good morning! I've spent the last... 15 hours.... reading about and talking to everyone i could find with a boogaloo patch or skullmask who attended the minneapolis riots (god bless the rioters!)

it's an interesting mixed bag of boog boys, and it's time to talk about archetypes

there's very real differences between types of boog boys"-- differences that make a difference" you could say

it will be tempting to see genuine solidarity in some of them, which i'd say is a very short-sighted and opportunistic way to consider their political worldview

archetype #1 is embodied by the two boog boys who were detained while protecting black folks from the police

this archetype was radicalized by police action against white men or families-- the Bundys, Waco, Duncan, etc

they see genuine coalitions being built against the state

they also believe in the myth of the American dream, and that the country has been held hostage by a small minority of powerful individuals that are ruining an otherwise More Perfect Union. They believe police have erred from their true and righteous function of enforcing the law

these are your anarchist capitalists, your molyneux-types

they want to fight the state to restore a version of America that was deeply racist, but they see it as everyone having equal opportunity. these are the most common RW's you come across anti-war or pro-gun rallies

Archetype #2-- the boog troll

the boog troll is the skullmasker who is not there to fight alongside you, but there to troll and antagonize you. they wear the mask to incite fear in anyone who sees it-- they hate the cops, they hate the rioters, they hope to scare them all.

the boog troll would happily escalate to violence if he thought he could get away with it. the scarier he can be, the better. these are the folks who leave flyers advertising white terror groups on the cars attending left leaning or antifascist protests. they want you shook.

Archetype #3-- the Trad accelerationist

the trad accelerationist is looking for friends. (if they are there to do a mass murder, place them in the boog troll archetype, though they're probably both.) they're looking to gain entry into your spaces. they want your empathy.

trad acc doesn't care about your ideology. you want to burn it all down, and they share that vision. they believe society should be racially segregated and that white society should be ruled by the priest and warrior class. for that to happen, all that exists must be destroyed.

the trad acc wants to ~a c c e l e r a t e~ by destroying civil liberties. they want mass shootings so ppl lose their gun rights. they want you to feel the kind of vulnerable that makes you lash out. they want you to help them destroy the world so a new hierarchy can be built.

that's all. hopefully this helps someone evaluate the situation better. if you treat them all the same, it makes understanding what is happening far more difficult because their desires/rhetoric/values/tactics conflict with one another.