Why Does the Far Right Hold a Near-Monopoly on Political Violence?

In the real world, since the end of the Vietnam era, the overwhelming majority of serious political violence—not counting vandalism or punches thrown at protests, but violence with lethal intent—has come from the fringes of the right. Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project says that “if you go back to the 1960s, you see all kinds of left-wing terrorism, but since then it’s been exceedingly rare.” She notes that eco- and animal-rights extremists caused extensive property damage in the 1990s, but didn’t target people.

Sure in the Vietnam era the leftists were the most violent but since the 80’s the right-wing has been the worst by all statistics

A 2015 survey of law-enforcement agencies conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum and the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security found that the police rate antigovernment extremists as a greater threat than reactionary Islamists. The authors wrote that “right-wing violence appears consistently greater than violence by Muslim extremists in the United States since 9/11, according to multiple definitions in multiple datasets.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, “Sovereign Citizens”—fringe antigovernmentalists—launched 24 violent attacks from 2010 through 2014, mostly against law enforcement personnel. When Robert Dear shot and killed three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015, it became the latest in a series of bloody attacks on abortion providers dating back to Roe v. Wade in 1973. In the 30 years that followed that landmark decision, providers and clinics were targeted in more than 300 acts of violence, including arson, bombings, and assassinations, according to a study by the Rand Corporation.

LINK

There now, we can see clearly that the world is plagued with right-wing terrorism even above jihadi terrorism!

If you want some more in-depth insight into this check out the link

a reply to: Willtell

The article didn't say the world, they are obviously talking about just the USA.

Jihadist are right wing as well so that would just make those stats look even worst.

a reply to: Willtell

Far right and far left can both be very dangerous.

In the US alone the far-right is the most dangerous. Of course its all bad and should be denounced by all sides but when conservative FAKE NEWS people in the media try to label violence as a left-wing thing, its good to set the record straight

Meanwhile, says Beirich, “right-wing domestic terrorism has been common throughout that period, going back to groups like to The Order, which assassinated [liberal talk-radio host] Alan Berg [in 1984] right through to today.” Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told NPR that “when you look at murders committed by domestic extremists in the United States of all types, right-wing extremists are responsible for about 74 percent of those murders.” The actual share is higher still, as violence committed by ultraconservative Islamic supremacists isn’t included in tallies of “right-wing extremism.”

LINK

Mmmmmm

Nom nom nom nom

Mindless propaganda for fools

Nom nom nom nom

Wait a sec ... who opened fire on Congressman Scalise (R) and a bunch of guys playing baseball?

Again, what legitimate conservative group is out there opening fire on anyone??

I don't know where they got that information, but it is definitely not correct. The far left and far right have both been troublesome in the past. More riots are started by the far left. You cannot automatically include stuff like the KKk and Neo-nazis in the far right, more Neo-Nazi tendencies exist in the far left than the far right, but people mistakenly call them Far right.

If you look at this subject with an open mind, both far left and far right are bad for society. That would be the best way of explaining this. What both Fars do create is usually inferior to what the plain old left and right create in society.

Would a person classify environmental activist groups as far left or far right, they have properties of both in them. Organizations like greenpeace are actually trying to promote conservative issues but doing it in a liberal way.

You need to judge each individual group on it's actions. Right now a lot of chaos is being spewed by the far left. It is mostly not justifiable at all.

a reply to: Willtell

I read the OP wrong.

I see that we agree.

The media does seem focused on groups coming together and getting a little rougher than a good mosh pit and calling that terrorism.

a reply to: Willtell

More delusions by you Leftists.
How do you guys make it through the day?

Yet more mindless kindling for the progressive bonfire from a leftist rag.

Not even worth commenting on.

a reply to: Willtell

I love when people justify how chit their party is by saying "the other party is slightly worse".

No, they both suck dude.

Here is more insight from the source.

The point is we should try to learn for a change, not just call each other names, which I could do as well as anyone, but here it’s good to look at why the right-wing is so violent

Political animosity is similarly bipartisan. According to Pew, roughly the same number of Republicans and Democrats—around half—say they feel anger and fear toward the opposing party.
Which raises an important question: If red and blue America fear and loathe one another equally, and a similar number believe that political violence is acceptable, then why is there so much more of it on the fringes of the right?

Part of the answer lies in a clear difference between right and left: For the past 40 years, Republicans, parroting the gun-rights movement, have actively promoted the idea that firearms are a vital bulwark against government tyranny.

LINK

It really comes down to what one decides to call terrorism.

Over the last couple of decades far-left terrorism has targeted things. Cars, trucks, dealerships, logging equipment, etc. Far-right terrorism has targeted people. Far-left terrorists have been able to carry out plenty of attacks, because ecoterrorists can go throw some kerosene around a Hummer dealership and light it on fire, that's an attack.

Right-wing terrorists get stopped before they can begin their attacks more often than left-wing terrorists do. 300 some attacks against abortion clinics by right-wing extremists, and then on the other side of the aisle you have something like 600 attacks attributed to ALF and ELF since 1990. That's 24 years less time than when Roe v Wade was handed down, and about twice as many attacks.

So while the greater danger to people has been coming from right-wing extremists, the left-wing extremists have been carrying out multiple attacks against things and causing millions upon millions of dollars in damages, as well as putting lives at risk attempting to deal with the aftermath of their attacks.

It's not quite as simple as you're trying to paint it in your OP.

a reply to: Willtell

Does it make equal opposite extremist off the hook? Your thread is validating a race to the bottom.

I'm assuming by digging up some article confirming your bias that any violence on your side is justified.

a reply to: Willtell

As long as the overwhelming majority of black people continue to vote democrat and continue to turn our cities into war zones, you will continue to be wrong.

a reply to: Shamrock6

That’s why we should denounce both sides.

The FAKE NEWS conservative media, since the shooting of those congress people, have been claiming the left is more violent.

Another thing to keep in mind, the left violence like the guy in Virginia is an act of a crazy lone guy, the right-wing violence is more organized and lethal overall.

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: Willtell

Does it make equal opposite extremist off the hook? Your thread is validating a race to the bottom.

I'm assuming by digging up some article confirming your bias that any violence on your side is justified.

My OP doesn't at all justify violence form the left, that's ridiculous.

MY THREAD is correcting the record. Its backed up by official statistics.

originally posted by: Bone75
a reply to: Willtell

As long as the overwhelming majority of black people continue to vote democrat and continue to turn our cities into war zones, you will continue to be wrong.

Your point is entirely irrelevant since were discussing political violence NOT street crime

The fact that you would bring that up is in itself revealing of you

You never heard of all the European left wing terrorists then? Pretty much everyone from the 70s on were left wing, from the RAF in Germany to the IRA in the UK

a reply to: Willtell

"The guy in Virginia" wasn't "less lethal" for lack of effort.

Ability, perhaps. But not effort.