Why does he refuse to condemn them?

[BmorePat87]

(09-30-2020, 01:12 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: This is a patently unfair statement to make.  Whether it's "pervasive" or not, the undeniable fact is that far left groups have been engaging in routine acts or looting, arson, and rioting over the past several months.  Attempts to deflect that away to other groups is disingenuous at best.



Only because they don't count rioting, looting and arson as domestic terror.  Also, the study, which is mischaracterized on this board as a matter of routine, states that far right groups are the greater "lethal threat".  This is rather key as it omits slews of lesser crimes, you know the types of crimes engaged in on a daily basis in a city like Portland.  Even this "lethal threat" accounts for far less deaths per year, at its peak, than occurs in any given week in the city of Chicago.  Does this mean we should be unconcerned by far right domestic terrorism?  Absolutely not.  It also does not mean that far right domestic terrorism means we should ignore far left violence and criminal conduct, especially when such conduct is far more frequent of late.  Sunset is absolutely correct and answering him with "whatabout" is poor form.



Completely agreed, although the term "white supremacist" gets thrown around with an ease that I find disturbing.

I take issue with characterizing that as whataboutism as I directed him back to the topic: white supremacists. He brought up left wing violence as an excuse to not condemn right wing violence. I do not think that what he did was whataboutism either, though I made it clear I disagreed with it being used as an excuse to not condemn white supremacists.

I think pointing to non ideological crime may fall under the same category but I think going down that road gets away from the topic at hand.

To your comment at the end, I agree but I also think it doesn't get thrown around enough regarding some groups. Proud Boys isn't a white supremacist group, they're certainly a western nationalist group though. That said, they have a lot of ties and crossover with actual supremacist groups, and we shouldn't discount the role that the ideology plays in that community as a whole. A lot of dishonesty went into trying to characterize the Unite the Right rally as not being a White supremacist event, which it absolutely was.