Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on October 18, 2020.
No far right activity at the JC currently. There are perhaps 20 people doing a flag wave on the Gibbs St Pedestrian Bridge. They seem to be a family event at this time: mostly women, a few kids. No weapons.
I think best to leave this one alone pending further developments
Update: maybe 15 chuds at the JC. I see at least one AR.
They are watching me tweet and talking shit, it's weird to be recognizable on sight. I just wanted to go for a Sunday run
Perhaps 10 heavily-armed far right activists at ICE. @HalospaceMedia tipped me off. They're harrassing Juniper
Going in now, pics soon
I just spoke to @JuniperLSimonis and here's what happened
When they arrived to count pepper ball impacts outside the ICE building and perform other documentary tasks for their work, a man was power washing the street
They asked the man who he works for. The man got upset t
The man flagged an OHSU cop down and reported…someone counting things in the street? Not sure how he thought that was going to go for him
The OHSU cop talked to Juniper, determined there was no problem, and left
The man got on the phone
Within a few minutes of the man getting on the phone, armed far right activists showed up. I am receiving reports that they have removed BLM signs from the Cottonwood school next to the ICE building. When I drove by, I saw them having a conversation with a DHS officer
I will now attempt to walk up to the protest. Not excited. Wish me luck
Between 15 and 20 activists kitty-corner from the ICE building. They were on federal property when I drove by the first time; perhaps they were asked to move away
At least 2 AR-15s and a few sidearms in this crowd
A woman thinks I took a picture of her car. I didnt
Having a bit of trouble uploading video, moving to better wifi now. Meanwhile, here's what just happened
The fellow who called me a fucking cunt and threatened me last week came over to accuse me of doxxing him
Then, all the armed protesters came over with a few others to explain that I'm not intimidated by them. Apparently if you don't break down crying, you're not intimidated. It's real interesting
They told me for about ten minutes how pro free speech they are
I ended up leaving when I realized that a) I was relieving their boredom and that b) I was dangerously close to losing my cool. And if we don't have our cool, what do we have?
Videos incoming
Update: they’re gone
Video Uploads:
Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on October 18, 2020.
Ok, I’m home, let’s see if I can actually upload video
The gentleman who called me a fucking cunt and threatened me last week approached me to accuse me of doxxing him. His armed friends soon followed
I tried, and failed, to explain that comments left under my videos aren't me
The gentleman asks why anyone would doxx him. I say, you'll have to ask them, but possibly because you threatened me with a gun
He explains he wasn't threatening me, then tells me to "keep a safe distance" which feels like another threat and also dude, YOU approached ME
Two men with AR15s inform me I'm not intimidated
They also accuse me of throwing things, then demand to know why I didn't stop others from throwing. Astoundingly, they say they'd protect me if people antagonized me
It is difficult to talk to people who believe their own lies
The gentlemen next take issue with me encouraging violence somehow and also with calling them neo-nazis, which I have NEVER done
We fight about the word chud
Mr. "You fucking cunt" says he isn't far-right. I ask him to elaborate on his beliefs. He either can't or won't
I continue to try to figure out what he believes
He finally says he's a Republican and believes in freedom
He also emphasizes freedom of speech and to express views without intimidation which, WOW
Again, he believes he believes this down to his core, despite his own actions
The armed gentlemen say that I called Antifa on them (no). They conflate two weekends, get confused about time
This is where things begin to go off the rails. I start reacting and begin to lose control of the conversation
The rest of these videos are clinics on what NOT to do
I ask about harassment of Juniper. They deny it, which tracks with the story I was told (they came when called but did not participate)
They ask about my nationality, I tell them, then he gets to do a gotcha: he's also from the middle east. Look at how racist they aren't
This is an old trick. When you respond to the dog whistle, they get to prove you wrong
It's disorienting. A better response would be, why do you ask?
"Why do you assume I think you're racist?" would have been a better response to the "I have non-white friends" bit
A brief moment of competency in which I point out the dichotomy between the way he's acting today and the way he acted last weekend
"Things got a little heated" he admits
Which makes it fine, obviously. Totally ok
I also get heated and it results in a tactical error: I advance on one of them to demonstrate how Mr. "Fucking cunt" over there advanced on me
They, of course, take this as proof that I'm not intimidated
We'll talk about that in a second, but it is a bad tactical choice
A better choice, at this point, would have been to either go silent or leave. I got decent footage and I could feel myself getting angry
If you go silent, they fill the space with words and sometimes those words are incredible
If you leave, the party's over
I did neither thing
I did at least ask about he magazine in the gentleman's weapon. He refused to give me a straight answer, unsurprisingly
I should bring my own AR to a protest sometime with a magazine in and see if the police are as cavalier about it as they are with this guy
I'm going to spare you the rest of the clip. It's mostly a woman telling me I'm not intimidated by men with guns
That I'm lying, since I don't act intimidated
This gets under my skin, we have words. Maybe it's dishonest not to show you, but it's not newsworthy either
Gonna conclude with a link to another thread about how yeah, actually, I feel feelings like fear when talking to people who hate me while they're holding weapons that could kill me
EPILOGUE:
I am dead
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