- Joined
- Feb 10, 2017
View attachment 490243
I have more than a few doubts about the validity of this post, but it really does paint a good picture of how the glory days of the anarchist/punk/antifa far-left groups of the 70s to the 90s are long gone and are probably never coming back, especially not in the US. I think it's greatly because of the overtime shift in the demographics of these groups and because of the internet.
TL;DR: The biggest threat to antifa, more so than any fascist or nazi, is antifa itself. They're too fucking dumb to cover their tracks and pick their battles and too weak to stand against anyone that can fight back. Anyone with half a brain has figured out by now that they're a total laughing stock and it's all downhill from here for them.The bulk of the guys that ran with these groups back in the day are now a bunch of geezers that have fallen victim to their own ethos of "trust no one over 30" along with the idpol bullshit they themselves have promulgated.
"Why listen to what some old white man has to say about fighting the system even if he's been throwing molotovs at ROTC buildings since 1970 and knows how to not get his shit kicked in at a riot? Let's make these underweight (or grossly overweight) college girls be our vanguard!"
In the same stroke, this college hipster revolutionary's adherence to idpol and their disdain for the working class has resulted in them having absolutely nothing in the way of any discernible brute fighting force. The paradigm has shifted to the point where any muscle they once had in the 70s-90s is entirely against them now. Think of the same reasons why the DNC lost the blue collar Rust Belt after years of shitting all over them, that's what happened to these groups. That's why you see just how one sided these street brawls are between the few yet strong and the many yet weak.
The internet's part in their downfall is the fact that, unlike in the days before it, there are eyes and ears everywhere due to the majority of the population around them having their own cameras and can track their every move. This has made it to where the previously tried and true steps they've taken to keep their identities hidden through black bloc tactics have been flung out the window harder than any brick these limp-wristed pansies could manage to pick up. For the stereotypical college hipster, it's all about seeming and feeling important, powerful and virtuous but with the least amount of effort put into it. They want to seem and feel like the hooded molotov-lobbing system-fighting badass punks that their Old Guard used to be in their youth, but none of them want to go through the struggle. This is also why you see them have such a notable presence on social media, especially on Twitter and Tumblr where they can freely talk about their intentions to bash the fash and brag about the day's events afterwards, such is the case with moldylocks and several G20 Hamburg rioters taking selfies in front of burning trash.
Because they end up having their masked faces plastered on the internet for the world to see, that also makes them incredibly easy to track down through the efforts of weaponized autism, especially the ones that are too dumb to cover their footprints everywhere else on the net or to at least not wear their fucking everyday clothes to these riots. The Eric Clanton case is a perfect example of this. When it dawns on them that they're not as invisible as they thought they were, I would predict that it would dissuade anyone from being associated with them knowing that their actions are no longer consequence-free.
Lastly, whatever reputation antifa has ever had, it's in absolute shambles. The only real thing they're famous for now is the ample amount of footage of entire droves of these scrawny LARPers being driven back by a much smaller bevy of meatheads in MAGA hats in their own home turfs of Berkeley, Portland and Seattle. Not a very inspiring watch for anyone that wants to stay on their side, but plenty of entertainment for pretty much everyone else.
That's only half the problem.
Even if they did have competent troops and managed to overcome social media working against them, they suck unholy ass at winning hearts and minds.
Their platform is that the system is corrupt and it's with them or against them, but they offer no improvements that would entice the very groups they need (yet shit on) to ditch the "oppressors".
Worse, conditions favor a populist strongman who tells the working class he gives a damn, his opponents are spoiled, soft handed wimps who have likely never earned a dollar at any job that got them remotely dirty or done anything resembling hard labor, and their piss poor attempts to be thugs make them look like spoiled LARPers, not like respectable citizens pissed at a shitty system whose balls you can respect.
Finally, even if they win, they cannot offer anything more than what the populist strongman won his own popularity opposing, and they can't sell their ideals in a way to make even the most venal ally of the oppressors realize there would be material benefit in switching camps.