Apropos of nothing: Decided today that we should make a file titled "Bullshit Masculinity Theatre" so we can store every instance of men on the left deciding to just "find common ground" and "shake hands" with overt fascists who have long histories of bigotry and violence.

Please stop pretending like bonding over your shared Man-ness with men who have done and will continue to do substantial harm to marginalized people is some form of "de-escalation."

Love that folks on the left still need reminding of this, but men choosing to still "respect" each other "Like Men (TM)" regardless of their past violent behavior or future violent plans isn't actually a good thing! It's very consistently bad!

You getting to have a chill conversation with a Proud Boy does literally nothing to prevent them from continuing to harm other people. "Hey, look, we can get along fine!" Yeah, we noticed. Please stop. They still want to kill the rest of us. This is fucking obnoxious.

(Two notes: 1. This isn't snark about de-escalation. Actual de-escalation involves taking a situation that is already or imminently violent/dangerous and calming it down to prevent likely immediate harm to vulnerable people. Not meeting fascist bullshitting with your own brand...

... 2. Having "reasonable conversations" with fascists is already bad plan because they lie and dissemble constantly. If you're not going to be constantly pointing that out as they do it, your attention grants their talking points a legitimacy that is fundamentally dangerous.)

(And another, actually last, note: Are you someone with experience/resources for de-radicalizing fascists speaking with a fascist who actually plans to leave the movement? If no: Stop pretending like being selectively conflict-avoidant with other men is praxis.)