" “There isn’t a single racist post on this site.” - Brett MacDonald, Correspondent, America's Freedom Fighters.
Last week, I wrote on Facebook of young Brett MacDonald, a son of privilege, recent Boston College graduate and resident of that bastion of liberalism, Chestnut Hill, (and yeah, it surprised me to find this kind of trash being propagated in these leafy environs). Young Brett writes for a blog called America’s Freedom Fighters (hereinafter referred to as (“AFF”).
To recap, AFF is published by a fellow named Dean James, III. It is one of the many right wing blogs largely consisting of recycled posts and memes from Breitbart News which, as most know by now, is published in turn, by Herr Trumpf’s latest campaign manager, Steven Bannon.
After spending several months reading these websites and occasionally posting what were intended as non-provocative observations, and having growing weary of being reviled and insulted in response, I wrote Mr. James the following:
"To Dean James III% (sic) The racism and bias that you espouse is without logic or reason and devoid of humanity and compassion. Simply put, sir, you are a racist and a bigot and the divisiveness and hatred you and Trump ferment is a malignant cancer on the soul of the nation."
I immediately received a Facebook friend request from young Brett MacDonald, erstwhile Boston College grad and aspiring right wing "correspondent."
To resume and conclude, a lengthy ring-around-the-rosie exchange ensued between Brett and me. The complete dialogue is too dispiriting to repeat in its’ entirely, so I have edited out the low lights. The substance of the dialogue has been preserved as follows:
Brett: “Hi. I write for AFF”.
Me: "I don't know you. I deplore your politics and expect that you feel the same about mine. So, why have you sent me a friend request?
Brett: “Because you wrote a cryptically worded post about a company I work for, transitively me, (sic) and I wanted to assist you in getting your facts straight. I'm helpful like that.”
Me: “I called Dean James, the individual responsible for the blog posts appearing on "America's Freedom Fighters", the "company", you purportedly work for, a racist. What's cryptic about that?"
Brett: “The cryptic part was where you said all the horrible words we don't say. And the less cryptic yet curious part is why a divorce lawyer from Boston would give a damn enough to write a fairly winded post."
Me: “Those words appear regularly in America's Freedom Fighters and other blogs of that ilk. Every one of them has been directed at me by readers. I understand you're a young guy trying to make a name for yourself in certain circles, but I'm busy. Please tell me why you think we should be friends so we can move this dialogue along.”
Brett: “Oh I have no interest in being your friend, I just needed a line if (sic) communication. No one from AFF has ever used those terms to you.”
Me: “Those terms have been directed at me variously by readers of AFF, Sean Brown's “PolitCulture” and “The Lil Red Menace” all of which routinely re-post memes from Breitbart. Let's stop wasting one another's time and move beyond the preliminaries. I called Dean James a racist. Do you rebut that?”
Brett: “On what grounds do you call him a racist so I can directly respond?”
Me: “I told you why. You contacted me because you disagreed with what I wrote. You told me that you wanted to assist me in getting my facts straight. Go ahead."
Brett: “Well you've not supplied any evidence that Dean is racist. So assertions made with out evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
Me: “If you choose to ignore the obvious, that's up to you but don't ask me to spell it out for you. I'm not wasting anymore time going back over postings that range from the insensitive to the truly cruel and sick. You work there. You routinely post memes from other sources that support Donald Trump, insult and ridicule the President, Secretary Clinton, and minorities of every color, nationality and religious persuasion. I made the assertion that the proprietor of the blog that you work for is a racist. You contacted me to rebut my contention with facts. If you have them, make your case. If not, please move along."
Me again: "The blog that you post on speaks for itself. If you can't identify overt racism, I can't help you. Good luck to you, Brett, I hope you find whatever it is that you're after and that you don't harm too many innocents in the process. Peace."
Brett: “There isn’t a single racist post on this site.” (Emphasis mine).
Me again: "The blog that you post on speaks for itself. If you can't identify overt racism, I can't help you. Good luck to you, Brett, I hope you find whatever it is that you're after and that you don't harm too many innocents in the process. Peace."
Brett: “There isn’t a single racist post on this site.” (Emphasis mine).
That’s it.
.
Afterwards, I wondered whether I had overstated the case against AFF, so I took another look. It took a couple of minutes but this is what I found.
First this from Brett's twitter feed:
First this from Brett's twitter feed:
Brett MacDonald @TweetBrettMac Aug 21 “I don't support child-rape-defending attorneys or murderous public officials. She happens to be both.”
These comments on his Brett's AFF FB page:
Janet Kennedy HILLARY is a Spiteful - murderess- black hearted - demon who will BURN IN HELL FOREVER. With one foot in the grave and her mind gone - we can hope that her journey will be soon. HAG.
