Alt-Right vs. Alt-Left in Charlottesville, VA

Alt-Right vs. Alt-Left in Charlottesville, VA

As I write this article, the USA is still reeling from the aftermath of the protests turned violent in Charlottesville, VA last weekend, September 11-12, 2017. Much has been said about this violent event and the resulting tragic deaths of a 32-year-old woman and two police officers. Unfortunately, much of what has been said has been misleading, being used as political fodder.

The Facts

The facts of what happened are hard to come by given the politics involved. A good article in this regard is Recounting a day of rage, hate, violence and death in The Washington Post (WAPO).

Reading this article, it is clear that “both sides” were involved in the violence and responsible for it. But it is that very claim by President Trump that has caused the media, the Democrats, and just about everyone else, including even some Republicans, to go into a tizzy and condemn the President. But as the WAPO article makes clear, the counter-protestors were screaming obscenities, throwing punches, kicking, swinging clubs, and even tossing chemical-filled balloons and waving flame-throwers just as much as the protestors were.

The Players and the Numbers

However, one very wrong point in the WAPO article is it refers to the protestors as “right wing.” As such, I will begin this article by trying to explain the “players” in this debacle. This information is taken from interviews on Fox News and various talk radio shows with those who were there and who are familiar with the geography of Charlottesville.

Supporters and Opponents of the Statues:

The occasion of the initial protest was the plans on the part of the Charlottesville city government to take down statues of General Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The issue of whether such statues should be taken down or not is not the subject to be addressed in this article. It will just be said, the arguments on both sides should be heard, and residents of each community with such statues should decide for themselves if the statues should remain or be taken down.

But here, one group of protestors was those who were against taking down the statues. That group numbered a few hundred. A second group were those in favor of removing the statues, and that group also numbered a few hundred. These two groups engaged in the First Amendment right to peaceful protest and were not a part of the violence. They were in fact physically removed from the area where the violence took place. It was probably people from these two groups that Trump had in mind when he said there were “fine people” on both sides. Trump most likely was not referring to the next two groups, or more correctly, sets of groups.

The Alt-Right:

The next group would be the White Supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, and the Klu Klux Klan. By whatever name they call themselves, these are the groups who truly believe whites are superior to non-whites, even to the point of considering non-whites to be less than human. They are truly despicable people, with no logic behind their bigotry.

However, where a big problem comes in that is reflected in this WAPO article is these die-hard bigots have been collectively called the “alt-right.” But here is where the political gunmanship comes in. The name “alt-right” was invented by leftists to try to group conservatives (“right wingers”) in with the die-hard racists.

It is in fact, part and parcel of the Democratic playbook to paint all conservatives and Republicans as racist every election cycle. They do so, as it is the only way they can win elections. Unless 95% of non-whites vote for the Democratic candidate in any given election, Democrats would never win an election. And since Democrats have never done anything to actually better the condition of non-whites, the only way they can keep non-whites voting for them is to convince non-whites that Republicans are racist. Therefore, it is the Democrats’ political interest to keep the issue of race alive in the country, just so they can win elections.

In any case, since the term “alt-right” is the only name I have heard to collectively refer to all of these bigoted groups, it will be the one I will have to use in this article. This group of the alt-right numbered all of about 100 people.

The Alt-Left:

Also numbering only about 100 people was the next group, the ones President Trump dubbed “alt-left.” As far as I can tell, Trump just invented that term, but he did so to offset the “alt-right’ term.

The alt-left was also composed of various groups, starting with Black Lives Matters (BLM). Ignore the spin the media tries to give this group; it is just as much racist as the alt-right, but in this case, it is blacks who are racist against whites. They are also racist against police officers, with chants of “Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon” and “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!” being heard at their rallies.

Another part of the alt-left are those people being paid by leftist billionaire George Soros to show up at the rallies of conservatives and Republicans to instigate violence. It was in fact these paid-for-protestors that showed up at Trump rallies during the 2016 campaign that instigated any violence that occurred at those rallies. That was never reported in the media, as it would not have fit the media’s narrative that Trump was the cause of the violence, but it is in fact what happened.

Similar to this group is Antifa. I hadn’t heard of this group before doing research for this article, but an article on CNN’s website explains what the group is about:

Antifa is short for anti-fascists. The term is used to define a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean toward the left -- often the far left -- but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform…. Some employ radical or militant tactics to get their message across….

“What they’re trying to do now is not only become prominent through violence at these high-profile rallies, but also to reach out through small meetings and through social networking to cultivate disenfranchised progressives who heretofore were peaceful,” Levin said (CNN. What is Antifa?).

Another part of the alt-left are the snowflakes who cannot handle that there are people who disagree with them and will use whatever means necessary to shut them up. These are the protestors and agitators that will shout down conservative speakers at college campuses.

These snowflakes truly believe their self-contradictory mantra “Free speech not hate speech.” Of course, they are the ones who define the difference between the two, with “hate speech” being defined as anything they disagree with.

