Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Washington ICE detention center attacker Willem Van Spronsen wrote 'I am Antifa' manifesto before assault

from National Review
Mostly unnoticed beneath the storm of idiotic presidential tweets and the Democratic struggle session over exactly how minority legislators should behave, a 69-year-old man conducted a terrorist attack on a government facility this weekend.

Willem Van Spronsen, armed with a rifle and “incendiary devices”, set a car on fire and was shot and killed by police officers who were responding to the scene. He also attempted to light a propane tank on fire, which “could have resulted in the mass murder of staff and detainees housed at the facility had he been successful,” according to Shawn Fallah, head of the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility.

Van Spronsen reportedly had been arrested for lunging at and grabbing a police officer during a 2018 anti-immigration protest at the Tacoma facility. Presumably, he attacked the facility out of anger at ICE’s role in the crisis on the border.

This hardly registered in the national media. Granted, all the major outlets ran news stories — but there was no outcry of protest, no concern over political violence directed at government officials.

It is very easy to imagine how a similar attack, with political loyalties reversed, would have been reported. In fact, you don’t have to imagine it: Look to last year’s Cesar Sayoc “pipe bomb spree,” which became a referendum on whether President Trump’s “violent rhetoric” somehow encouraged violence of this kind. Conservatives warned then, and should say again now, that tying lone attacks by obvious lunatics to some kind of aura cast by controversial politicians is a toxic kind of discourse which needlessly and dangerously escalates the moral stakes of political disagreement.

So no one should be blaming any politician or political group for this assault (except possibly Antifa, of which Van Spronsen was a member — the Seattle branch posted a eulogy on Facebook). But the comparative lack of interest in this attempted bombing should be concerning.

I don’t think the downplaying of this story is malicious, but it’s a good example of how media bias manifests itself under the radar. Bias is less an attempt by journalists to impose beliefs and more journalists’ beliefs affecting which stories they cover.

In this case, attacks on Trump critics fit into a media worldview that sees Trump and his supporters as basically proto-fascist, ready to use violence against their adversaries. People like Cesar Sayoc fit into that narrative: They’re “stories” that help explain why Trump supporters are dangerous.

In contrast, Van Spronsen and Antifa are aberrations from the Left’s (and by extension, large sectors of elite media) own self-conception: peaceful, progressive, and ethical. Their actions, while worthy of basic reporting, aren’t worth covering in exhaustive detail. Not being representative of the Left, they don’t really “explain” anything about national politics.

Of course, the reasonable thing to say is that dangerous, violent, lunatics have always existed and will continue to exist, and attempting to attach the blame for bomb-throwing to Democrats or Republicans is absurd. But that wouldn’t drive traffic.
Willem Van Spronsen's Manifesto

11 comments:

Dervish Sanders said...

MORE tRump-inspired violence! And it inspired YOU to call for violence... hence your comment on WYD declaring that a "war" has begun and that people must chose sides. Is that what this guy's manifesto says? That he, in his capacity as an official representative of the Democratic party, intended to start a war with his actions?

Joe Conservative said...

Name one member of "the squad," who's rhetoric inspired the attack on the Washington Detention Facility, that has denounced the Antifa attack (despite being handed hot mikes). Zero. Zip. The war has officially begun, and Antifa has started it. The "shot heard round the world" has been fired.

Where are all the "honest/peaceful" lib's telling Antifa to tone it down or to go away? They don't exist.

Joe Conservative said...

Who will BRING THE FIRE?

Dervish Sanders said...

Dotard inspired the attack by holding and torturing Christian refugees in concentration camps. I applaud the members of "the squad" for calling out the evilness of the Dotard administration.

Thersites said...

There you have it, the Left justifying domestic terrorism, AGAIN!

Dervish Sanders said...

I condemn domestic terrorism. It is NEVER justified. Do you have a reading comprehension problem or a you simply a liar?

Thersites said...

The attack on the Detention Center was by an Antifa member. You said Trump "inspired" him.

Classic Victim blaming/terrorism justification.

Do you have reading comprehension problems?

Dervish Sanders said...

tRump did inspire him. That does not mean he should have gone to prison (if he had not been killed). I did not "justify" anything. Also, AntiFa does not have a "membership". This criminal wasn't on an AntiFa approved "mission". He made the decision to break the law on his own. I assume, given that your article does not mention any co-conspirators.

Anyway, he failed. All he did was set a car on fire. As per your comments about Cesar Sayoc, if they fail it's "fake". Why should the media dedicate extensive coverage to a fake attack?

Dervish Sanders said...

How can I blame victims when there were none? Also, the article says that "staff and detainees housed at the facility" were the potential victims. Neither Dotard nor Steven Miller were there and therefore could have not been killed/been victims.

Joe Conservative said...

White Nationalists have a membership list? The KKK has a list? Who knew?

Joe Conservative said...

Do racists have a membership list? Are you on it?

I do know one thing. No Republican EVER owned a slave.