> Wearing black and a mask? That could be anyone, including police provocateurs and right-wingers looking to pin the blame on protestors on the left.
It could be, and yet they chant "death to America," "down with fascism," etc. There have been scores arrested at this point. The facts tend to support Antifa with zero/few right-wing groups even nearby.
> Just for the record, I strongly condemn violence both on the right and on the left. I do this on ethical grounds, because I believe violence is wrong. But even on merely practical grounds, it's clear that those who encourage and engage in violence are playing right in to the hands of those who have the most guns, who think they have the support of the military and the police, and who are itching for violence to break out to use as an excuse to crack down hard or foment a civil war (which, of course, they think they'll win).
I 100% endorse this. I think the number of people on the right who want a civil war is extremely low (seems mostly confined to the actual Nazis who everyone hates). There are plenty who believe a civil war would be easy to win against Antifa-at-scale, but they don't realize the difficulty in organizing and coordinating actual operations when they'd be denied communications.
I'd even go so far as to say that these militia groups need to leave, even if they have a right to be where they are. The people like the Kenosha kid need to leave and not attend, even if asked. Yes, buildings will be destroyed, people will get hurt and lose their livelihoods and even their lives. That should rest on the consciences (or lack thereof) of the rioters and the political leaders who enable them. But if the right wing groups stayed the hell away, sooner or later, the leftist groups would burn everything down and go after one another. I still think that's a tragedy of meaninglessness, but at least most of the survivors would just go home back to mommy's basement and we could have peace. And then maybe we could actually get some real reform?
For moral, political, practical, and a host of others, everyone should stay the hell away from these things. It doesn't work out at all. But I think a lot of these people are basically very dedicated LARPers, on both sides. I haven't seen too many Army or Marine infantry with beer bellies hanging over their belts, but quite a few militia guys seem to. I've also never seen a successful revolution carried out by people who seem about as clueless about any sort of tactics beyond being an angry mob as the Antifa people. Angry mobs and beer belly dudes with guns can make some damage, but are no match for actual organized and trained military force.