The Paradox of Tolerance Led To Fascism In America

The Paradox of Tolerance Led To Fascism In America January 30, 2017

Until this February I did not want to bother with writing about American Politics. Even as I started to encountered FAR too many people who are in complete denial about Trump’s actions and the goals of Republican leaders in the White House and Congress. Before his inauguration, just pointing out basic facts of what he did in his campaign for a historical law comparison, led to self described Political Moderates to call for censorship. Arguing that to describe how a current political figure would have been affected by ancient Celtic law had no place in a forum about ancient Celtic history. This led to the post being removed by the admin.

Then I saw the news of his first week in office and decided I had to write on everything I saw that led to this point. Then shortly into my writing, tragedy struck home. The following had thus taken weeks to bring together as there simply was so much ground to cover on the subject and near constant news to add to it.

This is an attempt to bring all this information together in an accessible way that reveals the array of occurrences that have led to now, and how society can combat them.

WHEN MODERATES ARE NOT MODERATES

When we cannot even mention basic facts that relate to a political figure, it is an expression of willful denial and political censorship.

It was clear to me and others on the forum that the problem lay with the people who felt that to mention a particular political figure was contentious in itself. They were being intolerant to anything that challenged this political figure, no matter how true it was. The stated reasoning was that the subject was being disputed – allowing credence to the disputing party because of fairness and that what I was presenting was just an opinion. Which is a fallacy known as “False-Balance“.

This was particularly strange coming from people who considered themselves Moderates. Because Moderates, out of all political stripes, should be most in favor of having no political figure be immune from facts. But it now looks to me as an excuse for not talking about politics in anyway to avoid any uncomfortable subjects – or they had an unresolved bias.

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View report from Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy; analyzing news coverage during the 2016 general election here. Or an article summarizing it here. Or click image for a video summarizing the False Equivalency in the 2016 general election.

The sad things is, I believe that this whole kerfuffle would not have happened if the comparison was about Putin, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, or even if it were about George Bush. In fact, earlier last year, a then current, far more politically charged post went through without a problem. It was about Norse archaeology being censored by a previous Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. This was evidence enough to me that there was a clear American Bias and double standard when it came to talking about politics.

I have consistently come across Moderates online that are adamant about not picking sides but focusing on fixing the political system. In that, I agree the political system of the USA is very very broken,

(notably how At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College Members)

and certainly does need all the people possible to work on fixing it to actually represent the people’s voice.

We Canadians share the same problem with First Past The Post, which has led to Canadians having regrettable Minority Rule with Stephen Harper. Seeing what happened to us is happening to my American neighbours, but worse,

The Death of Evidence rally made its way onto Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 10, 2012. Photograph by: Jean Levac , The Ottawa Citizen
The Death of Evidence rally made its way onto Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 10, 2012.
Photograph by: Jean Levac , The Ottawa Citizen

and knowing how that felt, on top of how much more fundamentalist this particular brand of conservatism is compared to the Canadian brand – I cannot, and will not standby and tolerate Americans telling me to not talk about facts in American Politics anymore.

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By now it should be apparent what people have been talking about bracing for the Don Trump Presidency, was not an exaggeration. All those warnings about him following through with the worst of what he said was not just political rhetoric. He is following through with it.

hillaryvstrumpday7

At this point, if you still hold onto the idea that people should accept his presidency and just move on – you are the ultimate of willfully blind, or you are like him: fascist, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, bigoted.

Because to ignore and censor facts about the politicians who are determined to bulldoze people’s rights is to passively support them. If you cannot see how wrong that is by now, you ought to prepare for civil strife. Because you have no right to call yourself a moderate, because you are de facto apathetic to human rights and have chosen the side of the oppressor.

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Imagery and Quote from the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”

Anti-Intellectualism, A Fertile Ground For Fascism

Leaders of the Republican Party have blatantly revealed themselves to be Fascists.

“Fascism is a form of government which is a type of one-party dictatorship. Fascists are against liberal democracy. They work for a totalitarian one-party state.[1] This aims to prepare the nation for armed conflict, and to respond to economic difficulties.[2] Such a state is led by a strong leader—such as a dictator and a martial government.[3] Fascism is an extreme right-wing political movement. It tends to be militaristic, and racist.”…

“There is more than one reason why people living in democratic states oppose fascism, but the main reason is that in a fascist dictatorship the individual citizen has no guaranteed rights. If you say the wrong thing or oppose the wrong person, you can be arrested or killed without a fair trial.

