They were rallying for free speech, which is a liberal thing. But the free speech they were demanding would involve forcing private companies to act in public ways. Which is a liberal thing. And they wail the cry of victimhood and demand special status a persecuted minorities. Which is a liberal thing.
On a related note, here's a reminder that most of the music Trump plays at his rallies is from rock groups who want nothing to do with him. I guess even Trumpists can only tolerate so much Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and Lee Greenwood.
Roy - how many people attended the rally? I am tempted to believe every attendee also spoke. The crowd pics are tight so I am guessing the crowd was small.
I'd say a hair over 200 -- maybe as big as 300 at times, when the speakers and their flunkies were in the audience. Contrary to other reports, I think the counter-protest was only slightly bigger. It wasn't like those alt-right demos past where there was a tiny band of wingnuts and streets full of people protesting them. But I don't take that as flagging energy on the left -- I take it as no one giving a shit about Proud Boys.
Back in 2017, when the nightmare was still young, I saw Gavin McInnes on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House. He'd probably just been conferring with some other Nazi in the administration. Mr. Tough Guy looked distinctly nervous that he'd been recognized. I thought to myself that if I'd had a pistol, I could have shot him dead on the street and give him a taste of real Weimar Republic politics. Fortunately, reality intervened and his Uber showed up.
Yes. The persons, including Trump, who take advantage of civil society and push extreme statements and behavior, need to be curbed, if not killed. You can't get away with demanding the best bits as part of hospitality. You can't have my house. Polite participants in civil society know the limits of the community's acceptance. Unfortunately we are all removed from conscious understanding and acceptance of this: That if you get out of line and go too far I set your house on fire and kill you and your family as you try to exit while the bagpipes play.
They really have nothing but their victimhood to meet, greet, cry, defy, and scream about, do they? Groups on the left at least have agendas to promote WHILE they're being victimized. Do the Proud Boys ever yell "Power to the Corporations!"? What are they for, other than each other's sympathy and the odd (very odd) chance that, if they get out of the house, they might meet someone and get laid? All these nudniks have in common is their self-image of being losers. This they transmute into self-pity and anger, which sort-of feels like self-respect and which allows them to be manipulated by scumbags.
One thing these people all have in common was that they were, or claim to have been, "de-platformed." They don't recognize, unlike the rest of the world, that their platforms are vertical, and sinking into the Hate Swamp.
This isn't the New Tea Party. This is the Pity Party.
Conservatives: Private ownership and free markets are sacrosanct. Let the market decide.
The Market: We are banning white supremacists, sexists, & homophobes from our site.
Also Conservatives: It is a violation of our 1st Amendment rights to deny us access to a privately-owned platform where we behave like enormous assholes. Help, help, we’re being oppressed.
Just to confirm what "Free Speech" means among these guys, William Pierce -- the neo-Nazi whose "Turner Diaries" inspired Tim McVeigh -- had a radio show called "Dissident Voices" and a newsletter called "Free Speech."
He used to publish Attack! at Globe Publishing, this small press in Northern Virginia that went out of business decades ago. A friend of mine who worked there used to see him come by regularly to pick up new editions of his rag.
I do love the mirror image, fun house quality of their main beef -- PC culture -- but there they are, whining about marginalization by propping up a couple of fascist gays, a black woman whose pop was a previous generation's freak show black dipshit and an Iranian Christian refugee for...reasons? They hate being pegged as white supremacists I guess (but like Gavin, they are ABSOLUTELY peg-friendly) but of course, the MAGA idiots in the crowd still toss up "Jews Control the USA" signs and the cis-het jagoffs are invariably whining about cancel culture because they want to tell the world about white superiority. They are basically a 4Chan thread as a roadshow.
I literally had some rando on the twitter machine today demand that I prove the Proud Boys were antisemitic. So I threw up a couple of quotes from McInnes, which of course were "out of context" or "edgy jokes," and his endorsement by David Duke and Richard Spencer was "guilt by association." *sigh* These guys don't even have the courage of their godawful convictions. At least the AnimeNazis will admit they hate Jews/blacks/gays/etc.
They were rallying for free speech, which is a liberal thing. But the free speech they were demanding would involve forcing private companies to act in public ways. Which is a liberal thing. And they wail the cry of victimhood and demand special status a persecuted minorities. Which is a liberal thing.
No wonder they hate themselves.
They don't have any original ideas -- their cultural policies are part of Sharia Law, too
We don't want Sharia Law, we want religious Christian law!
Which is 95% the same thing: Women suck, queers suck, Jews suck, liberals suck, compassion sucks, the modern world sucks, etc.
Yes. They even call it "White Sharia."
On a related note, here's a reminder that most of the music Trump plays at his rallies is from rock groups who want nothing to do with him. I guess even Trumpists can only tolerate so much Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and Lee Greenwood.
