About two months ago, before I started this blog, I responded to a Facebook post about that swastika-wearing asshole in NYC’s Union Square who was egged by a passer-by. My comment was Anyone who walks around saying “Hell yes, I’m a Nazi” deserves whatever happens to them and they should be grateful it wasn’t worse.
It’s been eight weeks, and I keep getting harassment on Facebook over that comment. Some threats of violence, lots of pedantic crap from alt-right undergrad boys “just trying to have a discussion”, and so forth. It seems to come in waves, so I assume that the link is being shared and re-shared to some subreddit frequented by alt-right incel edge-lords whose basement apartments reek of ramen, B.O. and poor lifestyle choices.
But the thing that irritates me — far more than being threatened with axe murder, by the way — is the repeated claim by the morons defending a swastika-wearing homophobe who was shitting-up everyone’s public space in New York that day that I’m suppressing his free speech with my opinion.
Now, for the record, I never said that that Nazi prick wasn’t allowed to voice his opinion, or even to do it in public; What I said was that he deserved whatever consequences come from voicing his vile, Hitler-inspired opinion.
Because free speech, for the record and again, is the guarantee that you can state your opinion without fear of the government arresting you simply for stating it. In this country you can (and I have) call Justin Trudeau an ineffectual muppet stitched together from an empty suit, a vacuous smile and a famous name who has no intention of honouring the progressive promises that he hijacked into order to win the last election… and you can do it with confidence that the RCMP isn’t going to knock on (or kick down) your front door.
There are limits, of course. Had I finished the above description of our Prime Minister with a threat — or even an implied threat — then yes, I could expect the RCMP to take exception to my expressed opinion. And that’s ultimately a good thing: Canadian free speech rights are guaranteed only to the degree that we don’t threaten or slander others, and it doesn’t protect hate speech. All rights come limited with corresponding responsibilities, and one of those responsibilities is accepting that speech comes with consequences. (Swastika guy, by the way, would almost certainly have been charged with hate speech if he’d said that shit in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto.)
The consequences for saying Anyone who walks around saying “Hell yes, I’m a Nazi” deserves whatever happens to them and they should be grateful it wasn’t worse apparently includes weeks of online harassment and threats from inbred morons who idolize a dead and discredited dictator — and about seven hundred “likes.” As these things go, it’s not too bad. (I’m just waiting for the incels to find one of my earliest posts on his blog, “Why I’m Anti-Fascist.” They’re going to plotz.)
But of course “free speech,” in the sense that the alt-right use it, is something different. For them, free speech is a carte blanche to espouse hate, to threaten people and to lie. And to do all of that without any consequence whatsoever.
Over the weekend the Proud Boys, a violent alt-right hate group active in both the USA and Canada, staged a rally in Portland Oregon. The Proud Boys loudly declared their intentions to “take back Portland” ahead of time, so naturally a large anti-fascist response was organized. By and large, and even in the face of blatant alt-right violence, the anti-fascists were calm and collected. There were some incidents of violence — particularly the milkshaking and punching of alt-right provocateur and propagandist Andy Ngo (and no, he’s not a “journalist”, even an “independent journalist”) — but despite alt-right histrionics online and the unfortunate support being given to those histrionics by mainstream media, the anti-fascist response looked to be efficient, reasonable and entirely proportionate to the threat of fascist mobilization and violence in their city.
What’s really interesting to me, however, is the entire saga of the concrete milkshakes.
Milkshaking is an increasingly popular leftist response to fascists and Nazis. Basically, it’s the tactic of pegging a publicly-identified fascist with a cold, sticky beverage. Technically assault, sure, but the fascist is left standing there like an idiot and dripping with condemnation of their actions. (The egging mentioned above is a variant.) Since the fascist public image — and indeed, their own self-image — depends on being seen as a tough guy, milkshaking is incredibly effective because it immediately removes that image and replaces it with that of a dumbfuck fascist who looks ridiculous and humiliated, dripping on a public street.
And if there’s one thing that fascists really hate, it’s looking ridiculous.
Which brings us to Portland this past weekend.
Long story short, Portland Police “received information” that quick-drying cement was being added to the vegan coconut milkshakes anti-fascists were handing out, and they re-tweeted that information as above. Since many of those milkshakes ended up being ballistically served to (read: thrown at) the Proud Boys the alt-right began an online campaign of freaking out about concrete milkshakes. Apparently the concrete would add weight and heft to projectiles, and as the day progressed the alt-right began making false claims of chemical burns bolstered by easily-debunked stock photos, and so on.
As of this morning these claims have been quite thoroughly dismissed. There’s no evidence that any caustic substance was added to milkshakes, especially as several dozen (at least) were not thrown at Proud Boys, but in fact consumed by anti-fascists as a cold and refreshing treat. No anti-fascists have reported injury from drinking the coconut vegan milkshakes. No police forensic evidence has been brought forward that the milkshakes were in any way dangerous (beyond containing coconut, yuck) and all “evidence” posted online has been rather quickly dismissed through a mix of logic, science, and reverse-image searching.