Many people believe that fascism would not be a terrible system if you always do your duty and you never oppose the government. However, the problem is that people can be corrupt. Everything looks good in theory, but in real life innocent people can get into serious trouble with the government when there is no guaranteed right to a fair trial.” – Fascism, Simple English Wikipedia

Republicans have fought for complete government control under the guise of Christianity. The Christian support of the Republican party over the Democratic party apparently being heavily affected by the Democrat’s support for abortion, “in order to keep Clinton from appointing liberal judges to SCOTUS [Supreme Court of the United States]”. Trump having secured endorsements from conservative Christians leaders by promising to appoint pro-life judges. Clinching that support by providing a list of 21 candidates for appointment to the court. According to New York TimesJudges on Trump’s list are also conservative on gay marriage.

And yet, equal marriage and abortion is a human right, with abortion being recently confirmed as a human right by the United Nations. Adding to the list of unconstitutional things the Republican party wishes to impose.

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I guess a lot of people weren’t paying attention, because it should have been obvious, with all the blatant clues everywhere – Fundamentalist Christian Home schools and Post Secondary Schools, both being highly politically motivated to enforce Christian Values on the general public with the associated organizations being a major influence. Now it has culminated with the adults that were the generation that has gone through this entire indoctrination process, being injected into the Republican Party to gain control of the government and enforce their Christian Reconstructionism.

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The plan worked, even though they were not the majority.

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But this system has serious human rights flaws – and not just the unconstitutional gerrymandering.

This kind of isolating indoctrination are attacks against human rights of freedom – because you cannot be free if you are not permitted the option of even knowing about different worldviews.

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And I do not care what group it is from, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan, Atheist, Maoist, Marxist, White Supremacist, Taoist, Shintoist, Buddhist whatever – whether considered good or bad, this sort of restriction of knowledge in any expression is always bad. Because it isolates families and whole communities, causing a sense of ‘us versus them’. ‘Them’ being anyone who does not fit into their puristic definition of family or community. Resulting in a fear of this ‘other’ that leads to fighting to take over governance to protect their views and way of life from ‘them’. And that is how you get fascism.

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“fascism is an idea mixed with action. It took fascism to establish Jim Crow and before that, slavery….Anti-Semitism has been around a long time but it took fascism to [make] the Holocaust….When you cross that threshold, you negate your rights to a calm, collective conversation.” – anonymous ARA (Anti-Racist Action) member

Therefore, no matter what worldview it is based on, all education must adhere to human rights, which includes learning about all the different worldviews in an impartial way – clearly with the exception of worldviews that advocate the violation of human rights. Otherwise, it must be dismantled for the toxic ideology that it inevitably breeds, perpetuates and manifests into fascism.

Cowards flee from encountering other beliefs, while the Courageous seek to find if their beliefs are worthy.

Venom of ‘Free Speech’

Co-existence and Tolerance has a threshold. When people are permitted to isolate themselves from facts and avoid having their beliefs and leaders questioned – be they a politician, religious leader, or deity – the public becomes complacent with the vitriolic rhetoric from those leaders and their followers. Such leaders can increase the severity toward any opposition and people feel that they can ignore the resulting intolerance and hate crime as their right to free speech. Believing it to be valid, or to avoid the leader’s and their supporter’s wrath.

Johanna Gerechter Neumann’s Father, A patriotic German and World War I veteran, “certainly thought that it could never happen in Germany”, “It did happen. Slowly, but it did happen.”

Aging survivors worry, “It is repeating itself, and it is again the inattention that people pay to real cues that one should understand,”

“it could become Weimar Germany if you have Mr. Trump here and people keep believing what he says. I think one has to speak up. And that’s the one lesson from the Holocaust: Do not be a bystander.”

Martin Weiss hears echoes of his youth, “I don’t want to make any comparison to Hitler, but believe it or not his delivery and the way he conducts himself is very similar to Hitler’s way of doing things. He discredits everybody who disagrees with him. He’s insulting. He discriminates against everybody.” 

“Sooner or later, you know what happens in a case like this? That’s how Weimar Germany went to hell, because when Hitler came in, if somebody disagreed with him — guess what — he put them in prison or he had them shot or he opened the concentration camp.”

