Media Madness Blog: Hamstrung

NinaIllingworth September 5, 2020November 17, 2022 ACAB, against the left, Alt Right, Alt Right means Fascist, Amerikan Musik, antifa, antifascism, blog, Donald Trump, FA1, far right, fascism, fascism and antifascism are NOT the same, George Floyd Protests, horseshoe theory, In These Times, JA5, Joe Biden, Kyle Rittenhouse, Media, Media Madness, Natasha Lennard, neonazi, Nina Illingworth, Noah Berlatsky, Offsite Writing, Pacific Standard Magazine, Police, Politics, protest is legal murder is not, Protesters, Rec Reads, Recommended Reading, right wing extremism, right wing terrorism, Rittenhouse is a murderer, ST2, Stanislav Vysotsky, Theory, Vice News

Editor’s note: after struggling against online censorship and some procrastinating, I’m getting around to reorganizing my website. As part of that process, I’m posting links to older content that I will never find again otherwise.

This activity is tedious, but necessary for my archives. Please bear with me in the meantime and thanks for all your support.

Horseshoe Theory Will Kill Us All

This September 2020 blog post over on Media Madness was another (visually unsatisfying) early prototype for the Recommended Reading features I now publish on Can’t You Read. In this little mini-essay, I talked a bit about why Joe Biden’s attempts to portray vigilante murderers and “rioters” as a both sides issue was not only bad politics, but also emboldening fascist pigs conducting what amounts to state-sanctioning terrorism. This was then supplemented by three links designed to address three separate aspects of this dangerous problem; conflating left wing protestors with far right thugs, the liberal application of horseshoe theory in American politics, and explaining Antifa to people who’ve read too much conservative propaganda.

Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve published content discussing the dangers of horseshoe theory, but given Biden’s continued commitment to coddling fascists now that he’s President, something tells me it won’t be my last either.

“Unfortunately however when Joe Biden goes on live television, after a 17 year old fascist militia goon murders two people, and once again starts babbling about looters, arsonists and rioting, I am suddenly forced to pay more attention. Frankly, this isn’t just a question of bad politics, or even the coded racist dog-whistling involved in constantly agreeing with right wing messaging about antifascists, the Black Lives Matter movement and folks protesting against racialized police violence in general. In his desperate efforts to both embrace a fascist American law enforcement institution (that is currently clubbing soccer moms and veterans in the street,) while running from the right’s unhinged fever dream that Biden is controlling or controlled by Antifa and Black Lives Matter to do terrorism, Palooka Joe’s needle threading has undoubtedly put countless innocent lives in danger.”

To check it out over on Media Madness, click on the quotation block above, or the header below:

Hamstrung on Media Madness

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

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