Debunking Claims that Cop Block is a Hate GroupCarey Wedler Allen Clifton of Forward Progressive writes: Theyre not out to educate, inform or hold anyone accountable theyre out to slander police officers. He said: their clear disdain for law enforcement is just a part of their overall intense hatred of authority and the government. It is therefore puzzling that he would be so opposed to a group that not only advocates for social reform by way of police accountability, but sides with aliberal cause. For decades, one progressive crusade has been to help minority groups that are disadvantaged by the system but not, apparently, if that same cause is shared by those who do not adoregovernment. The hypocrisy runs deeper. Clifton scolds Cop Block for claiming to be an advocacy group (egotistically gloating that he warned of this type of group before and self-aggrandizing his previous, prophetic writingin at least two other instances in the article). He writes: Whos watching the watchers? Often these advocacy groups are just as, if not more, unethical than those they claim to be watching and holding accountable. Besides the fact that an organization called Forward Progressive is surely a form of advocacy for a particular ideology, Cliftons boot-licking tendencies are apparent in his presumption that Cop Block could ever be equally or more unethical than police. Cop Block has not beaten anyone. They have not murdered anyone. They have not violated unarmed, innocent civilians rights or slammed any facesinto the pavement. They educate people on how to talk to police, exercise their rights, and they discourage violent behavior. Thereis a supreme deficitof logic to castCop block as watchers when government has been watching all of us for years, literally and figuratively. Regardless, the first substantive stab the author takes at Cop Block is the fact that their page has supported the 2nd amendment. Lions, tigers, hate groups, oh my! God forbid that law-abiding citizens be able to defend themselves or even advocate to that end. Thats only for inept state organizations who shoot each otherand others while drunk. And black people while totally sober. Is Mr. Clifton aware that the sweeping gun control provisions in America that he supports started as a means to keepAfrican-Americansoppressed? Perhaps if progressives could move past the prejudicethat guns are only valued by and useful to crazy redneck, toothless, privileged white people (and government agents, of course), they wouldnt be so afraid. Nonetheless, Cliftongoes on to share screen shots of Cop Block posts (conveniently cropping out the number of likes, comments, and shares because the thousands of shows of support would not helphis tirade). He shares a meme quoting rapper, The Game, who mocked the two murdered NYPD officers. Cop Block noted in its post that if they [police] are going to be insensitive to the death of a citizen then how can they expect everyone to sympathize with the death of a cop? In another example, hecites a status update that Cop Block shared: That sounds like the very same sort of anti-government propaganda pushed by the likes of Fox News, the tea party, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz or any number of right-wing radicals. Apparently, he missed the last several decades of conservative policy and ideology that have enabled huge government programs from police militarization to war. He also missed the fact that Bill OReilly defamedCop Block on national television. Cop Block has nothing in common with Fox News the former is anti-government while the latter pretends to be. But in an attempt to slander Cop Block, Clifton relies on predictable progressive disdain for Fox to dupe his readers into hatingcop blockers. Humorously, progressives have a great dealin common with Fox News in that they love authority. They love laws and they believe it is the job of the government to regulatesociety. Though Fox News viewers may want to do that by banning gays and abortion while progressives would like to do it byredistributing income and obtaining free birth control,loyalty tothe state and its force are present onboth ends of the political spectrum. This love of government authority has blinded many (not all) progressives from the principles they used to cherish. Their need to create an equal society through institutions has led them to excuse war, spying, and gross police overreach especially since a Democrat is president. Though they were up in arms over George Bushs atrocities, they are willing to accept a lesser of two evils as long as he pretends to care about the poor. The author claims that Cop Block is ludicrous because of its anti-government views and that it shamefully seeks to tear down the system. Sadly, the point is lost that perhaps the system needs to be torn down. The system doesnt work. It keeps the poor impoverished and the disenfranchised voiceless. No self-respecting progressive could possibly support a system that does this but many modern progressives care far less about the well-being of citizens than they do preserving the delusion that government can achieve said well-being. Cliftonclosed his article by accusing Cop Block of stirring up hate, fear, anger and paranoia toward anything and anyone that resembles government or authority. To clarify: its not paranoia if your government actually is a hateful, murderous, corrupt, deceitful,angry machine. And if Clifton is so confident in the absurdity of being anti-government, he should have no worries that his beloved progressives follow Cop Block. It is clearhe is irrationally more afraid of his cohortsshifting their philosophy than he is the epidemic of police brutality or making any effort to stop it. It would behoove the author to recognize that police are merely the foot soldiers of violent government institutions and that if he is true to his progressive cause wanting to improve society and effect change recognizing that violence is not the answer must be the first step. Carey Wedler writes for The Anti-Media, where this first appeared. 