Source: Dana Milbank / The Washington Post, In the age of Trump, grim warnings from Holocaust survivors / January 27th 2016

The US president calls the media
The US president calls the media “enemies of the people” – a phrase favoured by Stalin and Mao.

When that manifests in concentration camps, it is too late. The government already has full control over the populace and any speaking out is severely punished without anyone to help you. This is how Fascism takes hold over the public. This is why a truly tolerant society cannot tolerate intolerance – what is called “The Paradox Of Tolerance”.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Poem by Martin Niemöller (1892–1984). A prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.

itdidnotstartwithgaschambers

And people stopped caring, became desensitized mindlessly obedient and turned a blind eye a long time ago when it came to the indigenous people, black citizens, public health, classicism, sexism, ableism etc. continuing with the merger of the Tea Party with the Republican party, and now when Donald Trump was able to run and win the Presidential Election in the name of Free Speech and Democracy.

40’s-era political cartoon designed by Dr. Seuss
40’s-era political cartoon designed by Dr. Seuss
“America First” – A Dog Whistle For White Supremacists

Political Cartoon by Barry Deutsch
Political Cartoon by Barry Deutsch

Along with FascismNeo-Nazis / White Supremacists have come out into the open in the United States in support of Republican Leader Donald Trump – a modern colloquial term for themselves being “Alt-Right“.

Not only did they have a public representative that they could now openly support during the campaign, but after Trump won, he made short work of appointing White Supremacists to his cabinet.

Since election day, incidents of Hate Crime have skyrocketed.

On Saturday, November 19th / 2016, in Washington D.C. an Alt-Right conference celebrated Trump’s victory. At this conference Alt-Right Leader Richard Spencer had made a number of allusions to Nazi ideology Declaring, “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!” that prompted a standing applause from his audience with several doing Hitler salutes.

Throughout Trump’s campaign, he mentioned registering Muslims – a point that many have tied to the registry of Jews in Nazi Germany.

After Trumps election, on November 16th, Media Conglomerate Fox News interviews Trump supporter Carl Higbie. Within the interview, Fox News’ Host Megyn Kelly states,

“Kansas Secretary of State Chris Kobach, who helped write the tough immigration laws in Arizona, said today that Trump’s policies advisers are drafting — they’re discussing drafting a proposal to reinstate a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries. For immigrants from Muslim countries.”

Carl Higbie responds by citing Japanese Internment Camps As “Precedent” For Muslim Registry.

View the beginning of this interview at 18 minutes, 18 seconds,

Image Source: Justice Aaron McCartney · 24 January ·
Image Source: Justice Aaron McCartney · 24 January · “This was an experience a friend of mine had that i felt worth sharing.”

On January, 25th 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order empowering the homeland security secretary to ensure the “detention of aliens apprehended for violations of immigration law.” Hiring a force of 5,000 new border agents and 10,000 new immigration officers, and empowering local and state police to “perform the functions of immigration officers in relation to the investigation, apprehension, or detention” of undocumented immigrants. A required weekly report of “a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens and any jurisdiction that ignored or otherwise failed to honor any detainers with respect to such aliens.” And cuts off federal funds “except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes by the Attorney General or the Secretary”, in essence punishing jurisdictions that ignore ‘detainers’ with respect to ‘such aliens’.

On January 27th, Trump signed an executive order titled, ‘Protection Of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.’ That banned Syrian refugees, and blocking all entries from 7 majority-Muslim nations. What has been dubbed the “Muslim Ban”.

This executive order also resulted in the deportation of Military Veterans, the handcuffing and separation of children from parents for hours, detaining a woman who was traveling with her two children, both U.S. citizens, for 20 hours without food, and so on…

One of many flaws with Trump’s Muslim ban as a method of preventing Terrorists from entering the USA, is that the nations that do not have a history of Terrorism in the USA have been blocked. While nations that not only have a history of Terrorism in the USA, but also have business ties with Trump have been left off of the ban.

It was also ironically signed on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which brought to mind the refugees of World War II. The Trump administration’s statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day ended up having no mention of the killing of approximately six million Jews. Both of these incidences were condemned by more than a dozen Holocaust survivors gathered at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie.

