Wangdoodle has struck again. Upset with X, he shared a blurry image of a soldier from World War II and proclaimed: Grandpa was antifa!
After all, Grandpa fought against figures like Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini. They were fascists, and since Grandpa was against fascism, he was, in essence, “antifa.” So, in his view, my grandpa was indeed antifa.
What these self-styled internet historians are doing is a kind of digital appropriation of bravery. …Grandpa would be horrified.
Right.
Before we go after those misguided keyboard warriors online, maybe it’s useful to clarify what fascism actually means.
Understanding fascism
Fascist regimes in the 20th century, including those led by Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito, shared three core features. First, they operated under a command economy managed by central institutions. Secondly, they had a tightly linked industrial and banking system. Lastly, they maintained a relatively uniform population closely monitored by the state.
So, does the U.S. match that description? There’s no centralized economic planning here, no state-controlled banking complex (just look at the Federal Reserve or the SEC), and definitely not a single racial population.
We are not I mean, there’s an ever-increasing crowd of willfully ignorant individuals eager to join whatever online trend is popular nowadays.
Some believe that being furry is a compelling lifestyle worth defending.
You know, just… ridiculous.
Grandpa fought for the Constitution
Many of these people are smug warriors behind their keyboards, posting vintage war pictures of their grandfathers without any understanding of their military history or the weaponry they wielded, such as the Thompson M1A1 submachine gun loaded with .45 ACP.
Yet they often throw Grandpa’s honorable service into the same pot as today’s extremists like anarchist communists identifying as “Antifa.” They’ve taken his legacy and twisted it to give credibility to a movement that opposes everything he stood for.
Grandpa had respect for the American flag and fought while upholding it, while Antifa is known for burning it. They even refer to it as a “fascist symbol.”
He did not fight for catchphrases; he fought for the Constitution. He took an oath to defend the United States against all adversaries, both foreign and domestic. That meant taking action against Tojo’s Japan, invading Hitler’s Germany, and defeating Mussolini’s Italy.
RELATED: Antifa isn’t ‘anti-fascist’ – it’s anti-freedom and anti-God
It’s definitely not Antifa.Bettman/Getty Images
Future generations have taken similar oaths. They’ve defended against communism in Korea and Vietnam, then in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and after 9/11 against al-Qaeda and ISIS across multiple continents.
Courage in the hashtag era
What these self-proclaimed internet historians engage in is a sort of digital appropriation of valor. They drape themselves in the virtues of those who genuinely faced danger, who fought for something significant rather than for likes and shares.
Grandpa would be ashamed of the ignorance displayed by his descendants.
But, who knows? In search of the next viral moment, some shortsighted individuals might post an image of their father in Afghanistan captioned, “Dad was a crossroads.”
And the Wandoodles will rave—because no one is smarter or braver.
