The Proud Boys, the bizarre far-right street fighters behind violence in New York

[Huulo]

https://www.vox.com/2018/10/15/17978...n-gop-violence

There's been a lot of discussion here lately about right-wing groups like the Proud Boys and there supposed battles with "antifa." If you do a little research, a couple things become clear.

Groups like the Proud Boys stand out from other alt-right groups in that they advocate political violence. There group's founder, Gavin McInnes, has directly called for violence to solve political problems. Not only has he praised the assassination of politicians, he's gone so far to publicly re-enact the murder of a Japanese socialist with other members of the Proud Boys group. They speak about the necessity of political violence frequently. It is their primary tenet.

To deflect criticism over their use of violence, the Proud Boys often argue that the violence was started by "antifa." There's a problem with that: antifa doesn't exist, not as any kind of political group. Proud Boys and similar groups simply describe anyone they get in a fight with as antifa. The pattern goes like this: they go out in large groups, consume alcohol, look for fights, shout loud and provocative things (including hatred for minorities such as Muslims and Jews). Eventually the attack someone or someone attacks them. Later they tell the press they were attacked by "antifa." This has led to a lot of confusion, including reports that make it sound like two separate groups, the Proud Boys and antifa, are at war with each other. The victim-hood narrative is so important to the Proud Boys that they've created fake social media accounts in which they pretend to be antifa to send threatening messages. There's a reason why there's no prominent member of antifa to point to or interview. There are occasionally counter-protesters, but the idea that they're part of a single entity called antifa is a delusion. In reality, all we have here is an angry, violent gang that goes out looking for fights.

Ever notice how "antifa" didn't appear to attack Tea Party rallies, or Trump rallies, or never got mentioned apart from these very specific groups? It is because these groups were created to seek out violence, and they need the myth of antifa so they can claim that videos of them beating up people somehow represent self-defense.

[Moralgy]

I find it kind of unsettling that one of the major parts of the mainstream media ignores the Proud Boys when they start violence, and even at times, mildly supports it because they want to bash "antifa". Why does no one hold Fox news accountable for this?

[dpark1023]

The majority of fights ive seen were started by Antifa

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=sI5Lw_1539636156

Dont dress like a hoodlum and throw bottles at people if you don't want to fight.

[Huulo]

The majority of fights ive seen were started by Antifa

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=sI5Lw_1539636156

Dont dress like a hoodlum and throw bottles at people if you don't want to fight.

You've linked a video of a few seconds of people fighting. What do you think "antifa" is exactly?

[Kapadons]

antifa doesn't exist

Lol fucking what ?

[lokithor]

I find it kind of unsettling that one of the major parts of the mainstream media ignores Antifa when they start violence, and even at times, mildly supports it because they want to bash Conservatives. Why does no one hold CNN or MSNBC accountable for this?

It goes both ways here. Dont act like Antifa are angels here. Proud Boys are pretty shitty themselves, but theres never any excuse for this shit.

[Aurrora]

Ever notice how "antifa" didn't appear to attack Tea Party rallies, or Trump rallies, or never got mentioned apart from these very specific groups? It is because these groups were created to seek out violence, and they need the myth of antifa so they can claim that videos of them beating up people somehow represent self-defense.

Fuck off gaslighter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.258d54fcfa8b

[Moralgy]

It goes both ways here. Dont act like Antifa are angels here. Proud Boys are pretty shitty themselves, but theres never any excuse for this shit.

Plenty of people call out left wing media for ignoring what Antifa does, but rarely if ever do you get people looking at fox news, brietbart, etc these days for supporting political violence via the proud boys.

[Why Am I Here]

Ohhh yes! Another thread of left and right accusing each other of being shitty. I can't wait to see the chain of comments saying "X group is shitty!" "No Y group is shitty!"

[Huulo]

Fuck off gaslighter.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.258d54fcfa8b

What is this supposed to prove? The press doesn't even pretend that this is "antifa."

