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The US Republican party has been inventing an increasingly elaborate alternate reality fiction in order to convince their voters to keep voting for policy posit

by coldpie 10d ago

The US Republican party has been inventing an increasingly elaborate alternate reality fiction in order to convince their voters to keep voting for policy positions that obviously work against those voters' own interests. One component of this alternate reality is a fictional terrorist organization called "antifa." They claim that anyone who does not align with their policies is a member of this organization. This allows them to use the anti-terrorism laws passed in the wake of 9/11 and similar incidents against their political opponents. The US government claims someone who used the A/I service was a member of this fictional organization, and used those anti-terrorism laws to declare that A/I is supporting terrorism and so threatened sanctions against the banks A/I was using. No access to banking means A/I is shutting down.

mc32 10d ago
[flagged]
- sdenton4 10d ago
  ... But also, there's no organization called antifa, and no antifa members. It's an accusation levied against people the right wing wants to call terrorists.
  - mc32 10d ago
    [flagged]
    - vrganj 10d ago
      Because opposing fascism gets fascists to target you and people are concerned for their safety.
      - deleted 10d ago
        [deleted]
    - throwaway-11-1 10d ago
      People sharing similar values does not make them an organization. “Why do they wear masks?” because they don’t want nazis to interfere with their jobs, friends and families? You’re asking questions there are very obvious answers to. Seems like a disingenuous comment or you’re unable to do the most basic research
    - mschuster91 10d ago
      > If so, why carry those flags and bandanas on their faces? The flag just symbols that this person is against Nazis. Nothing more, nothing less. It can be held by anyone. Here in Germany, we have (amongst others, just a list of what I have seen) religious Christians (often of Lutheran Protestantism), Marxists, Leninists, Stalinists, other denominations of Communists, Anarchists, Greens, Social Democrats, Antiimperialists, Zionists and sometimes even the occasional Conservatives showing up under the Antifa banner.
    - customguy 10d ago
      > Why do so called anti fascists act fascistically Because anyone call themselves anti-fascist, doesn't make them so. While most people who are, well, not fascists probably don't wear or care about the label. You basically confirmed the point of the comment you replied to. > I’m sure there are supremacists “organizations” that are also hard to pin down. You mean the ones that aren't organizations? Let's say all the people who are racist in the world, are they an organization? Even all the people who really hate the same "race", if that's all they do, does that make them an org? Is everyone making inane arguments be part of a global group of people working in concert trying to diminish the cognitive capacity and level of discourse in society?
  - stale2002 10d ago
    > But also, there's no organization called antifa, and no antifa members Left wing extremist groups absolutely exist. The fact that they don't go around wearing matching uniforms with the letters ANTIFA on them doesn't change that. Your demand for an exact membership list is simply not how extremist organizations work. Terroristic groups have always been fairly amorphous.
    - mitxela 10d ago
      Am I a member of a terrorist organisation? How do I check?
      - stale2002 10d ago
        Are you going around planning terrorist attacks, vigilante violence, sabotaging critical infrastructure in groups or consistently materially supporting those who do? If so then yes. If you aren't doing anything even close to this then no you wouldn't be.
        sdenton4 10d ago
        You're missing the distinction between individual action (however abhorrent) and an actual terrorist organization. Organizations fund, cultivate, and organize attacks, as opposed to lone wolf terrorists, and therefore are much greater threats. Timothy Mcveigh (and Terry Nichols) weren't members of a terrorist organization, but they were terrorists. Meanwhile, the ku klux klan has actual initiations, membership, and organizational structure. As do Isis and al qaida.
        stale2002 10d ago
        > You're missing the distinction between individual action No I'm not. I specially said "in groups".
        ModernMech 9d ago
        Yes you are you left out the rest of the sentence: > … and an actual terrorist organization. A group is not “an actual terrorist organization”. You’re trying to say all groups committing a crime against the government are actual terrorists organizations, and they all belong to the same organization, Antifa. That’s not the case. If that’s the case then MAGA is also a terrorist organization — at least they have a clear leader.
- ipython 10d ago
