Have you ever wondered how ordinary people can convince themselves that beating someone unconscious in the street is actually a moral act?
I used to think that kind of self-delusion only happened in history books or far-away countries. Then I watched a video interview that stopped me cold. A young man who spent years inside one of the most notorious far-left militant networks decided to speak out, and what he described sounds less like political activism and more like the slow descent into a cult that justifies murder.
The Sentence That Shook Me
Here it is, word for word:
“They don’t kill you because you’re a fascist. They call you a fascist so they can kill you.”
Let that sink in for a second. The label isn’t the reason for the violence; it’s the permission slip. Once the word is spoken, the target stops being human. Anything becomes fair game: a punch, a bike lock to the head, a firebomb, worse. And the people swinging the weapons sleep just fine at night because, in their minds, they’re the good guys.
From Online Memes to Real-World Blood
It rarely starts with violence. It usually starts with memes, outrage posts, and that intoxicating feeling of moral superiority you get when you’re absolutely certain you’re on the right side of history. The former member (he uses the pseudonym “Andrew” for obvious reasons) explained how the slide works.
First, you’re just sharing articles about how terrible the “fascists” are. Then you’re going to protests to scream at them. Then you’re carrying a shield “for defense.” Then someone hands you a stick, then a brick, then directions to someone’s house.
Andrew says the turning point for many is when they see violence work. A counter-protester gets surrounded and beaten, the video goes viral among the in-group, and everyone laughs and cheers. That dopamine hit is powerful. Suddenly brutality isn’t scary; it’s funny. It’s righteous.
The Dehumanization Playbook Everyone Should Recognize
Call someone a Nazi often enough and loudly enough, and eventually the word loses all meaning except one: target.
- First, the label strips away nuance. You’re not a guy with conservative opinions; you’re literally Hitler reincarnated Hitler.
- Second, history is invoked. “Punching Nazis saved the world in the 1940s, remember?”
- Third, empathy switches off. Once you’ve convinced yourself the person in front of you is subhuman, anything you do to them is self-defense.
Sound familiar? It should. Every genocidal movement in history used the exact same psychological trick. The only difference is the branding.
Who Counts as the Enemy Now?
Here’s where it gets truly frightening. Andrew says the definition of “fascist” has ballooned beyond recognition.
Five years ago the main targets were actual far-right street fighters, people showing up with shields and helmets looking for trouble. Today? Anyone who disagrees too loudly.
Teachers who won’t use preferred pronouns. Parents angry about school curriculum. Even moderate liberals who think looting is bad. The circle of acceptable targets just keeps widening because the ideology demands constant enemies to stay energized.
The Casual Conversations That Made Him Leave
Andrew didn’t quit over one big dramatic moment. It was the small stuff that piled up.
Hanging out after meetings, people started talking about guns the way my friends talk about fantasy football. “I finally got my AR-15 sighted in.” “You going to the range this weekend?” “We should start running tactical drills.”
At first he thought it was just talk. Then he noticed more and more people were carrying concealed. Then conversations turned to “when—not if—the civil war starts.” Then someone joked about how many “fascists” they could take out before reloading.
Nobody laughed nervously. Everyone laughed like it was the funniest thing they’d heard all week.
The Genocide Fantasy Driving Everything
The former member says the entire movement now runs on a central paranoia: “We’re all about to be rounded up and killed.”
Doesn’t matter that they’re the ones burning cities and assaulting people in broad daylight. In their narrative, they’re the victims fighting for survival. Any violence they commit is preemptive self-defense against an imaginary final solution that’s supposedly right around the corner.
It’s the same script every extremist group uses. Create an apocalyptic threat, convince your followers only you can stop it, and suddenly anything—anything—becomes justified.
Your Neighbor, Your Kid’s Teacher, Your Lawyer
One of the creepiest details Andrew dropped: a lot of these people have totally normal day jobs.
The guy teaching your kid’s sixth-grade social studies class might go home, put on all black, and spend his weekend cracking skulls. The woman who helped you with your will might be the one making Molotovs in her garage. They don’t look like monsters because, on Monday morning, they don’t have to.
That duality is what lets the violence keep escalating. Society sees polite professionals. Only the targets see the other face.
Why This Should Terrify Every Single One of Us
Forget left versus right for a moment. This is about a template for violence that can be copied by any ideology.
Pick an out-group. Convince your in-group they’re existential evil. Laugh about hurting them. Stockpile weapons “for defense.” Wait for the spark.
We’ve seen this movie before. The names on the armbands change. The psychology stays exactly the same.
And the scariest part? Andrew says the people still inside don’t think they’re becoming the villains. They’re absolutely convinced they’re writing the next great chapter of resistance mythology. Future generations, they believe, will thank them.
History rarely thanks the people who burned the cities down.
If a former insider is willing to risk everything to warn us, maybe—just maybe—we should listen before the casual jokes about killing “fascists” stop being jokes.
Because once that line is crossed, there’s usually no coming back.
