Why outlawing "antifa" is not only bad, but stupid...

[seawasp]

Cut for length, discussion below...


As most of us have heard, our Dear President TACO has signed an executive order making "Antifa" a terrorist organization. 

Let's leave aside the fact that according to the law, he can't actually make these declarations; he's been getting away with doing an awful lot that the law says he shouldn't. 

The problem is pretty simple: "Antifa" as he describes it doesn't exist. It's not an "organization". 

Outlawing antifa is roughly the same as outlawing SFF fandom. The label applies to anyone who wants it to, and carries with it no -- zero, zip, nada -- connection to anyone else outside of the vague "fandom" definition, which itself changes from person to person. 

There are often organizations WITHIN these ill-defined masses of people -- Con Committees, fan groups like David Weber's "Royal Manticoran Navy" group, the various Star Wars Jedi and Stormtrooper groups, and so on -- but they aren't, in any way, connected other than, again, by being under this broad, broad umbrella of "fandom". 

You can't even get such groups to agree on a DEFINITION of "SFF fandom". "Oldfen", people who were either actually part of early book-based SF fandom (an increasingly dwindling number) or who were raised by those in it, will often define "fandom" as being that group of people who participate in what they call "fanac" (fan activities), many of which date back to the 1930s-1950s. The general public will, if asked, define fandom as "all the fans" with "fan" being "someone who likes the stuff". 

It's exactly the same with "antifa". ANYONE can be antifa if they are against fascism, and there's no organization that will either verify, or deny, them membership. There are many organizations under that general umbrella, but most of them don't communicate much, none of them claim some kind of overarching authority over "antifa", and very few are in any way like the people described in Trump's executive order. 

This is often described as being akin to the "Red Scare" of the 1950s, and certainly there are similarities, but there was, in fact, an actual Communist Party. It had headquarters, and branches, and memberships -- with literal membership cards -- and one of the things that brought down McCarthy was that he kept broadening his targets to "anyone I don't agree with", accusing anyone and everyone of being "a Commie" or "a Commie sympathizer".  In that case, the actual existence of the Communist Party was something of an IMPEDIMENT to him, because there was an actual organization that you really kinda needed to show a connection to in order to prove that someone was, in fact, "a Commie". 

In this case, there IS no central organization. There isn't even a large organization that you could point to as "that's the core" and the rest are all associated with it in some way. Antifa is anyone who considers themselves anti-fascist, just like an SFF fan is anyone who considers themselves a fan of science fiction and/or fantasy. 

Such categories of course are PERFECT for the actual purpose of Trump's (most likely actually Miller and friends, as Trump doesn't actually give a crap) government: being able to go after anyone they don't like. They're so broadly non-defined that you can accuse ANYONE of being part of the "terrorist" group, and the lack of an actual central authority ensures that there's no one that can authoritatively say "no, they're not part of our group". 

Even the far right mostly still does lip service of "oh, I hate fascism" even as our current government heads straight down the path worn by the 1930s Nazi party. Even today very few people openly say they're fascist or neo-Nazis, though with current events that number has grown noticeably. 

What that means, though, is that ANYONE can be proven to be "antifa", pretty much. "Do you now, or have you ever, said fascism is bad?" If the answer's yes, you are antifa. Case closed, deportation can proceed. 

Try to imagine the same thing with SF fandom. Have you ever watched a Star Wars movie? Bought a Marvel figureine? Dressed up as a Lord of the Rings character? Had a binge-watch of Game of Thrones? Read "The Martian"? You're all convicted of membership in "fandom" if someone were to outlaw it. 

That's exactly what's happened with "antifa". And it is, quite obviously, a fascist move to declare such a nebulous group as terrorist enemies of the state; it's the way fascist governments get rid of anyone they find an impediment. 

So it's both idiotic, and terribly dangerous, and people really, REALLY need to understand this. 

 

 

Comments

[dewline]

And it could help to justify taking over countries whose current governments the Trumputinstanis don't like as well...such as mine.

[seawasp]

To be fair that's pretty much all countries except, I think, North Korea and Russia right now.

[scott_sanford]

It's a very low-cost way to announce that they are fascists, know they are fascists, and want others to know they're fascists.

[seawasp]

And be able to deny they're fascists because "antifa" isn't actually "anti-fascism" but "Anti US Evil Commie Conspiracy"

[ninjarat]

Next thing you know they're going to try to ban... I dunnow... maybe Tylenol.
... wait... what?

[seawasp]

Ridiculous idea. It's like thinking they'd try to stop people from getting vaccines.

[claidheamhmor]

It's just insane. Going much, much faster than I'd expected.

[seawasp]

Project 2025 made it clear that they wanted at least half the stuff in place within 6 months, so they're pretty much on pace.