Let me make it clear, free speech is the bedrock of any free society. And for speech to be truly free, all speech must be allowed and that includes speech that some might find offensive or even despicable, and that includes the speech of alt-right bigots. As much as I hate the rhetoric of the alt-right, it must be allowed. And in fact, the alt-right groups had previously gone to court to receive a permit to protest, being represented by the ACLU in the proceedings.

The all-left, however, had no such permit. They just showed up, without having filed the appropriate paperwork. But then the alt-left is so self-righteous, they think they are above the law. By that I mean, since they just “know” they are correct in their views, they think the normal rules don’t apply to them. And the media reinforces them in this delusion, as the media never reports about the violence this group instigates, and that was the case here.

The Numbers:

The point is, all of the furor you have been hearing in the media over what happened in Charlottesville was instigated by all of about 200 people, with at best 1,000 people involved in all of the protests in Charlottesville. Moreover, the number of members of each of the alt-right and the alt-left groups is probably just few hundred or at best a few thousand each in the entire country.

However, the way the media is playing this, they are making it sound like there are tens or even hundreds of thousands, if not millions of white supremacists and the like in the country, but that is not even close to being the case, unless of course, you lump in conservative with the alt-right. That is what the media and Democrats want people to think, but that is also absolutely false. And as a conservative, I find the confounding of the two repugnant.

Conservatives are Not the Alt-Right:

There is nothing in common between the alt-right and conservatives. Conservatives believe in bettering the conditions of all people and that all people are capable of succeeding and accomplishing great things, if they are just given an opportunity, apply themselves, and work hard enough. While the alt-right believes in bettering the condition of only whites and that only whites can be truly successful, while non-whites are incapable of being productive or accomplishing anything of value.

In Sum:

To summarize this section: there were four groups involved in the protests in Charlottesville. The first was the supporters of Civil War statues and wanted them to remain. The second were the opponents of the statues and wanted them taken down. The third was the alt-right. The fourth was the alt-left.

The first two groups were non-violent, while the latter two were violent. Also important to note is only the first two groups consisted of people who live in Charlottesville. The latter consisted of people who do not live in Charlottesville nor even in Virginia. As such, their concern was not the statues, as they never even have to look at them. The alt-right just used the occasion of the planned taking down of the statues to stage their protest. The members of the alt-left were then bused in to counter-protest the alt-right.

March on Google

In a related issue, there was to be a “March on Google” this Saturday (8/19/20) here in Pittsburgh, PA where I live. It was to be in response to Google firing an employee because he wrote an article that dared to assert there are differences between men and women. This is in contrition to the leftist idea that there are no such differences. The March was to protest this intolerance on the part of Google in not allowing its employees to express their personal views.

However, the March planners received terroristic threats against the March from the alt-left. Given the events in Charlottesville and the inability of the police to protect the protesters, the March planners did not believe the City of Pittsburgh could guarantee the safety of the marchers, so the event has been postponed until such time as safety can be guaranteed.

This is another example of the intolerance of the alt-left. They simply cannot handle anyone expressing anything they disagree with, and they have no respect whatsoever for the First Amendment and its guarantee of free speech and of peaceful assembly. They will use whatever means necessary, including violence, to shut down speech and demonstrations they disagree with.

Let me make it clear, I find the intolerant filth spewing out of the mouths of the alt-right to be despicable and un-American. But the intolerance of the alt-left and its attempts to rescind the First Amendment is just as despicable and un-American as the bigotry of the alt-right. And that leads to the next point.

“Both Sides”

As the WAPO article makes clear, both the alt-right and the alt-left were just as responsible in the fighting that occurred. And again, that is what Trump’s “both sides” comment was referring to. But the media and the Democrats are using that comment by Trump to paint him as a racist and are trying to say he sides with the alt-right. They will further claim he has never renounced the alt-right. But that again, is absolutely false.

President Trump has repeatedly and often renounced David Duke, the White Supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, and the Klu Klux Klan, each by name and collectively. Sean Hannity on his radio shows has been playing a montage of such statements by Trump from over the years, going back to before he even announced his run for the Presidency. But the media keeps repeating the lie that he has never done so.

Now it is true he did not mention these groups by name in his initial statement. But that was shortly after the whole situation occurred and before all the facts were known. Unlike President Obama, who would come out with inflammatory comments immediately after a racial incident and before the facts were know and inflamed the situation even further, Trump was being cautious in not blaming anyone until it was known for sure who was to blame. But once it was, he then mentioned each of these groups.

Of course, that was not good enough for the media and the Trump-detractors. No matter how much he now mentions these groups, they will keep harping on the fact that he did not do so immediately. As such, they will still label him a racist, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.

What is happening is the leftists are still on their crusade to oust Trump from office. I address these attempts in my article Warning! Coup in Process. But since those attempts have failed, they have now turned to labeling Trump as a bigot, thinking that will get rid of him. I predicted in the forgoing article that the left would keep up its coup attempt, and this is their latest tactic.

Let me add here that I waited a week to post this article as I, like Trump, wanted to be sure I had all of my facts straight. And let me say, it is not easy with all of the false information floating around. But I do think all of the preceding is accurate, again, based on eye-witness testimony I have heard.