- - - Updated - - -

Lol fucking what ?

Anytime the Proud Boys beat someone up, they tell the press that it was "antifa" so they can say it was self-defense.

[Flarelaine]

I find it unsurprising that though the thread is supposedly about Proud Boys and their obfuscation, already the comments are going the "but antifa!" way.

Could they be meant as a demonstartion of said obfuscation?

[Kaleredar]

Sounds like some Gangs of New York shit right there.

Have they moved past hating the Irish and gone on to some other minority, now?

The majority of fights ive seen were started by Antifa

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=sI5Lw_1539636156

Dont dress like a hoodlum and throw bottles at people if you don't want to fight.

That's a lovely tangent you have there.

Any comments on the topic at hand?

Lol fucking what ?

His point, I believe, is that they don't exist as some united front acting on organized orders. There's no "main headquarters of the ANTIFA" telling people to go around starting trouble. They have no leadership to speak of or coordinated effort they act on.

In essence, they're a handful of rabble-rousers that slide into protests or counter-protests to cause trouble. They aren't some giant vox populi violent movement bubbling under the surface.

However, this Antifa boogeyman label is a convenient thing to apply to any and all such "leftist troublemakers." Or, rather, anyone conspicuous enough to be caught up in a quarrel against these right-wing protesters.

"Oh, gun toting rednecks clashed with counter-protesters? Well those counter protesters must have been the antifa looking for trouble!"

[Huulo]

It goes both ways here. Dont act like Antifa are angels here. Proud Boys are pretty shitty themselves, but theres never any excuse for this shit.

This is the fallacy that the Proud Boys want you to buy into. There's no equivalency between them because there is no antifa, not in the way it's being presented.

Antifa is sort of like Satanists in America. Yes, there are technically some people somewhere who call themselves Satanists and even have their own club. Separate from that, their is a delusion that Satanists have hundreds of thousands of members who secretly sacrifice or molest children in rituals to Satan.

[Moralgy]

This is the fallacy that the Proud Boys want you to buy into. There's no equivalency between them because there is no antifa.

Are you saying there are no people that claim to be antifa, or that there is no organized group that is "antifa" in the same sense as there is a "proud boys".

[lokithor]

Plenty of people call out left wing media for ignoring what Antifa does, but rarely if ever do you get people looking at fox news, brietbart, etc these days for supporting political violence via the proud boys.

Im not so sure about that. Only people i see calling out Antifa are right wing media. I do believe I did see one thing on CNN once though.

[Moralgy]

Im not so sure about that. Only people i see calling out Antifa are right wing media. I do believe I did see one thing on CNN once though.

So do you not contest my statement that no one holds right wing media accountable like at all for supporting political violence groups such as the proud boys? That needs to change, like, yesterday in my opinion.

[Moralgy]

Antifa isn’t organsied in the slightest. They might post npalerts about shit, but they have no real leadership or overall goals. Many members are also self-described anarchists, which hinders any kind of organization.

This I agree with completely, I'm just trying to get a clarification from that poster since their current statement is ambiguous.

[Huulo]

Are you saying there are no people that claim to be antifa, or that there is no organized group that is "antifa" in the same sense as there is a "proud boys".

I should clarify that. Antifa is sort of like Satanists in America. Technically there are some people who call themselves Satanists. Separate from that, there is a lingering belief that towns full of Satanists conduct secret rituals in which they molest and sacrifice children. The latter is basically a delusion. So when you read stories about Proud Boys fighting with Antifa, there probably wasn't actually any group there called Antifa.

[lokithor]

So do you not contest my statement that no one holds right wing media accountable like at all for supporting political violence groups such as the proud boys? That needs to change, like, yesterday in my opinion.

Im not disagreeing with you at all. Im just saying it does go both ways. I just personally believe that if you're Far Right/left you need to be called out on your bullshit from everyone.

[Stelio Kontos]

OP's conspiracy posts get to stay up. Guess the forum rules have changes regarding conspiracy theories.