On the rising plague of right-wing violence.

[Vekseid]

For the past few years, more trans* people have been murdered than any prior year on record. It keeps going up, each year.

This fact alone directly threatens ten percent of Elliquiy's membership.

My best friend among them.



I have seen another disturbing trend, recently.

Highlighting 'left-wing' violence, while actively claiming right-wing violence is absent.

This is insulting to the victims of these crimes.

In Des Moines.

In Quebec.

In Houston.

This is only a tiny fraction.

Right-wing extremists are responsible for nearly three-quarters of extremist murders in the US. Left-wing violence makes up two percent.

The rhetoric on the right has people openly calling for genocide.

...to counter this, we get an example of someone throwing a bike lock.



There is a point at which this blatant hypocrisy needs to be called out for what it is.

The murder of innocents is well past this point.

This has been building for decades, now. We now have populations effectively perceiving different realities. Believing different things about objective facts.

History teaches that this leads to violence. Serious violence.

We often forget how things have changed in the past.

We highlight Martin Luther King and Gandhi.

We ignore the subtle threats behind their desire for the rights they are due. 'Malcom X Day' is not a federal holiday.

The end of the last gilded age was marked with an intense rise in political activism and literacy.

And violence.

Decades after the left scored its first political victories, the United States government still saw fit at one point to bomb its own citizens.



We can hope that things will get better. That this escalation of violence will cease.

Without action, they will not.

If you would hope for peace, it is on you to fight the misinformation and disinformation that feeds this.

It begins with you, personally.

Think twice before posting that link. Verify. We could probably put together a list of decent sources.

Pick an issue close to your expertise that you can research well, and can speak strongly and authoritatively to. I chose Network Neutrality, for example.

Speak up, call out bullshit when you see it. Especially publicly, you are often not arguing for the sake of the other person, but those less certain who may be listening, watching, reading.

Your voice matters.

No raindrop blames itself for the flood.

You are not alone.



Thank you.

[Vekseid]

I split off a factless tirade to this thread.

Since I made this thread, a young woman is now dead at the hands of a Nazi sympathizer.

Who people are trying to whitewash into being 'left-wing'.

Heather Heyer deserves a remembrance, so in honor of having someone come through and try to misdirect her murder on top of other things, I thought I would link to some memorials accordingly:

The New York Times:

Heather D. Heyer died standing up for what she believed in.

Friends described her as a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised who was often moved to tears by the world’s injustices. That sense of conviction led her to join demonstrators protesting a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday.

...

Fox News

...

Heyer’s cover photo on Facebook from Nov. 19, 2016, says, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

Heyer was a paralegal with the Miller Law Group, according to the newspaper.

“For over four years Heather has played an essential role in our bankruptcy department and office as a whole,” the law group says online. It says that Heyer was from Ruckersville, Va., but living in Charlottesville.

...

Huffington Post - quoting her mother:

“She always had a very strong sense of right and wrong. She always, even as a child, was very caught up in what she believed to be fair,” Bro said. “Somehow I almost feel that this is what she was born to be, is a focal point for change. I’m proud that what she was doing was peaceful. She wasn’t there fighting with people.”

I hope that this will be the last time I need to make a post like this. Somehow, I know it won't be.

[Cythieus]

I live around one of those places and I'm shocked that I didn't hear about it or any of these other things.

[Missy]

wel if Faux isn't whitewashing someone else woudl be in the business to do so I suppose.

[Arvus23]

Before anything else, I'd like to point out something about what happened at Charlottesville.

James Fields, the driver that crashed into the crowd at Cville, did so to escape a ANTIFA member with a gun. Whom even admits to chasing Mr. Fields.
(I can't post external links so bye bye to source.)



Next with the very topic of the conversation as it in and of itself can be determined by rather loose means.

"Right-wings extremists" are rather hard to determine as the very lack of a political compass actually exists and the one which does is based upon biases which can change or differ upon the very context of the question being asked.

For some reason, Fascism is equated with the right, however when I ask people why it's established to be far right, they lack a proper answer.

So my first question is. By the definition of right and left wing, what does OP define the terms as? As even the founder of fascism was once part of a socialist newspaper during the first world war. For those lacking the knowledge, the first fascist to actively gain power was Benito Mussolini.

Fascism came about as a refined version of socialism and communism. Fascism was designed to be the best parts of both systems, however as most know. Communism has never worked and has always degraded into socialism. The closet any country has ever gotten to communism was Revolutionary Spain, but even that had socialist systems and fell eight months after the founding.

To translate this into modern times. The "Alt-right" isn't right at all, rather another leftist group, trying to find favor in the most ignorant of the right.

[Skynet]

Before anything else, I'd like to point out something about what happened at Charlottesville.

James Fields, the driver that crashed into the crowd at Cville, did so to escape a ANTIFA member with a gun. Whom even admits to chasing Mr. Fields.
(I can't post external links so bye bye to source.)



Next with the very topic of the conversation as it in and of itself can be determined by rather loose means.

"Right-wings extremists" are rather hard to determine as the very lack of a political compass actually exists and the one which does is based upon biases which can change or differ upon the very context of the question being asked.

For some reason, Fascism is equated with the right, however when I ask people why it's established to be far right, they lack a proper answer.

So my first question is. By the definition of right and left wing, what does OP define the terms as? As even the founder of fascism was once part of a socialist newspaper during the first world war. For those lacking the knowledge, the first fascist to actively gain power was Benito Mussolini.

Fascism came about as a refined version of socialism and communism. Fascism was designed to be the best parts of both systems, however as most know. Communism has never worked and has always degraded into socialism. The closet any country has ever gotten to communism was Revolutionary Spain, but even that had socialist systems and fell eight months after the founding.

To translate this into modern times. The "Alt-right" isn't right at all, rather another leftist group, trying to find favor in the most ignorant of the right.

Actually, I can answer this.

Fascism is far-right because it, as an ideology, is opposed to egalitarianism and defines itself primarily via nationalism. Right-wing in both the US and Europe is associated with conservatism, skepticism towards change, promoting the nation/ethnicity/etc over a more "global" world, and is opposed to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism which during the Great Depression were the other majority ideologies.

The far-left, by consequence, predominantly seeks the transition of society into a more egalitarian form. Feminism has its roots in leftist thought for wanting to combat traditional patriarchal social norms. Anarchism combats hierarchical governments and business structures. Marxism combats capitalism.

Also, Benito Mussolini in the Doctrine of Fascism defined himself and his ideology as right-wing.

A party governing a nation “totalitarianly" is a new departure in history. There are no points of reference nor of comparison. From beneath the ruins of liberal, socialist, and democratic doctrines, Fascism extracts those elements which are still vital. It preserves what may be described as "the acquired facts" of history; it rejects all else. That is to say, it rejects the idea of a doctrine suited to all times and to all people. Granted that the XIXth century was the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy, this does not mean that the XXth century must also be the century of socialism, liberalism, democracy. Political doctrines pass; nations remain. We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the " right ", a Fascist century. If the XIXth century was the century of the individual (liberalism implies individualism) we are free to believe that this is the "collective" century, and therefore the century of the State. It is quite logical for a new doctrine to make use of the still vital elements of other doctrines. No doctrine was ever born quite new and bright and unheard of. No doctrine can boast absolute originality. It is always connected, it only historically, with those which preceded it and those which will follow it. Thus the scientific socialism of Marx links up to the utopian socialism of the Fouriers, the Owens, the Saint-Simons ; thus the liberalism of the XIXth century traces its origin back to the illuministic movement of the XVIIIth, and the doctrines of democracy to those of the Encyclopaedists. All doctrines aim at directing the activities of men towards a given objective; but these activities in their turn react on the doctrine, modifying and adjusting it to new needs, or outstripping it. A doctrine must therefore be a vital act and not a verbal display. Hence the pragmatic strain in Fascism, it’s will to power, its will to live, its attitude toward violence, and its value.

