Friday, January 18, 2019

Antifa and German Jews Are Not the Same

In the aftermath of the alt-Right demonstrations at Charlottesville, Donald Trump infamously condemned "hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides." He was lambasted for his apparent soft response to the neo-Nazi alt-Right movement. But his equivocation of the white supremacist alt-Right demonstrators with the allegedly “peaceful” Leftist counter-demonstration was not off the mark.

A New Jersey Star-Ledger letter by Arnold Reisman Nutley, published on 9/16/17, concluded:

If the Jews had taken up arms against Adolf Hitler, President Donald Trump would have criticized the violence on both sides.

Nutley equates the Antifa faction with the Jewish victims of the German Nazi state. But Trump’s wishy-washy response to the white racists aside, he was right. At least two reporters witnessed acts of violence perpetrated by the Antifa-inspired Leftist protestors. As Reason reported:

But for those of us already calling out the violent bigots flaunting Nazi imagery, it's not whataboutism to point out that an alleged alternative isn't actually an alternative at all—it's just another version of the same thing. As New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg tweeted from Charlottesville, "The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding 'antifa' beating white nationalists being led out of the park." She later, understandably, changed "hate-filled" to "violent," since actions are clearer and more important than motivations. And CNN's Jake Tapper commented that "At least two journalists in Charlottesville were assaulted by people protesting the Klan/Nazi/alt-right rally."

“Antifa” stands for anti-fascist. As Reason pointed out, we’re not dealing with fascism and victims of fascism. Both the Leftist Antifa and the alt-Right are two sides of the same thuggish coin. Following is my unpublished rebuttal letter to the Star-Ledger:

A recent letter (Criticism goes both ways, 9/16,17) asserted, “If the Jews had taken up arms against Adolf Hitler, President Donald Trump would have criticized the violence on both sides.”

Trump was referring to the so-called “alt-left,” also known as “Antifa.” Antifa, which masquerades as “anti-fascist,” considers violence a legitimate “defense” against peaceful expression of ideas it disagrees with. From the perspective of supporters of free speech, a bedrock value of a free and open liberal society, Antifa—whose tactics are widely condemned, including by political liberals like Nancy Pelosi and the Star-Ledger editorial board—can legitimately be considered a kindred spirit of the neo-Nazi alt-right.

One may criticize Trump’s “whataboutism” reaction to the alt-right violence in Charlottesville, with reasonable justification. But to equate—even implicitly—German Jews with Antifa is a moral abomination. An armed resistance by German Jews against their Nazi oppressors would have been morally justified. Antifa’s violent brand of “free speech” is not.

I’ve put together a group of press articles that I think clarifies what we are dealing with and the alternative:

  • Punching Free Speech: Anti-free speech radicals are doing violence to American values-- Peter Roff



Whereas the word “violence” has always meant actions that include actual physical violence, progressives have transmogrified “unapproved thought” from a mere difference of opinion into an integral component of the definition of violence.

Therefore, the violence of unapproved thought can now be met with actual violence because actual violence is not really violence if it is committed against someone with the wrong ideas and the gall to speak those ideas aloud.




Related Reading:





Liberal Fascism--Jonah Goldberg

Socialists and Fascists Have Always Been Kissing Cousins
--Bradley J. Birzer for The American Conservative

1 comment:

Mike Kevitt said...

I see no reasonable justification for criticizing Trump's whataboutism here, except as an expression of free speech. Trump merely equated the antifa with the alt-right, perfectly appropriate and needed, and it defends rational thought and rational action, which badly needs defending today. Such defense, of severe action against the antifa right along side the alt-right, simultaneously, by anybody, but preferably by the cops, is badly needed.