For me, the radical Left is completely different from the radical Right.

On the Right, there's a not-insignificant number of people who want an evangelical white supremacist state.  People who, quite literally, would be overjoyed to see blacks, latinos, asians, atheists, Jews, Muslims, gays, lesbians, trans, disabled, women, etc. 'put in their place', whether that's in a lower social/legal standing, deported/sent away, or outright killed.  And these people are emboldened by a President and GOP who have tacitly given their approval through both actual policy and statements (some shrouded with dog whistles, some not).  For example, I don't think Charlottesville would've happened 5-10 years ago, but the cultural landscape has shifted so quickly that, suddenly, virulent racist assholes feel comfortable marching the streets without masks.

On the Left, there's the standard assortment of eco-terrorists, anti-capitalists, anarchists, and general anti-establishment forces, who have been around forever, and Antifa which, in this country, has largely been a reaction to the above.

So, from where I sit, there's no real equivalence.  One side is about wanting to imprison/deport/torture/kill people like me and my friends, the other isn't.  And I'll be damned if I'm going to respond to the people who, deep down inside, would like to hurt me with kindness.

Regarding online encounters/arguments, I'll simply point to this:



People, as a mass entity, are dumb.  The average Facebook and/or Twitter user who has Very Strong Political Opinions™ is at least an order of magnitude dumber than the average IRL person.  The problem is, again, these people think that just because they can share their opinion, that they should.  So, social media is awash with idiots who turn off what little tact they have in the real world while spouting ignorant bullshit (or, even better, fire hose sharing incorrect and/or unfunny memes to everyone they know every 5-15 minutes).  I very carefully curate my social media feeds so I can avoid most of it, and I recommend that everyone else on social media does the same.

I'm not sick of the "far left"; I dot not consider the upper/middle class Hillarybots or the "SJW" crowd as "far left" - they are centrists at best. It's insulting to me when such people are lumped together with people who are actually intelligent and not sheeple. There are different degrees of left because politics is not one dimensional - it has at least two dimensions. I would factor in a person's authoritarian tendencies (whether they have them or not) in addition to their position on the "left-right scale". "Limousine liberals" and "champagne socialists" are fixated on first world problems, they are not real lefties and they will never truly understand the plight of the working classes.

Such people see immigration as merely a new Syrian or Vietnamese restaurant and are unwilling to address the problems that are making people emigrate their homelands. They fail to see that many NGOs simply as a 'band aid' (like, ironically, Band Aid) and cannot address structural problems. They only want to focus on social issues and never economic ones.

We need more brave humans like Stjepan Filipovic, who don't squander their time protesting university lecturers who didn't use the correct gender pronouns or whatever, and who bravely challenge the real Fascists. Many people simply think that a simple re-tweet will suffice in opposing Donald Trump and what he stands for. The limousine liberals and champagne socialists (the pretend left-wing) have yet to understand how much the America between the two main coastal areas is suffering will never succeed in getting through people who have lost all hope (and who are therefore happy to believe a conman because he provided the semblance of hope). I don't, therefore, believe that all of the right-wing is irredeemable; many are just misinformed and need the truth to set them free.

Of course, I understand that some Donald Trump supporters are beyond reach and irredeemable, and they should be opposed. People need to get out and vote and/or protest before all peaceful options run out. Stjepan Filipovic had no choice but to take up arms because it was too late for him (it was World War 2 after all) - let's hope things don't get that bad in the USA.

Also, here is Stjepan Filipovic, opposing Fascism until the very end:



I'm not sure that I could be as brave as he was.

Much of the left exploits the freedom of expression to express themselves in indulgently self-righteous ways that could only advance peripheral goals, but that have the advantage of threatening to require only minimum personal discipline and demand even less real sacrifice, in lieu of the doing the much harder, but the only worthwhile, tasks of getting a clear perspective, prioritize objective while keeping eyes on the ball, define a discipline but ruthless strategy to attain those objectives.

The difference between the left, at least the left as seen in modern times in the west, and the right is the extreme right, while consisting of people of largely the same moral weakness as those on the extreme left, is fundamentally a ideology that glorifies in and seeks vindication through the abuse of the weak and the disadvantaged. So by nature the right, especially the cowards who seeks vicarious justification, are inclined to be more ruthless when they are still protected by remnants of political civility.

I'm sick of the middle, personally.

(November 5, 2018 at 1:03 am)onlinebiker Wrote: Yeah - " those guys" started it....



Learned in kindergarten, practiced for life.

I know.  You want to be the only pigs in the sty.  Too bad you are turning the whole country into a sty for your Pig-In-Chief.

Quote:Yeah - " those guys" started it....

Learned in kindergarten, practiced for life.

Someone punches you the face

Your solution be the "bigger person " and take it 

Mine punch them harder

(November 5, 2018 at 9:39 am)onlinebiker Wrote:

(November 5, 2018 at 9:24 am)Figbash Wrote: Hmmm. I don't equate the two.
I have seen plenty of violence and incredibly angry people on the far right. Not so much on the 'far left'.

Understandable.

People see, what they want to see and remember what they want to remember.

Yeah, you're living proof of that one.

(November 26, 2018 at 6:32 am)Amarok Wrote:

Quote:Yeah - " those guys" started it....

Learned in kindergarten, practiced for life.

Someone punches you the face

Your solution be the "bigger person " and take it 

Mine punch them harder

It' s a pretty foolish person who goes about punching people who carry guns.

The current purpose of the Internet is to over-emphasize the extremes of anything.

(November 27, 2018 at 7:52 am)onlinebiker Wrote:

(November 26, 2018 at 6:32 am)Amarok Wrote: Someone punches you the face

Your solution be the "bigger person " and take it 

Mine punch them harder

It' s a pretty foolish person who goes about punching people who carry guns.

Not if they are within 21 feet of you and your gun is holstered.

Assuming they know how to throw a proper punch that is.