Interestingly, Mussolini was anti-socialist and had little respect for Marx's work.

I can imagine that people are going to bring up "National Socialism," but it should be noted that 1.) the Nazi Party busted up trade unions and 2.) killed the Strasserites upon suspicion that they were too Soviet-friendly during the Night of Long Knives. The Nazis used a mixed market economy, and their primary critiques of socialism and capitalism were that they were "both invented by Jews."

This Snopes article does a pretty good job explaining the "Are Nazis Socialist?" thing.

In short, Hitler was being a politician. The economic depression was causing many people to gravitate towards alternative ideologies than traditional capitalism and liberal democracies at the time. Communist parties were gaining ground and in 1920s Germany were tying or even exceeding the Nazi Party in polls. Hitler viewed them as a threat but also sought to trick and win over German citizens who'd be otherwise sympathetic towards socialism. During the Weimar Republic they had the largest Communist Party outside of the Soviet Union.

In the 1933 general federal election of Germany, the German Communist Party had nearly 5 million votes. Social Democratic Party had around 7 million, while the Nazi Party had 17 million.


So in conclusion we have that even by their own definitions and tactics, fascists were right-wing and anti-Communist as well as being anti-socialist, even if Nazis deceptively referred to themselves as such.

[Regina Minx]

James Fields, the driver that crashed into the crowd at Cville, did so to escape a ANTIFA member with a gun. Whom even admits to chasing Mr. Fields.
(I can't post external links so bye bye to source.)

So says Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Charlottesville nationalist rally.

In unrelated news, Jason Kessler was indicted on perjury charges after falsely claiming to have been acting in self-defense in response to an assault he committed against a man in a Charlottesville Mall.

[Saria]

So in conclusion we have that even by their own definitions and tactics, fascists were right-wing and anti-Communist as well as being anti-socialist, even if Nazis deceptively referred to themselves as such.

A nicely meme-able way of putting it that I've heard is this:

If you're silly enough to believe that just because the Nazis used the word "socialist" in their name that means they were socialists, then you must also believe that Algeria, Ethiopia, East Congo, the former East Germany, and North Korea are all democratic republics.

[Oniya]

A nicely meme-able way of putting it that I've heard is this:

If you're silly enough to believe that just because the Nazis used the word "socialist" in their name that means they were socialists, then you must also believe that Algeria, Ethiopia, East Congo, the former East Germany, and North Korea are all democratic republics.

Fun fact - the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.  It was an agglomeration of mostly Germanic countries, and the last ruler to be crowned by the Pope was Charles V.  (Even before that, Fredrick I supported a number of 'antipopes'.)

[Sara Nilsson]

Fun fact - the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.  It was an agglomeration of mostly Germanic countries, and the last ruler to be crowned by the Pope was Charles V.  (Even before that, Fredrick I supported a number of 'antipopes'.)

Voltaire :)

[Mera1506]

I can't claim to know the specifics of the number, however the divicive identity politics that's being played not only by the politicians, but also the MSM ad Hollywood is dividing people into factions. The very notion of cultural appropriation is to stay in your own lane. Divide and conquer because as long as the different groups are too busy fighting each other, they're not paying attention to corrupt politicians and high up business executives that run off with your hard earned money to the bank, either through taxation fraud for politicians and avoiding paying taxes in the case of the corrupt executives. There's a reason for this meme:

[Lustful Bride]

I can't claim to know the specifics of the number, however the divicive identity politics that's being played not only by the politicians, but also the MSM ad Hollywood is dividing people into factions. The very notion of cultural appropriation is to stay in your own lane. Divide and conquer because as long as the different groups are too busy fighting each other, they're not paying attention to corrupt politicians and high up business executives that run off with your hard earned money to the bank, either through taxation fraud for politicians and avoiding paying taxes in the case of the corrupt executives. There's a reason for this meme:

I'm going to save that image because its not a bad meme :)

And there is some level of truth. Its why politicians demonize one another so hard, only pushing people to further extremes, because its always easier to control others when its an 'us vs them' scenario.

[Skynet]

Minor quibble, but the "Black Power" slogan was not made to be a phrase for hate in its inception and whose definition varies depending on the political group espousing it. It was actually coined by Stokely Carmichael of the Black Panthers, neither of whom were racial supremacists.* It actually predated the "White Power" slogan during segregation days as a sort of rallying cry to show that the African-American community is not helpless in the face of oppression. But then George Lincoln Rockwell of the American Nazi Party went "if negroes can say Black Power, I say we should say White Power!"

This is not new; for all their talk of etchnic separatism, white supremacists love to steal ideas from other races and turn them into something awful. Like swastikas, the skinhead hairstyle, and tiki torches.

*Ideologically the Black Panthers were communists and were at odds with the Nation of Islam for being black supremacists. They characterized social conflict as a class-based issue, but viewed African-AMericans and other minorities as being one of several oppressed proletariat groups.

I'd also like to point that the "New Black Panther Party" you see calling for white genocide on Fox News are nutters, not affiliated with the original Black Panther Party and in fact stole their name, and one of the original BPP leaders Bobby Seale denounced them as black racists.

[Avis habilis]

There's a reason for this meme...

Yeah. People who insist on drawing a false equivalence between a group that calls for extermination of other ethnic groups & one that calls for bully boys in a position of authority to stop murdering them.

[Sara Nilsson]

Yeah. People who insist on drawing a false equivalence between a group that calls for extermination of other ethnic groups & one that calls for bully boys in a position of authority to stop murdering them.

^^ This. Saying white power and black power are even on the same footing is disgusting. Yes a tiny minority of those chanting black power want to use violent means, the vast majority of those chanting white power do. Equating, we want to not get shot by the cops for existing to people that scream nazi slogans.. the mental leap is quite wide.

[Lustful Bride]

Yeah. People who insist on drawing a false equivalence between a group that calls for extermination of other ethnic groups & one that calls for bully boys in a position of authority to stop murdering them.

^^ This. Saying white power and black power are even on the same footing is disgusting. Yes a tiny minority of those chanting black power want to use violent means, the vast majority of those chanting white power do. Equating, we want to not get shot by the cops for existing to people that scream nazi slogans.. the mental leap is quite wide.

I don't think that's what the person was implying, it wasn't what I was implying with my response. But I'm just gonna back out before I dig myself into a hole and misrepresent my own argument and make myself look bad.

[Oniya]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53XyCbIJGKY

Relevant.

[rick957]

>Speak up, call out bullshit when you see it. Especially publicly, you are often not arguing for the sake of the other person, but those less certain who may be listening, watching, reading.

Okey-dokey, boys and girls.  Let's play along.  May we ask the OP what this means?

>We often forget how things have changed in the past.

>We highlight Martin Luther King and Ghandi.

>We ignore the subtle threats behind their desire for the rights they are due. 'Malcom X Day' is not a federal holiday.

