In the last couple of days, I’ve seen a lot of politicians and pundits say that we need to tackle the issue of violent white supremacism.
Yes, we should.
White supremacism is an evil ideology. I am not going to defend it in any way. I condemn it with every fiber of my being.
That doesn’t mean that I am not allowed to worry about the government going after white supremacism. Remember that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
There are two big problems I see in a war on white supremacism, and both of them relate to collateral damage.
One: Myopia
The Federal Government is very good at getting myopia. Focusing intently on one issue to the negligence of others.
Back in the 90’s the big fear was militias. This was the post-Oklahoma city bombing era. When 60 Minutes ran a special, it was on groups like the Michigan Militia and what they represented.
It was during this time that radical Islam sprang up. The first World Trade Center bombing and the USS Cole bombing took place while the government was busy addressing the threat of militias.
Then 9/11 happened, and the Federal Government refocused on radical Islamic terrorism. Following 9/11 there was the Fort Hood shooting, several attacks on military recruiting stations, the Boston Marathon bombing.
All the while, violent white supremacism is metastasizing on the internet.
Now some high profile shootings happen and we are going to focus on white supremacism. That needs to be dealt with but at the expense of what?
The Synagogue shootings and El Paso were carried out by white supremacists. Dayton was not. Neither was the Tacoma ICE attack.
Look at how much coverage the media did for Antifa. Is a big push to counter white supremacism going to result in ignoring violent Left-wing extremism.
This is not whataboutism. I want to stop all forms of violence. I am concerned that because of popular sentiment, that will not happen.
Two: Bad Faith
This is the part that really worries me. The Left argues in bad faith. Months ago, I wrote a post about Ted Cruz condemning an actual Nazi running for office in Chicago. Rather than people on the Left saying “thank you for condemning that” the response was “all GOP are Nazis and you should step down too.”
Then there was the Covington Catholic School media circus, in which we were told by that the MAGA hat was the new Klan hood or Swastika. This has become the defense for every time a Trump supporter gets beat up, that the MAGA hat is tantamount to a Klan hood or Nazi uniform.
The radical Left has decided that all Republicans are white supremacists. Ben Shapiro addressed this on Twitter just the other day.
Here is a former Obama staffer explaining how all Fox News viewers are the same as the El Paso shooter.
If the Federal Government goes after violent white supremacism, what stops this from being hijacked by the Left as a weapon against every Republican in this country.
Clearly, there are people who see these tragedies as just an opportunity to go after their political opponents. The anti-gun crowd is notorious for this. They never explain how their new law would have stopped the last shooter, but they push the new law anyway.
We need to deal with this threat, I am in no way suggesting that we do nothing.
I am just concerned that what will happen is that such action will become an anti-Republican which hunt that turns a blind eye to other forms of violence, allowing them to grow.
I wish I didn’t have these concerns, but I no longer have any faith in our system that people want to solve problems and instead just want to use every opportunity to dig at opponents.
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