A Tale of Two Young Men

When I heard there had been an antifa protester hit by a car during the Unite the Right rally in 2017, I immediately suspected that a young man was trying to exercise his constitutionally protected rights and was attacked by a bunch of leftist thugs, then panicked, drove his car in an effort to get away from them, and hit one. Of course, seeing the footage confirmed that. When I heard that the young man in question, James Alex Fields, Jr., was being charged, I was angry; I knew he was going to be held up to put the Alt-Right, the movement as a whole, on trial. But, when I heard he was being charged with first degree murder, I was a little more optimistic. Not because I thought he warranted that charge, or anything close to it, but because first degree murder charges are notoriously hard to prove, and it’s also very hard to prove vehicular homicide charges (most juries understand how easy it is to have an accident).

However, the prosecutor had given into the mob’s bloodlust and then over charged him. Had he had been charged with something lesser, it would have been much easier to prove. Depending upon the charge, it could have even been a slam dunk. Sadly, I was wrong. The prosecutor wanted to see how far it could go and instead of coming up empty, they got what they wanted. Flashforward a few years later, and another young man, Kyle Rittenhouse, has been found not guilty on all charges after similarly defending himself from a leftist mob. The discrepancy between these cases warrants a great deal of inspection, especially considering it is far easier to prove murder when a firearm is used as a weapon, rather than a car.

One big difference, and perhaps the biggest difference, is that normies didn’t know what antifa was in 2017. By 2021, and after several months of having their neighborhoods and cities destroyed and the media egging it on, they now know what they are and don’t like them. In 2017, the media was largely still portraying antifa as just concerned citizens trying to stop another Holocaust from happening – think of how my WWII veteran grandfathers somehow became described as antifa members (exclusively online, of course) or how “antifa” was defined as simply an opposition to fascism or “just an idea.” But in 2020, they went after normies and normies found out that we had been right all along. Normies remembered that, and selling them on the idea that antifa had been the cause of the riot (both Charlottesville and Kenosha) was far easier to digest. I knew the media’s narrative on antifa was bunk from the beginning, I had been aware of them for years thanks to them shutting down concerts from bands with naughty lyrics.

Locality is important here, too. Charlottesville is a colonized college town, along with Athens, Georgia and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, it ranks as one of the most liberal college towns in Dixie. The fact that there was not a change of venue granted, despite that basic fact as a great injustice and should sanity ever be restored and Fields’ conviction overturned, I suspect the refusal to grant a change of venue will be cited as a reason why. Kenosha is different. For a Yankee city, it is fairly conservative. Plus, there is a very strong gun culture there. Hunting is very popular in Wisconsin and taking a young boy on his first hunt is a rite of passage. The importance of hunting to that state is why the possession charge, which was hyped up, was dropped. By outlawing longer barrels (as he used), the Wisconsin state legislature would have effectively outlawed taking a young boy on his first hunt. Had Fields’ trial been in rural Virginia, he likely would be a free man today. Had Rittenhouse’s trial been in Madison, he would be in jail today.

Looming over this discussion is the difference between each man’s social media presence, something that serves as a lesson for the Dissident Right – always watch what you post. Fields’ social media was full of references to Hitler. Before UTR, his mother texted him asking him to be safe. He texted her back a picture of Hitler and said that they weren’t the ones that needed to worry. Look, I know that the Hitler stuff was largely just there for shock value, but it wound up being used to damn him to a lifetime in prison. By contrast, Rittenhouse’s social media tended to be more normie friendly, i.e. things that play better in a town like Kenosha. At the end of the day, this does mean you have to know your audience. Nazism plays well nowhere in the U.S. But, Blue Lives Matter does play well in thousands of working-class White communities.

The Confederate flag may be seen as “America’s Swastika” in Vermont, but in the small towns in Dixie, it’s a symbol of Southern pride. Knowing your audience is key to winning hearts and minds. That is why Dixian Nationalists must be more careful about overly transgressive content, especially content that is at odds with our people. Admiring the Germany’s crusade against the Soviet Union is one thing, sharing Hitler memes or calling your grandfathers cucks for fighting in Europe is entirely antithetical to our cause. Yes, the media tried to make Rittenhouse the next Hitler, but this was far less successful. And while there are many reasons why this is the case, a big reason is that nothing he posted would be considered over the line by the average person in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Of course, continue to pray for these young men. Fields remains in jail and will likely die there. Though Rittenhouse is free for now, there is mounting pressure to file federal charges against him (as of this writing, that has yet happened) and could face a wrongful death lawsuit. Still, the differences between how these cases turned out demands study. On one hand, we now have solid proof that more and more normies have woken up and know what antifa is. However, there is also a lesson we can learn from this – and that is the importance of knowing your audience and working within those parameters.

Harmonica