May we also ask how it can be seen as anything other than racist to spell Gandhi's name that way?  Look at this link if you want evidence of the mindset that takes that sort of misspelling casually:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ghandi

I imagine the OP was being careless with his spelling and doesn't care enough about the legacy of the man in question to bother spelling his name correctly.

Or the OP was just being careless with his spelling in a post which he took the trouble to peg at the top of the section like some kind of clarion call or warning:  conform or get out.

Or none of the above.  You tell me.  OP?  No disrespect intended, but someone else would have asked sooner or later.  There are Indian Elliquians, aren't there?  And at least a few MLK fans?

Feel free to claim it was all a misunderstanding, and I'll believe you.  Peace.

[rick957]

Let me take that last line back.  Feel free to say it was a misunderstanding, because I've made plenty, and I'll apologize if warranted.  I've totally misread stuff before.  But what the ?

[Tolvo]

I believe it's just a typo. And that Veks was saying MLK and Gandhi also were not strict pacifists and argued for using violence when they felt it was necessary, as have many people who fought for the rights of their people. With mentioning Malcolm X being a point that people look down on him more because he was more open about using violence when necessary.

I have before seen Indian members of E but I dunno if there is a large active number of people on E from India since it is mainly a US based site.

The thread is about right wing violence and it's rise and its use in harming people, especially marginalized people. Like mentioned there is the Heather Heyer case, where James Fields killed her by running into her with a car when he tried to run over left-wing protesters.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/us/charlottesville-james-fields-trial/index.html

https://wset.com/news/local/medical-examiner-heather-heyer-died-of-blunt-force-injury-during-unite-the-right-rally

http://www.nbc29.com/story/39577456/fields-trial-day-6

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/04/us/charlottesville-james-fields-trial-tuesday/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/james-alex-fields-found-guilty-killing-heather-heyer-during-violent-n945186

Some things about the incident. Evidence that he killed her, news about the trial, and his conviction, which was set to life plus 419 years.

[Rinzler]

Holy shit, is this the same rick957 I used to argue (nicely) with about Jesus, many years ago?

How are you mate? How have you been?

(Apologies for the momentary derail. I've come back to E from a long hiatus and it's always nice to see an old face pop up again)

[rick957]

I believe it's just a typo.

I hope it's a typo.  Then I overreacted and will look foolish.  :(  But I don't understand why there would be so many typos, including ones which are immediately perceived as racist by, um, 20 percent or more of global population?  And in a post that opens a thread prominently placed in the section?  Did Vekseid bother to reread his own writing, or does he have problems often with spelling names correctly?  I don't recall that, but I don't recall much about this site, truthfully.

How does Veks -- that is, how do you, sir -- both venerate and routinely misspell the name of, say, Malcolm X?  In a public post that you want lots of site visitors to read?  Wasn't this website about the virtues of writing and reading, besides roleplaying stuff, I mean?

I really have no idea why I'm posting today, honestly.  I've got no major beef with Vekseid or anybody else, whether or not he misspoke, or I just misunderstood.

Tolvo, I know a little about the news stories, but it sounds like you and almost everyone here at the site probably knows far more than I know.  I haven't been able to keep up with the news in recent months, life being hectic and all.  I wish -- I aspire to someday -- be as well-informed as you and others at this site probably are.

And that Veks was saying MLK and Gandhi also were not strict pacifists and argued for using violence when they felt it was necessary, as have many people who fought for the rights of their people.

I see.  If this is the current thinking about MLK and Gandhi, then there must have been some great change in the academic understanding of their cultural significance since I was last in school.  Maybe, I don't know.

With mentioning Malcolm X being a point that people look down on him more because he was more open about using violence when necessary.

Holy crap I just remembered some bbcode.  Is that what it's called, bbcode?  I forget.  :)

So does this mean Malcolm X is now in fashion more because he was violent and violence is good now?  I'm just so lost now, I'm sorry.  :)  I'm not as smart as others here.

DeMalachine, you made my day by 1) calling me 'mate', which I hear immediately in a UK accent, whether or not you're from the UK -- you are, aren't you? -- anyway, the sound of any accent in my head delights me; and 2) by claiming that we managed to argue nicely about Jesus.  LOL.  I don't remember any of the details, but it sounds like something I would have done, back in those days when I used this site so so so much.  hehe. Also, isn't it amazing how random people can share fond recollections of such an obscure sort of interaction, message board-writing ... I had a ton of fun with such stuff, long ago.  Anyway, boy I'm glad you have positive memories of whatever we discussed, because the thing that bugs me about Elliquiy is the fact that I'm sure I rubbed some people wrong unintentionally in various threads, and that would be a bummer, albeit one they surely forgot about nanoseconds after it happening. 
[/quote]

How are you mate? How have you been?

Oh the stories I could tell.  :)  But those are whiskey conversations, as a friend of mine would say.  I've been great, hope you have been too; I wish I could remember our past interactions, I bet they were fun.

[rick957]

Vekseid, there's no need to reply to anything I said, unless you feel like it.  I mean, I wasn't trying to call you out personally, not really. 

All I was trying to say, in a roundabout way, is something like, uh ....

No Gandhi, no MLK;

no MLK, no Malcolm X;

no Gandhi, no MLK, no Malcolm X;

no Gandhi, no MLK, no Malcolm X, no Civil Rights Movement, period.

No Civil Rights Movement, no gay rights movement, no trans rights at all.

If you care at all about any of these topics, you should take the trouble, when speaking publicly, to spell the names correctly out of respect for the history, and to understand the history in terms of cause and effect.  If you don't understand the causes and effects, you don't understand the history, even if you know more about the history than I do.  And many people at E, including Vekseid, probably know more about all of those causes than I do.  But I'm a more careful speller.  :)

Thanks.

[rick957]

Oh, forgot one thing.  No Civil Rights Movement, no Elliquiy.  If that one doesn't make sense to you, think it over some, please.

We all stand on the shoulders of giants, let's spell their names right, okay?  Peace.

[rick957]

Alright, one more thing.  :(  Sorry, I can't remember how to edit the post, so I'm bumping the thread unintentionally.

The title of this thread, and its placement at the top of the section, suggests that E is not at all welcoming to anyone on the "right-wing."  Is that really a message you want to send?  Maybe it is, I don't know.

The enemy is violence, not the right wing, or Republicans, or even d.j.t.

And throwing (?) bike locks is just as contemptible as genocide, if it happens to you.  It appears, in this thread, that throwing bike locks is somehow portrayed as less contemptible than genocide.  I guess it might be, unless the bike lock is coming at you, personally.  :)

[Oniya]

The ability to edit has been disabled in the Politics section, due to people abusing it.  As a consequence, it is advisable to consider your words carefully before hitting 'Post'.

[Saria]

I have before seen Indian members of E but I dunno if there is a large active number of people on E from India since it is mainly a US based site.

My family is Indian. Personally, it doesn't bother me one iota that an English-speaking American accidentally misspelled a Hindustani name. If you want to be that pendantic, "Gandhi" isn't even the real spelling in any case; it's "ગાંધી". But I don't think anyone really cares that much. As they say in India: « Comme ci comme ça. »

Actually, the elevation of Gandhi to a level of sainthood where merely misspelling his name is a sin because you don't "care enough about the legacy of the man in question to bother spelling his name correctly" is far more offensive to me than merely misspelling his name. And Gandhi himself would find that attitude just as off-putting as I do.

