Thread by @SecretGamerGrrl

As we seem to be on the verge of at least formally getting a whole lot of fascists out of power, I'd like for us to take a moment and reflect on how they came into power in the first place. This is of course something I write about a lot, so for latecomers whitehatmag.com/editions/2017-…

and bylinetimes.com/2019/10/02/mon… should hopefully get you at least a little up to speed.

The short version though is a bunch of straight up nazis with a fondness for hanging around on 4chan spent a few years refining techniques and establishing resources to spread disinformation, and

engage in targeted campaigns of harassment and terrorism effective enough to literally bring about the deaths of several people and figuratively destroy the lives of countless more, while completely avoiding any sort of culpability for anyone involved and indeed managing to paint

the truth of what they're doing in broad daylight as such a ridiculous conspiracy theory that I can pretty much guarantee people are dismissing me as a raving lunatic as I post a citation-filled article for claiming there is any sort of link between Steve Bannon, the guy with the

"news website" famous for mainstreaming random bullshit from 8chan while being kind enough to tag it all with "Gamergate" in their archives, and Steve Bannon, manager and closest advisor, as I am of course offering nothing to connect the two men beyond them being just the one man

Oh and incidentally, said one man is also this guy. nytimes.com/2020/11/06/nyr…

But at the moment, I'm not actually up on my high horse about Bannon in particular, as he seems to be entering the public eye to a larger degree and I might not be the only one giving a crap about him.

My actual concern of the day is with the less publicly prominent major players in the engine of modern fascism as they presently make efforts to distance themselves from a scheme that has pretty well run its course, and build back to positions to get the next one going.

Back in

the days when it was less clear that such a plan was barking up the wrong tree, I helped put together a big ol' report on behalf of an anti-fascism think tank to present to Twitter, clearly laying out the case for taking action against the... I think it was 20 most dangerous

accounts, clearly endangering people's lives, and essentially serving as generals in the internet nazi army. Giving everyone else their marching orders on who to attack and how to do it, and getting their hands dirty enough with it that there were plenty of violations to fill out

that very fat report.

Anyway, one big player I recall from putting that together is a person I am not going to directly name for reasons of personal safety, but will note their use of a handle that so far as I can tell is a reference to a villain speech in the movie Snowpiercer.

Said handle is one I'm probably going to remember for the rest of my life, what with the whole thing about being hunted like an animal by murderous stalkers for years but it's also one I recall more freshly, as this particular dangerous individual has an MO of perpetually "seeing

the light" and "renouncing fascism" to "become a good leftist" in away that somehow never involves any effort towards making things right with past victims, but does involve buttering up left-leaning people with large followings, and then directing all that newfound attention to

promoting attacks on the same damn marginalized and embattled people as always. Who of course one is to presume are actually very deserving of this mobbing, for not accepting this turning over of a new leaf as being very real and legitimate as opposed to the time from two months

prior which actually was just a ruse to get people's guard down and launch new attacks. Or the time two months prior to that. Or to that. Etc. etc.

And of course, I ALSO recognize this handle from making the rounds yesterday on a post making fun of Trump for his press conference

there.

Anyway, I'm in the position, which I don't think is particularly unreasonable, where seeing literally the same people directly responsible for a fascist uprising that lead to, among other things, the deaths of several people I knew, Donald Trump becoming president, and me

living in what is essentially a heavily fortified closet and never seeing a human face other than when I need to obtain food or medical treatment for the past several years, to not only face no consequences of any kind for that, but to immediately be in the public spotlight again

And like, I know it's pretty difficult for most people to keep a mental list of who is and isn't a dangerous fascist who poses a serious threat to various marginalized people, but there really has to be a better system here than expecting the people who have barely managed to

live through years of attacks from such to constantly stick our necks out and dole out reminders, particularly given how most people's reactions to such are a mix of anger and demands for evidence of a sort that tends to degrade over years of accounts being banned and recreated,

whole websites going offline, and people directly effected being dead or in hiding.

Like this isn't some big battle I love to be engaged in because of the sheer thrill of it. This is stuff I never want to have to think about again, and only bring up because my life is constantly

at stake, in addition to the lives of people I care about. I really want nothing more than to just disappear from the world, move to some little place in the middle of nowhere, only see a few friendly faces, and work on projects I enjoy. Please stop making me gamble with my life.