Not for entomophobes » « 50 years of Loving

What about the memes?

This is more like what I’ve been expecting: an alt-right dorkwad tried to join a protest by a far right Christian militia, offering to share his posters with Pepe the Frog and Nazi symbols, and the Oathkeepers turned angry and vicious and chased him off. This is not comiccon, one said.

The alt-right trolls are a noisy presence on the internet, but everyone knows they’re superficial twits looking for lulz, rather than committed ideologues. Many of their precious memes — such as Nazi regalia, or flaunting gayness as a generic taunt to the mainstream, or advocating open fascism or sacrilegious behavior — are anathema to the conservative far right. I don’t support either side, and they can go ahead and put each other in chokeholds all they want, but I was expecting these kinds of conflicts to come up far more frequently.

I’m trying to imagine Milo Yiannopoulos addressing a group of Oathkeepers and the event not ending in bloodshed. It’s hard.

Not for entomophobes » « 50 years of Loving

Comments

  1. Siobhan says

    Ehh, I’m not sure I want to draw a distinction between “trying to convince everyone you’re a Nazi” and “actually being a Nazi.” But you do you. :P

  2. says

    In the meantime, there’s no shortage of fucking idiots:

    The alt-right foot soldiers echo these ideas in cruder terms. Chris said, “Wherever they are, Muslims are taking over.” He said of refugees from the Middle East, “People coming here are fighting-age males for Jihad, to establish a caliphate.” And, “In their doctrine, Muslims are calling for violence. They support pedophilia.”

    Dana Cruz, 67, a retired sheetmetal worker from Indianola, Washington, said, “Islam is like a cancer. Islam is not compatible with the United States.” Like all the other attendees, Cruz could not say where Sharia law existed in the country. He eventually admitted he was protesting something that doesn’t exist.

    Cruz said Seattle was his first alt-right rally, and he listened to commentators like Glenn Beck and the anti-Muslim Mark Levin. Cruz said Dearborn, Michigan, which has a significant Muslim population, is a “no-go zone” where “If you are an infidel, you better not go to areas in Dearborn.”

    Pressed on details, Cruz claimed he saw videos where non-Muslims were chased out of Dearborn by rock-throwing mobs as cops stood by. When asked how this could be happening with no public outcry or action taken by any level of government, Cruz stood silent. He then said he needed to get more signatures for his petition to pass a bathroom bill in Washington so “Grown men can’t take showers with little girls.”

    Jacob, 26, who came from Oregon for the rally with members of the Northwest Trump Alliance for Change, said, “Sharia is a problem for the women.” Seattle was his fifth alt-right event, all in the last few months. When asked where Sharia existed in the United States, he struggled to name any town or city and grumbled that he could not remember “100 percent of everything I read.”

    Jacob, who said he was Mormon, was opposed to “religious extremism.” When asked about laws pushed by Christian Evangelicals to ban abortion, he said, “It’s murder.” He said when women get pregnant after consensual sex, “Men have rights to half their womb.” He added, “If you don’t want to get pregnant, take it in the ass or swallow a load.”

    Marcelino Cervantes, 18, who attends high school and serves in the National Guard, said he watched Alex Jones and Seattle was his first protest. When asked where Sharia law existed, he told of a town in Montana he had read about on the internet. “You don’t even feel like you are in America. There’s people in burqas. Businesses get taken over. They force them out.”

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/anti-sharia-rallies-brought-out-pro-trump-thugs-internet-radicalized-and-spoiling-for-violence/

  3. says

    I’m not trying to draw a distinction — a pox on them all. I’m just surprised that they aren’t. There are a lot of mutual incompatibilities in the Venn diagram of their hatreds.

  4. erichoug says

    Well that’s odd. Why is it exactly they are there protesting? nobody is asking to remove the Sam Houston statue. While it is true that he owned slaves, so did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Houston was, in many ways, the father of the Republic of Texas. His equestrian statue in Herman park shows him pointing his way to the San Jacinto battlefield where the Texans defeated Santa Anna and won their independence. So, a few things on this.

    1) Herman Park is in one of the most upscale and tony areas of Houston. East of West University and the Rice campus, south of the Texas Medical center and the very heart of the Museum District, I am sure the locals enjoyed the invasion of idiots. Some of the articles said this statue was in “Sam Houston Park” Which I assume mean Sam Houston State Park about 25 miles outside of Houston. But, it is clearly Herman park when you watch the video.

    2) Sam Houston was opposed to secession and actively spoke against Texas joining the confederacy. He refused to swear allegiance to the confederacy. So, not exactly a confederate supporter.

    3) Really odd protest as no-one is asking to remove this statue. But, we should be removing the statue to Dick Downling which is right down the road, was Houston first public monument and celebrates a Confederate officer.

    http://www.texasescapes.com/Houston/Dick-Dowling-Statue-Houston-Texas.htm

    Amazing how history often takes the path of least resistance.

  5. microraptor says

    Not exactly on topic, but the Discuss: Through a Feminist Lens thread shut down last year and this is topically the closest thread to the subject.

    Anyone seen the new “documentary” The Red Pill? It’s supposedly an investigation into the MRA movement, but the description makes it sound like a puff piece. I was wondering if anyone had done a thorough debunking on it yet.

  7. says

    When those threads automatically shut down, and no one clamors for them to be reopened, I figure they’ve run their course. All you have to do is ask!

  8. magistramarla says

    “This is not comiccon,” one said.
    Hey – as someone who enjoys volunteering at and attending Comic con, I must protest.
    I was at my local Comic con just a couple of weeks ago, and I did not see a single alt-right meme the entire time.
    In fact, everyone present seemed to be welcoming of everyone else, including families with babies and children dressed in their finest cosplay costumes.

  9. magistramarla says

    These fools have probably never ventured into a Middle-Eastern immigrant neighborhood. We live near one, and find the people to be friendly, law-abiding good neighbors. We were eating at our favorite Middle-Eastern restaurant recently, and I made the comment to my husband that what I love about the place is that I’ve seen women eating there wearing everything from short-shorts to burkas, and everyone is greeted with a smile and graciously served delicious food.
    This is what the USA is supposed to be about.

  10. says

    8, magistramarla

    “This is not comiccon,” one said.
    Hey – as someone who enjoys volunteering at and attending Comic con, I must protest.

    Indeed, I suspect that many of the alt-right are cringenazis, wishing death upon those who would dare wear costumes.

  12. microraptor says

    PZ @7:

    Well, I hadn’t actually realized that the thread was shut until just now. The Political Madness thread has been a touch… distracting lately.