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You surely do see the difference between "far right" groups and "far left" ones. There are important differences. America has a history of white supremacy, and

You surely do see the difference between "far right" groups and "far left" ones. There are important differences. America has a history of white supremacy, and so Americans are rightly very concerned about its reemergence into the mainstream. The extreme left does not have white supremacist tendencies; the extreme right does. If the extreme left were trolling across the Internet at the scale the extreme right does, and if this leftist trolling were leading distraught men into plowing cars into crowds of fellow citizens, we would rightly be more concerned about extreme-left Internet groups. But today, it is the extreme right that does this, not the extreme left. Far-right would-be terrorists are of greater concern and numbers than their far-left counterparts. The far-left does have fascist tendencies -- I went to UC Berkeley, I've seen it first-hand -- but it simply isn't at the scale the far-right is currently at. This difference of scale is very relevant, and is part of what escalates society's response to the threat. But I do agree with your sub-point that there's an asymmetry between reactions to Stalin and Hitler. There's probably some historical explanation; disgust toward historical figures is a socially acquired reaction. Excluding countries with special relationships to these men (i.e. Germany, Russia), it would make more sense to treat both with equal disdain and mockery.

AckSyn 9y ago
This is some serious level concern trolling going on. They're both equally repugnant regardless of any "history of white supremacy" and none should be tolerated. That's where it should sit. Remove the extremism from the media e.g. antifa and nazis, who really share the same kinds of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance they just don't realize it. What you're left with is sports, the weather, and the occasional crime. But that doesn't sell airtime, does it?
Yetanfou 9y ago
Plowing cars into groups of people is mostly done by people following an ideology which is not generally considered to be "left" or "right" as those labels are not used to describe religiously-inspired movements. In the 2017 EU Terrorism Report [1] - The EU being where I'm based and as such where I have most experience in these matters - done by Europol it is shown that the "left" is a much bigger threat than the "right", with 27 terror attacks executed by "left-wing" terrorists versus 1 attack by "right-wing" terrorists. As an aside, "nationalist" groups are responsible for 99 attacks. Islamic terrorists are responsible for the majority of deadly attacks (135 out of 142 were killed by jihadis). As to what concerns the amount of "trolling" (in which I include breaking in to sites and downloading their data for later perusal, defacing sites, DDoS-attacking sites and similar actions) done on the 'net I'd say that, at least in Europe, the "left" is far more active than the "right", partly due to the fact that the "left" is better organised. One of the reasons for their better organisation is that "left-wing" organisations are given far more leeway than "right-wing" organisations, something which is related to the difference in reactions to "left-wing" icons (both the older ones - Lenin, Stalin, Mao et al - as well as the newer versions - Castro, Chavez, etc) versus "right-wing" icons (mostly Hitler and those around him). Public support for the latter is a punishable offence in some countries and frowned upon in most. Public support for the former is no problem whatsoever and done quite openly. I've never seen people carrying banners with the portrait of Hitler, I've seen plenty carrying portraits of Marx/Lenin/Stalin and Mao. I've seen banners telling us to follow the good example set by Chavez in Venezuela. I've seen a book fair which has "Lenin's corner" as a regular feature. Not some niche left-wing book fair either, the biggest one in the country and the focal point for the cultural intelligentsia. Could you imagine a book fair having "Hitler's corner"? [1] https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2017-eu-terrorism-report-142-failed-foiled-and-completed-attacks-1002-arrests-and-142-victims-died https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2017-eu-terroris...

AckSyn 9y ago

This is some serious level concern trolling going on. They're both equally repugnant regardless of any "history of white supremacy" and none should be tolerated. That's where it should sit. Remove the extremism from the media e.g. antifa and nazis, who really share the same kinds of hatred, bigotry, and intolerance they just don't realize it. What you're left with is sports, the weather, and the occasional crime. But that doesn't sell airtime, does it?

Yetanfou 9y ago

Plowing cars into groups of people is mostly done by people following an ideology which is not generally considered to be "left" or "right" as those labels are not used to describe religiously-inspired movements. In the 2017 EU Terrorism Report [1] - The EU being where I'm based and as such where I have most experience in these matters - done by Europol it is shown that the "left" is a much bigger threat than the "right", with 27 terror attacks executed by "left-wing" terrorists versus 1 attack by "right-wing" terrorists. As an aside, "nationalist" groups are responsible for 99 attacks. Islamic terrorists are responsible for the majority of deadly attacks (135 out of 142 were killed by jihadis). As to what concerns the amount of "trolling" (in which I include breaking in to sites and downloading their data for later perusal, defacing sites, DDoS-attacking sites and similar actions) done on the 'net I'd say that, at least in Europe, the "left" is far more active than the "right", partly due to the fact that the "left" is better organised. One of the reasons for their better organisation is that "left-wing" organisations are given far more leeway than "right-wing" organisations, something which is related to the difference in reactions to "left-wing" icons (both the older ones - Lenin, Stalin, Mao et al - as well as the newer versions - Castro, Chavez, etc) versus "right-wing" icons (mostly Hitler and those around him). Public support for the latter is a punishable offence in some countries and frowned upon in most. Public support for the former is no problem whatsoever and done quite openly. I've never seen people carrying banners with the portrait of Hitler, I've seen plenty carrying portraits of Marx/Lenin/Stalin and Mao. I've seen banners telling us to follow the good example set by Chavez in Venezuela. I've seen a book fair which has "Lenin's corner" as a regular feature. Not some niche left-wing book fair either, the biggest one in the country and the focal point for the cultural intelligentsia. Could you imagine a book fair having "Hitler's corner"? [1] https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2017-eu-terrorism-report-142-failed-foiled-and-completed-attacks-1002-arrests-and-142-victims-died https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2017-eu-terroris...