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Comment by pixl97 | Hacker News Reader

Ah yes, I too conflate bills written by organized lobbyists with a loosely affiliated group that says American shouldn't be ran by Nazi's. The Nazi's running America get very mad about that and ensure to flood the airwaves with how cities in the US are mile wide smoking craters due to people who don't like authoritarians.

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The point GP was making, which holds as a general rule, is that simply adopting a moniker does not necessarily mean that it accurately describes you. Your argument pre-supposed that just because Antifa self-describes as antifascist, it inherently is, and that the CEO was expressing an opposition to the concept of antifascism, rather than simply expressing opposition to the specific group.

If Antifa’s record speaks for itself, then you don’t need to play these kinds of word games. If some CEO spoke unflatteringly of The Red Cross or Habitat For Humanity, that would say more about them than anything, not because they have virtuous sounding names (though they admittedly do) but because they’ve established a specific track record of public service.

The point pixl97 was making was that they believed anti-anti-fascist described the Flock CEO.

If Flock's reputation spoke for itself, their CEO wouldn't have to play these kind of legal games.

I don't even know what antifa _is_ anymore, honestly. I only see it used as a boogie man by the right in discourse online.

But I _do_ know that when someone tags someone as "antifa" they are making a political statement and aligning themselves with a certain group that perceives "antifa" a certain way. "See, I hate those damn' antifa terrorists, I'm in the same camp as you! Please help my company make money!"

No disagreement there, and I think it was an inane comment on Langley’s part, to be clear

> The point GP was making, which holds as a general rule, is that simply adopting a moniker does not necessarily mean that it accurately describes you.

I'm deeply curious why you think someone would identify as an anti-fascist if they were not, in fact, anti-fascist. Do you think they just really like the flag logo or...?

Why does north Korea identify as democratic people's republic?

Because identifying as a Democracy confers benefits. Though it's worth noting nobody believes them.

Identifying as anti-fascist in the current environment, if anything, confers suspicion.

I've read your comment twice, and I can't make heads or tails of what you're trying to say.

> If some CEO spoke unflatteringly of The Red Cross or Habitat For Humanity,

Those are organizations. "Antifa" is a descriptive term that many people and organizations use, whether they have connections to one another or not. What is the comparison you are trying to draw here?

> If Antifa’s record speaks for itself, then you don’t need to play these kinds of word games.

You are using the possessive here, "Antifa's", in a way that seems grammatically incorrect to me.

"Antifa" is usually an adjective, but sometimes a known, like "vegan" or "blonde". Saying "if blonde's record speaks for itself", it seems like obviously broken English.

Usually you'd use this phraseology to describe a person or organization, "Joe's record", "Nabisco's record", etc.

What is the entity or entities whose record(s) you are trying to describe?

>Those are organizations. "Antifa" is a descriptive term that many people and organizations use, whether they have connections to one another or not. What is the comparison you are trying to draw here?

How's this different than say how "alt right" is pejoratively used by the left?

It's very much the same thing, there is no single unifying "Alt-Right" central headquarters, subscription fees amd newsletter, just as there is no specific Antifa organisation, just many people and a few groups that self identify as being against facism.

On the AltRight side people might point to, say, Steven Miller and his Nazi adjacent statements, or to Nick Fuentes and the Groypers, or to Andrew Anglin and The Daily Stormer for more trad. Nazi views.

To be honest I'm not entirely sure what the leading antifa groups in central north america might be.

In terms of the silliness / uselessness, you're right that they're similar - nobody compares "The alt-right" to the Red Cross, as if they had an office and an accountant on staff.

But plenty of people will say that they are traditional conservatives, and say "I'm not alt-right". Virtually nobody describes their own political views by saying "I'm not anti-fascist."

What's relevant is whether antifa is anti fascist, not the general case of whether everything is what it's called

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