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comment by goobster
goobster  ·  2438 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Looks like Charlotesville is really starting to backfire for White Power groups

Just to call it out: There is no equivalency between Nazis and Antifa.

The Nazis want to remove rights for the majority of the population.

Antifa want to stop the Nazis from doing that.

There in an American tendency to polarize anything into two equal and opposing sides. This false equivalency has permeated almost every issue in America, and does a disservice to everyone by elevating marginal beliefs to "common" status, and diminishing established, fact-based positions to mere "theories".

Climate change is a great example. There is no debate. There is no question. It is better defined than gravity. And yet the tendency for Americans to give everyone an equal voice has led to climate change appearing to be a debate between equal players, when it is nothing of the sort.

Equating Nazis with Antifa is the same problem.

Nazis hate America, and the principles this country was founded upon, and want to remove rights that the Constitution grants their fellow Americans. Antifa wants them not to succeed in their efforts.

Replace "Antifa" with "ProCon" for "Pro Constitution", and Nazis with "Anti-Constitution", and you see the difficulty of drawing an equivalency between the two movements.





johnnyFive  ·  2437 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right, which is why I didn't. The fact that you can't criticize Antifa without being accused of equating the two is exactly the problem I was pointing out.