Having watched the anti-fascist response to the Charlotte rally

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I am feeling a little proud of my country today, which has become a rarity these days.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I'm happy because it seems the counter-protesters/Antifa haven't just gotten bored and returned to their playstations as I half expected them to do. And at every rally, they seem to outnumber the racists at least 2 to 1, which is saying something since at least in Charlottesville, the Antifa almost certainly weren't as busy filling buses across the country to congregate there.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm happy because it seems the counter-protesters/Antifa haven't just gotten bored and returned to their playstations as I half expected them to do. And at every rally, they seem to outnumber the racists at least 2 to 1, which is saying something since at least in Charlottesville, the Antifa almost certainly weren't as busy filling buses across the country to congregate there.

Yep. 

This is something the government shouldn't handle.  It is not good for a government to squash an ideology.  That is up to us, the citizens. 

[Brother Mythos]

I hope the many, anti-fascist, voting age citizens of this country either register to vote, or verify that they are still registered to vote. If we show up at the polls in mass next year, we can throw many of the fascists, and fascist enablers, out of office.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I'm almost* dreading the 2018 elections. If what we are seeing now seems bad, imagine what it'll be like when the Fascists realize they may lose everything at the polls.


*"almost", but not quite, as long as they don't make socks and ball bearings illegal.

[Brother Mythos]

The white supremacists may be able to scare some people in some rural areas away from the polls. But, I don’t believe they have the numbers, or the organization, to be able to change the outcome of the elections in very many places, if the rest of us show up at the polls in mass.

[Cain]

The rural numbers can be a significant political advantage though, due to the way the US political system is set up and weighted.

Trump lost the popular vote by 5 million, after all.  If the Dems don't take rural areas, they might find themselves dealing with a Trump-ized, alt-right Congress come 2018.  Just like Obama had to deal with a Tea Party Congress from 2010 on.

[POFP]

Yeah, it's all about the districts, here. And rural districts outnumber urban and suburban districts in many states now, mostly due to mass gerrymandering and the fact that rural population decrease means fuck-all in our voting system. In-fact, it can have the opposite of the desired affect.

The system functioned this way just fine when it was first created, but it's obsolete, now. What once kept the voting power of the population distributed evenly, now shifts voting power slightly to the minority. This next election, we need city folk to trade in their Uggs for REAL COW-POKIN' KICKERS:



AND HEAD ON OUT TO THE FARMS YEEEEE HAWWWWWW

[Brother Mythos]

Yes, Republican gerrymandering is a serious problem. And, yes, the cow-pokin’ kickers (That’s a nice variation on the expression I usually heard as a boy.) are mostly diehard Republicans.

However, my point was/is that white supremacists won’t be able to scare that many ‘more enlightened’ people away from the polls.

(This discussion is shifting away from the narrow topic of neo-nazism to more mainstream American political problems. That’s okay, but my posts had a much narrower focus. )     

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I don't know whether or not they'd be able to materially change the outcome of an election (who knows what life in America will even be like in another 15 months anyway). I just mean that they could make just being at the polls a miserable and possibly violent experience, which is bad enough without swaying the election.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This is not, strictly-speaking, a problem that will be solved at the voting booth.

This is a sock full of ball-bearings problem, and requires a sock full of ball bearings solution.

The way you handle Nazis, the way you protect your friends and family, is by beating on Nazis until all the Nazi leaks out.  Historically-speaking, it is the only effective solution.  It is risky in many ways, physically and legally, but not as risky as tolerating actual evil.  I mean, if you don't and nothing happens to you or your loved ones, you still have to live with the idea that you did nothing.

And at that point, you may as well go to the cemetery and shit on your grandparent's graves.

[Don Coyote]

I've been thinking about getting deadblow hammer

[The Wizard Joseph]

As a small point on the sock thing, nylon or silk and wet if possible. Wet silk especially has an excellent tensile strength and could last long enough to become an heirloom if I'm not mistaken on this. Also wrapped around the hand not more than twice. That tensile strength can turn against you pretty quick if someone gets a hand on it.

I kinda want to do a "so you swung at a NAZI and missed, now what?" kind of write up, but not here and not before I consult with some far better experienced friends of mine. Still worth a thought. Combat goes way beyond the gratifying face shot legally and physically. For instance any kick with a steel toe or when they're on the ground is assault with a deadly and maybe attempted murder or an unexpected manslaughter charge. Thou Shalt KYFMS in custody. Things like that.