These comments on his Brett's AFF FB page:
Janet Kennedy HILLARY is a Spiteful - murderess- black hearted - demon who will BURN IN HELL FOREVER. With one foot in the grave and her mind gone - we can hope that her journey will be soon. HAG.
And this that was posted on America's Freedom Fighters:
And finally, Brett posted this helpful link to Youtube videos:
Anti-Black Lives Matter Resources (h/t 2016Politics)
Compilation Video including someone saying that we should not affirm all lives because white people have no value , destruction of private property, 13:07 someone asks “so you agree with Malcom X that white people should be killed” and the woman responds “you’re damn right I do!”….there are several other videos linked to by this youtube channel.
Whatever else he may or may not be, one fact beyond dispute is that young Brett, the aspiring "journalist" is a hypocrite and a liar.
With that, my exploration of The Great Divide is at an end. I learned what I learned and am left with a dark sense of foreboding for US. I have nothing more to add other than if you value this nation, SPEAK OUT.
_________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Posted on Facebook on August 22, 2016
Yesterday, I sent this note to a fellow who publishes a right
wing blog called America’s Freedom Fighters: "To Dean James III% (sic) The
racism and bias that you espouse is without logic or reason and devoid of
humanity and compassion. Simply put, sir, you are a racist and a bigot and the
divisiveness and hatred you and Trump ferment is a malignant cancer on the soul
of the nation."
There is a young fellow on Facebook by the name of Brett
MacDonald (who I'm sure he won't mind the publicity). Young Brett appears to be
between 20–25 years old. He claims he lives in nearby Chestnut Hill, and either
attended or graduated from Boston College, where he reports that he studied
political science.
If he has any friends, he has them hidden, but he has 130
followers. He also claims to work for “AFF” which he does not identify further.
A perusal of Brett’s Facebook posts reveals a series of
memes, all from America’s Freedom Fighters. (Imagine that). The original source
of the material he posts is … get ready … Brietbart News, headed by Dangerous
Don’s new right hand man, Steven Brannon!
I googled Mr. MacDonald and lo and behold! He has a twitter
account. On that account, he identifies himself, “Unabashed, cultural Nationalist,
Teddy Roosevelt Republican. Writes for AFF and RWT. �#�Trump2016� to �#�MakeAmericaGreatAgain�.
Mr. MacDonald also follows several twitter accounts including
one called, “CUNT Privilege” The anatomical reference is to the Democratic
Presidential candidate.
Brett has tweeted more than 21,500 times and has 6,865
followers to date. Here is a sample of what he posts:
“Hillary allowed 4 Americans to be killed and, sure, from
Vince Foster to Victor Thorn there is a trail of bodies leading to the Clintons
that even an email scrub can't purge. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TRUMP SAYS mean
THINGS! How can you vote for someone that says mean things?! I'd rather vote
for a corrupt murderer and elect the first human with a specific anatomical
feature. �#�DemocracyWorks”.
I believe Brett was being facetious.
Pretty scary fellow, huh?
The kicker to this is that Brett just sent me a Facebook
friend request.
Does Brett really want to be my friend? Or is he just trying
to trick me into “liking” him and approving his posts? If I reject his
overture, will I be depriving myself of an opportunity to conduct a rational
exchange of ideas that I have been unable to elicit from any Trump supporter
(or any other form of Republican for that matter)?
Or, will I be lowering myself into a gutter brawl devoid of
subtlety, nuance and intelligence by engaging with this impudent and very rude
fellow? What exactly is Mr. MacDonald’s game?
Stay tuned.
_________________________________________________________
First posted on Facebook on August 21, 2016
Know your adversary. Among the right wing hate sites I have been visiting over the past several weeks, "America's Freedom Fighters" has caught my attention most often. It is "published" by someone named Dean James III% (sic). It is followed by about 300,000 people. Mr. James claims to be a journalist. As with the other sites of this ilk, what he "publishes" are audio clips and memes from Trump's new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon's Breitbart News. The interesting thing about Mr. James is that, unlike most of the others, he responds to comments that challenge his view point with something more nuanced than the usual single sentence taunts that feature words like, "pussy", "faggot", "traitor" "Jew Bastard", "Nigger lover" and "towel head". The logistical difficulty for me is that there are so many people responding to his posts that it takes an inordinate amount of time to locate my own comments and his responses after they are received, So, in the interest of time and being able to preserve these exchanges for posterity and as evidence,I'm posting my most recent comment to Mr. James below as a bookmark for myself. "To; Dean James III% (sic) The racism and bias that you espouse is without logic or reason and devoid of humanity and compassion. Simply put, sir, you are a racist and a bigot and the divisiveness and hatred you and Trump ferment is a malignant cancer on the soul of the nation." I invite Mr. James to respond here or on his own site. Publicly. Speak out.
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