This is a thing we call “proof”. But the concrete milkshake meme is still going strong on alt-right Twitter accounts because the alt-right isn’t interested in proof. They’re spreading the claim of the concrete milkshake as propaganda, which is a very different thing.
For the alt-right online, the narrative of the concrete milkshake is proof-positive that the anti-fascists (or, as they prefer to call them the quasi-gang-tag “antifa,” because if you use the words anti-fascist, then you’re forced to analyze why anti-fascists would be opposing you) are violent and desperate terrorists determined to kill or maim as many True Patriotic Americans™ as possible because they are teh evils and wear masks and hate Our Freedoms™, etc.
Never mind that bolstered by violent and racist online rhetoric Proud Boys showed up in masks carrying clubs and other weapons. Never mind that Proud Boys routinely assault people on Portland’s streets and in shopping malls. Never mind that a Proud Boy murdered two people on a Portland train in 2017 for the crime of defending a teen-aged Muslim girl. No, it’s “antifa” that are the violent ones… and they alt-right has no problem flooding social media with lies to back their claims up.
This is propaganda. Propaganda is using information, regardless of its accuracy, in a biased and misleading attempt to promote a particular view. The alt-right is promoting this propaganda of dangerous anti-fascists throwing chemicals because, ultimately, the alt-right wants to justify the use of lethal force against their opponents. If they can claim that a milkshake is a caustic bomb, or that milkshaking is practice for assassinations, or whatever, then they’ve got a justification for pulling out a gun and shooting an anti-fascist counter protester with a milkshake.
It’s as simple as that. Fascists want to kill their opponents. That’s what they do. That’s what fascism is — the elimination of political opponents and other undesirables by force. This is what anti-fascists oppose.
The
fact that the Portland police — and indeed much of the mainstream
media — so readily seized on the false claim of the concrete
milkshake
without any corroboration is concerning… but not at all surprising.
The efforts of the alt-right online sphere to “troll” the
left and media are
well-known and documented. In pursuit of the most clicks and
headlines, the media will often accept their grandiose claims at face
value — especially if backed by a seemingly “official”
source, such as the PPB’s tweet — in order to get the scoop out
before their competitors. There is very little incentive to
fact-check under those circumstances — one of the reasons that
people are becoming increasingly distrustful and jaded about
mainstream media.
The
alt-right have weaponized
the media’s inability (or unwillingness) to fact-check their
claims (not
to mention the public’s knee-jerk reaction of retweeting anything
that reinforces their own beliefs) by
submitting every-more-extreme claims and then powering through any
left-wing rebuttal… usually by squawking about “free
speech.”
Fascist propaganda uses the taxonomy of free
speech in order to further an agenda of lies in service to fascistic
goals. The concrete milkshake meme is, quite simply, a step towards
the open
murder of their anti-fascist opponents.
And as an anti-fascist, I don’t think I’m overstating my case by saying I find that a little problematic.
So how do we counter fascist propaganda? Simple answer: Critical thinking.
Whenever you see a claim by alt-right sources, your first reaction should be skepticism. (Of course, whenever you see a claim by leftist sources, your first reaction should be skepticism, too, but in this post we’re talking about the fundamental and deliberate dishonesty by fascists, so that’s where I’m drawing my examples from.) If the alt-right declares that the milkshakes have concrete in them, then search what wet concrete looks like. Do it for yourself. Google is easy to use. If they claim the milkshakes are causing chemical burns and provide pictures, do a reverse-image search of the pic. If they claim that the Deep State is working against The Greatest President Ever™ in a secret conspiracy to globally sex-traffic underage kids… well, Google’s going to come up with some weird shit for that one, but most of it is easily disprovable.
As the great Carl Sagan once wrote “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” Claiming that anti-fascists are throwing chemically-laced milkshakes in the streets of America is an extraordinary claim… and one which does not meet the Sagan Standard of evidence. A similar logical standard is Occam’s Razor, the standard of simplicity: Is the simplest answer that hundreds of toxic milkshakes were made, dozens thrown, and hundreds of them consumed by anti-fascist allies who all seem to be impervious to the effects of ingesting caustic chemicals; or that a bunch of alt-right assholes with a vested interest in discrediting anti-fascists lied?
Lies are not, in my opinion, free speech. If you knowingly spread lies, then fuck you, you’re nothing but a liar. And if you uncritically spread lies because you can’t be bothered to check your facts, than fuck you, you’re part of the problem. And if your lies are in furtherance of spreading hate — especially racist homophobic hate — then you’re nothing but a fucking fascist and you’re my enemy.
The right of free speech doesn’t protect any of use from the consequences of what we say. The alt-right spreads lies and propaganda to further an agenda that undermines democracy, threatens their opponents and, if left unchecked, will ultimately lead to the same atrocities that occur whenever fascists are permitted to take power.
So yeah, if you walk around saying “Hell yes, I’m a Nazi” you deserve whatever happens to you, and you should be grateful it wasn’t worse. I stand by that statement and whatever comes of it.
But feel free to fact-check it for yourself.
…
Update: Another day, another fascist coward threatening me on Facebook. These assholes are like the energizer bunny.
