Responding violently to anything would probably give you a feeling of satisfaction and perhaps superiority, but would do absolutely nothing to alleviate or mediate the issue.

@jlynn37 Maybe I realize all that, have no illusions about changing their minds or alleviating or mediating the issue, but just enjoy getting my licks in the same as them. Sometimes, I think it is important and worthwhile to let the enemy know that not all lefties are passive, well-mannered and non-violent, because it not only gives the enemy a tactical advantage, it also turns some people off about our side because they are tired of lefties either always acting like wimpy sissies or hearing that all of our side are that, etc.. For example, if the Jan. 6 rioters had been dealt with harshly, yet not with lots of them being killed and thus becoming martyrs, I think you would have seen a lot less support for them around the country, as many on their side would realize they were not going to be treated gently, and, being that most of them are cowardly bullies, they would have crawled back under their rocks. Letting them know they cannot bully with impunity is an important lesson that needs to be continually taught them, if not by the authorities, then by us in the public sphere, so to speak...

And frankly man, with the long history of the cops and military having such an obvious double standard for how they treat folks on the left vs. folks like them on the right, I no longer have any trust in the authorities to treat my enemies appropriately. In other words, it's more up to us than you may think...

Another thing to consider, the corporate media and our enemies, are always going to lump peaceful protesters in with antifa, anarchists, and other violent groups anyway, same way the right always lumps liberals and all Dems in with communists, so why continue to care how we are seen by the public as far as how mannered or civil we are? In my mind, it's about past time to keep caring about public image, as we peasants are helpless to control what the corporate media and our enemies say about us. They sure as hell don't care about their public image. It's been a long time since the 60s, when moral outrage by itself produced change and the mass media was actually fair, honest, balanced, and not monopolized by a few corporate conglomerates. Time to quit playing nice like back then and realize, as all serious community organizers do nowadays, that change only comes with hardball organizing and then fighting for power. And most of the time, that includes using the threat of violence to get the authorities, the pols, and the ruling class to make concessions to us. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, they make them because, sometimes, they feel putting up with further violence and continued unrest is bad for business, so to speak, both economically, and also possibly unsafe down the line for the rich and powerful. No one who's rich wants to live with continuous unrest and violence in their country because there's always a chance it could lead to revolution or that somehow even the rich could get hurt or killed in the crossfire.

Are they our real enemies in the class war and class struggles? Of course not, I am too much of an aware socialist to think that, but in our culture wars and the current struggle for control over our maintaining a civil society with rule of law, rather than an authoritarian dictatorship or a theocracy, you bet your ass they are our enemies and are willing to make it happen thru violence. That is one war I would be willing to fight for in the streets, if it comes to that, rather than support any of our country's present wars for oil, empire, and corporate profits...

@jlynn37 I like the satisfaction part (...but I cain't get no.....satisfaction...)

@racocn8 You're welcome. Unlike most people on the left, esp, the dreaded liberals and Dem centrists, who, to me, don't really qualify as lefties anymore, except on culture war issues, I am a pessimistic realist. I see Chris Hedges, for example, as prophetic, that we will eventually have open civil war all across the country, if we don't already get complete fascism before that under the next Repub. prez in three years. I hope I'm wrong, but I really doubt it. There will be civil war fought openly, if it happens across just about every state on the mainland US, and it will be mostly rural vs. urban fought in regions of each state. I predicted Trump would win the last time, and I was only wrong, narrowly too, because Covid and the economic collapse came along to save Biden, after I had already made the prediction.

As far as Satisfaction, a geek like me is probably more along the line of the Devo version than the Stones, lol!

I'm probably too old for street fighting, but I endorse much of what you say. I have listened to GQP BS all my life and I'm more than ready to consider them an enemy to be dispatched. I'm sure they feel the same about us, but I happen to know who is right and who embraces treason, sedition and cowardice. Fundamentally, they don't like what America stands for as an ideal. If they want fascism so bad, I'm okay with showing them how to die for it.

@racocn8 Damn right. Fighting this fight would actually be worth it and do some good. Fighting all the wars of my lifetime, which have all been for oil, empire or corporate profits, have never been worth any of the lives lost, as they really didn't make any lasting improvements in the places they were fought, at least as far as making them more like a real and fair democracy. But they sure made a lot of for some Americans and corporations. Which is why I opposed all those wars, because, as a socialist, I saw how the soldiers were being used to fight for the rich and corporations, not for anything that benefitted their fellow peasants. Maybe someday Americans will become sane enough to demand that corporations hire their own mercenaries to fight their wars, not regular citizens, and not be able to use our tax for it. Better yet, that enough Americans wake up and take back our democracy, so that corporations can't fight these wars in the first place, and claim to do it in our name and for our country's benefit, the original and real Big Lie....