Noam Chomsky: Antifa is a 'major gift to the Right'

[Wingnut]

The left-wing "Antifa" movement is rising in prominence after clashing with white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., but one progressive scholar says the anti-fascists feed the fire they seek to extinguish.

"As for Antifa, it's a minuscule fringe of the Left, just as its predecessors were," Noam Chomsky told the Washington Examiner. "It's a major gift to the Right, including the militant Right, who are exuberant."

Many activists affiliated with the loosely organized Antifa movement consider themselves anarchists or socialists. They often wear black and take measures to conceal their identity.

Chomsky said, "what they do is often wrong in principle – like blocking talks – and [the movement] is generally self-destructive."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/noam-chomsky-antifa-is-a-major-gift-to-the-right/article/2631786

[Oceander]

So we have the same dynamic now that Germany had in the early 30s, with the Nazis an extremist minority on one side, and the communists an extremist minority on the other side, each one a gift to the other, and devastating for the majority caught in the middle.

[bigheadfred]

So we have the same dynamic now that Germany had in the early 30s, with the Nazis an extremist minority on one side, and the communists an extremist minority on the other side, each one a gift to the other, and devastating for the majority caught in the middle.

Devastating for the majority only if the majority let it happen. I can't say what I can do about antifa or the the other side. But I am going to speak my mind about them. Not bow my head, look the other way, and shuffle on by.

[INVAR]

So we have the same dynamic now that Germany had in the early 30s, with the Nazis an extremist minority on one side, and the communists an extremist minority on the other side, each one a gift to the other, and devastating for the majority caught in the middle.

Few are willing to believe that, and fewer still will consider the outcome to be the same or worse.

Because we're somehow invincible, and that kind of thing cannot happen here - when it's being played out nearly to the letter right in front of their faces.

America has a fatal case of Normalcy Bias.

[bigheadfred]

Few are willing to believe that, and fewer still will consider the outcome to be the same or worse.

Because we're somehow invincible, and that kind of thing cannot happen here - when it's being played out nearly to the letter right in front of their faces.

America has a fatal case of Normalcy Bias.

Yep

[dfwgator]

So we have the same dynamic now that Germany had in the early 30s, with the Nazis an extremist minority on one side, and the communists an extremist minority on the other side, each one a gift to the other, and devastating for the majority caught in the middle.

But there are a LOT more communists than nazis.

[INVAR]

But there are a LOT more communists than nazis.

Socialism is accepted already by the vast majority of both major political parties and big government is now a permanent fixture.  Nationalist Populists versus Socialist Communists.  They are merely fighting over who gets to run it.

The majority in the middle are lukewarm to the idea of liberty and being forced to choose between Nationalist Populism or Statist Communism is where the battle truly lies.

Already we are hearing that we must choose a side.

This is how the Nazis achieved success, and it has yet to be seen whether or not the Nationalist Populists are as clever as the Commie-Lib Socialists are in this country.

[dfwgator]

So we have the same dynamic now that Germany had in the early 30s, with the Nazis an extremist minority on one side, and the communists an extremist minority on the other side, each one a gift to the other, and devastating for the majority caught in the middle.

There is one big difference between now and then.  Back then,  nobody really knew what the Nazis were about, they were just another fringe movement.

Today, we have the advantage of knowing what Nazism really entails, and we have the lessons of history. 

[Smokin Joe]

Few are willing to believe that, and fewer still will consider the outcome to be the same or worse.

Because we're somehow invincible, and that kind of thing cannot happen here - when it's being played out nearly to the letter right in front of their faces.

America has a fatal case of Normalcy Bias.

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or a life, or walks into a serious ambush where whoever takes no prisoners. If this crap keeps escalating, the nearly unavoidable outcome will be serious blood in the streets.

[bigheadfred]

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. Or a life, or walks into a serious ambush where whoever takes no prisoners. If this crap keeps escalating, the nearly unavoidable outcome will be serious blood in the streets.

Mental pygmies playing with fire.

[Smokin Joe]

Mental pygmies playing with fire.

The image I get is from the opening of 2001 a Space Oddessy, only the monolith is being pulled down.

[Wingnut]

[bigheadfred]

Greta imagery. @Smokin Joe @Wingnut

[Hondo69]

But there are a LOT more communists than nazis.

I don't even want to guess who is going to play the part of the SS Storm Troopers this time around.

[Smokin Joe]

Thanks! That's the stuff!

[Wingnut]

Thanks! That's the stuff!

I think I need to revisit that movie.  So much imagery.

Greta imagery. @Smokin Joe @Wingnut

[Smokin Joe]

I think I need to revisit that movie.  So much imagery.

Kubrick's best, and the intervening years may well give me a different viewpoint on it as well.

[Wingnut]

Kubrick's best, and the intervening years may well give me a different viewpoint on it as well.

That is what I was thinking.   The world has changed a lot since its release. 

[bigheadfred]

That is what I was thinking.   The world has changed a lot since its release.

Right. Who let the dogs out?

[Wingnut]

Right. Who let the dogs out?

The Baha Men!

[ConstitutionRose]

Socialism is accepted already by the vast majority of both major political parties and big government is now a permanent fixture.  Nationalist Populists versus Socialist Communists.  They are merely fighting over who gets to run it.

The majority in the middle are lukewarm to the idea of liberty and being forced to choose between Nationalist Populism or Statist Communism is where the battle truly lies.

Already we are hearing that we must choose a side.

This is how the Nazis achieved success, and it has yet to be seen whether or not the Nationalist Populists are as clever as the Commie-Lib Socialists are in this country.

I wish I could argue with your statement, but I cannot.

I am seeing a trend with my son and his friends who are mostly former military.  They have a very real and escalating fear that this country is about to go to a place where the freedoms we have enjoyed are taken away.  They are angry at politicians, angry at the school system, angry at all those people who think the job of the government is to wrap them in cotton wool.  At first I thought it was only my son, but over the last year I've realized that it is almost all of his friends from grade school through college and the military.

[NavyCanDo]

Something tells me that George Soros is somehow behind àll of this. Not just the antifas, but this whole anticonfederate movement from coast to coast.

[catfish1957]

Something tells me that George Soros is somehow behind àll of this. Not just the antifas, but this whole anticonfederate movement from coast to coast.

Not many people that I honestly say i'd celebrate going room temp.  Soros is one of those few.

[goatprairie]

But there are a LOT more communists than nazis.

No Nazis or WNers are shutting down liberal speakers or attacking people who attend conservative or Republican rallies. The physical attacking of people and shutting down of free speech is all being done by the people on the left...whether they're members of Antifa or not.

[dfwgator]

I don't even want to guess who is going to play the part of the SS Storm Troopers this time around.