Discussion
  • Read More
    gamerbearMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 4:19pm

    Thank you. As always, you’re incredibly good at breaking down the topic you’re tackling. It may sound like ass-kissing, but I sincerely have come to believe you’re one of the best writers in the country.

    Reply
    • Read More
      MatisyahuSeriousgamerbear
      9/07/17 4:46pm

      seconded, whole freaking heartedly...seeing that a new michael harriot article has been posted is the best part of my every day.

      Reply
  • Read More
    Moon ConspiraciesMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 5:09pm

    Hot damn someone must’ve made an anti-Michael Harriot sub-reddit. Look at them all down there, just trembling with, well, self-loathing probably.

    Reply
    • Read More
      EvenBaggierTrousers5Moon Conspiracies
      9/07/17 5:22pm

      LOL. One of them just brought up Seth Rich and outed himself as a Hannity stooge.

      Reply
  • Read More
    MatthewMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 7:07pm

    Quick reply to the idiots in the greys:

    If you’re wondering why we’re not pulling you out of the greys it’s probably because you are spouting right wing talking points without evidence or your viewpoint is immaterial to/not advancing the conversation.

    For example, saying that intra-racial murder is more prevalent than inter-racial murder is not advancing the conversation of political murders being more likely to come from right wing terrorists than left wing terrorists. It’s a red herring that the right wing media wants you to keep harping on so you never have to address the actual facts presented in an argument (mainly because you’re going to lose every one of those arguments because, well, facts). To say that we’re not giving you an equal opportunity to speak when you’re not contributing topical or pertinent facts or actively attempting to change the subject is disheartening.

    If you had facts that were on topic, we would pull you out of the grays and address them. But you don’t. You never do. Your kind does nothing but keep shotgunning random unrelated tidbits that your overlords have fed you in order to avoid having to address actual issues. And worse? Then you bitch about it like every word that comes out of your pretty little snowflake mouth is somehow important. White people seriously need to get the fuck over themselves. And I should know.

    Also, the fact that we or anyone can read your idiocy by clicking the “pending” button should let you know that your “message” can at least be read which is better than what I can say for most of the alt-right sites that make posts that disagree with their insanity magically disappear.

    So, long story short, either come to play by the rules or fuck off. We’re not concerned if you don’t think the Fox News hand up your ass running your mouth feels like it’s not getting its fair share of screen time.

    Reply
  • Read More
    Sylvester McMonkey McBeanMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 3:48pm
    • Of all the politically motivated murders between 2007 and 2016, right wing extremists committed 74% of them. Left wing extremists committed less than 2 percent, according to the Washington Post.

    This stat confuses the hell out of me. If 76% of “politically motivated” murders were done by left or right wing extremists, who did the other 24%? Seems to me that if you’re driven to murder by a political motive, you are an extremist. People with moderate political leanings wouldn’t ever reach that level of hate/anger.

    Reply
    • Read More
      StartingOverAgainSylvester McMonkey McBean
      9/07/17 5:54pm

      The other 24% is classified as being from Islamists, and it’s limited to one specific attack, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.

      Reply
    • Read More
      Jane ErrorSylvester McMonkey McBean
      9/07/17 5:56pm

      Looks like this got answered, but you wouldn’t have to be “left” or “right” specifically to have an extreme political goal. Think Basque separatists, IRA, etc.

      Reply
  • Read More
    BlackRabbitMichael Harriot
    9/08/17 11:07am

    1) Ruby Ridge was a paranoid but pretty much harmless* gun-nut in the forest who was ambushed by US Marshals and the FBI based on false information. Even though the government has never openly admitted wrongdoing in that case, they were wrong. It should have never happened. A child and an innocent (crazy, but still innocent) woman died for no reason. I like Michael Harriot’s writing as much as the next person, but it’s in poor taste to use that family as an example of the violent alt-right when the Weaver family were the ones who were attacked without provocation.