But I don't understand why there would be so many typos, including ones which are immediately perceived as racist by, um, 20 percent or more of global population?

There is literally no one in the entire world who "perceives" typos as racist. 120% of the global population agrees with that.

Deliberate misspellings can be racist. Typos are just accidents. Humans are just apes; we were not designed to communicate by typing on keyboards. Mistakes horpen.

The title of this thread, and its placement at the top of the section, suggests that E is not at all welcoming to anyone on the "right-wing."  Is that really a message you want to send?  Maybe it is, I don't know.

The enemy is violence, not the right wing, or Republicans, or even d.j.t.

That is as ridiculous as saying: "Why are you obsessed with cancer deaths? The problem is dying, not cancer!"

We can't fight "violence". That's nonsensical. Violence is not a target, and it is not a cause. It's not even a specific act or group of acts. It's a vague abstract idea that isn't even always bad. Violence can be legitimate, if, for example, you're fighting off an oppressor. "Though violence is not lawful, when it is offered in self-defence or for the defence of the defenceless, it is an act of bravery far better than cowardly submission."

That was Gandhi I quoted, by the way.

If you're really serious about fighting "violence", then the first step is determining where the violence is coming from. The undeniable reality is that at this point in time, violence is overwhelmingly coming from the right. That's not just a matter of opinion anymore - everyone tracking the stats has noticed the trend. In my country, in the last five years, every single politically motivated massacre has been done by a right-wing fanatic. Every single one. (And I stopped at five years arbitrarily. It's probably true if I go back ten years.)

We need to talk about this trend, and we need to do so desperately because too many people are trying to not talk about it. I can't speak with certainty about the US, but at least in Canada we have had a serious problem with our law enforcement community not taking the rising tide of right-wing violence seriously. In fact, our version of the CIA actually shut down its monitoring of right-wing extremism in 2016 or 2017, because they didn't care about it; they didn't think it was a problem. They were forced to reopen it when a Trump-loving lunatic shot 24 Muslims in a mosque - in the backs as they were praying - because he was upset that our Prime Minister was defying Trump's Muslim travel ban.

It's a serious problem, and it's getting worse. There were three politically-motivated massacres in my country in 2018... all right-wing. That was more than the previous three years combined (at least!), and more people were killed in this one year.

And this isn't an accidental fluke. At least in my country, all you need to do to see the evidence is just go into left-wing and right-wing communities on Facebook or other places like that.

• In the left-wing community you'll see plenty of memes about how racists, fascists, capitalism, and so on suck, and discussions about how people can do better in individual interactions (things like how to deal with latent racism, misgendering, or microaggressions) or how to make a better society (whether this or that form of anarchism would better).
• In the right-wing community you'll see people openly talking about murdering the Prime Minister.

I'm not joking or exaggerating about that. And I'm not the only one who's noticed.

And by the way, because you care so much about Gandhi and India, rising right-wing extremism is a huge problem there, too. The right-wing parties there are actually celebrating the assassination of Gandhi!

If we're going to be serious about fighting "violence", we need to identify where it's coming from. It's coming from the right. That's an undeniable fact. And we need to say that out loud, and acknowledge it.

So the bottom line is this:

• Right-wing extremism is a serious problem.
• Most (all in some countries, including mine) political violence comes from right-wing extremists.
• It is getting worse.
• People aren't taking it seriously enough - particularly authorities
• So we need to talk more about it.

Now, because I know someone is going to bring up left-wing extremism: Yes, it exists. However, authorities have been harassing left-wing groups for decades, and as a result, there are no real left-wing extremist organizations anymore that have any sort of operational capacity. There have still been lone-wolf left-wing extremist attacks in the last decade or so, but none of them have targeted people - they've always targeted structures (pipelines, mines, and I think a bank or two). Yes, these are still bad. But:

• Left-wing extremist incidents are few and far between; nowhere even close to the amount of right-wing incidents.
• They are always less dangerous; they target pipelines and stuff, and take active steps to avoid killing people (I can't remember off the top of my head whether they always succeeded; I'd have to check), whereas most right-wing incidents are directly targeting people, and often large numbers of innocent civilians.

So yes, left-wing extremism exists. But it's not really a problem in 2018, although law enforcement still monitors and disrupts left-wing groups. Right-wing violence is a major problem, and it's being mostly ignored by law enforcement.

(All the incidents and data above are from Canada. I don't know the data for the US off the top of my head.)

One more thing:

The title of this thread, and its placement at the top of the section, suggests that E is not at all welcoming to anyone on the "right-wing."

The title of the thread is: "On the rising plague of right-wing violence." How in the world could that drive "anyone on the 'right-wing'" away? If they're so wrapped up in their political identity that even talking about the violence coming from their community drives them away, then I say good riddance. I don't want those people around. Does anyone?

I mentioned above that we need to acknowledge and talk about right-wing violence, but the people who need most to do that are... right wingers. Right-wing people need to be aware that there is a serious problem lurking in their communities, so they can spot it, and deal with it.

Left-wing people can't stop right-wing violence, only right-wing people can.

Only right-wing people can do something about the hateful, violent rhetoric in their communities. If right-wing people really don't agree with violence or extremism, they need to clean it out of their spaces.

The only thing left-wing people can do about right-wing violence is talk about it, to force people on the right to acknowledge the problem and hopefully do something about it. The only other option would be violent retaliation in self-defence - because you can't seriously expect them to just sit around and wait to be killed because right-wing people get too upset at even the mention of right-wing violence. I don't think anyone on the left (or the "centre") wants things to go that far. So instead they will keep talking about it, to force people on the right-wing to face the demons in their midst.

That's the way Gandhi would want it done. And, in fact, you know what Gandhi would have called right-wing people who ran away from discussions of right-wing violence? "Cowards". (It was one of those words he was fond of using.)

So I don't agree that talking about right-wing violence should drive right-wing people away. On the contrary, anyone driven away by it deserves to be gone.

[Lustful Bride]

As someone fairly right leaning in a few topics I am in agreement with Saria for the most part. The first step to correcting a problem is to recognize it is there, and many on the right tend to plug their ears or just blame the left for everything, even when you can directly prove it is the right at fault. It might be because I am more loyal to the Country as a whole than any one party or group, but if someone loves their party, be it right or left, then it behooves them to work hard to ensure their party is as noble and just and whatever else the propaganda says, even if it means coming to terms with uncomfortable truths, and past and present, actions.

It sucks, but it is necessary and something we must do. I call out my country when it messes up, just like I call out others. Why? Because I know that if everyone busts their humps working to make the country better, to work together for all Americans, and all people who come to join us and be Americans, we can really be the shinning city on the hill that we claim to be. We aren't saints, we aren't perfect, but we can sure as hell try to be.

We need to stop pulling to the extremes of both sides and meet in the middle more, talk and discuss, work things out, the way politics and society are supposed to work and have worked for hundreds of years (with mixed results granted but the point still stands).

Also Rick, you do realize that Autocorrect is a thing and can actively change spelling right? There's countless jokes about how autocorrect is a pain. Your sudden tantrum over the spelling of Gandhi comes off more as trolling than trying to make a point and it really comes out of left field.

