[Serious] Far-Right Extremism Is a Global Problem

[The Grand Nudger]

I know what the great replacement theory is. At least in the US, some whites want less minorities immigrating because minorities are more likely to vote Democrat. Some Democrat voters want whites to no longer be the majority because whites vote Republican more than any other group. I get it.

You clearly do not.  Great replacement theory has nothing to do with worries about people voting republican or democrat. It is the belief that the white race, is being replaced. Not that republicans are being replaced. It is the belief that white culture is being replaced, not republican culture. It is the belief that white power is being eradicated, not the belief that republican power is being eradicated. White supremacy has, itself, been the agent of republican demise here of late - the split in the party between establishment R's and Q's is an example of this. No love lost between the two, and, fwiw, the Q nuts think that the D's and R's are race traitors.

The notion presents an existential threat to a race of people as a call to action against other races in defense. It's not happening. There is no great replacement, but people are answering the call anyway. Not all of them are terrorists, ofc. You've answered the call, and you're not a terrorist, right?

Let the white supremacists do their thing. Let the Muslim supremacists who think they're the only ones going to heaven do their thing. Let the Christian dominionists do their thing. Freedom for everyone. I'm glad we ended up agreeing on this.

That's simply not possible here in the US, due to a number of restrictions and protections in our constitution, federal, and state laws. The US is not a theocratic ethnostate, and could only become one if we became a failed state. The desired item for each of those ideologies is the literal antithesis of freedom. Dominion. Supremacy.

I don't think that we can have a serious discussion about this subject if we traffic in exclusively disingenuous arguments and positions. The conversation was going to be difficult enough with an islamist and a white supremacist trying to frame it.

Neither of us want Antifa designated as terrorists, but the difference between you and I is that if it were up to you, you would have given the former POTUS the power to do so. Why would you want to give someone like him even more power?

Those in favour of an ethnostate would pay people back by taking away free speech. That would be their first act, because they fear free speech. Those types openly admit that the last thing they would want in their perfect world is freedom of speech. Something you and them have in common. You despise free speech.

No american president has that power, and, again, we don't designate -any- domestic terror groups.  We issue threat reports.  White supremacists are the top line item.  The previous occupant very much did want to designate antifa as a terror group, and that was the wall they ran into.

We can, however, identify groups as sponsors of terror.  Groups which provide material support to terrorists.  Insomuch as that support boils down to money, it's within our ability to make it illegal to donate to or profit from terror.  We generally don't bother with this either, preferring to err on the side of speech and assembly...but we're never more than one fallen building away from using all the tools available to us. Slippery slope arguments are a reason to be thorough and take care whenever we go down that path, but they're not binding on us law, nor are they a very good argument for the state abandoning it's duty to the people. Yes, it's difficult to handle this issue and stay true to what we might consider out better principles. Governance is difficult, news at ten.

Frozen peaches aren't a golden ticket and free speech is not a suicide pact. There is no cover for terrorists in free speech. Free speech certainly allows hateful people to say whatever ridiculous thing they please, but it doesn't permit anyone to engage in whatever action their hateful ideology demands, nor does it require that hateful ideologies and their attendant groups be allowed to profit from the misery of american citizens. Nor, for that matter, does it require that we provide a venue for hateful ideologies groups or individuals. The trouble for extremists here, is that bitching about the blacks and browns with your friends in the backyard doesn't move the recruitment chains. Playing the victim and appealing to, well, you, does. So they're stuck on the knifes edge. Trying to negotiate the reality of their ideology's nature as a terrorist threat and those laws which would bury them beneath prisons, and getting the word out.

There is no legal path to an ethnostate or theocracy in the united states. This is what makes those ideologies stated goals inherently criminal, a threat to our republic and it's people.