So, apparently new biden administration type documents are surfacing calling socialism and anarchism "terrorist ideologies", causing the left to freak out about being targetted on the same level as neo nazis in terms of anti terrorism strategies. Once again, being a "free speech absolutist", let me just say, "see I told you so". I warned people this would happen. If you go after fascists, there's nothing stopping the government from going after the left. Better not open that can of worms. And now it's open.
But, I do have to ask, is it really a terrorist ideology? Well, first of all, given my criminology expertise, I'm still not convinced that Biden is going after every single person with leftist leanings, merely violent ones. But, the question is, does socialism and anarchism predispose people to violence? And I guess my TLDR answer is "kind of".
I don't believe all socialists or even anarchist leaning people are violent. Especially socialists. Bernie calls himself a socialist. Democratic socialists exists and they tend to use reformist means to act within the system. They are not a national security threat and should not be targetted. I really don't believe anyone who acts peacefully should be targetted by the government. I merely think the government is going to investigate people to see if they are terrorists, which is reason to be concerned if you care about civil liberties, but I doubt that they will just like, arrest people for being a socialist.
But, and here's the but, here's why I kind of see where the administration is coming from. While there are peaceful forms of mild and moderate socialism out there, some of which I'm not necessarily opposed to, and which I believe are compatible with the existing "capitalist"/market system (think worker coops and codetermination), many many socialists are Marxists. And marxist ideology does have some violent tendencies. After all, the solution to capitalism is to overthrow the system and establish their own system. And that's what makes it a "terrorist ideology", how are you going to accomplish THAT if you're not openly advocating for terrorism? Hence my uneasiness with socialism as an ideology, and why I tend to shy away from all but the most mild and peaceful forms of socialism out there. Those guys, are nuts in my opinion. I do see why the Biden admin would see them as a national security risk, and yeah, that's justified. If your goal is to overthrow the United States government via force, is it any surprise that people deem you a terrorist? Same with anarchists.
I don't necessarily believe the Biden admin is trying to crack down on the left for craps and giggles, I'm not convinced this is another red scare or mccarthyism. The concerns about that are somewhat valid. But I do think if you're trying to keep on your toes against violent people and ideologies looking to overthrow the system, that targetting leftists who are predisposed to violence makes sense. I do think that the training manual in question lacks nuance, as clearly not all forms of socialism are violent, but many are, and we should be talking about the violence problem the far left has.
I mean, to clarify, my actual stance is no action should be taken against anyone for speech alone, rather criminal acts such as actually committing violence should be taken into consideration before acting, but honestly, if you go around posting guillotine memes and going on about the blood of the bourgeoisie in the streets, can you really be surprised when the government takes an interest in you as a potential extremist threat? Cut that crap out. I mean, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I might have rather radical and unconventional views, but at least I don't advocate for violence.
If the left doesn't want to be targetted as potential terrorists, they should renounce those tactics right here and now. Whatever your beliefs are, you should advocate for them via peaceful, political means. Even with how screwed the system is against the left. We should be trying to build a coalition and either take over the democratic party from within, or run a third party to challenge them from the outside. We should focus on winning over hearts and minds so we can win elections. No good is ever going to come from violence and calls for revolution. That just gets you on an FBI watch list where your civil liberties get curtailed. I mean, this is common sense people.
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