[Crystalis]

This is such a needed and eloquent post for a very important issue. I'm lucky to live near an area that is fairly diverse, and in a town that is mostly non-violent. But every time I turn on the news and see the reports of hate crimes as their numbers rise more and more, it breaks my heart and makes me want to cry. We are not seperate species here. Black, white, cis, trans, gay, straight, from this country or that, no matter what your heritage, skin color, or various identifications are, we are all human. Why should we act like animals and treat each other like lessers just because they're different? We are not lions and gazelles. We are all human, and we all have the same ultimate goal. We all just want to experience happiness, as often as we can. What reason do you have to inhibit someone else from reaching that goal? Sadism has no place in society. Please, be kind to each other. If you can treat a pet with love and affection, then you can absolutely treat someone of your own species the same way. There is no reason for bloodshed, death, or even hateful comments. We are all humans, and it's time we start acting like it. Cobras don't try to eat cobras.

[Saria]

Cobras don't try to eat cobras.

Weeeeeeell...  :P

But yes, I mean, other than that detail, I agree with the sentiment.

[Tamhansen]

we are all human. Why should we act like animals and treat each other like lessers just because they're different? We are not lions and gazelles. We are all human, and we all have the same ultimate goal. We all just want to experience happiness, as often as we can. What reason do you have to inhibit someone else from reaching that goal? Sadism has no place in society. [/b]

Humans, by their very nature are tribal. We've spent tens of thousands of years bashing in heads of people who just happened to belong to the village over the next hill. Then, technology and politics made societies grow beyond what our little ape brains could handle, and societies became enormous. So now we are adjusting by forming tribes not based on familial lines or geographical location, but rather based on ideas and morals. Some rather benign like liking the same artist, the same fashion items or the same sports teams (though that can turn violent too on occassion). Some less benign, like grouping around skin colour, religious beliefs and political affiliation.

Sadly, one of the downside of tribal behaviour is that there is the outsider, those who do not belong, those who are not like us. Most of us have learned to deal with that part of our brain to a certain extent, and simply deal with the outsiders peacefully. We act polite, we might ignore them at times, avoid them perhaps, when among our own, we might even mock those who are different, but in general we coexist with them. Some among us however, do not have that control over this part of our brain, and for them, the fear and distrust and anger that kept our ancestors alive for so long is still very much there. This can lead to disturbing behaviour from (on the relatively benign side) people who go apeshit if their idol is mocked or insulted, via hategroups to at the deep and dangerous end, people who truly believe that the 'others' must die.

Now don't misunderstand me, I didn't write the above to excuse the hatred. (They can't help it, it's just how they're wired) because that would only be true for a very, very small fraction of this group who have other issues beside this one. But in studying, and gaining a better understanding of the underlying causes, we strive to recognise the behaviour and perhaps intervene sooner, and hopefully get to these people before they reach a point where they use violence.

[Skynet]

I've been debating whether to post it here or make it its own thread, but figured it would be best to post here given the relation and the thread's stickied nature.

This provides a good insight of how many young depressed white men in the Western world get suckered in to reactionary ideas and hate groups, and the uploader talks about his own story of how it affected him. Halfway through the video he explains how he got out of it, which I found to be very strong.

[Vekseid]

I go over isolation in a blog post here.

[karkas132]

Its definitely good to highlight the issue of right-wing violence because it has become very prevalent. Political violence, and of course violence in general is a generally bad thing. I think that a lot of the people who call out left wing violence but act like the right wing violence isn't there come from the few areas where left-wing violence is more prevalent, I had to climb out of that rabbit hole myself. Living in Portland the past couple of years Antifa showing up and starting fights with anyone who disagrees with them was something that happened like once every other month or so, and for a long time I was one of those people who didn't see much of the right wing violence other than the Proud Boys eventually began showing up to oppose antifa though it wasn't until after they had hospitalized Joey Gibson once or twice and called him a white supremacist (the irony of him being Japanese-American is not lost on me).

However eventually I did a lot of reading and analyzing of current trends, right wing violence is most definitely a threat and especially in the wake of the Christchurch massacre in which I wrote a paper on for a think tank, in which I will of course share if they decide to publish it and maybe so even if they don't.

I spent a lot of time condemning left-wing violence, and I still do, but I have come to realize that right wing violence is far more prevalent. I think this is one of the videos that spoke the most to me and honestly while I do not agree with this man on all of his view points I attribute a lot of the way I think now and a lot of where my beliefs come from to this video that came out in 2017, especially this quote.

"Conversations stop violence, conversations start countries, they build bridges and when the chips are down conversations are the last tool humans use before we pick up the guns."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHJw0veVNY

[Silk]

Its definitely good to highlight the issue of right-wing violence because it has become very prevalent. Political violence, and of course violence in general is a generally bad thing. I think that a lot of the people who call out left wing violence but act like the right wing violence isn't there come from the few areas where left-wing violence is more prevalent, I had to climb out of that rabbit hole myself. Living in Portland the past couple of years Antifa showing up and starting fights with anyone who disagrees with them was something that happened like once every other month or so, and for a long time I was one of those people who didn't see much of the right wing violence other than the Proud Boys eventually began showing up to oppose antifa though it wasn't until after they had hospitalized Joey Gibson once or twice and called him a white supremacist (the irony of him being Japanese-American is not lost on me).

However eventually I did a lot of reading and analyzing of current trends, right wing violence is most definitely a threat and especially in the wake of the Christchurch massacre in which I wrote a paper on for a think tank, in which I will of course share if they decide to publish it and maybe so even if they don't.

I spent a lot of time condemning left-wing violence, and I still do, but I have come to realize that right wing violence is far more prevalent. I think this is one of the videos that spoke the most to me and honestly while I do not agree with this man on all of his view points I attribute a lot of the way I think now and a lot of where my beliefs come from to this video that came out in 2017, especially this quote.

"Conversations stop violence, conversations start countries, they build bridges and when the chips are down conversations are the last tool humans use before we pick up the guns."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHJw0veVNY

Personally I think left wing violence is more prevalent, but often more micro scale, assaults, damage to property etc so a lot of it gets overlooked or not reported on. While right wing violence happens less often overall. But tends to be on a much more devastating scale. One does not make the other ok and all forms of violence regardless of political leanings should be called out on and stopped.

[Tolvo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZswuCGPwM

If people are interested, there was a livestream of the House Judiciary Committee on the rise of white nationalism in the USA and the world. It is a bit questionable at times(For some reason the Neo Nazi Candace Owens is there though they do address her defense of Hitler at least). But it is at least full of decent discussion on the subject and they talk about a lot of incidents and possible legislative changes(Like making hate crimes handled by the FBI rather than local law enforcement with many states having different laws and not recognizing many marginalized groups as protected such as gay people).

[Skynet]

You didn't even post 3 minutes of the best part! :(

[Tolvo]

Well I didn't want to come across as cherry picking.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/422268/washington-man-charged-in-terror-plot-im-shooting-for-30-jews/

Also for those who missed it a man was arrested for posting about killing Jewish people, while stockpiling weapons an threatening bombings. The FBI were notified in November, a month later they finally investigated. He was arrested then and is now being charged with felonies. This is happening more and more and so many times the FBI just doesn't seem to care.

[Vekseid]

Feel like there ought to be a listing of these somewhere.

For now, At least 20 dead, including 3 Mexicans, and 26 injured in El Paso shooting.

[Oniya]

Of course there's a list somewhere.    The El Paso shooting has been put on the list of individual incidents, but does not seem to have been added to the monthly agglomeration chart yet.

The short-short version:
This is the 249th mass shooting of 2019.  August 3rd is the 216th day of 2019.