  Let me fix that for you. Lots of maga are idealists (even if their ideas are not based in the real world), a number of them are LARPers and a small number are hard core intent on eliminating “the enemy”. To think that no maga member is violent and entertains violent options, is denying reality. Also it’s disingenuous to think they are all out of their minds looking to overthrow the government. Many just have ideals that don’t align with the mainstream. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115398251623299921 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1153982516232... https://www.gettyimages.com/videos/jan-6 https://www.gettyimages.com/videos/jan-6
  - mc32 10d ago
    [flagged]
    - phoghed 10d ago
      > That violent criminals were pardoned doesn’t change the fact It pretty explicitly changes that fact. Inb4 ehrm actually, we all know bro.
  - anon7725 10d ago
    That doesn’t work. maga aren’t idealists, they are deeply cynical, atavistic reactionaries.
  - stale2002 10d ago
    Its not controversial to say that right wing extremists exist, some of which even commit violence, so your analogy isn't the brilliant whataboutism gotcha that you intended it to be. So yes, just like some very far right people exist, that can justifiably be called terrorists, so to do some very far left individuals.
    - jasonlotito 10d ago
      > just like some very far right people exist The difference being they have support from the president. Whereas on the left, it's just some random "person" on Twitter. Republicans and MAGA literally supports terrorists. This isn't a debate. It's fact.
- iwontberude 10d ago
  [dead]
strictnein 10d ago
> "They claim that anyone who does not align with their policies is a member of this organization" No one is claiming that Amy Klobuchar or Gavin Newsom is a member of antifa.
- 1271z23 10d ago
  [flagged]
- SpicyLemonZest 10d ago
  You're just not confronting reality, man. The President of the United States personally called for Gavin Newsom to be arrested in June 2025. In September of that year, in response to Newsom's post calling Gestapo chief Stephen Miller a fascist, Miller went on TV to complain that nobody is allowed to call him a fascist and Newsom was encouraging violence by doing so.
- queenkjuul 10d ago
  Yet
- paimapi 10d ago
  that's what a call a straw-man. NSPM-7 exists and is providing funding and direction for LEOs to target ideologically leftist organizations as tame as BLM or 50501 [0] this, in combination with the rise of Flock, Clearview, Axon, and other mass-surveillance programs is leading us down an incredibly dark and Orwellian state - something that feels almost ludicrous given how anti-Big-Brother your average person is [0] https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-nspm-7-seeks-to-use-domestic-terrorism-to-target-nonprofits-and-activists https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-nspm-7-seeks...
  - LeBit 10d ago
    It’s mesmerizing to see how easy it has been to transform the USA into what was decried China to become about 5 years ago. You see some form of resistance (the guy that was caught with a truck full of cut Flock cameras) but it seems the population is resigned.
deleted 10d ago
[deleted]
inferniac 10d ago
>voting for policy positions that obviously work against those voters' own interests Delusions of grandeur / superiority complex much? Have you considered a posibility, that these voters just dont agree with your idea of what their best interests are? >fictional terrorist organization called "antifa." An organization so fictional, that just a few months back multiple members were convicted in a terrorist attack https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyedgnyn4mo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyedgnyn4mo Antifa defenders just hide behind the fact that the movement is decentralized and leaderless by design, but that doesn't make it fictional. They are obviously a terrorist organization and it is good to go after their financing and communication channels.
- Dylan16807 10d ago
  Any was there any proof of them being members of anything beyond that group of about ten people? That article sure doesn't claim it. If a movement has no leaders at all then it's not an organization.
- majormajor 10d ago
  For a group who's so bloody-minded about "words have meanings" about certain things, this whole "movement and affiliation and organization are all obviously exactly the same thing" claim is blatantly ridiculous. When Republicans in the US communicate and sometimes coordinate with totalitarian international leaders, does it mean we get to label the whole thing as a single "international totalitarian organization"?
- Reason077 10d ago
  > ” They are obviously a terrorist organization” “Organization” is a stretch. Criminals? Sure. Violent thugs? Maybe. The “terrorist” word, however, has been stretched and distorted for political ends. It seems like any crime motivated by political or religious ideology is now “terrorism”, and thus subject to much harsher punishment than those same crimes would normally receive. By this definition, the Jan 6 rioters were terrorists - yet they received pardons.
  - marcus_holmes 10d ago