“Blonde Screech from Saved by the Bell”: I may never sleep again.
but he thinks he is AC Slater
Roy - how many people attended the rally? I am tempted to believe every attendee also spoke. The crowd pics are tight so I am guessing the crowd was small.
I'd say a hair over 200 -- maybe as big as 300 at times, when the speakers and their flunkies were in the audience. Contrary to other reports, I think the counter-protest was only slightly bigger. It wasn't like those alt-right demos past where there was a tiny band of wingnuts and streets full of people protesting them. But I don't take that as flagging energy on the left -- I take it as no one giving a shit about Proud Boys.
I was going to buy a sleep machine but the ad said it produces White Noise and I thought, "Not having those assholes yelling in my bedroom."
OK, my husband just thought I was having a stroke because of the strangled guffaw that produced.
Back in 2017, when the nightmare was still young, I saw Gavin McInnes on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House. He'd probably just been conferring with some other Nazi in the administration. Mr. Tough Guy looked distinctly nervous that he'd been recognized. I thought to myself that if I'd had a pistol, I could have shot him dead on the street and give him a taste of real Weimar Republic politics. Fortunately, reality intervened and his Uber showed up.
Your comment will be cited as proof that the violent left etc.
I'd be perfectly OK with that if Gavin McInnes was stripped, scourged, and nailed to a cross.
Yes. The persons, including Trump, who take advantage of civil society and push extreme statements and behavior, need to be curbed, if not killed. You can't get away with demanding the best bits as part of hospitality. You can't have my house. Polite participants in civil society know the limits of the community's acceptance. Unfortunately we are all removed from conscious understanding and acceptance of this: That if you get out of line and go too far I set your house on fire and kill you and your family as you try to exit while the bagpipes play.
Very bad boys being very naughty. Wish Mommy would take them home for a nap.
They really have nothing but their victimhood to meet, greet, cry, defy, and scream about, do they? Groups on the left at least have agendas to promote WHILE they're being victimized. Do the Proud Boys ever yell "Power to the Corporations!"? What are they for, other than each other's sympathy and the odd (very odd) chance that, if they get out of the house, they might meet someone and get laid? All these nudniks have in common is their self-image of being losers. This they transmute into self-pity and anger, which sort-of feels like self-respect and which allows them to be manipulated by scumbags.
One thing these people all have in common was that they were, or claim to have been, "de-platformed." They don't recognize, unlike the rest of the world, that their platforms are vertical, and sinking into the Hate Swamp.
This isn't the New Tea Party. This is the Pity Party.
(Incidentally, whenever I hear about the "Proud Boys," this starts playing in my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9PBaSH9G5Q. Because I am weird.)
Not bad. See you and raise you this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVpA_77zBI
I go with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zclrGl_peZg
Puddles! We've seen him in L.A. and N.Y. and hung out with him afterwards. Verynice guy, if arguably much too tall.
Think of a world where "Tattooed Love Boys" reshaped all future pop music.
For one thing, all songs would alternate between 7/8 and 4/4, which would probably lead to a lot of traffic fatalities.
Conservatives: Private ownership and free markets are sacrosanct. Let the market decide.
The Market: We are banning white supremacists, sexists, & homophobes from our site.
Also Conservatives: It is a violation of our 1st Amendment rights to deny us access to a privately-owned platform where we behave like enormous assholes. Help, help, we’re being oppressed.
Just to confirm what "Free Speech" means among these guys, William Pierce -- the neo-Nazi whose "Turner Diaries" inspired Tim McVeigh -- had a radio show called "Dissident Voices" and a newsletter called "Free Speech."
He used to publish Attack! at Globe Publishing, this small press in Northern Virginia that went out of business decades ago. A friend of mine who worked there used to see him come by regularly to pick up new editions of his rag.
I do love the mirror image, fun house quality of their main beef -- PC culture -- but there they are, whining about marginalization by propping up a couple of fascist gays, a black woman whose pop was a previous generation's freak show black dipshit and an Iranian Christian refugee for...reasons? They hate being pegged as white supremacists I guess (but like Gavin, they are ABSOLUTELY peg-friendly) but of course, the MAGA idiots in the crowd still toss up "Jews Control the USA" signs and the cis-het jagoffs are invariably whining about cancel culture because they want to tell the world about white superiority. They are basically a 4Chan thread as a roadshow.
I literally had some rando on the twitter machine today demand that I prove the Proud Boys were antisemitic. So I threw up a couple of quotes from McInnes, which of course were "out of context" or "edgy jokes," and his endorsement by David Duke and Richard Spencer was "guilt by association." *sigh* These guys don't even have the courage of their godawful convictions. At least the AnimeNazis will admit they hate Jews/blacks/gays/etc.