This past weekend, my brother and his girlfriend came out to visit and it once again reminded me of what really matters in life. I've noticed that having friends and family in town forces someone like me to disconnect from the 24/7 news cycle more than usual, which I always find to be extraordinarily healthy.
On the few occasions that I checked in with Twitter, it seemed as if half the stream was yelling hysterically about antifa and the other half was fear-mongering about neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Both groups seemed utterly deranged and intent on fostering the very destructive environment they claim to be fighting. As I've made clear since I started writing many years ago, I'm completely against violent solutions to our problems. It doesn't make a difference to me whether that violence comes from insecure white dudes with swastika tattoos, or cowardly "anti-facsists" dressed up like video game ninja characters assaulting people. Why does it seems so difficult for people to just condemn both groups for the unconscious goons they are without picking a side.
One especially concerning thing I've noticed recently, is a push by many of those who would self-identify on the "right" end of the political spectrum for the government to identify antifa as a terrorist group. I couldn't think of a more idiotic strategy if I tried -- unless your goal is to give Trump, or whoever comes next, an excuse to further entrench and institutionalize our already existing and unconstitutional surveillance state. As I noted on Twitter:
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