By this point to suggest that terms like oblivious, contradictory, or hypocritical can be applied to the activist group Antifa would require using another term — it is redundant. The group that claims it is doing the noble work of beating back the Nazi scourge in this country has been consistently the source of the very acts and behavior it says it has been charged with defeating. Today in Washington D.C. has been no different.
The reason for the gathering is to serve as a counter-protest to an organized free speech rally that is being attributed to controversial Alt-right groups, and The Proud Boys. There have been a number of speakers at the counter-rally, displaying their opposition to what they accuse is happening.
“They want to use this opportunity to weaponize free speech!” Nothing better to see than groups opposing something and displaying a functional ignorance of the issue over which they are upset. Saying something akin to “We don’t like how they use free speech!” bears some similarity to Orwellian language.
Better still is that in the areas where Antifa members have been permitted to organize they are distributing flyers with listed rules they want to enforce on anyone from the media. Soak that in: at a rally where people are calling for free speech the group that pledges to combat oppressive forces is dictating what the press will be forbidden from doing.
Julio Rosas, from the Washington Examiner, posted a photo of a flyer that Antifa organizers were passing around. It is a list of rules for the press — oh, excuse me: “Guidelines” — that are expected to be followed to gain access into the area of the Antifa rally.
Further, they want to forbid any members of the media who will not agree to their terms from entering the area where they are organized. A cute stipulation, considering they had to obtain a permit in order to congregate on what is public property. That means they have been permitted to be there, it does NOT mean they now control what takes place on that public location.
The third entry is especially precious. They imply that anything filmed against their will can be used in court, because they worry something incriminating could be recorded and will strive to obtain that footage through subpoena.
How does anyone not laugh at a group that calls itself “Anti Fascist” while it attempts to employ stridently fascistic techniques? They want to control speech, bar the press, and forcibly prevent individuals from entering public locations. They threaten legal reprisals against anyone they deem to have violated their neutered “guidelines”.
Today they are marching in the streets of D.C., claiming the streets belong to them, and they create vandalism in their wake. As we discussed on our most recent podcast myself, and Sarah Lee, speculated on how infrequently the very frequent violence by Antifa does not involve Nazi activities. Journalists, politicians, immigration officers, and general citizens have been targets of assault, and worse, by these dolts — as they supposedly oppose such behavior.
Amusingly they also try to use typical fascist tactics, all to protect themselves from being exposed as the violent jackboots they actually are in practice. Attempting to silence the media during a free speech rally only deepens the humor these thugs generate in their attempt at being taken seriously.
*story by Red State