    2) People on the right are master projectors. They honestly believe we’re all as hateful and violent as they are. Their worldview is so myopic and privileged that they just don’t understand that all we want to do is live our lives with the hope of achieving the same opportunities and freedoms they have. To them, Black Lives Matter means white lives can go to hell, Black Power means white weakness, and the Black Panthers were the black equivalent of the KKK. They think poc thriving = white extinction because whites thriving = poc extinction, historically and literally. It’s a zero sum game to them. They can’t conceive of the idea of success that isn’t built on someone else’s failure. So in order for poc to thrive, we have to do to them what they did to us. They can’t picture it any other way. They do not understand that we just want them to leave us the fuck alone and stop throwing obstacles in our paths, and that’s it. They don’t get it.

    That’s where all this alt-left bullshit comes from. It’s projection. “They’re as bad as we are. They have the shame shitty thoughts about us as we have about them. That means it’s us against them, and we’re totally justified in being angry, bitter turds!” It’s a false equivalence, but they’re too stupid and narcissistic to see that.

    *ETA: He was and possibly still is a white supremacist, though. That should be noted.

    Reply
    • Read More
      Matthew11CBlackRabbit
      9/09/17 5:12am

      I was actually compelled to create a Kinja account *just* to let you know that this the most succinct and best written commentaries on not just the alt-right, but the GOP/conservatives in general, especially over the past decade. AND no insults, just honest observations. I think that this is the first time I’ve seen it all laid out in this way; many people (myself included) start to, but end up focusing on one particular trait and hammering on it. It’s frustrating to watch people whose entire outlook on life was shaped by ‘identity politics’ suddenly reversing course because the other identities have a tiny fraction of the voice that white males have had here since the 16th century...and as a result are not only willing but actively working to scuttle the ship, with care being taken to destroy everything and everyone they are able to before we reach that tipping point where they’re no longer dominant.

      Anyhow, thank you.

      Reply
    • Read More
      BlackRabbitMatthew11C
      9/10/17 10:40am

      “It’s frustrating to watch people whose entire outlook on life was shaped by ‘identity politics’ suddenly reversing course because the other identities have a tiny fraction of the voice that white males have had here since the 16th century.”

      This. The cognitive dissonance must be mindnumbing.

      Reply
  • Read More
    Enkidu98001Michael Harriot
    9/07/17 11:18pm

    We shouldn’t have to keep explaining how propaganda works. Its like the only thing immune to absorbtion  by repetition is the truth.

    Reply
  • Read More
    1025dsgnMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 6:42pm

    Great article and yet somehow impossible to get through to the percentage of the population that wants to equate racism with standing up to racism.

    Reply
  • Read More
    llhall2Michael Harriot
    9/07/17 5:16pm

    THANK YOU.. Every time I visit my rural elderly parents, I’m assaulted by Fox News this and “I get a feeling you don’t like Trump” and “He’s bringing jobs back.” etc..

    Now when I visit, I try to keep clippings tucked into my wallet of statistics, fact checks, and this has broken down that term perfectly with the numbers behind it. You’ve saved me some footwork. Cuz my father will, invariably, say “Where’s the numbers to back that up? You sure about that?” I know this term is going to come up.

    Reply
  • Read More
    BomaYeMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 4:42pm

    You’re right, there’s not, but Donald Trump didn’t make it up. It’s not like he’s that good, after all. It sure as hell didn’t just start being used after Charlottesville, either. It was Clinton Democrats that brought it into the political mainstream and weaponized it against the left, Trump just took what was already handed to him.

    Reply
  • Read More
    TonawandaBlueMichael Harriot
    9/07/17 4:32pm

    Here’s the difference between the extremist Left and the extremist Right: the extremist Right gets you mobs carrying torches & chanting “Jews will not replace us!”, strange fruit hanging from trees, and authoritarians murdering innocent people in the street & facing no consequences for it.

    OTOH The extremist Left wants everyone to have free healthcare, a living wage & to be treated with respect by their government.

    The morons showing more concern about antifa than the Nazis and White Supremacists are just that: morons.

    Reply