by coldpie 10d ago

mc32 10d ago

[flagged]

sdenton4 10d ago
... But also, there's no organization called antifa, and no antifa members. It's an accusation levied against people the right wing wants to call terrorists.
- mc32 10d ago
  [flagged]
  - vrganj 10d ago
    Because opposing fascism gets fascists to target you and people are concerned for their safety.
    - deleted 10d ago
      [deleted]
  - throwaway-11-1 10d ago
    People sharing similar values does not make them an organization. “Why do they wear masks?” because they don’t want nazis to interfere with their jobs, friends and families? You’re asking questions there are very obvious answers to. Seems like a disingenuous comment or you’re unable to do the most basic research
  - mschuster91 10d ago
    > If so, why carry those flags and bandanas on their faces? The flag just symbols that this person is against Nazis. Nothing more, nothing less. It can be held by anyone. Here in Germany, we have (amongst others, just a list of what I have seen) religious Christians (often of Lutheran Protestantism), Marxists, Leninists, Stalinists, other denominations of Communists, Anarchists, Greens, Social Democrats, Antiimperialists, Zionists and sometimes even the occasional Conservatives showing up under the Antifa banner.
  - customguy 10d ago
    > Why do so called anti fascists act fascistically Because anyone call themselves anti-fascist, doesn't make them so. While most people who are, well, not fascists probably don't wear or care about the label. You basically confirmed the point of the comment you replied to. > I’m sure there are supremacists “organizations” that are also hard to pin down. You mean the ones that aren't organizations? Let's say all the people who are racist in the world, are they an organization? Even all the people who really hate the same "race", if that's all they do, does that make them an org? Is everyone making inane arguments be part of a global group of people working in concert trying to diminish the cognitive capacity and level of discourse in society?
- stale2002 10d ago
  > But also, there's no organization called antifa, and no antifa members Left wing extremist groups absolutely exist. The fact that they don't go around wearing matching uniforms with the letters ANTIFA on them doesn't change that. Your demand for an exact membership list is simply not how extremist organizations work. Terroristic groups have always been fairly amorphous.
  - mitxela 10d ago
    Am I a member of a terrorist organisation? How do I check?
    - stale2002 10d ago
      Are you going around planning terrorist attacks, vigilante violence, sabotaging critical infrastructure in groups or consistently materially supporting those who do? If so then yes. If you aren't doing anything even close to this then no you wouldn't be.
      - sdenton4 10d ago
        You're missing the distinction between individual action (however abhorrent) and an actual terrorist organization. Organizations fund, cultivate, and organize attacks, as opposed to lone wolf terrorists, and therefore are much greater threats. Timothy Mcveigh (and Terry Nichols) weren't members of a terrorist organization, but they were terrorists. Meanwhile, the ku klux klan has actual initiations, membership, and organizational structure. As do Isis and al qaida.
        stale2002 10d ago
        > You're missing the distinction between individual action No I'm not. I specially said "in groups".
        ModernMech 9d ago
        Yes you are you left out the rest of the sentence: > … and an actual terrorist organization. A group is not “an actual terrorist organization”. You’re trying to say all groups committing a crime against the government are actual terrorists organizations, and they all belong to the same organization, Antifa. That’s not the case. If that’s the case then MAGA is also a terrorist organization — at least they have a clear leader.
ipython 10d ago
Let me fix that for you. Lots of maga are idealists (even if their ideas are not based in the real world), a number of them are LARPers and a small number are hard core intent on eliminating “the enemy”. To think that no maga member is violent and entertains violent options, is denying reality. Also it’s disingenuous to think they are all out of their minds looking to overthrow the government. Many just have ideals that don’t align with the mainstream. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115398251623299921 https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/1153982516232... https://www.gettyimages.com/videos/jan-6 https://www.gettyimages.com/videos/jan-6
- mc32 10d ago
  [flagged]
  - phoghed 10d ago
    > That violent criminals were pardoned doesn’t change the fact It pretty explicitly changes that fact. Inb4 ehrm actually, we all know bro.
- anon7725 10d ago
  That doesn’t work. maga aren’t idealists, they are deeply cynical, atavistic reactionaries.
- stale2002 10d ago
  Its not controversial to say that right wing extremists exist, some of which even commit violence, so your analogy isn't the brilliant whataboutism gotcha that you intended it to be. So yes, just like some very far right people exist, that can justifiably be called terrorists, so to do some very far left individuals.
  - jasonlotito 10d ago
    > just like some very far right people exist The difference being they have support from the president. Whereas on the left, it's just some random "person" on Twitter. Republicans and MAGA literally supports terrorists. This isn't a debate. It's fact.
iwontberude 10d ago
[dead]

