Editors at Investor’s Business Daily suggest the response to Charlottesville’s deadly weekend protests is giving the white nationalist groups what they want.
It wasn’t long ago that Americans were being told repeatedly not to overreact to Islamic terrorism, because that would only serve as a terrorist recruiting tool. That’s worth remembering now, in the wake of the white supremacist attack in Charlottesville, Va. …
… Despite massive amounts of media attention before the event, plus high-profile organizers, all of 500 neo-Nazi types showed up, according to media reports. Enough to fill two of Charlottesville’s 16 movie theaters. …
… None of this is in any way meant to downplay or excuse the tragic events that occurred in Charlottesville. The murder of an innocent women is tragic, and the perpetrator or perpetrators behind it should all rot in jail.
But the intense overreaction to these events is, to borrow a phrase from liberals, “exactly what the white supremacists want.”
A June article in Politico magazine quoted Mark Pitcavage, who researches domestic political extremism with the Anti-Defamation League, as noting that the violent antifa movement was only giving “the white supremacists an unbelievable amount of publicity.”
Pitcavage went on to explain that “All the antifa tactics do is give extremists more attention, make extremists feel good, feel like warriors — and give them an opportunity to recruit.”
What’s true for antifa’s violent tactics is true for those who are binging on Charlottesville to score political points against Trump and their political enemies.
Liberals and the press should know that wildly exaggerating the size and influence of these racist miscreants only serves as a powerful recruiting tool for more disaffected whites to join their ranks.
