Left of the room or all the way out to the parking lot? I should have heeded your warning earlier - my fault.
This came up a lot with the anti-G20 rallies in Hamburg where we also had disparate groups By far the majority of people were just average citizens protesting. Then you have the likes of Schwarze Block / Rote Flora crowd which includes some genuine leftist radicals, anarchists, plus quite frankly a bunch of kids who turned up from out of town for the fight/fun "antifa" is more difficult like you say, as it has traditionally described counter protestors have have turned up to oppose neo nazi/far right gatherings across Germany for years. There has been some writing that the approach does more harm than good, as it can lead to violent conflict - compared to alternatives. This was all pretty much confirmed by Elizabeth Neumann - former assistant secretary of counterterrorism and threat prevention after at DHS. DHS does not see antifa as a threat - more something that can cause an issue for local law enforcement.
Or just stop insuring rogue departments that have too many claims, and/or have punitive financial terms in the case of departments that have too many insured officers with large numbers of black marks. Similar to a law firm with too many negligent staff. In my experience, nothing angers the partners more than rogue conduct that the insurer refuses to cover This kind of thing happened after the christchurch earthquakes. many of the older buildings were badly damaged in the first quake. Insurance paid out. Then they were hammered in the second quake. Insurance paid out again, but refused to cover those types of buildings again. This had the effect of business physically moving to newer buildings in other parts of town, and the central city being completely rebuilt. So could insurers simply say, we will insure risks - but not criminal actions? After all, why should insurers, and ultimately tax payers, underwrite murders?
I can't afford the time to research that right now. I'm waiting for QAnon and white-supremacy membership cheques to clear first then I'll be able to delve back into it with you.
That was a good response. My question to you, which was not answered, and even reading through this discussion, has not been answered (although I think you hinted at it) was: Could you define "extremist," please? Your initial inquiry was whether you thought this thread was "extremist" and I asked for your definition. Now, you have engaged in some conversation and it seems that your point is well understood (even if few people agree with it), but I would like to follow up with your initial question: Do you think this thread is extremist? Could you define "extremist," please?
One, final thought "Having more in common ideologically than not" is not even close to what you originally said I don't think anyone would disagree that the two groups have more in common than not. That is why they are commonly together at the protests. However, that is a far cry from the being "ideologically the same." This is not a semantic argument. Having more in common is not being the same. Maybe your opinion evolved. If so, bravo.
There's extremism lurking around here for sure - and that's to be expected on any platform, it's just not as obvious when it comes from the left. By contrast, you can go to 4chan or any Youtube comments section and expect far-right-wing drivel and conspiracy theories up the wazoo - there just isn't really an equivalent on the left except for Twitter, but Twitter is the mob. I'd expect posters who've been around here since the early 2000's to have more balanced views, that was the case back then from what I can remember but in the last 8 or so years, it's taken a really nasty turn. That isn't to say there isn't great intellectual discussion going on between people who are obviously well-read but it doesn't excuse "shrugging off" violence as a "means-to-an-end" as long as it is in the name of the dispossessed (that's how I would define extremism to answer your question i.e anything goes as long as it's in defiance of Trump or "institutional racism".
The Red Brigade had secret members all over the place in Italy throughout the 70's - many of them infiltrated groups and even political organizations in a bid to further their narrative. The likelihood that BLM has similar infiltration is very high. The stated edicts of BLM and Antifa are not identical - I'll grant you that but it doesn't make a difference in my mind. Just like skinhead biker gangs having different membership guidelines than that of the Trump campaign; its the same culture interested in having the same outcome.
"shrugging off" violence as a "means-to-an-end" as long as it is in the name of the dispossessed Interesting. I will take that as your answer. I am not an extremist, then. Good to know. Thanks. Would it make me an "extremist" if I said that the "violence" we have seen over the summer was incidental to the greater protest? Not a "means-to-an-end" because it was not the focus of the protests, at least not by the Black Lives Matter protesters. Is that "shrugging off" the violence? I hope not.
Soho was basically destroyed (just one example) and because you think it's incidental, that's 'ok' in your mind?
First, SOHO was NOT "basically destroyed." a) There was extensive looting and damage, but it was not "basically destroyed." It would take a major catastrophic event to destroy a 9 block by 5 block area of NYC. b) It had little to do with Antifa or Black Lives Matters. In fact, the damage in SoHo is the very definition of "incidental" to the protests that were going on at the time. Second, you confuse "incidental" with "okay". What is the definition of "incidental"? Incidental means happening or likely to happen in an unplanned or subordinate conjunction with something else. Nothing says it is "Okay" and I never said it was okay. It is not "okay" for people to loot and destroy. In fact, it is illegal. Over 250 people were arrested for the looting and destruction in SoHo that night. That, by the way, are over 250 more people than who were arrested over the shooting of Jacob Blake. However, I am far, far, far less concerned that a Verizon store, a Best Buy, an Apple Store and a few drugstores were looted than an unarmed black man who was cruelly and needlessly "murdered" by police in Minnesota. [Note: I put "murdered" in quotes as the officers responsible for Mr. Floyd's death have yet to be tried]