Current Events > L.A. Times issued the most scathing rebuke of Antifa I've seen from MSM

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-berkeley-violence-20170829-story,amp.html

There can be no justification for the violence perpetrated on Sunday by a group of leftist protesters who attacked supporters of President Trump and others Sunday during an otherwise peaceful “rally against hate” in Berkeley.

Whether they are described as “black bloc” or anarchists — the nomenclature isn’t important — the masked, black-clad protesters are criminals, not the vanguard of a righteous resistance to fascism. They also are traitors to the thousands of peaceful demonstrators who gathered in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Park to counter a “No to Marxism in America” rally — a non-event that drew a relatively small contingent of right-wingers after its organizer, fearing violence, had urged supporters to stay home.

The Associated Press reported that groups of hooded, black-clad protesters kicked and punched at least four men until police or other counter-protesters intervened. Some threatened to break the cameras of anyone who filmed them, including journalists.

This is thuggery, not activism. And it has become too familiar a phenomenon in Berkeley, belying its reputation as a citadel of free speech. In February, for example, 150 black-clad agitators caused $100,000 worth of damage when they smashed through the city protesting a planned UC Berkeley speech by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. The speech was canceled...

...An entirely different issue is whether it is ever acceptable to commit violence against someone who is peacefully expressing a point of view, however repugnant. The answer to that question is no. There is no “hate speech” exception to the 1st Amendment, and no “anti-fascist” dispensation from laws against assault and battery. (Notably, it’s not clear whether those who were set upon Sunday were attacked for their views or for simply showing up.)

Yet some would rationalize or explain away violence of the kind engaged in by the masked protesters in Berkeley. According to this view — summed up in the glib slogan “Punch a Nazi!” — right-wing extremism is such a threat to the body politic that preemptive violence isn’t just permissible but necessary. That’s a seductive but sinister notion that, if acted on, empowers the very groups the protesters oppose. The punches they’re throwing are injuring their own side.

I wonder what brought about this 180 from such a giant member of the mainstream media. Maybe their starting to realize that most Americans reject violent extremism on the left as much as on the right? Whatever the reason is, it's refreshing to see some honesty from the mainstream media.

What happened to your last account, smal?
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*they're

Wow, surprising. It's almost as if they're reading my topics or something.
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At least SMAL is kind enough to make his alts obvious
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UnholyMudcrab posted...

At least SMAL is kind enough to make his alts obvious

I found AltRightAsian rather funny. It says exactly what he is right in the name

hey mix, see you got rid of the link to that neo nazi site you used to have in your sig, what happened with that?
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Here's an interesting talk by Wayne Kramer (former guitarist of the MC5 and co-founder of the White Panther Party):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qgSBrgZlzM

The entire talk is pretty interesting. He goes into a good amount of deal about how the MC5 got started, the history of rock music (and even a bit of rap music), etc.

But, around the 46:14 mark, he talks about how the MC5 moving away from violence resulted in the MC5 being purged from both the Black Panther Party and the White Panther Party.

He talks about how the rhetoric of violence from the left resulted in things like a C.I.A. office being blown up in Michigan. I think there are some interesting parallels to what Kramer experienced back then to what's going on today with Antifa and BLM as discussed in this video where a former Antifa member talks about leaving Antifa and becoming a Trump supporter for many of the same things that Kramer talked about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2ZTpqr8sQ

Also, KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHER FUCKER! :)

I've heard a few interviews from former alt left cult members. It's interesting to hear how things escalate to the point where they are throwing bottles of piss at people and even violently attacking each other over petty reasons.

I wonder how violent they'd be if the law wasn't holding them back. I'm sure many of them would have fit right in during Mao's great leap forward that killed 45 million in 4 short years.
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