Domestic Extremism and Terrorism

Proud Boys vs Antifa War of Words
Introduction and Research Question
When it comes to domestic extremism, there are groups on both the Right and the Left of the socio-political spectrum in America. And while they may differ ideologically, they can also have a great deal of similarities. This paper looks at two extremist groups in particular—Antifa on the Left and Proud Boys on the Right. The questions this paper poses are: What is the nature of Antifa and how does Proud Boys mirror the group from the opposite spectrum? How can these extremist groups best be countered? The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to compare and contrast the two groups while showing that they both represent deep sub-cultural trends among the American populace that are emerging into popular culture and have the potential of disrupting and subverting mainstream cultural norms. To accomplish this objective, this paper first reviews the literature on the subject, then provides profiles of both groups while comparing and contrasting them and also discussing ways to counter violent extremism; finally, it adopts a holistic approach to interpret the data, discuss the findings and draw conclusions. Ultimately, by comparing and contrasting these two extremist organizations it is hoped that some understanding of the left and right worldviews can be acquired and how those worldviews feed into, support, and diverge from the extremist groups that purport to project them.
Review of the Literature
One of the problems of today’s American socio-political system is that it is a two-party system in which all of society is essentially forced to choose sides—Right or Left. This binary way of thinking and of approaching society creates dichotomies that can become reactionary and polarizing instead of understanding and collaborative. Drutman (2019) notes that today’s political system reflects “a binary party system that has divided the country into two irreconcilable teams.” Meanwhile, Hartmann (2012) notes that “a two-party system isn’t really that democratic at all … [because] more parties mean more ideas”—and yet in America when ideas clash, war can break out. The nation’s system is set up to be a contest between two opposing views. Thus it should not be surprising when extremist groups on either side form and wage war upon one another.
One example of this can be seen at the national political level with the election of Donald Trump, who is popularly perceived by the Left to be a Fascist (Klein, 2019; Koch, 2018). Antifa movements in the US organized in direct response to events sponsored by supporters of the Trump Administration—such as the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA in 2017 (Klein, 2019). Proud Boys organized in direct response to antagonism from the left via groups like Antifa, and proudly promoting their support for Trump and his policies while denouncing the leftist movement and its violence (DeCook, 2018). Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes attempted to dissociate the organization from neo-nazism and white nationalism, yet the group attracted people like the violent murderer Jeremy Christian, accused of stabbing three men on a train after taunting to minority women (Feuer, 2018). Antifa on the other hand has never shied away from embracing aggressive, hostile and violent tactics in order to beat back what it perceives as a rising tide of Fascism in society (Doyle, 2018).
The themes associated with the literature on domestic terrorism, extremism and violence focus three important categories: 1) how culture makes extremism socially acceptable; 2) how culture fosters violent attitudes and beliefs; and 3) how laws are responsible for shaping the culture that fosters the first two (Breger, 2017; Cramer, Choi & Ross, 2017; Klingspohn, 2018). These themes interact and intertwine because each overlaps with the other. A nation’s laws should not reflect any bias or prejudice in society, but if they do not disallow a toxic culture of extremism and violence then they are ultimately responsible for the violence that ensues, which is largely what has happened in American society. Culture has to be addressed at the legislative level because this is where laws are determined and where expectations for social behavior are identified (Breger, 2017). If people do not know what is acceptable behavior or what will not be tolerated, they cannot be blamed for acting in ways that are unacceptable. The law has not told them how to behave.