Holocaust survivors Aaron Elster, speaking, Fritzie Fritzshall and Ralph Rehbock at Illunois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Feb 2. 2017. Source: Jonah Meadows / Patch.com / Donald Trump Refugee Ban Condemned By Chicago-Area Holocaust Survivors
Holocaust survivors Aaron Elster, speaking, Fritzie Fritzshall and Ralph Rehbock at Illunois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Feb 2. 2017. Source: Jonah Meadows / Patch.com / Donald Trump Refugee Ban Condemned By Chicago-Area Holocaust Survivors

“Rehbock warned the United States is risking repeating the mistakes of the past. Thousands of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution were turned away, and more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps.”

“You dehumanize people, and then it’s OK to do what you want with them,” he said, noting the gradual way by which German Jews first had their citizenship revoked before being pushed together in ghettos and eventually forced into death camps.”

In the early hours of that Saturday, in the state of Texas, The Islamic Center of Victoria was set on fire. A week prior to that it was burglarized.

On the evening of January 29th, a shooter rampaged through the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, Canada. Killing six people and injuring nineteen others.

While news of this attack was still fresh, on Monday January 30th / 2017, Fox New’s stated “witnesses said at least one gunman shouted ‘Allahu akbar!'” followed by a tweet alleging on the shooter’s national origin,

Twitter/@FoxNews
Twitter/@FoxNews

That same day White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced in his condolences to the Canadian victims,

“It’s a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant, and why the president is taking steps to be proactive, rather than reactive,”

Appearing to use this tragedy to justify Trump’s anti-Muslim policies.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office director of communications, Kate Purchase, responded to Fox New’s Tweet,

It has come to my attention that a Fox News tweet posted on Twitter at 12:31pm, January 30, 2017, contains false and misleading language relating to the identity of the suspect in the Quebec mosque terror attack. I have attached a copy of the tweet for your reference.

Over the course of the day, this proved to be false information. In fact, the suspect was identified as a 27 year old French Canadian – not ‎someone of Moroccan-origin.

Sadly, this misleading information has been left to stand on the Fox News Channel’s twitter account and continued to circulate online even now.

Canada is an open, welcoming country that stands by its citizens. We are a nation of millions of immigrants and refugees, of hundreds of cultures, languages, and religions bound by one, unwavering, unshakable belief: we are stronger not in spite of our differences, but because of them.

These tweets by Fox News dishonour the memory of the six victims and their families by spreading misinformation, playing identity politics, and perpetuating fear and division within our communities.

We need to remain focused on keeping our communities safe and united instead of trying to build walls and scapegoat communities. Muslims are predominantly the greatest victims of terrorist acts around the world. To paint terrorists with a broad brush that extends to all Muslims is not just ignorant – it is irresponsible.

If we allow individuals and organizations to succeed by scaring people, we do not actually end up any safer. Fear does not make us safer. It makes us weaker. Ramping up fear and closing our borders is not a solution. It distracts from the real issues that affect people’s day to day life.

For all of these reasons, we ask that Fox News either retract or update the tweet to reflect the suspect’s actual identity.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. ‎

Kate Purchase
Director of Communications
Office of the Prime Minister of Canada

Fox News deleted the tweet that Tuesday evening after receiving the office’s request — more than 24 hours after it was posted.

The truth of this attack is that half an hour after the shooting the police received a call from the area near the bridge to the Ile d’Orléans near the mosque. The caller told them he was involved and wanted to surrender. The caller was revealed to be 27 year old, white French Canadian, Alexandre Bissonnette.

Alexandre Bissonnette is escorted to a van after appearing in court for the deadly shooting at a mosque Monday Jan 30 2017 in Quebec City -- Jacques Boissinot / CP
Alexandre Bissonnette is escorted to a van after appearing in court for the deadly shooting at a mosque Monday Jan 30 2017 in Quebec City — Jacques Boissinot / CP

Alexandre Bissonnette’s online profile and school friendships revealed little interest in extremist politics until last March, when France’s far-right National Front Leader Marine Le Pen visited Quebec City.

Bissonnette was “unfortunately known to several activists in Quebec City for his pro-Le Pen and anti-feminist positions at Laval University and on social networks,” wrote the Bienvenue aux réfugié.es.

