K9s wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 2:37 pm
JohnNewell wrote: Mon Jan 07, 2019 12:02 pm
K9s wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:12 pm
JohnNewell wrote: Sun Jan 06, 2019 1:12 pm
It's time to get organized both as intel gatherers as well as left-leaning people who can defend themselves.
Intel gatherers?
The heart of any activist activity is knowing your enemy, and knowing how to efficiently target them and how to efficiently use your own resources. Most of the really radical Trumpers are neo-nazis and simply knowing who they are and exposing them to family and employers effectively takes them out of the battle.
It depends on where you live. I cannot turn on the radio without finding a right-wing hack local or national talk radio program every other station here. I cannot walk around a corner without hearing that sort of talk. I already know what they say and what they think. You cannot simply "expose" one of them here because the chances are good that you will just expose yourself instead.
I will take a wild guess that you are in a location where they actually hide their opinions and identity?
Eh ... I am in Texas but a part that is 75% Hispanic. However, I do amateur intel throughout the state.
I guess the question goes back to what you see in a thread like this, entitled "should we take Trump's threats of violence seriously." And then what your perception of Trumpian violence is.
I guess that if you see random acts of violence then intel isn't that important. Watch your personal 6, get a permit, and carry a weapon.
My thoughts are more along the lines of we could have those random acts of violence. We could also have roving bands of Trumpers, perhaps attacking anything from individuals to the local Court Houses, to economic institutions. Which is pretty much the model for most nations on the verge of a revolution. In which case, yes, intel is important.
And any guerrilla or small-scale military campaign has to rely not only on armed individuals. but intel and logistics. And probably a few other things that are escaping me at the moment. In extreme cases you need the locals and ideally the local politicians on your side as well.
So yeah. Today is the time to gather intel. There are small groups around the country doing it now, and they do indeed make a difference.
I might add that indictments and sentencing are still occurring over acts of violence generally committed by the right in Portland over the last few years and in Charlottesville at the Unite the Right rally of roughly 2 years ago. Most of the identifications have been done by amateurs, with the authorities following up (eventually) and taking action.