I’m back! It’s been a long, long interregnum, but it turns out escaping from Cubicle Prison is good for the body, mind, and soul. Who knew?
I have a lot to say, as anyone who’s followed me on Facebook can tell, but for now I want to start small. Namely, abbreviations, like acronyms and compounds. Before I dive in, I feel it is necessary to start with some honesty: the use of “antifa” and “BLM” originate with those groups, insofar as any action can be attributed to such decentralized movements. Absent malice, there is no harm in using shorthand to get to the meat of a discussion.
Malice, of course, is the problem. The right-wing noise machine, from the Faux News empire to the tiniest Limbaugh-wannabe talk radio show, loves to go after antifa and BLM. They’re not always afraid to say “Black Lives Matter” when racism can give the slogan a twist that frightens White listeners, but it’s so much easier to talk about BLM, isn’t it? Take away the history – the centuries of slavery, bloodshed, exploitation, abuse, and discrimination – and “BLM” protests become angry “far-left” marches too “woke” to find common ground with anyone else. (Anyone else, in this case, is actually restricted to the White audience and its manufactured, pre-packaged grievance.)
Antifa’s an even more obvious example, since at least with Black Lives Matter, the far-right’s mouthpieces are willing to say “Black Lives Matter” (if only to activate the aforementioned White grievance). Who wants to be pro-fascist? Even most of the right is leery of Mussolini’s ruinous, genocidal legacy. When “antifa” protesters show up in scary black masks, though, it becomes easy to demonize them without saying one word about fascism. They’re antifa! Domestic terrorists! That’s all you need to know!
Never mind that most antifa protests do little worse than break a few windows. And some of the damage has been demonstrably proven to be right-wing infiltrators taking advantage of masking to hide their identities as saboteurs.
Yes, this is a simple observation as I ease my way back in to blogging, but I thought it worth mentioning as one of the smaller facets of the Big Lie. There is so much to unpack with modern American conservatism, it’s hard to know where to begin. It’s important to remember that their strategy has its clever aspects, no matter how idiotic their governing principles are in a macro sense. Next time, I’ll dive into something deeper, probably covering one of two topics – describing what it’s like for me to be non-binary, or diving into the simple revelation that is Bidenomics. If I have any readers, and those readers have a preference, please let me know.
Robin
Robin Phoenix (formerly Roland X, they/them): A lifelong liberal/progressive, I’m proud to be part of the struggle for environmental, social, and economic justice. As a mixed race, non-binary neo-pagan, I’m also a living progressive Bingo card. *g*