Childhood and Facebook friend, Vincent Boissoneault, a student in international relations at Laval University, said they frequently argued over politics when Mr. Bissonnette attacked refugees or expressed support for Ms. Le Pen or Mr. Trump.

Notably, that June following Le Pen’s visit, this same Mosque had a pig’s head gift wrapped with a card that read, ‘bon appétit’ left on their front doorstep.

Here, on January 30th, is the Canadian Prime Minister’s response to the terrorist attack on Canadian Citizens,

And here is the response from Canadians across Canada,

As of this article’s publishing, Trump and his administration have yet to speak again on this issue.

Muslims are not to be feared, as they see groups like “Islamic State” the same way Christians see the KKK.
notallchristians-notallmuslims
As stated by Kate Purchase, Muslims are the biggest victims of Islamic Extremists, so there is an invested interest in stopping them from within. In Canada, we have had an attempt at terrorism from Muslim Extremists foiled by a Muslim Leader,

Within a religious community, imams have kept an eye out for radicalization, “We would not hesitate at all in informing the agencies to do their part. As Canadians, we share the concerns. We are equally affected by any terrorism threats.” (April 22, 2013)

In the USA, you are not only more likely to be killed by US-born citizens with a gun, you are more at risk of being killed by a toddler than a Muslim.

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So, by reality, what is more deadly to American citizens is the sheer number of unregulated guns and gun ownership that has led to the real terrifying statistics of mass shootings seen no where else but the USA.

guns-ownership

Click Image To Interact With Map
Click Image To Interact With Map

With 2016 only continuing that trend, having more people killed in the United States in 2016 than in any year since Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 bombing of a government building in Oklahoma City.

And yet, unlike what the Republican Leaders have alluded to and what Trump claimed as justifications for harsh punishments, the USA Murder Rate is near it’s all time low.
murder-rate-usa
Meaning that USA citizens are overall less likely to murder each other, but the few that do are able to enact much more damage.

That people are more concerned about extremely rare attacks by foreign terrorists than these almost daily mass shootings by and toward Americans just boggles the mind.

Honestly, as a Canadian, the USA’s perspective on guns comes across as this weird, paranoid, masculine hyped fetish. I personally may not like guns, but its not like people can’t own and use guns in Canada, and a large portion of our population are gun owners too. But we see them as a recreation tool for hunting and target shooting – not self defense. And so we don’t see anything anywhere near what you get in the USA. Even while most illegal guns in Canada are trafficked from the USA.

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gun-kill-legal-vs-illegal

But if we are going to talk about tackling extremist ideologies that lead to terrorism on US soil, then the biggest current problem is Right-Wing Extremists.

Beyond what I have already written, as of six months ago, a study revealed that Islamic State (IS) is being outperformed in everything from follower counts to number of daily tweets by white nationalists and self-identified Nazi sympathizers on Twitter. Growing more than 600 per cent in the last four years.

Disturbingly, Not only has Donald Trump emboldened White Supremacists, but is putting even more legal favor for them.

“Three days after a white nationalist with an affinity for Trump killed six while shooting up a mosque in Canada, Reuters reports that the Trump administration wants a federal counter-terrorism program to stop focusing on violent white supremacists and any other extremist groups not comprised of Muslims.” – Source: Aaron Rupar / Think Progress, Trump wants less scrutiny on violent white supremacists

And this news has sent noticeable waves of glee through White Supremacist and Neo-Nazi social groups.

“It’s fair to say that if the Trump team is not listening to us directly (I assume they are), they are thinking along very similar lines. We helped get Trump get [sic] elected, and the fact of the matter is, without Alt-Right meme magick, it simply wouldn’t have happened,” the post continues. “This is absolutely a signal of favor to us.”

On February 15th, 29 year old, Benjamin McDowell, was arrested when he arranged to buy a gun and ammo to do a shooting ‘in the spirit of Dylann Roof’ – a white supremacist who shot and killed nine black churchgoers in a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015.

McDowell had known ties to white supremacist gangs from when he was in prison, and had been ranting online on his hatred of Jews and about his desire to commit an attack. Criticizing fellow white supremacists for their failure to take action, writing that they “ain’t got the heart to fight for Yahweh like dylann roof.”

The American Federal Government had made no comment on this arrest. Something that would have happened if the criminal were not a white American citizen, and would have been used to further justify severe measures the administration was planning. Just like what was attempted with the Mosque attack in Canada when the perpetrator was thought to be of Moroccan origin.