[Oniya]

Make that 250.  Dayton, Ohio.

A spokesperson for the local Miami Valley Hospital, Terrea Little, confirmed to NBC News that the hospital was treating 16 victims.

[Tolvo]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/04/mass-shootings-el-paso-texas-dayton-ohio-8chan-far-right-website?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

And it should be mentioned more and more mass shootings are being announced on places like 8chan, reddit, Gab, and 4chan, before they take place. With 8chan often being the most direct and it being circulated from there to the others. It is home to many of the absolute worst one can find in public, with Neo Nazis, Incels, Pedophiles, and more, being the common users found there.

https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=tw

Qanon content is also on there which as a reminder it has come to light that the FBI is treating Qanon content as a domestic terrorism threat(as they should). Cloudflare hosts 8chan and has been notorious because of their system for reporting. When someone reports a website to Cloudflare their standard procedure has been to then alert the site owner along with the information of who reported it, as such whenever someone reports Cloudflare within a day on 8chan they are doxxed with threats being made to them and their families(A common tactic is to go through a person's Facebook friends to find younger family members who may not know anything about this so they can get information from them or spam them with gore and child porn).

[gaggedLouise]

Yes, at least the El Paso shooting certainly looks like it was motivated by racism. And in the Dayton one, all three women killed (excepting the killer's sister) were black, and most of the men too.

The Dayton police showed a video early in their press conference about an hour ago, not a close-up (those came later I think) but a film snapped from across the street looking towards the bar - and the striking thing was, one could hear all the shots, the firing sounds thundering loudly across the semi-dark street, and coming fast, several within a few seconds - it sounded completely like a battle scene. Very scary.  :-(

[Vekseid]

I specifically want to only list unambiguously political, bigoted, or racist murders. This includes left wing incidents if and when they occur. There was one attempt I am aware of and I am sure there will be more.

As far as I am aware the Dayton shooting is still unclear. He has been called out as being atheist so of course that is the reason in some eyes.

I do not believe there is anything to gain from losing objectivity here. It does no good to have people who may be on the fence see what might be interpreted as hyperbole.

[Skynet]

Brandon Friedman over on Twitter looked over the El Paso shooter's manifesto and found that a lot of his talking points were directly lifted from and/or inspired by talk show hosts and politicians such as Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump:

[Tolvo]

https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2019/08/26/27039560/undercover-in-patriot-prayer-insights-from-a-vancouver-democrat-whos-been-working-against-the-far-right-group-from-the-inside

A person had semi-secretly gone undercover as a conservative and has been livestreaming various protests, riots, etc, in Portland. Now that they've done their duty, the Navy veteran has handed over much of the footage and evidence which shows members of the far right, alt right, patriot prayer, proud boys, and more, planning riots and engaging in unprovoked violence. In a more recent example his footage showed Patriot Prayer and allies planning to attack  an establishment where antifascists were meeting, with Andy Ngo on camera laughing at the jokes and along with the open plans of attack which Andy reported none of. He's gathered a lot of footage of full exchanges, not the cut down edited clips meant to show only the ends of fights. Now he isn't the only one, there actually is an entire antifascist organization with guides on how to go undercover and there have been many undercover antifascists recording things then releasing the like this, though this man's tour of duty against terrorists like Patriot Prayer is effectively over given he's going to be a witness in court and testify and his name will be made public. More and more in the courts these recordings and testimonies are showing just how many people have lied to try and hide right wing violence.

[Oniya]

Brave person indeed.  I seem to recall there were activists in the 60's-70's who did similar things with groups like the KKK.

[Tolvo]

It's a very long tradition helped a lot by the miniature cameras most of us carry around now. Also a great example of a person using their privilege to fight injustice.

[Beguile's Mistress]

Wasn't there also a story recently about a black police officer who went undercover and infiltrated the KKK?  I think it was all done online.

[Oniya]

In a more recent example his footage showed Patriot Prayer and allies planning to attack  an establishment where antifascists were meeting, with Andy Ngo on camera laughing at the jokes and along with the open plans of attack which Andy reported none of.

In related(?) news - Andy Ngo has removed 'Editor @Quillette' and 'Host Things @YouShouldNgo' from his Twitter bio.  ::)  Not sure if the latter is still even a thing, since the latest tweet (and episode) from it was at the end of May.  He's still listed as a 'sub-editor and photo-journalist' on Quillette's site.

[Oniya]

Scratch that - he's been removed from Quillette's page.

[Oniya]

If we're counting 'would have been, but they got stopped', we have these 'fine people' in Vegas:

https://www.ktnv.com/news/crime/2-men-arrested-for-allegedly-threatening-to-shoot-up-wynn-las-vegas-nightclub

Before they were arrested, they shouted 'White privilege, white power, we are white supremacists!'

[Tolvo]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-soldier-arrested-jarrett-william-smith-allegedly-shared-bomb-making-instructions-and-discussed-killing-beto/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/feds-arrest-army-soldier-who-allegedly-discussed-attacks-u-s-n1057701

https://www.thekansan.com/news/20190923/fort-riley-soldier-charged-with-providing-bomb-making-info-to-target-politicians-antifa-news-network/1

https://www.kalw.org/post/kansas-soldier-charged-teaching-bomb-making-far-right-extremists

A US Soldier has been arrested, he was caught explaining to others how to create bombs and how to carry out terrorist attacks in the USA. The targets he designated and wanted to see killed that are known are anti-fascist protestors, and bombing an unnamed major news network and Beto O'rourke. He was caught when an undercover FBI agent on an app called out seeking individuals in Texas who would be good targets to kill and he responded. He detailed online various instructions on how to get materials to make and how to build bombs and had planned car bombings. The soldier was working with other far right extremists and was openly discussing such things and doing so in private with others on Telegram. He mentioned he was working to set up networks for people like him and was seeking to join others that already existed. He was also considering going to Ukraine to fight in a far right paramilitary group. He had apparently been doing these things while in the army and prior to enlisting and had been under the watch of the FBI for a little while.

[SINless]

Wasn't there also a story recently about a black police officer who went undercover and infiltrated the KKK?  I think it was all done online.

Yeah, Bad Boys 2 proved doing that face to face is really hard.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/22/the-black-man-in-the-ku-klux-klan  Ron Stallworth

[Skynet]

And where has this rising plague got us?

January 6th, 2021. So much has been said that cannot fit into a single post, but this link and the resulting pages' worth of content and reports speak for themselves.

[Praxis]

Veks.

I am extremely proud of you and your team who tirelessly work to make things better in your corner of the internet.

Staying silent and hoping these misanthropic and willfully ignorant people will somehow magically get better is simply not a solution.

I support you and your team's policies and I commend you for the effort.

[Skynet]

While it does not take the form of terrorism, assassinations, or other such direct violence where victim and perpetrator are both humans, right-wing ideology has also contributed to an unacceptable death toll for the past year.

I will not repeat myself post-wise when I said as much in other threads, but as of the final day of Trump's presidency 402,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus. Even if he was a stellar President the past four years, his willful defiance and unwillingness to halt the spread would ruin his legacy. This was not just incompetence, but maliciousness, for he knew from experts it would be deadly, but sought not to do anything and even went to war against his own doctors such as Fauci and others for reporting accurately on the situation.

