A recently released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) document titled “Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide”* links common protest symbols to “terrorism” — another marker in a common theme of conflating militant protest for social justice with deadly terrorist violence within the United States. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Brennan Center have raised warnings about such documents, citing inadequate protections for people’s constitutional rights.

    • Zorque@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if there were syops to radicalize anti-fascist groups to make them less appealing to the masses.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        This is essentially my pet conspiracy theory about Alex Jones. He was a plant by the CIA, to make all conspiracy theorists look absolutely batshit crazy. By having him peddle the extreme theories right alongside the “these are a little too close to reality, and the people are getting dangerously close to figuring it out” theories, they’re able to discredit those accurate theories. Because now they don’t need to attack the individual theory; They can just attack the face of conspiracy theories.

        • Zorque@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          Anti-fascists aren’t conspiracy theorists, though, they’re just people who oppose fascism.

        • Notorious_handholder@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I feel like that conspiracy is too smart for the CIA. Remember this is the same organization that regularly had employees secretly drugging each others coffee with LSD so much that it became common place around the office. And also tried to convince communists in the Philippines that vampires where real despite Philippine culture/mythology not having vampires.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          See I believe that for 20th century conspiracy theorists. I fully suspect there was an effort to combine aliens, government mind control (and what would eventually be revealed as MK ULTRA), the remnants of the protocols of the elders of Zion and other similar conspiracy theories, COINTELPRO, and other things all together by the FBI. It’s part of COINTELPRO style tactics. Make them sound ridiculous and drive them so far to the extreme they’re hard to listen to.

          That said Alex Jones seems pretty much an unintended consequence of all the conspiratorial milieu

          • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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            11 months ago

            The alien thing is especially bad.

            This guy - Paul Bennewitz - was a radio operator in WWII and opened a radio repair shop near an Air Force base. He picked up some encrypted signals from the base and went public with them, claiming they were from aliens.

            The Air Force decided this was a great cover story, and teased him with information including sending “Men in Black” to look for him, until he was convinced. He got so convinced he became a paranoid schizophrenic, and died in a mental institution not tool long ago.

            All of that alien sci fi stuff has its origin with this poor man. The X Files, two Will Smith movies, and everything in that oeuvre including the excellent Resident Alien, all have their roots in the mental abuse my government perpetrated on this poor, curious man.

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          This is literally on one of those declassified 3-letter agency docs. Dunno about Alex Jones but they do shit like this.

        • LavaPlanet@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Oooh, I’ve noticed this, too. That there are some ‘conspiracies’ that are / could be true, but if you talk about them to anyone you are instantly one of the crazies. They have weponised the stupid.

          • Zevlen@lemm.ee
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            11 months ago

            Umm , why’s it gotta be execution tho?

            Putting him in prison and taking away his business/ dissolving it and taking away his assets should be enough. There’s no reason for two wrongs when You’re trying to go for justice ⚖️ / just society.

            Eye for an eye never got us no where ( xept sometimes)