Canada is clearly not immune to this extremism. But it manifests differently here because we have laws against Hate Speech. Thus hate groups have greater difficulty to gather or promote their hatred. Something very different from what is happening in the United States where hate groups are instead protected by the police, because “Free Speech”.

Fascists & Neo-Nazis will hide behind Free Speech until they are in full control – loving the protection that allows them to breed Hate. While Black People, Muslims, Jews, and many others are experiencing Hate and Oppression directly from these groups, they are able to rely on their white privilege to protect them.

white-privilege
Seven leaders of an armed militia who led a 41-day stand-off at a US federal wildlife refuge in Oregon have been cleared of the charges. The Oceti Sakowin Camp is a historic gathering of tribes standing in solidarity to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline.

All the while it should be these Fascists and Neo-Nazis who are afraid to exist and afraid to say their words. Anti-fascists (Antifas) are the only ones who are forcing out the White Supremacists when the Police should be.

If the USA had Hate Speech be a crime like it is in Canada, Trump would not have had a chance to even campaign. Free Speech gave him that spotlight which was tacit permission for others who share the same harmful outlooks to not only come out, but act on it. In the USA, and across borders in Canada.

Image by Rua Lupa, February 12017 H.E.
Image by Rua Lupa, February 12017 H.E.

Based on history and what Holocaust Survivors have shared, it is past the point of words and only action is left – be it bureaucratic, court cases, marches, protests, sit-ins, or physical shutdowns of hate group gatherings.

Punching Nazis

After Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, Spencer attended an Anti-Trump protest. While posing for a photograph at the corner of 14th and K Street around 2:30 p.m. he was punched twice by a masked protester. Later at the same protest, when he was speaking live to a reporter, he was once again punched in the face by the same protester. After that, while leaving the protest crowd, another individual spat on him.

This punch had drawn a lot of ire from the public, many stating that to punch someone, no matter what their views, makes you no better than them and also makes them a martyr.

Christina Hall writes, “Look the problem with these slippery slope fallacies (aka punching a nazi makes you no better than a nazi) is basically three fold as far as I can tell.

1. It implies there is an “equal” war of ideas. There is not. Believing genocide is a good thing is not equal to anything else. You can believe the sky is orange all you want but it is not equal to all of the evidence that points otherwise.

2. WWII was not won with hugs. White supremacy will not be beaten with hugs either. And demanding nonviolence from people currently getting oppressed with violence (people of color, lgbtqia people, other people nazis hate) is a really really solid form of tone policing. Fuck that.

3. Defending yourself, your family, and your community from nazi trash means a lot of things–not all of them physical violence. But ruling out violence completely by the slippery slope argument is a way to discredit a riot before it happens. It is a way to shift sympathy on individuals who have been oppressing others for years and paint the reactionary movements as being illegitimate before they even start. If a few nazis getting punched is a tragedy, what do you call 10 million+ people getting killed by nazis? Nothing. You don’t talk about THAT because if you did you wouldn’t be so morally opposed to a few people getting decked for saying that it wasn’t a tragedy at all but rather a glorious idea. (Or that it didn’t happen despite all those meticulous german records talking about how well their planned and deliberate genocide was going.)

I’m not sorry for wanting to punch a nazi. Nor am I sorry for being willing to punch a nazi. And should it happen and should I go to jail for assault I would still not be sorry because nazis are terrible human beings, and if I ruined at least one of their days on this earth it was worth it.”

thisiswhyitisokaytopunchnazisintheface
Photo of Birkenau (the extermination camp at Auschwitz) following the camp’s libera­tion on Janu­ary 27, 1945. In the fore­ground is the unloading ramp (the so-called Juden­rampe) and in the distance Birkenau’s main gate called the “Gate of Death.”
indiana-jones-punching-nazis
IMAGE SOURCE: (Film) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Mother Jones Magazine, in ‘The Long History of “Nazi Punching” Wes Enzinna explains how Beating up Nazis is far from new.

