banksters, the war-profiteers, the oligarchs, and the white-collar criminals. Having the frustrated and dispossessed fight each other in the streets is senseless.

Losing the Bigger Picture

Racism, class war, jealousy, fear, identity politics... these are all things the elites cheer for so we are at each other's throats instead of making changes for the better. When we react with indignation and refute hateful protests with more hateful protests and want to limit anyone's free speech for the cult of the politically correct, we all suffer by focusing on the battles of repression and political minutiae instead of focusing on the big picture. 90% of the citizens are for better health care, less war, better education, more employment, healthier environment for our children. We all agree on this, but we are continually scammed and deceived by the media which floods the nation with fear and the elites laugh all the way to the bank as we squabble and tear at each other in infantile fits.

The Future is Now

As long as we allow ourselves to be deceived and divided, nothing will change, and there will continue to be a great sucking sound as money is siphoned to the 1% and the trillions of dollars in debts will create the next crash/recession with sirens of fear and renewed oppression. The left vs. right, Republican vs. Democrat, Free Market vs. Socialist; it is a long running scam that we fall for every time. Like childhood stories of good vs. evil we enjoy feeling righteous indignation, but we don't feel very well the plight of our brothers and sisters, whether here or abroad. There are many details to work out for a better society, but unless we are unified in an awareness of our common interests there will be no productive discussion. Until we turn the country around to flee the veils of ignorance our future is very dangerous indeed.

Peace @ClumsySilverDad

... I don't usually copy segments from articles, but Mr. Chris Hedges' words are very well chosen, and I encourage you to read the attached article as well. He expresses thoughts in a profound way I won't feign to match.

"The white racists and neo-Nazis may be unsavory, but they too are victims. They too lost jobs and often live in poverty in deindustrialized wastelands. They too often are plagued by debt, foreclosures, bank repossessions and inability to repay student loans. They too often suffer from evictions, opioid addictions, domestic violence and despair. They too sometimes face bankruptcy because of medical bills. They too have seen social services gutted, public education degraded and privatized and the infrastructure around them decay. They too often suffer from police abuse and mass incarceration. They too are often in despair and suffer from hopelessness. And they too have the right to free speech, however repugnant their views.

Street clashes do not distress the ruling elites. These clashes divide the underclass. They divert activists from threatening the actual structures of power. They give the corporate state the ammunition to impose harsher forms of control and expand the powers of internal security. When antifa assumes the right to curtail free speech it becomes a weapon in the hands of its enemies to take that freedom away from everyone, especially the anti-capitalists.

The focus on street violence diverts activists from the far less glamorous building of relationships and alternative institutions and community organizing that alone will make effective resistance possible. We will defeat the corporate state only when we take back and empower our communities... As long as acts of resistance are forms of personal catharsis, the corporate state is secure. Indeed, the corporate state welcomes this violence because violence is a language it can speak with a proficiency and ruthlessness that none of these groups can match.

“Politics isn’t made of individuals,” Sophia Burns writes in “Catharsis Is Counter-Revolutionary.” “It’s made of classes. Political change doesn’t come from feeling individually validated. It comes from collective action and organization within the working class. That means creating new institutions that meet our needs and defend against oppression.” The protests by the radical left now sweeping America, as Aviva Chomsky points out, are too often little more than self-advertisements for moral purity. They are products of a social media culture in which each of us is the star of his or her own life movie. They are infected with the American belief in regeneration through violence and the cult of the gun.

"Rather than organizing for change, individuals seek to enact a statement about their own righteousness,” Chomsky writes in “How (Not) to Challenge Racist Violence.” “White people may loudly claim that they recognize their privilege or declare themselves allies of people of color or other marginalized groups. People may declare their communities ‘no place for hate.’ Or they may show up at counter-marches to ‘stand up’ to white nationalists or neo-Nazis. All of these types of ‘activism’ emphasize self-improvement or self-expression rather than seeking concrete change in society or policy. They are deeply, and deliberately, apolitical in the sense that they do not seek to address issues of power, resources, decision making, or how to bring about change.”

Info Sources

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/antifa-mirrors-alt-right/

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/08/21/how-not-challenge-racist-violence