The Republicans who go about without masks, defy lockdown and make no changes to their personal lives, who think the virus is a hoax or are willing to risk spreading it for some ill-defined "freedom," have contributed just as much to pain and suffering as the man they revere. They may not be as bloody-minded as the white nationalist or domestic terrorist who has murder in their hearts, but all the same they put innocent lives at risk.

[Missy]

I don't find any reedemable quality in Trump, but I'm not sure it was Malice really, just plum laziness. I think the truth is he didn't want to put forth the effort, it was easier to just get support for being lazy by politicizing the issue than it would have been to do the right thing, so the heartless narccissist was lazy.

[Boltox]

Hi! I relize Im late to this discussion but found it interesting.

I really mean to bring no disrespect to this sensitive subject but I want to bring up some points worth considering.

I read the ADL report and I didn´t find where they got the number of 74% of hate crimes being right wing between 2007-2016. They never account for these numbers or give reference to the crimes. So we have no way of knowing how they conclude what is a right-wing hate crime and what is a left-wing ect.

Also their data does not focus on trans killings. All these murders are just for hate crimes generally. So it´s not that trans people are specifically targeted.

The reason 2016 is the highest amount killings because of the large Orlando shooting done by an Islamist. He killed 49 of the 69 hate killings that happened that year. By their own data they say that for the year 2016 islamists was responsible for 71% of hate murders (49/69=0,71). Right wing only 10% even black nationalists was higher at 12%.

I also know that ADL are very poor at judging who is a right-winger or not. For example they labeled Majiid Nawaz as an alt-right/anti-islamic extremists and put him on a list together with Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and I think they went after Pewdiepie as well. Which shows how out of touch they are. Majiid even suited them successfully for deformation so they had to retract their statments about him

I wanted to bring this because they way you brought this up made it seem like there is an epidemic of hate crime murders specifically targeting trans people. As well as brining up that your source ADL isn´t nearly as good as it used to be. In the past it was the gold standard for this kind of stuff but have really lost the plot in later years. Therefore I really question how they decide what is a right-wing hate muder. Because if Sam Harris would commit a murder, they would label it as a right wing hate crime. Even if Sam never have voted republican and was one of the most vocal opponents to trump. How can we be sure they aren´t blinded by their own biases?

One final intersting thing I saw in the report was the most deadly domestic attacks on US soil. 3 where left wing 6 right wing and 4 islamist. However if you discount attacks before 2000s: 0 left-wing attacks, 2 right-wing attacks (1 happened 2001 so quiet long ago) and 4 islamists. I bring this up to show that recently it isn´t right-wing that does causes the largest attacks.

[Skynet]

Sam Harris is considered alt-right because he repeatedly shills for a pseudo-scientific book called the Bell Curve which claimed that there was a direct correlation between IQ rates and race and that such differences were genetically determined as opposed to things such as environment, nutrition, etc.

It's a rather long video, but there's a good debunking of the Bell Curve which is well-sourced from various academic citations and other information resources. Among other things, the writers of the Bell Curve intentionally cited bad data and misrepresented statistics in order to come to their conclusions, and still maintain this stance decades later even as conventional science further departs from their findings.

As far as I'm aware, Sam Harris hasn't walked back on his promotion of the book, which is why a lot of people place him alongside white supremacists and other hatemongers. I cannot speak as much about Nawaz or Harris' views on Islam, but I am well-acquainted with the toxicity behind the Bell Curve.

I also talked about PewDiePie specifically in a much older post here.

And here.

As for leftwing/rightwing/Islamist terrorism specifically in the US, in the big picture right-wing non-Islamist terrorism, specifically white nationalism and anti-abortion, have the highest rate of violence. This isn't just the ADL, but various federal agencies have come to the same conclusion.

The Department of Homeland Security, for instance.

And one of the most well-regarded national security think tanks has also agreed that right-wing domestic terrorism has eclipsed left-wing terrorism in the US by leaps and bounds.

The ADL does actually have biases and has been deceptive, albeit not in regards to right-wing extremism. Unfortunately, a lot of their members are prejudiced against Arabs and Muslims, Palestinians specifically, and have defended the Israeli government's war crimes. This is a rather significant conflict of interest that has caused them to be viewed poorly by a growing segment of leftist groups.

For example, in their own words they've railed against claims that the Israeli government engages in apartheid,¹ but in another breath claimed that a non-Jewish majority in Israel would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish state, with the implications of such a demographic change being a bad thing. The idea of Israel as a multiethnic democracy that can guarantee rights regardless of demographics isn't something that can be considered or is viewed as an ideal goal.

¹ A claim that many South African civil rights leaders who lived through the worst decades of apartheid would agree on. For instance, Desmond Tutu.

And they’ve also funded US police visits to train with Israeli police in occupied territories, which is counter-productive to decreasing systemic racism and police brutality in both countries.

It should be noted that the ADL has done good work, and in regards to denouncing white supremacy they have been consistent in this regard. Unfortunately they do have their own blind spots, and in some cases malicious spots, where they don't extend their progressive values to certain minority groups. The ADL isn't the only one who has, or continues to, do this. Look at tanky Marxists who defend the USSR's and China's human rights records while claiming to be pro-POC and pro-LGBT. Or second-wave and British feminists who are incredibly transphobic. Or US liberals who ignore legitimate criticism of Democratic politicians who haven’t practiced what they preached. Liberal and leftist groups can still be accurate in certain findings and advocate for worthy causes while still being imperfect and even bigoted in other places.

For a US-based organization that does a good job of tracking and reporting on hate and extremism, the Southern Poverty Law Center has a lot less baggage. I'd recommend them over the ADL.

[Oniya]

For a US-based organization that does a good job of tracking and reporting on hate and extremism, the Southern Poverty Law Center has a lot less baggage. I'd recommend them over the ADL.

Turns out they've released an in-depth report on the Hate and Extremism in 2020. 

[Rinzler]

I also know that ADL are very poor at judging who is a right-winger or not. For example they labeled Majiid Nawaz as an alt-right/anti-islamic extremists [...] Majiid even suited them successfully for deformation so they had to retract their statments about him

That wasn't the ADL. Majiid Nawaz successfully sued the SPLC for falsely claiming that he was an anti-muslim extremist.

[Boltox]

That wasn't the ADL. Majiid Nawaz successfully sued the SPLC for falsely claiming that he was an anti-muslim extremist.

Aaah right, sorry for mixing them up and thanks for the correction!

[Skynet]

After half a year's worth of investigation and research, the New York Times released an in-depth overview of the events that led to the January 6th insurrection and details of what took place. It shows how not only was this violent assault and murder attempts planned out ahead of time, but also footage of how individuals such as the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys coordinated efforts to compromise and breach security for the rest of the mob. Furthermore, the Republican mainstream is doing their part to downplay the deadliness of that day's events or twist things around to blame uninvolved parties, even coming from the mouths of Congress members who themselves were targeted and at risk.

I'll note a content warning around 28:27 to 28:43. This portion of footage shows the death of Ashli Babbitt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWJVMoe7OY0

[Haibane]

In Tibilisi, Georgia, far right protesters break into an office and destroy LGBT banners, flags and other equipment. A planned LGBT march has been cancelled.

Right-wing protestors also assaulted journalists.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-57727887

[Haibane]

Britain bans a fifth neo-nazi group under UK terror laws.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57806800

[Skynet]

Haven't had the time to watch the whole thing, but NBC aired over 3 hours of footage of of the House Committee Hearings on the January 6th insurrection.

