Who’s causing the most mayhem? The far left or the far right? More about this, in a moment. But first…some things I’ve been very aware of for a very long time, from people I’ve known very well. And, from reading history.
Over the years, I’ve associated atrocities — crimes against humanity — far more with the far right than the far left. Probably from hearing about terrible atrocities committed during The Second World War.
Very recently, the nation’s intelligence agencies and the FBI expressed concerns about domestic terrorism carried out by far-right groups. The Atlantic, in a January 2019 article, reported that right-wing extremists, from 2009 through 2018, accounted for 73 percent of deaths from terrorist attacks in the United States.
When America and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the USSR – were at each other’s throats, during the Cold War, the whole thing turned out be theoretical, for the most part. Both sides were loaded with nuclear bombs, and all, and were threatening to use them. But that didn’t happen, fortunately!
The Cold War did, however, inflame emotions about (far-left) Socialism. The GOP seems, right now, to have… what do they call it A memory muscle?… somewhere in its body politic. So, various Republican politicians — most, it seems, right now — are wringing their hands and beating their chests about the far left, even though things, really, don’t seem to add up.
Especially since Antifa stands for anti-Fascism, the word associated with atrocities — those crimes against humanity — that were committed by far-right Fascists, as the Nazis were considered to be, during World War II.
Extreme ideologies don’t seem to have helped all that much, over the course of human history. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.