No one involved in any of these riots has any real concept of aggression, and when faced with it would back down as quickly as their feet would carry them.
That's just not true. Of all the videos I've seen, even the few where Trump supporters have genuinely assaulted Antifa first, they don't run at the first sign of aggression. If they are by themselves and it is only one of them, then they will angrily slink off, and try to come back with friends. However, they are almost never alone. They will show up with anywhere between 3-7, and as their numbers increase, so does their aggression. Then when one person attempts to resist their intimidation, they all jump in.
In a looting, you're not just dealing with Antifa, but also genuine criminals, gang members, and thieves looking to make a score. You show them anything they don't like and they are all going to jump you because a) it's fun and you can't stop them, b) they'll kill you to destroy the evidence because your life means nothing to them.
When you have career criminals with gang affiliations are getting shot in the street, and the establishment power structure is prepared to defend the criminals, it's not going to be only Antifa that shows up. It's going to be other criminals who do understand violence and aggression, and are seizing an opportunity to go as far and as extreme as possible.
In Philly, there are now looters getting robbed after their looting. There have been shoot-outs between looters. If Elijah had been accosted by Antifa, they would have yelled at him, sprayed him with mace, thrown some stuff at him, maybe hit him, and been a genuine annoyance. Instead, his camera got spotted, he got told to turn it off, then he got immediately jumped by several people.
Antifa does not behave as you describe, and these thugs certainly do not.
Antifa responds to punches thrown like anybody else - they recognize a punch as a threat of pain, not a threat of irreversible damage.
When somebody responds to 'bust at me, nigga' with lethal force, they fall back into a mix of performative and real hysteria and give the shooter a wide berth. They'd do the same if instead of an exchange of punches one of them suffered a compound fracture at the wrist or elbow.
No one involved in any of these riots has any real concept of aggression, and when faced with it would back down as quickly as their feet would carry them.
That's just not true. Of all the videos I've seen, even the few where Trump supporters have genuinely assaulted Antifa first, they don't run at the first sign of aggression. If they are by themselves and it is only one of them, then they will angrily slink off, and try to come back with friends. However, they are almost never alone. They will show up with anywhere between 3-7, and as their numbers increase, so does their aggression. Then when one person attempts to resist their intimidation, they all jump in.
In a looting, you're not just dealing with Antifa, but also genuine criminals, gang members, and thieves looking to make a score. You show them anything they don't like and they are all going to jump you because a) it's fun and you can't stop them, b) they'll kill you to destroy the evidence because your life means nothing to them.
When you have career criminals with gang affiliations are getting shot in the street, and the establishment power structure is prepared to defend the criminals, it's not going to be only Antifa that shows up. It's going to be other criminals who do understand violence and aggression, and are seizing an opportunity to go as far and as extreme as possible.
In Philly, there are now looters getting robbed after their looting. There have been shoot-outs between looters. If Elijah had been accosted by Antifa, they would have yelled at him, sprayed him with mace, thrown some stuff at him, maybe hit him, and been a genuine annoyance. Instead, his camera got spotted, he got told to turn it off, then he got immediately jumped by several people.
Antifa does not behave as you describe, and these thugs certainly do not.
Antifa responds to punches thrown like anybody else - they recognize a punch as a threat of pain, not a threat of irreversible damage.
When somebody responds to 'bust at me, nigga' with lethal force, they fall back into a mix of performative and real hysteria and give the shooter a wide berth. They'd do the same if instead of an exchange of punches one of them suffered a compound fracture at the wrist or elbow.
Only for a moment, see Kyle Rittenhouse. There's a reason he had to shoot at 4 people to get them to stop.
And again, not all looters are Antifa.