strictnein 10d ago

> "They claim that anyone who does not align with their policies is a member of this organization" No one is claiming that Amy Klobuchar or Gavin Newsom is a member of antifa.

1271z23 10d ago
[flagged]
SpicyLemonZest 10d ago
You're just not confronting reality, man. The President of the United States personally called for Gavin Newsom to be arrested in June 2025. In September of that year, in response to Newsom's post calling Gestapo chief Stephen Miller a fascist, Miller went on TV to complain that nobody is allowed to call him a fascist and Newsom was encouraging violence by doing so.
queenkjuul 10d ago
Yet
paimapi 10d ago
that's what a call a straw-man. NSPM-7 exists and is providing funding and direction for LEOs to target ideologically leftist organizations as tame as BLM or 50501 [0] this, in combination with the rise of Flock, Clearview, Axon, and other mass-surveillance programs is leading us down an incredibly dark and Orwellian state - something that feels almost ludicrous given how anti-Big-Brother your average person is [0] https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-nspm-7-seeks-to-use-domestic-terrorism-to-target-nonprofits-and-activists https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/how-nspm-7-seeks...
- LeBit 10d ago
  It’s mesmerizing to see how easy it has been to transform the USA into what was decried China to become about 5 years ago. You see some form of resistance (the guy that was caught with a truck full of cut Flock cameras) but it seems the population is resigned.

deleted 10d ago

[deleted]

inferniac 10d ago

>voting for policy positions that obviously work against those voters' own interests Delusions of grandeur / superiority complex much? Have you considered a posibility, that these voters just dont agree with your idea of what their best interests are? >fictional terrorist organization called "antifa." An organization so fictional, that just a few months back multiple members were convicted in a terrorist attack https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyedgnyn4mo https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyedgnyn4mo Antifa defenders just hide behind the fact that the movement is decentralized and leaderless by design, but that doesn't make it fictional. They are obviously a terrorist organization and it is good to go after their financing and communication channels.

Dylan16807 10d ago
Any was there any proof of them being members of anything beyond that group of about ten people? That article sure doesn't claim it. If a movement has no leaders at all then it's not an organization.
majormajor 10d ago
For a group who's so bloody-minded about "words have meanings" about certain things, this whole "movement and affiliation and organization are all obviously exactly the same thing" claim is blatantly ridiculous. When Republicans in the US communicate and sometimes coordinate with totalitarian international leaders, does it mean we get to label the whole thing as a single "international totalitarian organization"?
Reason077 10d ago
> ” They are obviously a terrorist organization” “Organization” is a stretch. Criminals? Sure. Violent thugs? Maybe. The “terrorist” word, however, has been stretched and distorted for political ends. It seems like any crime motivated by political or religious ideology is now “terrorism”, and thus subject to much harsher punishment than those same crimes would normally receive. By this definition, the Jan 6 rioters were terrorists - yet they received pardons.
- marcus_holmes 10d ago