How to Understand Protests & Propaganda
How much of the recent vandalism and looting is a product of far-Left anarchists? How much is the responsibility of right-wing thugs? The truth appears to be unknowable at this point. I’ll come back to that point later in this article. For now, consider the eruption of protests and propaganda surrounding George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
The narratives about who is doing the looting and burning, and why, make for quite the sociological essay. In this article, I just want to focus on the supposed role of a certain loose coalition of anarchists that you may have heard of.
Science Fiction and Social Fact:
In his novel Radio Free Albemuth, science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick wrote about a feckless hick of a president who tried to blame the country’s social and economic problems on a shadowy group called Aramchek. Are people protesting environmental destruction and staging sit-ins? It must be the work of Aramchek. One example should be enough.
Phil had Aramchek and we have Antifa. They are the Leftist agitators and thugs behind most of the vandalism and rioting. Why? Because they all hate America and capitalism so they are stirring up trouble at the recent protests. No one knows that of course, but some conservatives and Right-wing trolls pretend to know.
If you would like to learn more about Antifa, the Anti-Defamation League has a helpful overview:
What’s essential to know is this — a loose affiliation of anarchist and anti-fascist groups like this can show up and cause trouble at demonstrations. How much trouble?
Identifying the Agitators:
No one, to my knowledge, as ascertained much about the looters and vandals who set fires and spray paint buildings. If so, what have they learned? Certain politicians and political commentators have already decided most of the troublemakers represent anarchist groups. The more rabid of the politicians and propagandists are going to try and force connections with George Soros.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Soros
If you read coverage and commentary on the protests, you will see Antifa mentioned quite often. You’ll also see references to Right-wing groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the 3 Percenters. Look them up sometimes. How fair is it to focus on Antifa versus 3 Percenters? It should matter, but does it?
Perception Counts, Numbers Don’t:
Well, the numbers don’t matter because Antifa gets brought up as an ideological tool of the Right. Anarchists who break windows and set trash fires are a good excuse to distract the public from white nationalists and neo-Nazi thugs.
In the world of propaganda, you don’t have to care if people on one side of the political spectrum are more dangerous than people on the other side. All that matters is to make the opposition look dangerous. Therefore, propagandists will divert, digress, and deflect to keep their conservative followers from thinking about Antifa in any depth. How dangerous are they really? What percentage of looting are they responsible for?
Deflection and Propaganda:
If propagandists make us focus on Antifa, we’re spending less time thinking about the reason why people in so many cities are holding peaceful protests. In fact, violence tends to make for good television so looting makes the news. A burning building makes the noise. Guys in black outfits who throw fireworks at the cops make the news. These are mostly Leftist thugs and Antifa members, of course. Why of course? Because the narrative being pushed by the Right requires this to be true.
