A few weeks back, my wife and I headed downtown to our favorite noodle shop. There are still a few havens of normalcy amidst the sea of unsmiling visitors, nomads and the intoxicated.

To our jubilation, we found ourselves walking through the early stages of a percolating protest.

Skateboards, masks, water soaker pistols, and other :”peaceful protest”  tools were in diverse display among an unhappy troop of young people.  

After a great meal, we reversed our course and noted the intensity of the bunch was on the upswing. The open hostility and “I hate everything and everybody” personas were clearly digging their idea of heaven.

I don’t know how many of these good folks were Antifa acolytes, but I’d bet that club was well-represented.

You know Antifa. That’s the self-congratulating “anti-fascist” faction ironically championing the values, methods and agendas of fascism.

Might one suggest they’re also self-serving scam artists masquerading as social justice warriors?

Dance with me for a few minutes while we discuss the nonsense that fuels this tangled movement.

To be rather than to seem —

I’m a big fan of that phrase on North Carolina’s license plates.

Does it apply to Antifa? Nope — just the opposite. Antifa is all about seeming, very little about being anything meaningful.

Mind if I demonstrate?

The script of a two-year-old – It comes as no surprise that the fastest approaches to personal identity development are instinctive. Think the terrible-two’s and a dedication to resistance and anger as a path to propping up a weak persona. Sorry Antifa guys, gals, and others, you can’t get to good places through bad means. It doesn’t work for toddlers and just because you’re a bigger version of two and have a larger playpen doesn’t predict it will work for you.

Chronic negativity – Note that Antifa-types are dependably against everything. Grumpy, moody, whiney, and relentlessly pessimistic, they could be sitting in the pot at the end of a rainbow and complain about being trapped in a capitalistic ploy. Sorry again guys, people who make good things happen are able to see the good in life more surely than the bad.

Destruction is a lazy man’s game – Tearing things apart is always easier than making things better for the same reasons burning a house down is easier than building one. Which type of person does the world need more of? Antifa loves to virtue signal, but like most of those who do so, their walk reveals great insincerity.

Creativity misapplied – One thing I do admire about Antifalytes is their creativity. They fill water soaker pistols with urine and pepper spray. They hurl frozen water bottles so that the evidence of danger melts. They use umbrellas and skateboards as defensive and offensive weapons. That’s impressive creativity. Too bad they can’t seem to find anything beneficial to apply that talent to.

Confusing distraction therapy with purpose – There’s a big difference in a life of meaning and a life of commotion. The former grows us while the latter entertains us. Antifa treats the world like a video game, and though colorful, they are – like video games – anything but fruitful.  

Energized by conflict – The weak among us do one thing dependably. Having little ability to muster energy through positivity, faith, and productivity, they have to draw their energy from fussing and fighting. Anybody can fuss and fight. It takes no skill, no wisdom, no talent, no maturity, no anything of substance. When your energy is dependent on others and comes from such a negative source, it’s no wonder that – except when they’re fussing – the Antifa brigade looks so droopy.

Cult: (ˈkəlt) A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious —

Antifa is a cult.

Cults are closed systems.

Picture a pond without fresh water, a city without space to grow, a young tree with wire wrapped around its base. Closed systems die.

Like most closed systems, Antifa will self-destruct through its own stagnating drama and dogma. It will end up chewing its own leg off and bleeding to death through immaturity, negativity, laziness, wasted potential, and a cynical dedication to conflict.

“Oh boy, fascist-anarchist-miserabilists, just what we need more of!” nobody ever said.

Virtue – the real kind – is a much-more demanding mistress than Antifalytes assume.

She expects us to take the high road, reach for our best, and pay attention to the laws of nature affirming that anger, antagonism, arrogance, and other dark arts are a short-cut to a cliff.

Unfortunately, during Antifa’s process of disintegration, they will recruit young men and women – many of whom are lost, damaged, and vulnerable – and convert them into something, at heart, that they really aren’t.

Some will never find their way back to normalcy and making our hard world a better world.

If you’re stuck in Antifa-mode, consider brushing your teeth.

Then rethink your adverse alliance.

Let me know if I can help.