The importance of culture cannot be overstated: culture is the key by which domestic violence can be both understood and effectively addressed. Cramer et al. (2017) state that “culture is a social construction that is influenced by the ways in which people make sense of who they are; the beliefs, practices, and values with which they might identify or reject, partially or wholly; and the institutional influences that promote or suppress the beliefs, practices, and values that appear to be in line with that culture, such as religion, government, and education” (p. 89). When these values are not determined or enforced, domestic violence increases, especially for minorities or marginalized groups who are not valued by the society’s culture. The end result is that the nation has a set of laws that promote a toxic culture. Breger (2017) posits that “norms have been defined as ‘rules or expectations of behavior within a specific [culture]’ (p. 173) and that these norms have to be redefined so that the problem of toxic culture can be better addressed. To stop the rise of domestic terrorism, extremism and violence, the overall mainstream culture has to become more humane in terms of how it sees others and what it can do to help others instead of promoting a binary, polarizing, politicized culture in which one must choose between the Right and the Left. For as Vitolo-Haddad (2019) puts it, such polarization leads to a symbolic type of violence that extremist groups on both sides promote and use to attract followers, who self-identify as patriots and use violent symbolism to represent their attitudes. At the core of it all is violence motivated by ideologies from two extremes by people who cannot help but logically take their views to their extreme conclusions (Wynia, Eisenman & Hanfling, 2017). For that reason, the laws that a nation erects are what will ultimately guide, govern and help to dictate human behavior (Breger, 2017).
However, as Brockhoff, Krieger and Meierrieks (2014) point out, education also plays a large part in the formation of domestic terrorism. The less education a person receives, the more likely that person is to become an extremist, according to Brockhoff et al. (2014). Thus, if young people are being left to their own devices they are more likely to fall prey to extremist groups, who appeal to the polarizing sentiment that exists within people as a result of growing up in a polarizing society where they receive little guidance or education. All of these factors can play a part in the rise and spread of extremism—but at the root of it all is culture.
Profiles
Ideology
Antifa represents a self-described anti-fascist movement in the US inspired to a large degree by the election of President Trump in 2016. Their motto is: “Abolish capitalism, Anti-Fascist Action, Smash Fascism” (Beinart, 2017). Antifa or Antifas as they should be called have existed in the US since the 1970s but did not become widespread until 2017. The ideology dates back to the 1930s in Italy and Germany when Fascist movements were seizing power and anti-fascist groups protested and opposed them. Antifa likewise has directly, violently and deliberately opposed right-wing marches, movements and targeted individuals including Tucker Carlson of Fox News (Beinart, 2017).
Proud Boys represents a self-described Western values movement, which is criticized for being white nationalist and neo-fascist. The movement grew out of the alt-right sub-culture and entourage of Gavin McInnes, co-founder of Vice magazine (Feuer, 2018). Other individuals linked to the promotion of Proud Boys include white nationalist and Third Reich admirer Richard Spencer and former InfoWars staffer Joe Biggs. The group is anti-PC culture and has directly, violently and deliberately opposed Antifa organizations in the streets (DeCook, 2018).
Goals and Objectives
Antifa’s goals and objectives are ecentralized which allows for independent groups and subcultures to form with their own objectives. Broadly speaking the organization has positive goals other than the deterrence of Fascism in a general sense (Doyle, 2018). It aims also to raise awareness about government overreach and to promote community values. However, the organization is better known for its violent positions towards the Right.
The goals and objectives of Proud Boys can be found simply in the quote from found Gavin McInnes, who stated of his organization: “We don’t start fights…We finish them” (Feuer, 2018). McInnes envisioned Proud Boys as a defender of Nationalist interests, populist voices, conservative values, and Right-wing ideals. Similar to how the KKK originated to defend the Old South after the Civil War, Proud Boys came into existence to defend against the perceive threat of violent Leftist actions and ideologies. Thus, the group opposes Feminism, political correctness and the Left in general but particularly Antifa (DeCook, 2018).
Political Actions
Antifa targets not just white nationalists and Fascists but also conservatives and Trump supporters, whom the group associates with Fascism; the group disrupts rallies on the right. It has protested outside the door of conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson and it uses rallies and Twitter alike to spread its message.
Proud Boys target Feminists, Antifa, and Leftists; McInnes is active in a socio-political sense, appearing on podcasts; the group attends right and far-right rallies. The main political actions of the group are to hold demonstrations and appear at rallies where they suspect there will be occasion to defend Right-wing ideals from Leftist attack (DeCook, 2018).
