I’m not sure how writing an article in opposition to fascism is a “gotcha” given that far-right extremist violence is the single greatest domestic terror threat in the nation, but ok. I guess you’re on the other side of this, which is … not a great place to be?

It’s a really good, article, too. It’s entirely based on the evidence documenting where the threat of extremist violence is coming from, which isn’t the left. It also dives into topics that disingenuous ideologues try to avoid, like the fact that murder is worse than graffiti.

Once again, with feeling…

Shall we use this as an opportunity to look at the many ways that disinformation actors have used the specter of “antifa” to distract from far-right extremist violence and growing national security threats? I think yes, let’s do that.

Well, there was the 4th of July shooting when disinformation actors and conspiracy theorists tried to claim that the shooter was “antifa”. He turned out to be a pro-Trump sh*tposter who was obsessed with gore.

Then there was 4th of July 2019, when far-right disinformation actors and conspiracy theorists created fake antifa accounts to stir up actual violence.

Then there was Jan. 6th, when the same people who helped incite a riot at the nation’s Capitol tried to blame the far-right attack on “antifa”.

Also on Jan. 6th, far-right militia members said they wanted “antifa” to show up in large numbers and Starr fighting them so they could give Trump a reason to invoke the Insurrection Act and institute a militarized crackdown.

The weaponized narrative surrounding antifa is also a key part of how far-right extremists justify using violence against those who oppose them. It’s also used for recruitment — to create a “good vs evil” scenario, and make young men feel like they’re doing something righteous.

The specter of “antifa” as told by far-right disinformation actors — which, to be clear, is entirely detached from reality — has also been cited by literal Nazis and people like Kyle Rittenhouse as a rationale for murdering people.

Then, of course, there’s literally almost every mass shooting in recent history, which disinformation actors have used as opportunities to falsely accuse “antifa” of being responsible — and each time they invoked “antifa,” they were distracting from an actual, real deadly threat.

Possibly the most egregious of these incidents was the El Paso mass shooting, which far-right disinformation actors & right-wing media tried to blame on antifa. In reality, the shooter was an accelerationist who inspired future massacres like the Buffalo mass shooting.

I actually wrote about that incident because it was so egregious. An accelerationist murdered two dozen people in the hopes of killing as many immigrants as possible, and far-right disinformation actors tried to blame the violence on immigration activists. nationalobserver.com/2019/08/03/ana…

In the minds of far-right disinfo actors & conspiracy theorists, “antifa” is whatever they want it to be. There’s no connection to reality, yet at the same time, it’s deadly serious. They’re using a manufactured threat to distract from the very real threat of far-right extremism.

And not just that, but they actually use this manufactured threat to *justify* acts of far-right extremist violence and as a recruitment tool for far-right extremist groups. People are getting murdered because of this, so maybe find a better response than “LMAO.”