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Comment by feoren | Hacker News Reader

> BLM protestors flying "antifa" flags ... are just as bad as Nazis

Let's be clear about what you're saying: people who are vehemently opposed to Nazis are just as bad as Nazis. This is the definition of "fake centrism" or (sarcastically) "enlightened centrism". You're really saying that a new flag created to express opposition to Nazis, fascism, authoritarianism, and genocide is as bad as a flag that has been used for almost a century to represent those exact things? They're just as bad as each other? Are there good and bad people "on both sides", too? You need to seriously take a hard look at yourself in a mirror if you believe this. One group is expressly saying "we should subjugate and genocide non-whites" and the other group is expressly saying "we should not tolerate genocide and subjugation" and they are just as bad in your eyes!?

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I'm sure you also believe Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a democratic country. They must be, if that is what they call them self.

You need to look yourself in the mirror or better yet, read a history book or two about fascism and national socialism and take a good look at antifa again.

You're right in that comparing modern antifa against 1940s Nazis, but I was comparing the modern incarnations of both (which wasn't clear in my post). As had been mentioned, the actions of both groups in current times is what I meant.

You've actually brought up a good point, with the overuse of the term "Nazi" it's hard to have a meaningful conversation about the far right and their deeply unpleasant beliefs. Simply calling them Nazis is lazy and unhelpful.

People vehemently opposed to Nazis can be exactly as bad as Nazis. It's not the flag; it's not even really the ideology; it's the actions. If your actions are as bad as the actions of Nazis, then you are as bad as Nazis.

You and CodeGlitch can argue whether that applies in this situation. But the idea itself is perfectly reasonable.

I'm not claiming nobody is as bad as the Nazis. I am claiming that the core belief of "Antifa", represented by both its name and its flag, is "anti-fascism", which is nearly synonymous with being "anti-Nazi". I am also claiming that people who wave the Nazi flag in modern times are explicitly calling for the genocide of other human beings. Finally, I am claiming that being against genocide and being for genocide are not somehow automatically equal, like two poles of some spectrum; rather, that such a belief is a well-known false equivalency known as "enlightened centrism" that is commonly used by people who actually just outright sympathize with Nazis and just don't want to admit it. None of these claims should be controversial in any way whatsoever. So I don't really understand what you're trying to rebut here.

The core belief of antifa is a revolution at any cost. Train for when the time comes. Their actions and tactics mimic those of fascist when coming to power in Italy after WW1.

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