A couple of weeks ago I posted my article on Antifa in the USA, which looked at their ideological and street violence. I focused specifically on them beating up a gay Asian-American journalist, Andy Ngo, who had been reporting on them – and still is – and the refusal of Democrat politicians to condemn or even criticise them.

There were two primary reactions from the Leftists who chose to comment. I must admit that I expected the reaction to be that this was a step too far, that they might say something to the effect of:
Yeah, that’s pretty shit and Antifa need to get a grip on themselves in their endless search for Fascists.

But in fact the first type of reaction, and the one that dominated, was an outright celebration of this incident and the other violence as well, and full-throated support for it. Some examples:

“A single individual laid a single punch on him… “

“Demonising the guys who are actually out there fighting the white supremacists…”

“It is ANTIFA that stands in the way of the return of lynchings to America…

“ANTIFA are doing something, right here, right now, to prevent the rise of a new Hitler…” 

“A punch here, a milkshake there, does not come close to the violence, the depredation, and the horrors committed by those on the Right…”

“I stand with ANTIFA. I stand for a civil society...”

“Today, and every day, is Punch a Fucking NAZI Day.”

“It is a response to regular violence and intimidation from White Supremacist thugs.”

“let the brave and courageous work to defeat the enemy of the people…”

Now some of those came from one individual who is certainly the most unhinged Far-Left stalker that we have here at NoMinister, but there’s no question those same attitudes are found among tens of thousands of US supporters of Antifa.

The second type of reaction was a bit more nuanced, to the effect that Antifa were a pretty “unpleasant” group, but that they hadn’t murdered anyone, unlike Right-Wing extremists. My response was as follows:

“the near misses that have recently occurred with Antifa thugs dying before they could pull off firebombing attacks and school shootings. That sort of “luck” can’t continue for much longer…

And now here we are: Antifa’s first mass murderer:

While the Dayton shooter, didn’t leave behind a manifesto, his extensive social-media footprint provides clues as to what may have inspired him. Federal investigators announced Tuesday that they are looking into his exploration of violent ideologies.
…
[The shooter] had long expressed support for antifa accounts, causes and individuals.
…
“Kill every fascist,” the shooter declared in 2018 on twitter, echoing a rallying cry of antifa ideologues. Over the next year, his tweets became increasingly violent. “Nazis deserve death and nothing else,” he tweeted last October. [The shooter] frequently flung the label “Nazi” at those with whom he disagreed online.
…
By June he tweeted: “I want socialism, and I’ll not wait for the idiots to finally come round understanding.” Last week, he promoted posts that demonized Sens. Ted Cruz and Bill Cassidy’s resolution against antifa extremism.

Well, well, well! Is all that not an echo of the language of some of our Leftist posters here, not to mention those on other blogs and especially on Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media platforms?

He also said the he was going to vote for Elizabeth Warren, which is natural enough given his other beliefs, which closely match the incendiary language of Warren and exciting future leaders of the Democrat Party like Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when they’ve talked about ICE facilities as “concentration camps”.

Perhaps these Democrat politicians and activists, especially those online, should be more careful with language and rhetoric that creates the atmosphere of fear and hatred in which people like the Dayton shooter marinate?

The Dayton and El Paso shootings occurred within hours of me writing an article here on the vaporous bullshit surrounding mass shootings and White Supremacism. Having learned nothing from that, commentators jumped right in and trumpeted the same old lines as in the past, as did the MSM.

Dayton somewhat got lost in the screamfest. Of course.

Is my analysis unfair to the Left? Am I drawing conclusions and making accusations about the motives of an insane mass shooter, based upon slim reeds of Leftist political and activist language?

Well that’s what happens when you apply to the Left the same standards that have been set by them in recent years in talking about the Right, starting effectively with this in 2010:

“Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ blood is on Sarah Palin’s hands after putting cross hair over district.”

