Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Antifa, Proud Boys and Libertarianism

UPDATE below: More Gavin McInnes
Proud Boys and founder Gavin McInnes
By Robert Wenzel

At the post, Proud Boys Beat Protesters After Gavin McInnes Event At Manhattan GOP Club, I see a number of comments cheering on the Proud Boys.

There was this:
Good stuff. PBs are the frontlines against leftist scum. Libertarians were in that fight, and they are the real heroes of our movement.
And this:
I've read Gavin McInnes's articles over the years from time to time, listened to some of his interviews and podcasts, and even bought an absolutely hilarious (yet profane) book he wrote ("How to Piss in Public")...and I've never seen even a glimmer of "white power" bigotry, anywhere. Maybe I'm not current enough or hip enough, but I just find him funny and refreshingly honest and outspoken.
Notice, dear readers, there is nothing libertarian about these guys, Libertarianism is about non-aggression. That is not what these guys are about. They are about physical clashes with those who have opposing views.

From Wikipedia:
The Proud Boys have a four-degree initiation process for new members. In the first degree, a recruit must declare "I am a Western chauvinist who refuses to apologize for creating the modern world." The second degree involves five or more Proud Boys punching the recruit until he names five breakfast cereals. To earn the third degree, the recruit must get a Proud Boy tattoo.The Proud Boys' website says that the fourth degree is reserved for those who have "endured a major conflict related to the cause [which is said requires the recruit to get into a physical fight with an Antifa activist at a public rally].
Here are McInnes clips which seem to back up that take.

Ludwig von Mises wrote in his book, Liberalism,  when commenting on the soft-Fascism in Italy that battled the extremely violent Bolsheviks in the streets:
The frank [Bolshevik] espousal of a policy of annihilating opponents in the murders committed in the pursuance of it have given rise to an opposition movement ....
Fascism can triumph today because universal indignation at the infamies committed by the socialists and communists has obtained for it the sympathies of wide circles. But when the fresh impression of the crimes of the Bolsheviks has paled, the socialist program will once again exercise its power of attraction on the masses. For Fascism does nothing to combat it except to suppress socialst ideas and to persecute the people who spread them. If it wanted really to combat socialism, it would have to oppose it with ideas.
The same goes for the Proud Boys. They mouth nationalist slogans but there is no intellectual battle against central power. Indeed, if in their physical battle with the Antifa, if somehow their small group came to power, they would not be libertarians, they would be central power advocates for their side.

It is the same with Antifa, if they somehow came to power they would be central advocates for their side.

There is nothing libertarian about either of these groups. They must be monitored because of their extreme and violent views but, thankfully, at present both groups are very small.

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of








UPDATE

More Gavin McInnes:

17 comments:

  1. I don't know if the Proud Boys identify as Libertarians or whether it has been projected on them by wishful thinkers. But assume they do identify as Libertarians. Isn't one of the few jobs of government - in a libertarian society - to keep the peace and a modicum of public order? If an army of Leftists has declared war on you and the government sides with them, does that mean the Libbertarian position is just to sit back and take it? You know, non aggression and all that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Robert What?

      We clearly have different definitions of "keeping the peace"

      Delete
    2. In case you haven't noticed, most libertarians are just happy to roll over for the Left while retreating to their echo chambers and repeating their little dogmas to deaf ears.

      Delete
    3. Re: Robert what?
      ── Isn't one of the few jobs of government - in a libertarian society - to keep the peace and a modicum of public order? ──

      Based on the standard you're insinuating, then the brown shirts who were participating in street brawls with the Communists in the Weimar Republic were all peace-keepers.

      ── If an army of Leftists has declared war on you and the government sides with them, does that mean the [Libertarian] position is just to sit back and take it? ──

      I as a libertarian know I can do whatever I damn please, provided I don't take someone else's stuff and I don't hurt others who are not attacking me or my property. A person who attacks others that have not attacked him or her is a savage and a barbarian, not a libertarian.

      Delete
  2. I love watching white trash lay claim to the entirety of Western Civilization and building the modern world, like they split their spare time between Greek poetry and vector calculus.

    There's an Ayn Rand quote asking who is making the more ridiculous claim: the Southern racist who thinks that because some black people are criminals, all should be treated like criminals, or the German racist who thinks that because some Germans were Beethoven or Mozart, he should be treated like Beethoven or Mozart.

    I think she would appreciate the chutzpah of these idiots trying to pull off both at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But they'll actually fight for the West, instead of whining like a coward on the sidelines such as yourself.

      You are not better than those people, arrogant weakling. Not by a long shot.

      Delete
    2. @Twerking Surgeon

      These morons you're white-knighting can barely spell "West" let alone protect it.

      Everyone's better than them.

      Delete
    3. Oh blow me tough guy. I can read 2000 year old Latin poetry, pray to Jesus and play a little Bach on the piano between working as a chemist and studying to be an engineer, all without initiating violence against my neighbors. That's what western culture and modernity are. These clowns are just losers larping in the street, an echo of a self-idolizing, barbaric past. Neo-pagans worshipping their own tribe because they can smell their own mortality. It's pathetic. What a bunch of little pussies.

      Delete
    4. Gutless, excuse-making pussies.

      They ought to carve that on your tombstones.

      Delete
    5. It's pretty cute to watch loser white guys use the accomplishments of their distant cousins and ancestors to define themselves and prop up their egos. You're literally pointing to things other people did while you ramble on about how proud it makes you feel about yourself. It's kinda pathetic and sooooo stupid. It's auto-biographical historical fan-fiction where you imagine yourself as Isaac Newton or Aristophanes. Just a bunch of broken little boys engaging in a self-soothing ritual reenacting past glories. If you were to sit down an watch old videos of your high school football glory days there would be more honesty in it, even if it would still be kinda pathetic. At least that would be shit you actually did yourself, rather than leaning on your ancestors' mighty deeds. What a bunch of losers.

      Delete
    6. HERE LIES Twerking Surgeon

      CHOKED ON TRUMP'S BALLS

      2004 - 2018

      RIP

      Delete
  3. I wrote the second comment you quoted above. I wasn't "cheering on" the Proud Boys. I was simply noting, for what it's worth, that as for myself, I've never observed anything overtly or patently racist or bigoted coming from their purported inspiration, Gavin McInnes; I was just suggesting that he's not directly behind these conflicts, and has a lot more going for him in terms of talent, creativity, entertainment chops, than merely being the head or leader of some ostensibly "white power" group.
    Again, I don't folow all of the threads and drama of the genesis of these groups, their evolution and splinter-groups, etc. If I go out and attend a Robert Wenzel lecture and afterward go bust some heads on the street, is it RW's fault? Is it fair to portray him as my "leader"---?
    ---D. Afton

    ReplyDelete
  4. When it comes to rationalizing cowardice and surrender, libertarians have everyone beat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The future does not belong to the victors, it belongs to the survivors. Roll up your sleeves and dive into the scuffle tough guy. Good luck!

      Whatever lies at the Dr end of your dick swinging won't be freedom. The fight is so longer about anything, it's just about the fight. Have fun princess.

      Delete
    2. Whatever you need to tell yourself to make you feel better about having no courage, I suppose.

      Delete
  5. "The second degree involves five or more Proud Boys punching the recruit until he names five breakfast cereals."

    Are they also required to maintain a 2.0 GPA to stay in the gang?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like your sense of humor has gone the way of the leftist. If you don’t think the breakfast cereal requirement is funny, you’re already dead inside.

      Delete