The Car Attack

I need to make it clear that so far in this article I am referring to the violence that occurred between the alt-right and the alt-left. Both groups are to blame as both groups were shouting obscenities at each other and physically attacking each other. But of course, the left is trying to make it sound like all of the obscenities and violence came from alt-right, with the alt-left somehow just being innocent bystanders.

They are doing so by confounding this violence with the car attack. That was a separate event that occurred near the end of this whole incident and in a different area from the violent confrontations. Those were two-sided, but the car attack was one-sided. The people that the driver ran into were defenseless against someone using such a weapon, which is what a car is in this case. By confounding the two, the leftists are trying to make Trump’s comments about “both sides” to be about the car attack, which it was not.

But in regard to the car attack, when Trump made his initial statement, it was not known what the motives were of the driver nor what group those attacked were a part of. In fact, such is still not known for sure and won’t be until the trial. But that does not keep people from labeling it a “hate crime” or “terrorism.” Again, Trump’s reluctance to do so is because the facts are not yet all known.

But the left is trying to compare Trump not using “White Supremacist” to describe the driver to Obama never using “Radical Islamic Terrorist” to describe those who are clearly such. They are even calling Trump a hypocrite for denigrating Obama for not using that term while he refuses to use the term “White Supremacist.” But the two are not equivalent.

When someone commits a terrorist act while shouting “Allahu Akbar” it is quite clear what their motivation is. But in this case, no such shout was made, and investigations are still underway.

Moreover, in this case, it really does not matter what the driver’s motivation was. He murdered someone, whether it was due to “hate” or an attempt to instigate “terror” or whatever, it does not matter. Trump supports the death penalty. As such, once the man is tried and if convicted, if Trump had his way, he would be executed. And you cannot do anything more to someone than execute him.

Guns

What I found interesting about the WAPO article that I didn’t know before was that guns were in the mix. The reason for this is Virginia is a conceal carry state, and many of the protestors and counter-protesters brought pistols and long guns to the protests, but not a shot was fired. The reason none were was probably a case of mini-MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). Since both sides knew the other side could be armed, whether they could see their guns or not, they didn’t risk shooting, lest they get shot back at.

This bellies the claim of liberals that with loose gun laws, gunfire will break out whenever there is a tense situation. But in fact, the exact opposite is true. If it is known the people might be armed, then in such a situation, people are unlikely to start shooting, knowing they will be quickly killed. But since the media supports the leftist position on guns, none of this has been widely reported.

This is also probably why the car attacker chose to use a car rather than a gun to kill people. He knew if he used a gun, he would be quickly shot. But by using a car, he was safe and sound in his car, able to wreak havoc without risk to himself. But the left has yet to figure out how to regulate cars, so no car control laws have yet to be proposed.

Conclusion

Trump was absolutely correct in his first statement and in every statement he has made since then, and he handled the media masterfully in his press conference. But the media and the left are so engrossed in their hatred for Trump, they denigrate and even blame him for this situation, no matter what he says. But the facts are, both the alt-right and the alt-left were responsible for the violence in Charlottesville, VA, not Donald Trump.

Classic rocker Ted Nugent summed up Trump’s comments well when he appeared on Fox News’ The Specialists, “All violence is condemnable, and all people matter.” That is a very true statement, but somehow, the media is spinning it into Trump being a racist.

But on one thing the media is correct—it is important to properly identify the guilty parties and their motivations. They are doing so very well in pointing to the alt-right and its disgusting and intolerable bigotry. But they also need to point to the alt-left and its hatred of free speech and desire to stop or to instigate violence at any demonstration they disagree with, be it by conservatives or the alt-right.

But most of all, the media and leftists should stop its identity politics and its attempt to paint conservatives with the same brush as the alt-right, calling all conservatives and President Trump bigots. That is only fanning the flames of a divided country and will lead to more tragic events like in Charlottesville.

But at least I am not the only voice articulating this problem with the alt-left. For a similar article to this one, see The Hill’s article, Trump is right: The alt-left exists and the media ignores it.

Finally, below is a paragraph from one of Trump’s speeches on this issue.

As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of bigotry, hatred, and violence. It has no place in America. And as I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws; we all salute the same great flag; and we are all made by the same Almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must discover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans. Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans. We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our Creator, we are equal under the law, and we are equal under our Constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America (copied from Quartz. Full text: Donald Trump says “racism is evil” in his latest statement on Charlottesville. Capitalization of Almighty, Creator, and Constitution added as such should be capitalized).

This is an unambiguous anti-bigotry statement designed to unite the country. All liberals can say against it is, “Well, he doesn’t really mean it.” And thus liberals set themselves up as knowers of people’s hearts, something only God can do (Acts 15:8; 1Corinthians 2:11).

Moreover, many today do not believe “we are all made by the same Almighty God” and “We are equal in the eyes of our Creator.” And that non-belief is at the root of today’s racism. I address that issue in the article Racism, Atheistic Evolution, and Divine Creation.

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The above article was posted on this website August 26, 2017.

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