Is Antifa bad? What am I missing?

[Alien Redrum]

Every time I see them on the news, I generally have no problem with whose ass they are stomping.

I know the right hates them because they are aggressive and they aren't used to that from a left-leaning group. But is there more?

[Neon Maniac]

They are an extremist group. Basically the leftist version of something like the Proud Boys or neo nazis.

Whether they are good or bad depends on your personal views of extremism and politics.

For me, extremism of any flavor leads to or already is a softened form of fascism. Oregon has a large population of both sides. In general, when they clash, I'll side with Antifa, but at the same time when you've just got Antifa alone, listening to their rhetoric is the same to me as listening to a Patriot Prayer, an alt-right group with roots from Proud Boys.

At the end of the day, to me, they're both groups that want to impose their will on others, are willing to take to the streets in violence to do it, and are both afraid to do it with unmasked faces. During the purge I'd have no issues with mowing down both sides in an armored APC with a mounted .50 cal machine gun.

Another way to look at it, for me, is like this:

When Hells Angels and Gypsy Jokers get into a turf war, like the Harrah's casino shoot out in Vegas a few years back, I root for the Gypsy Jokers as they're the home team. But on their own, I'd stick both groups in a burlap sack and drop them in a river like baby rats.

[Alien Redrum]

Perfectly explained.

In general, when they clash, I'll side with Antifa, but at the same time when you've just got Antifa alone, listening to their rhetoric is the same to me as listening to a Patriot Prayer, an alt-right group with roots from Proud Boys.

100% accurate. I love how they will beat the shit out of the pussy Proud Boys, but at the same time, I'm all, "Oh just shut the fuck up already."

I do wish they would empower more Democrats somewhat to have a spine, but I'm with you 100% on this.

[Neon Maniac]

I don't know what it's like out east, but Oregon has long been a haven for extremist groups on both sides. From the mid 80's to early 90's when Portland earned its fame as a protest city, it was mainly led by those groups. Back then on the alt right were skinheads and neo nazis. On the alt left were the anarchists, and a bunch of odd side groups all with their own agendas, but alt liberal, like the Earth Liberation Front, which is the group that goes and lights logging trucks or equipment on fire so they can save the earth. Writing that, people must've been a lot more honest with their names back then.

The anarchists were based in Eugene, and pretty much melted down after the Seattle WTO riots I think. They'd also been infiltrated by feds for years by then, and most people thought if you were an anarchist, you were a fed, an informant, or an idiot who couldn't see what was going on. The anarchists always had their faces covered by bandanas. They had their own political show on public access and they'd sit around with their bandanas on. People joked that they were always masked because they were mainly cops now. When they went away Anonymous stepped in and took their place. They were peaceful mostly, but wore the fucking Fawkes masks. They did do a lot to bring all the left groups together again. From there, everything somehow morphed into Antifa here. And oddly, antifa looks and acts a lot like the anarchists used to. They almost dress the same, and they mainly do the same things. It really does make me wonder if they are created by the government or at least influenced by them.