This dude in my university is claiming that Antifa is "the greatest threat to United States national security."

@CountScrofula Explain.

@Zonuss A lot of alt right thought is about enforcing a narrative. The narrative here is that Conservatives are under attack, and are embattled underdogs fighting an uphill battle against forces who would silence their speech, steal their guns, and physically attack them.

To a liberal or leftist, Trump lies all the time. To a supporter, he may exaggerate or get details wrong but the narrative he enforces is what's true.

Antifa are perfect villains for this narrative. What they actually are is various groups of college kids who counter protest white supremacist marches and occasionally get into street fights with them.

But if you claim they are violent terrorists who bathed in the blood of innocent patriots, it's a flagrant lie, but it enforces the narrative.

@CountScrofula Going by the dictionary definition of terrorism, they technically fit the description, but just barely. If Antifa is to be considered terrorists then they're the least dangerous terrorist group in human history, because occasional street fights or chucking rocks at people is not violence on a scale high enough for most rational people to consider them an actual threat.

Which isn't to say I condone it. I don't condone chucking rocks at people, or spray painting on city buses as they've done. But you're correct about the narrative. Antifa is almost like a godsend to modern American conservatism because it provides them with exactly what they've wanted to pretend the greater portion of leftists are for so many years now - scary looking thugs who are trying to instill totalitarianism and prevent them from speaking their minds.

@BlueMetalChick Maybe Antifa will fit into a dictionary definition of terrorism (as would any illegal strike). My issue is that it's not a technical term, it's a political one that carries a lot of weight and means "BAD GUY" because the association is killing a [i]lot[/i] of people.

Language is defined by use, and the use of terrorist indicates someone who is a universal villain who [i]must be stopped[/i]. It implies a threat similar to ISIS and plays into the "the left are more violent than the right" thing I hear constantly from conservatives.

So although it may technically fit, it obscures what they actually are and do. I'm not even a supporter as their tactics just marginalize the left even more.

@CountScrofula Fair point. When one calls a group "terrorists" they usually don't mean it specifically how it's defined by Merriam Webster.