Also available on C-SPAN.

Can't confirm ages so making it a link rather than a direct video.

[Azy]

I've heard it argued that racism was always there, always part of our country, and saying that Trump somehow incited it to get worse is just rhetoric.  This coming from my white Republican mother and uncle.  On the other hand, my Hispanic gay best friend has said that yes, he's dealt with some racist idiots all his life.  But since Trump was elected, it has gotten worse.  It's not that racism and hate itself got worse.  It's that the people who think that way were emboldened.  People used to think it and feel it, but didn't display it for the whole world to see.  Then a man comes along calling people animals because of the color of their skin, and he becomes the president.  Who should one believe?  The people who are repeating statistics and rhetoric they've heard where they choose to get their information, or the person who pepper sprayed 2 guys who were in his face informing him of how he's going to hell for his sexuality, and doing so in a way that made him afraid for his own safety? 

[Oniya]

It has been here since the first explorers from Europe - but having a guy in the Oval expressing it made it all come to the surface again.  The sentiment has been here - the expression has gotten worse to the point where even someone the color of garlic powder (*waves*) can see it happening and be horrified by it.  The people who have always been racist now believe it's okay to threaten someone based on their skin color.  The people who have always been homophobic or transphobic believe it's okay to threaten someone because of their sexuality or gender identity.  Why?  Because the people in power have said it's okay to do that.

It's bad enough that they have been thinking that way.  It's levels of magnitude worse that they're now acting that way and don't give a fuck who sees it.

[Azy]

I see it too.  It was kind of always there, but the dark underbelly of the country.  Now people are posting all kinds of disgusting crap on social media, putting the sign for white power on their car bumpers....  I don't like it. 

[Skynet]

Newly released taps of police radio recordings demonstrate that participants in the January 6th insurrection have been fighting and overwhelming police hours before the storming of the Capitol.

House committee issued supoenas to 11 individuals involved in the insurrection.

More evidence showing domestic terrorists planned to bring caches of firearms to DC to use during the insurrection.

[Skynet]

An exclusive by Rolling Stone shown that several of the insurrection organizers revealed that they participated in dozens of planned meetings with White House staff and members of Congress.

And Gosar, who has been one of the most prominent defenders of the Jan. 6 rioters, allegedly took things a step further. Both sources say he dangled the possibility of a “blanket pardon” in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.

“Our impression was that it was a done deal,” the organizer says, “that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval … in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up. They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”

The organizer claims the pair received “several assurances” about the “blanket pardon” from Gosar.

“I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you’ve been doing,” Gosar said, according to the organizer.

The rally planner describes the pardon as being offered while “encouraging” the staging of protests against the election. While the organizer says they did not get involved in planning the rallies solely due to the pardon, they were upset that it ultimately did not materialize.

Both sources also describe Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as someone who played a major role in the conversations surrounding the protests on Jan. 6. Among other things, they both say concerns were raised to Meadows about Alexander’s protest at the Capitol and the potential that it could spark violence. Meadows was subpoenaed by the committee last month as part of a group of four people “with close ties to the former President who were working in or had communications with the White House on or in the days leading up to the January 6th insurrection.”

“Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on,” says the organizer. “He’s also like a regular figure in these really tiny groups of national organizers.”

[Skynet]

The FBI received highly specific tips about violence that would occur on January 6th, but declined to act.

A sprawling new investigation by the Washington Post into the events leading up to the Capitol insurrection has revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigations received numerous and highly-detailed tips on the potential for serious violence by followers of then-president Donald Trump on January 6. And, despite the specificity and volume of reports, the FBI largely dismissed the warnings.

The fact that law enforcement of all stripes reportedly underestimated the likelihood of violence on Jan. 6 has already been widely reported. But the Post’s massive project—started last spring and based on interviews of more than 230 people—describes in excruciating detail just how much was ignored.

[Oniya]

I was able to get to the Post's investigation without getting prompted to subscribe - it is indeed massive, and lays things out very clearly.

[TheVillain]

Just noticed this. Excuse me, "Rising" plague?

Fun Fact - One thing the FBI, the CIA, the DHS, and pretty much every expert on Terrorism and Political Violence agrees on is that White Conservative/Rightwing Extremists are responsible for about 75% of all Political Violence and/or Acts of Terrorism that occur on US soil. And another roughly 18% are still religiously motivated. And as far as they can tell it's *always* been responsible for at least 2/3rds of it. [If, granted, the data and a few definitions get a bit fuzzy before the 50's.]

[Adam Floyd]

My husband and I woke up on that fateful November morning 2016, and the first thing we did was check the news to see that Trump had won.  We made our cups of coffee and sat on the porch stunned. He says to me, “I haven’t felt this way since 9/11.”  I said to him, “I was thinking the exact same thing.”

My transgender son had recently finished Navy bootcamp under the Obama era policy change to accept transgender people into the military.  Now, the new Commander and Chief had gotten in bed with the fundamentalist Christians.  My son was treated very poorly and forced to live as a woman for the entirety of his time in the Navy.

Come to find out, my whole extended family voted for Trump, even though they knew my son was already having to deal with Texas Republicans and some Democrats trying to ban transgender people from public spaces by drafting unreasonable and dangerous bathroom bills.

In my opinion, women, over 50% of the population, have been the biggest losers in this fight against the extreme right-wing and fundamentalist Christians.  Women went from having the first President to call himself a feminist, to the first President who claimed to grab women by their genitals.  Someone mentioned that domestic violence went up and why wouldn’t it when the President had physically and sexually abused his own ex-wife.  They want women to make their babies while cutting their insurance and closing down the only women’s healthcare facilities available to many women who are poor.  Women all over the country who have been sexually abused were retraumatized by the over 60 million Americans who either listened to the Russian propaganda or listened to their fundy (fundamentalist), filthy rich, televised preachers. There aren’t enough therapists for the substantial increase in mental health problems. Do I even have to mention what they did to Roe v Wade? The clock was set decades back, and women are now farther away from equality than they were before.

Fundamentalism doesn’t come only from Christians.  All three Abrahamic fundamentalist religions have crushed women for thousands of years.  The idea of a church state horrifies me.  I also have a daughter and fear for her safety.  It was already unsafe before, for women and for all minority groups.  Talk to anyone who isn’t brainwashed by this wave and they can tell you how something got worse for them.  One major way is the division it has caused inside families.

I can’t believe I’m posting about politics lol.  Ya’ll won’t see me in this section often because I’d rather escape from it in a site like this.

[Azy]

And worst of all, the January 6th riot.  Liberal people in this country were not happy when Trump was declared the winner in 2016, but we didn't act that way.  Yeah, there was talk of a stolen election, but I think that was mostly in reference to Russian interference.  The capitol building was not stormed in an effort to overturn the results.  Yeah, we wanted him out, but Democrats were looking at things like the 25th Amendment, aka legal ways of removing him. 

It went from your woman lost, get over it and fuck your feelings, to fuck the Constitution.  We want what we want and nothing is going to stand in our way.   

[gaggedLouise]

Just wanted to point out that this landmark film on the topic can be watched for free on Youtube (at least for now - no idea how long it will remain up). Gregory Peck's performance as Atticus Finch is one of the high points of his career, and the film as a whole is both poetic, exciting and intensely revealing.

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

[Vekseid]

Well this has happened.

I wonder how many innocent people will get murdered before radicalization is actually tackled as a problem.