The earliest recordings reveal the rise of an authoritarian movement that was inspired by Hitler, Mussolini, and Francisco Franco in Pre WWII Europe. In October 1936, London’s Jewish East End neighborhood witnessed 2,000 members of the British Union of Fascists march through their streets, and were met by 100,000 anti-fascists to oppose them. The melee included Jews, Irishmen, Communists, anarchists, and socialists, beating the Fascists with sticks, rocks, and sawed-off chair-legs. From overhead windows women dumped their chamber pots out of onto the Fascist’s heads. History recognizes this as the Battle of Cable Street.

In Minneapolis 1982, neo-Nazis started to appear in the city. In response, a street gang named the Baldies arose, adopting British punk fashion—bomber jackets, bald heads, boots and braces—and quite literally kicked the Nazis out of town.

In the years following, anti-fascist groups, such as Anti-Racist Action, Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice, and the Love and Rage Anarchist Federation advocated “direct action” against white supremacists. Ignoring legislative efforts in favor of physically preventing Nazis from organizing, distributing literature, and speaking in public. Their logic was that if a white-supremacist leader incited a hate crime, police couldn’t intervene until after a violent action occurred. And so Anti-fascists wouldn’t wait.

Modern groups appear ready to revive the direct-action tactics of the 1980s and ’90s in order to confront white supremacists emboldened by Trump. Such groups include the Redneck Revolt, John Brown Militia, and the Bastards Motorcycle Club. Anti-Racist Action’s 20 or so USA chapters have promised to contribute to direct-action tactics.

The day after the inauguration, ARA’s branch in Louisville, Kentucky, posted on their website:

“For decades, [white supremacists] were the face of the enemy and only a minute few dared show their true colors in public. This made them easy to dismiss, easy to ignore…However, recent events have proven that the fascist ideology has not only survived but thrived…Now, their labors of hatred have been rewarded with a sympathetic President-Elect and a federal Congress that is, at best, indifferent to their evil.

A warning to those who wish to destroy what we hold dear; We will resist you in the streets, in the poll booths and in the townhouses. Whether it’s in the bars, the concert halls, the conference centers or even City Hall, we will not allow a platform for your dangerous and divisive ideas. We will not allow history to repeat itself. We will shut you down everywhere you go. We will block your marches. We will interrupt your speeches. We will protest your legislation. We will be the thorn in your side. The glass in your bread. The pain in your ass.”



The reality is that punching Nazis works,

In the video titled “The assault on me”, [Richard Spencer] said he was left with a black eye on Saturday and was going to have to start considering “operational security”. He told viewers he was recording the video from what he called a “safe space”. “I was planning to go out tomorrow during the Women’s March to do some journalism but I can’t do that anymore,” Spencer told viewers. “I have reached a stage of being a public figure where I am going to be recognised and then be attacked.” 

Anti-Fascists were right in saying that beating up and kicking out white supremacists / neo-nazis makes them afraid to express their vitriol in public. Forcing them to hide their views and thereby preventing fascism from fully taking root.

Remember, Hitler came to power through a democratically elected government. And by that point the problem could not be solved with words.

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Image Source Unknown – Would Love To Give Proper Credit!
captain-america-punching-hitler
IMAGE SOURCE: (film) Captain America: The First Avenger

LOOK FOR THE HELPERS
AND TOGETHER #RESIST

Good news is that people are not taking this laying down, having not hesitated and fought the moment anything arose.

One of Trump’s first orders was to silence public servants.

Which was promptly ignored and rebelled by the National Park Rangers,

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And have effectively made alternative social media networks to continue their rebellion called Alt US National Park Service.
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This has led to other public servant branches to follow suit in making their own ‘Rogue’ social media accounts.

Along side public servant branches going rogue, Women’s March on Washington was organized for January 21, 2017 to “send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights”

When Trump signed his Deportation order on January 25th, quickly followed by the Muslim Ban on January 27th, U.S. attorney general Sally Yates was prompt to order justice department lawyers not to enforce the president’s executive order. “As long as I am the acting attorney general, the department of justice will not present arguments in defense of the Executive Order.” Within hours the White House responded with a statement that accused Yates of “betraying” the justice department and being “weak on borders”, and fired her.

Democratic Party leader Senator Chuck Schumer stated that the “attorney general should be loyal and pledge fidelity to the law, not the White House. The fact that this administration doesn’t understand that is chilling”.

Within the U.S. government, state department officials are resisting Trump’s ban with a roughly 1,000 signatured letter of dissent.