Propaganda Techniques
Both groups use social media persistently to spread their ideologies, promote events, and share videos (DeCook, 2018). Each group is active on social media, which is essentially a platform where Influencers can easily connect with hundreds and thousands or even millions of followers if one is popular enough like McInnes. Social media is thus an enormous propaganda platform, particularly because it is controlled by the individual and is a decentralized way of getting information out to potential followers. It is this approach that appeals to Antifa leaders as well, since that group is also decentralized and Antifa groups can spring up anywhere without filing an official charter or anything of that sort. Social media allows like-minded persons to communicate and come together in the real world and thus spread their beliefs. Following on this, both groups organize rallies, protest events, and use new media to promote themselves (Koch, 2018).
Violent Actions
Violent actions have occurred with both groups, though because of the looseness of affiliation with each, there is some dispute as to whether violent actors are actually expressing the creed or representing the organizations respectively. Jeremy Christian, who killed two people on a train after spouting hateful rhetoric, was never officially affiliated with Proud Boys, but did attend rallies with them and has been connected with the group if only incidentally (Brown, 2017). The same connections occur with the Neo-Nazis and the Death at Charlottesville. Then there were clashes at Portland between Proud Boys and Antifa, in which both groups committed violent actions towards their socio-political and ideologically perceived enemies. Antifa threatened a Fox News Anchor, Tucker Carlson, at his home and attacked his house, breaking his door (May, 2018). The same group was accused of committing violence at Berkeley and throwing feces at people (Swenson, 2017).
Recruitment and Radicalization Process
Antifa recruits and radicalizes via college campuses and social media, and music scenes (Koch, 2018). Proud Boys recruits and radicalizes via social media, pubs with right-wing affiliations, and music scenes (DeCook, 2018). Both share the same processes of recruitment and radicalization as both aim at the young generation and supply their own education for their target audiences. This is part of the culture problem as it relates to a lack of education among young people and the way that these groups fill that gap by supplying their own education and instruction, bringing a kind of enlightenment of their own for these individuals and giving them a sense of identity and belonging. Their use of social media is important to understand because it enables them to be Influencers on a large scale, and Social Media Influencers have been found to be having an enormous impact on the shaping and decision making of the young generation when it comes to processing information (Freberg, Graham, McGaughey & Freberg, 2011).
Comparing and Contrasting Antifa and Proud Boys
Both Antifa and Proud Boys are relatively loosely organized, with a lack of clarity as to who is leading, who is in and who is out. McInnes may have co-founded Proud Boys but his involvement with the organization has been limited and he himself has distanced himself from it after garnering negative press and being accused of hate. Moreover, the principles, rules and organization are ambiguous for both groups. People seem to join them based on an overall attitude of antagonism that they feel towards their perceived ideological enemies—the people on the Right if they themselves identify with the Left, or the people on the Left if they themselves identify with the Right. The main difference between them and people of more mainstream norms on both the Right and the Left is that these groups are made up of younger people who want to take action and who want to confront their ideological opposites, as they see them, literally in the street by way of a mob-style of justice. As a result forms of extremism range widely within both groups (Vitolo-Haddad, 2019).
Counter Violent Extremism Approaches
The best way to counter violent extremism is to adopt a public health approach (Wynia, Eisenman & Hanfling, 2017). This would include avoiding stigmatizing people and approaching communities not from a Left-Right paradigm but rather from an apolitical position so as to avoid creating hostilities based on biases and prejudices. The public health approach focuses on education and raising awareness and could be used with social media to combat the educative approaches of other Influencers. Governance networks can also be used to help counter violent extremism by giving agencies and departments the ability to collect and share data among one another and thus to better track, identify and prevent extremists from executing violent plans (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2016).