That’s a map of House seats held by Democrats in the 2010 mid-term elections and it was set up by Sarah Palin. Such maps have been common down through the years and nobody thought them to be inciting hatred, let alone mass shootings.

Until Democrat Gabby Giffords was badly wounded in a mass shooting that killed six people in 2011, at which stage the Democrats and the MSM (but I repeat myself) jumped in boots-and-all to blame Palin’s map and language for creating – you guessed it – “an atmosphere of hatred and division“, that had triggered the shooter. Giffords seat is one of those “targeted”.

It was bullshit of course, and admitted to be so some time after the fact by the NYT among others. Not by Democrat activists though, for whom it served its purpose of keeping the Republicans in a defensive pose and suppressing her political hopes, which were still feared to be strong at that time as a populist. Given the rise of Trump they’d probably like to have Palin back. And it didn’t help the Democrats regain the House in 2012.

But exactly like Trump’s “good people on both sides” comment, such claims turn into unexamined propaganda myths. Which is why a New York Times writer and moron (!) repeated the same claim in 2017, which has led to a lawsuit against the NYT by Palin. Thanks to the First Amendment it’s much more difficult to win such lawsuits in the US than in Britain, and in order to demonstrate that “malice” was not involved the NYT will have to show that their writer was a fool and ignorant of the recent past. Given that’s almost certainly true I expect the NYT will get away with the old smear.

While Democrats may be upset at being tied to a mass-shooter, for Republicans it’s just more of the same-old, same-old. Bush II was regularly called a racist and Fascist – “Bushitler” was soooo clever – and John McCain and Mitt Romney got much the same treatment, as well as what we see here; claims that their language created the “atmosphere” in which these crimes occurred. When mass shootings by young white men happened during Obama’s presidency it was held to be a result of them driven to rage by having a Black President, egged on by GOP politicians who made jokes about his golfing and Chicago politics. Now it’s held to be because OrangeManBad is President.

It will always be something, and it will never be the real reason for the claims, let alone the reasons for the shootings.

The real reason for the political claims is that the US Left need to win and retain political power and if they can’t use the economy or a war to attack the GOP they’ll find some other stick, whether it’s Russian Collusion or that hardy perennial, “Racism“.

The problem is that the former is very dead and the latter – due to overuse by the Democrats and the MSM (!) – has begun to lose its once magical power to intimidate. It certainly failed to stop Trump and the GOP winning everything in 2016. Then there’s this survey from Rasmussen the other day:

But only 41% of African Americans think Trump is a racist, despite being overwhelmingly Democrat voters and being the primary historic victims of White racism in the USA. Which tells you everything you need to know about White Democrats and their racial politics: cue the White Power of Antifa.

It would also be lot more pertinent to have a discussion about the real reasons for these mass shootings by young, fucked-up White men, which is why I chose this title. But I doubt that will happen any time soon – unless it can be made all about gun control.

With the decline of “racism“, look to hear more about “White Supremacism“, which sounds more sophisticated while actually being just equally crude and moronic abuse that’s as hollow as Joe Biden’s head. And it may backfire anyway, as I pointed out in “Hey, where the white men at?“:

“The white male vote is indispensable, it’s a part of any winning coalition,” said Democratic pollster Ronald Lester, who worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

Well sure. Calling them “Deplorables” didn’t work out for Hillary but perhaps calling them White Supremacists will turn the trick for the 2020 Democrat candidate for President? And trying to weasel out of that problem by saying that Trump merely “encourages” White Supremacists won’t work either, not with Leftist nuttery like this floating around as training material for teachers in New York:

Either way, what you need to remember is that no matter what they do and what they say, Left-Wing politicians are almost never asked by MSM reporters to issue statements disavowing “links” with Left-Wing killers or thugs, domestic or foreign. They never use language that “echoes” the worst slurs of Leftist activists and fanatics nor “incites” people in “an atmosphere of fear and hatred” and they never stir up “division and hatreds”  or “set people against each other for cynical political gain“.

And they never have blood on their hands.

Ever.