The public, like Sally Yates, was just as quick to take a stand.

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protests-at-airports-following-executive-travel-ban

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A rotating team of lawyers has remained at JFK Airport to help travelers caught in the crosshairs of President Trump’s ban on foreigners from seven Muslim majority countries. “We’re keeping the presence at all the different terminals,” Camille Mackler, director of legal initiatives at the New York Immigration Coalition, said Sunday night.

An emergency order was issued by federal Judge Robart that Saturday night, temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump’s travel ban, saying ‘travelers who had been detained had a strong argument that their legal rights had been violated.’

Early the following Sunday, a federal appeals court denied the Justice Department’s request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump’s ban.

Then on February 9th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously upheld the restraining order blocking the federal government from enforcing the president’s controversial ban.

A more thorough timeline of legal events regarding the ban can be found here.
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Art work by @samscenarist
Art work by @samscenarist

One Justice Department employee tells The Washington Post, “You’re going to see the bureaucrats using time to their advantage,” adding that “people here will resist and push back against orders they find unconscionable,” by whistle-blowing, leaking to the press, and lodging internal complaints. Other state employees are keeping contact with President Obama’s appointed officials and attending workshops on how to effectively engage in civil disobedience, and learn more about how they can undermine Trump’s agenda.

When Obama’s previous assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Tom Malinow­ski, was asked how this compares to past administrations, he sarcastically replied, “Is it unusual? . . . There’s nothing unusual about the entire national security bureaucracy of the United States feeling like their commander in chief is a threat to U.S. national security. That happens all the time. It’s totally usual. Nothing to worry about.”

Yascha Mounk writes a fantastic list describing Five Things Americans Can Do to Beat Trump:

1) Do Not Normalize Trump’s Oppression,

2) Protest To Keep The Public Aware of Wrongs & To Put Pressure on Representatives,

3) Build Grassroots Infrastructure To Change The System,

4) Build Coalitions – We Are All In This Together. Break the ‘Us’ versus ‘Them’ mirage, and

5) Offer a Vision of a Better Future – Let that fan our passion, not Hate, not Fear.

As a democracy, many citizens have decided to get directly involved in politics and won. A few share some advice on how you can too.

Arnold Schwarzeneggar was a prime example of a citizen who wanted a government that was for the people, ran for the job and won. Now he is sharing how problems in his state were over come, and how other states can overcome them too.

The State of California’s leaders are not holding back and doing all in their power to resist. Here is state governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s speech on how California is not backing down in it’s combat against climate change in direct opposition to Republican policies.

Scientists generally stay off of the political stage, preferring to do their duty as public servants. But their ability to fulfill this duty has been intentionally sabotaged under the administration’s willful denial of hard science. And so, like their Canadian comrades have done before them, plan to join in the Marches. March For Science is planned for April 22.

As a Naturalist who volunteers to do public education about our wonderful cosmos, I felt the need to add my art to this particular March that people can freely utilize sans profit.

Fuck Yeah, SCIENCE!
March For Science Logo designed by Rua Lupa. Nonprofit use & Attribute.

And blessed be comedians and political artists who in their own way hold government officials accountable.

A particular favorite being Saturday Night Live’s Melissa McCarthy’s role as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

And Full Frontal, with their reference points from those who have successfully snubbed Trump,

“The progressive liberal agenda isn’t about being nice. It’s about confronting evil, violence, trauma, and death. It’s about acknowledging the ways systemic power, systemic oppression, systemic evil, work in our world around us. I’m not fighting for diversity. I’m not fighting for tolerance. I’m fighting to overturn horrific systems of dehumanizing oppression.” – Tucker FitzGerald / Medium.com / Intolerant Liberals

Remember, for just his first month in office, Trump has the lowest approval ratings in US history, and more people show up to protest him than they did for his inauguration.

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approval_976

In sum, this whole fascist regime needs to be taken down as a whole – marking the entire current administration in both the White House and Congress as illegitimate because of the unconstitutional gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the electoral college. Make none of this administration’s actions legitimate in the eyes of the law and strike them down. All government orders and legislation should be frozen for the time being while the gerrymandering*, voter suppression, and electoral college has been washed through the courts, and then, and only then, redo the elections.


On parting, I will leave you with the inspiring words of Valarie Kaur,


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