The Fake Antifa Manual

There is no such thing as “The Antifa Manual.” It is FAKE NEWS that appears on a couple insignificant right-wing web “news” sites, but is now spreading around the conservative wing of social media as proof of “home-grown left-wing terrorists.” I’m not going to post a link because I will not give fake news sites any more traffic. But if you read it, it is clearly a fake.  To someone who has occupied the progressive left for my whole life, I can assure you, it reads like a right-wing conservative would THINK a left-wing radical would sound.  No one who is a left-wing radical would ever write this. There are many things that mark it as a fake, but here are a few: 1) It cautions readers to keep the manual secret and not allow any “Cis [gender] White males” to see it because “they’re all fascists.” Anybody on the left would know that progressive White males would be and important target audience, and a real terrorist organization would never make this strategic error. 2) It is a scan of a printed document using a font that looks like a dirty old-fashioned typewriter, except you can tell it’s a computer font because all the “dirty” marks are identical. I mean really! No one under the age of 40 would think of printing a secret manual on paper. If you want it to be secret you put it online in a password protected PDF, or better yet, on the “dark web.” It looks 1960-ish, intended to make older White people associate it with their worst 1960s radical group nightmares! Incongruously, the title is in a computer-generated “stencil” font! 3) There is no organization called “Antifa.” It is a VERY loosely connected group of organizations opposing White nationalism and supremacy and MAY include SOME anarchists who are bent on causing violence.  Now look at images of the counter-protesters at Charlottesville who Trump labeled Antifa forces. Did you see all those White male faces? Have you heard about the “Redneck Revolt” who were counter-protesting? How is the manual’s antagonism toward White males consistent with all the White males Trump labeled as Antifa? 4) The most ridiculous thing about this “terrorist manual” is that it DOES NOT ADVOCATE VIOLENCE! Not even a little bit! The most FORCEFUL thing it advocates is VOTE! Like the worst thing a conservative could think of is for left-wing progressives to vote! Other than that, it’s just a lengthy rant about what White conservatives most fear about change: Socialism and White people becoming a minority! The tactics it recommends are ridiculous; e.g. promote abortion services because White people are more likely to have access to abortion leading (in their twisted mind) to White people become minorities. Abortion of White babies! Does this sound a lot like a conspiracy theory from White supremacists? Is that really what the author thinks left-wing radicals would promote? Where are the instructions for making a bomb? Where are the instructions how to create a secret terror cell? Seriously, if you pay attention to the news you would know that any real terrorist organization would tell people to create small cells isolated from each other so everybody doesn’t get caught. So, a secret left-wing terrorist organization, if one existed, would never call itself “Antifa” because everybody is talking about “Antifa!”  Enough? Should I go one? The sad thing is it works on White conservatives because it supports what they want to believe: That “Antifa” was responsible for violence in Charlottesville, even though the only person killed was the victim of a Nazi terrorist and there’s absolutely no evidence that counter-protesters initiated violence, except the statements of Nazis. What happened to the children of the “greatest generation?” Are you all so afraid that people of color are taking away your power that you’ve abandoned the principles your fathers fought and died for in World War II; that you align yourself with Nazis and fascists? It makes my cry when I think about what my father would think. Make America great: Stop reposting stupid crap designed to drive emotional wedges between Americans! JUST STOP!