If you live in the American heartland, you might have watched the urban carnage over the last few months and shrugged your shoulders or shook your head. After all, ANTIFA running amok in the cities is most definitely a Democrat-created problem. They bore that child and fed him candy, and now they can deal with the fallout. There’s a reason why people choose to live in the heartland and not the city anyway. Not my circus, not my monkeys. There’s just one problem. ANTIFA, whether anyone knows or wants to admit it, is already in the heartland — even in areas thought of as bastions of freedom — and they’re organizing and training.

MYTH: ANTIFA is made up of effeminate “soy boys.“

One of the most pervasive things going around about ANTIFA are that they are not even remotely a threat. They’re all so busy looking for their next vegan meal, putting beads in their sparse beards, or eating Pop-Tarts in their mom’s basement that they cannot possibly be a threat to real American manly men — or at least that’s how they’re portrayed. Stories like the one below serve to help that narrative, and it’s one that ANTIFA doesn’t mind going around. Being underestimated is an excellent force multiplier.

Rioters outside the Portland federal courthouse accidentally set their comrade on fire with a flammable device. #antifa #PortlandRiots pic.twitter.com/PLQbumM7fT

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 23, 2020

Many members of ANTIFA are those soy boy types, and the jokes and memes often write themselves. The problem, however, is that it’s easy to make the mistake of applying the stereotype to the entire force and planning accordingly — a dangerous precedent to set.

Here’s an example. We tend to see the military as “good” by default; typically conservatives like and respect military folks simply because they’re in uniform. People often apply a positive stereotype to armed service personnel.

For many years, however, there have been growing numbers of gang and even low-level cartel members joining the military; in fact, as far back as 2011, the FBI was warning that over 150 gangs were well-represented in the military, in all branches. Those gang members figured out that enlisting is a good way to get training in weapons and tactics, all of which they can take back to their criminal organization. In other words, as much as we love the military, membership in the armed forces doesn’t automatically mean someone has character. That doesn’t change the fact that much of the military is good, but it means you need to consider the individual, just like you would in any other situation.

Looking at some of the groups that make up the larger ANTIFA landscape, we see the same broad brush at play. The Socialist Rifle Association, claiming 2,000 members, also says that a full third of its roster “identify as LGBTQ, and 8 percent are transgender.” While some might chuckle at that or assume that translates to incompetence, the truth is that none of that means they’re incapable of engaging — or unwilling to do so.

It may not be surprising to learn that ANTIFA members are mostly white and male, but it may surprise some to know that they have plenty of combat veterans in their ranks, and the biggest contribution they bring to the table is exactly what veteran gang members bring back to their organizations: training, tactics, and experience.

MYTH: ANTIFA is only in the cities.

When people think of ANTIFA, they often assume that members all run in packs, too afraid to act without their peers, and certainly never ballsy enough to come to rural areas. If they did come to the sticks, so the belief goes, they’d get driven back so fast their head would spin. While this type of bravado is expected to hold the hordes of Communist ANTIFA at bay out of utter terror, here’s the uncomfortable truth: They’re already in your town. In fact, they’ve even been spotted in places like rural Montana — not exactly known as a pro-ANTIFA area.

MYTH: ANTIFA relies on numbers; if they don’t have them, they won’t do anything.

In Basics of Resistance, this author and co-writer Claire Wolfe discussed the myriad of things even one person can do to gum up the works, so to speak, of an unwanted or tyrannical system — and not using rioting or vandalism. The tactics work, regardless of which side is engaging in them. The Left has perfected those non-violent individual and group tactics over the years; in fact, some leftist groups have been operating efficiently for decades. A few of the more hardcore groups even publish exactly how they do what they do; even if their ideology is horrible, their tactics and practices are often on point. The Right, unfortunately, is a lot further behind on the guerrilla action experience spectrum, choosing to stick to rallies and other more traditional forms of activism.

Should We Be Afraid of ANTIFA?

Fear is never the answer, at least, not as a substitute for action. Ignoring facts, however, and assuming that ANTIFA and like-minded groups aren’t a threat, is also a poor choice. To be truly prepared, one must not only understand the threat, but plan for any contingencies and potential scenarios. “Drive them out” is far too vague and ineffective as a standalone strategy.

Research ANTIFA — not just their goals, but the players and their backgrounds to include education, military service, and other pertinent information. Find out where they’re operating, what and how they’re training in your area, and who is training them. What targets might they have in your locale? How would they go after those places? When you watch videos of them in action, don’t just watch the people in front. Watch people behind them. Pay attention to what they’re wearing, holding in their hands, or carrying as weapons. When you see the video below, look past their appearance or poor ideology and listen to what they’re willing to do.

ANTIFA isn’t all soyboys and wussies. Better to know that now, so you and your families and local groups can prepare and properly meet that threat in an effective way.

Photo credit: © Michael Jastremski for openphoto.net, Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported