Portland protests Aug. 17: What you need to know

I thought the Portland Protests were mishandled by the Right, in various ways.

There is no doubt at all that the Hard Left are, effectively, fascists in their political orientation, with various sorts of gullible liberals being pulled along behind them. But this must be made clear to the broad mass of Americans, who are neither hardcore progressives nor hardcore conservatives. Patriot Prayer seeks ouit fist-fight opportunities, and the Proud Boys don't understand the absolutely critical necessity of driving away, having nothing at all to do with, white supremacists. They must also show that they are the victims, not the instigators of violence.

What we need in Protland is a Memorial Day rally, highly patriotic, with speakers from all Parties, incluiding the Democrats and even the Communists if there are any. Several Black and Hispanic veterans. Lots of flags, lots of Republican grandmothers. Its theme should be "Yay America -- imperfect but getting better!". Then let the anti-Fa scum attack that. Have lots of Any Ngos videoing it, because the MSM will lie until their teeth drop out.

Napoleon said that in war, the moral is to the material as three to one. PP and PB just count on the material. But they lose the moral. The OathKeepers statement, which I submitted elsewhere sums up what's wrong with the PB/PP approach, which basically is that they make themselves too easy to smear as white supremacists. There is another critique, expressed in several conservative magazines, which is that while technically they are in the right of the matter -- anyone should have the right of peaceable assembly -- in terms of perception, they are seen as provocateurs.

I'll keep playing my broken record: we've got to win Middle America, as much as possible. Their perception of the reality is what counts, not the reality itself. If our side is able to be portrayed by the lying MSM as the aggressors, we've lost, no matter how many anti-Fa scum get laid out on the pavement, to the delight of YouTube viewers.

 

I would agree that any rightwing group that comes prepared to rumble if there is trouble is probably encouraging that rumble. Right motives. But flawed approach to the problem. But it's like the woman who dresses and behaves provocatively in a rough setting--did she invite the sexual assault/rape? No. But did she encourage it? That has long been the subject of passionate debate on that issue.

But in all cases right motives on the right are condemned by the left who claims right to all proper 'right motives' and 'righteousness' and all others must be condemend, silenced, and if possible destroyed. ANTIFA is the poster child for that mentality.

What you describe should be the environment and policy in all institutions of higher learning--all points of view are allowed, encouraged, invited, and we were pushed to use logic, and reason, and critical thinking to honestly evaluate all. Such was the case long ago when I was in a small university in the heart of redneck country. And we all got an education I would put up against the most prestigious universities in the country now. The ability to use logic, reason, and critical thinking to evaluate is an ability that is largely lost to the current generations.

And the result are situations as we saw in Portland.

 

I agree with every word you have written here. It's frustrating not to be able to at least communicate these ideas to the people who organize PB and PP. I wonder if there would be some way to do it ... an open letter, signed by hundreds of conservatives?

 

We just have to keep plugging away to get the message out. Right now the fascist trolling that has become the primary M.O. of the left is well organized and in high gear to pounce on all conservative thought, or any thought contrary to what they declare to be politically correct in any given year or month or even in a given day for that matter. You see it on Twitter, on Facebook, on any media source allowing comments. Let any conservative start a thread promoting a conservative concept or point of view, and the trolls descend almost immediately--in tandem--determined to destroy that thread. You see the same phenomenon occuring across the internet.

It seems to be less severe on this forum but it happens here too.

And also in science, academia, media, everyday life. Young Republicans invite a conservative speaker to campus and there will be an immediate protest organized on campus to block that person, shame or block any who would attend that speech, and commit violence as often as not. They win when the speaker opts out and/or the university cancels the event out of 'security concerns.'

That would be so alien to what colleges were in my day, I can't imagine such a thing. And most especially providing safe spaces where students need not be bothered by ANYTHING they don't want to hear. Such people are never educated. Only indoctrinated.

But we have to keep fighting against such fascist tactics to silence all opposition. Once we are defeated and they control the message, we no longer have America as it was intended to be. We have Orwelle's 1984.