Media Hate

            As I watch more and more of these ‘protests’ on the news and social media one thing stands out to me. It seems that when independent journalist and news organizations show up the protesters get upset. They get upset to the point where they try to grab the recording device out of the person’s hands and destroy it. They also hide their faces and dress alike so any action taken by one person could just as easily be any one of them. I was wondering why they do this.

            Let’s look at the desire not to be filmed. Each one of us has a desire to privacy but in the modern age with every cell phone equipped with a camera we have little reason to expect it. This is especially true in public places. I know if I am out for a walk with my wife and our dogs I don’t want someone to film me. The reason no one does is because no one wants to see a recording of me walking our dogs. Yet these protests are happening in a very public place and lots of people are interested. There is an expectation that people will be filming, either for an independent outlet, personal YouTube channel, or for the main stream media. So why do the protesters not want to be filmed?

            The protesters say they don’t want to be filmed to protect the safety of individuals in their group who will be targeted if they are known to do what they are doing at the protests. The protesters often try to parallel themselves with the Civil Rights movement and certainly see themselves in that light. They believe they are fighting for Trans Rights, Gay Rights, and any number of endless categories of rights. Most of us just call those human rights but I guess that I’m leaving out those who do not identify as human (yes that is a thing). So why did the Civil Rights movement want the media to film their protest and these modern protesters not want to be filmed? My hypothesis is that they do not want to be filmed because they are going to commit crimes. We have seen lots of destruction of property, arson, and even assault.

            This is also part of why they all dress the same and cover their faces. To prevent them being charged with a crime. I guess to them being charged with a crime they premeditated and committed is a type of targeting and discrimination. The rest of us call it justice but words are a social construct to them so why not just change the meaning whenever it suits you. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said “Ideology—that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors.”

They are possessed of an ideology that justifies their actions to them. With this ideology it is okay to destroy businesses, after all they are just part of oppressive capitalism. It is okay to beat people in the street because they have the wrong political or moral perspective and representing that perspective is oppressing people. It tells them they are fighting back against aggressors, they are defending themselves and others from tyranny, and those who stand against or even try to stand aside are Nazi’s (or Nazi sympathizers) worthy of being punched. Part of them knows, at the very least, society does not justify or condone their actions. So they hide their face and identity and try to attack media outlets, especially those they have deemed opposed to them (Fox, Brightbart, Rebel Media). The leaders of the Civil Rights movement knew people would understand their message and their cause when they saw the problems for themselves. Antifa and left wing protesters don’t have a cause, they have an ideology that tells them, they are right no matter what and gives them license to act by any means necessary.