Analysis and Findings
Using the approach of holistic analysis it can be seen that the extremist groups Antifa and Proud Boys essentially play off one another and thus act as two sides of the same coin. Both represent an extremist position in which young people want to take action, including violent action, in order to advance their beliefs or to defend their people. The aim of Antifa is more proactive in that they deliberately go out to prevent the Right from organizing and rallying in the streets. Antifa’s tactics are disruptive and aggressive but deemed necessary by Antifa’s leaders because they believe themselves to be in a war and embrace guerrilla style tactics. It is not yet quite to the level of IRA style violence but it could end up getting there. Likewise, Proud Boys engages in a confrontational style of action, and has engaged in street fights with Antifa.
As both have heavily promoted themselves via social media, these two organizations represent a cultural phenomenon in which the mainstream culture is accepting their emergence with a great deal of complacency. This in turn justifies their existence in the eyes of the young people who support them (Koch, 2018). The fighting words and ethos of both groups spur on the sentiment of belonging and the importance of taking a stand (Klein, 2019). This further supports the notion that these two are feeding off the energy of one another the same way boxers do before a fight. They self-promote and draw favorable support from social media users and gather in real life to demonstrate their conviction and commitment to a cause that they see as important. Violence is an accepted expression of their beliefs and largely sanctioned by a society that is used to the Left-Right paradigm and the fighting spirit that underlies this paradigm (DeCook, 2018).
What is the best way to approach this situation so as to defuse it? Increasing awareness, increasing government response and ultimately changing the culture by creating laws that reflect a more balanced approach to politics are the approaches that show promise (Breger, 2017; Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2016; Wynia et al., 2016). The culture of American society is what needs to change if extremist groups from the Right and the Left are to be neutralized, but the current culture is immune to change because the laws facilitate the paradigm and polarization that Proud Boys and Antifa represent (Breger, 2017).
To create a more equitable society in which empathy, rapport, collaboration and positive communication are core staples and values, a culture needs to be fostered that encourages respectful debate rather than pompous action based on violent credos and militant action. Violence is viewed as needed by both sides because communication barriers exist and prejudices are ingrained. Instead of seeing one another as enemies, a public health approach like that recommended by Wynia et al. (2016) should be adopted to raise awareness and fill the education gap. For people in these groups who refuse to accept education and are adamant in their positions, government agencies should work together to monitor their actions and words so as to prevent their impact on society (Dalgaard-Nielsen, 2016). This interventionist approach by law enforcement can be made possible if the government overall becomes more bi-partisan and less polarized and creates laws that prohibit the polarizing jabs that the Right and Left make upon one another. By reforming the norm as Breger (2017) suggests, a more empathetic culture can be developed, which will in turn reduce the influence of groups like Antifa and the converse need for or response by groups like Proud Boys. Neutralizing the acidic culture in which they exist will help to stop their spread overall since they naturally feed upon one another and the invective that they both communicate.
Conclusions
To answer the research questions, it has been shown that Antifa and Proud Boys are essentially two sides of the same coin. Both represent the extreme sides of the Left-Right paradigm and both believe in violent action to counter the actions of the other side. They are ideologically divided in terms of socio-political values that are accepted at the mainstream cultural level as a result of a deeply entrenched two-party system that perpetuates polarization. This project conducted a literature review to better understand the rise and impact of extremist groups in America and how those groups on the Left and on the Right come into existence, recruit followers, organize and act. The strategy of analysis was holistic and the results showed that both groups feed off one another and exist essentially as extreme representations of the already existing culture that dominates American discourse. The members of both groups tend to be young, enthusiastic, impressionable and wanting to act. They see violence as necessary to suppress the irrationality of the other side. They are militant in focus but they are lacking in education that is empathetic. To combat these groups, a change in culture is needed, which can be facilitated by a three-pronged approach using a public health method, governmental collaboration, and a change in laws regarding the expression of polarizing views. Future research for scholars should focus on how such an approach could practically be implemented without further enflaming sentiments on both the Left and Right sides. The issue requires nuance, subtlety, sophistication and patience. Examples from leaders are likely to be of great significance, and research may also want to focus on how leadership in America enflames the Left-Right paradigm.
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