theroot | My interest in tackling this all started with this post Jessica Chastain retweeted, which talked about the so-called alt-left “being a problem.”
My annoyance at yet another visible white celebrity acting all fake
deep about a concept she or he clearly doesn’t have the juice or
credentials to discuss (i.e., anti-fascists are in no way the same as
actual Nazis, and to portray them as such is sympathizing with fascists)
aside, I was once again bombarded with the fake word “alt-left.”
I’m
not sure how the word even came to be (but I’m pretty sure the New York
Times had something to do with it, since they’ve been back on their bullshit for the last couple of weeks with these terrible hot takes), but the irony of it popping up right
as anti-fascist groups (antifa) have become more visible recently, and
are putting themselves on the line to defend people from white
supremacists, does not escape me.
Confused? You shouldn’t be. And here’s why:
1. White media branding antifa (and other resistance groups) “the alt left” changes the conversation.
In
the case of “alt-left,” there’s a lot to unpack in it. As it stands,
white media named it such to stand as the opposite of “alt-right.” It’s
supposed to exist as a dichotomy. Two extremes that exist in this world.
One apparently cannot exist without the other. One’s ying and one’s
yang. Destined to fight each other until the end of all time ...
...
except that’s bullshit, insidiously brilliant bullshit. You know why?
Because “alt-right” itself originally emerged as a baby-soft, Johnson
& Johnson-approved synonym for white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
Add that to Mother Jones’ and the Los Angeles Times’ humanizing
these assholes by pointing out how “dapper” they are and how they are
just like us, and it obviously gave way to the vast resurgence of white
supremacists ... just by a different name in order to make them more
palatable.
Interestingly enough, however, that actually didn’t
work for long. “Alt-right”—as a term, that is—is something black people
and other people of color were privy to from jump street, which made
anyone using the term “alt-right” seriously look like an insufferable
limp goat.
So.
It wasn’t too long before “alt-right” meant something negative again
(as it should). Which is why calling antifa its antithesis, “alt-left,”
is notable. Without the racially critical lens that white supremacy
tries to avoid, “alt-right” can be reduced to meaning that one is way too conservative,
to the point that it is impolite and problematic. And because white
people have shown historically that they are bad with definitions
(coincidence? unlikely), most would opt to assume that “alt-left” simply
means being way too liberal.
And that’s how antifa goes
from fighting Nazis to having to waste time and precious energy
distinguishing themselves from them. It’s a similar case with Black
Lives Matter and black resistance groups, too. They get lumped in with
the Ku Klux Klan, even though that logically makes no sense. These are
false equivalencies, of course, but that’s the point. These erroneous
comparisons exist for the sole purpose of derailment from taking the
fight to white supremacy. Distraction. And also?
Denial.
