November 29, 2019 09:57 AM UTC

Today in BS: The "Pueblo Antifa" Brawl That Wasn't

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As KRDO-TV reports, you can’t believe anything everything you read on right-wing media:

According to large online conservative news outlets like The Blaze and Red State, it was a member of Antifa blocking traffic in a political protest that was seen in a viral video being thrown down and punched by an SUV driver last week in Pueblo.

But that’s not what happened, according to the Pueblo Police Department, and Sgt. Frank Ortega says there’s concern about the video being used as “propaganda.” [Pols emphasis]

Here’s how The Blaze, paragon of truth in media Glenn Beck’s disturbingly popular website, described this epic struggle between freedom and leftist thuggery that went down right under our noses in Steel City:

Last week, video surfaced showing an alleged Antifa member attempting to block an SUV in the road and harass someone before getting taught a lesson he won’t forget anytime soon.

The video, originally posted on LiveLeak, shows the agitator wearing the usual black mask getup seen on Antifa members and wielding some sort of weapon reminiscent of a baseball bat. Whatever it is, it ends up being completely useless to him…

Blocking roads, disrupting traffic, and carrying bludgeoning weapons has been the modus operandi of Antifa members over the last several years…[t]his time, the alleged Antifa protester picked on the wrong guy.

Except, back to KRDO’s story, this account has been, shall we say, dramatized:

According to Pueblo police, the driver told officers the altercation started because the masked pedestrian was blocking drivers from turning west onto 4th Street if they weren’t using a turn signal. [Pols emphasis]

So, in a way, the pedestrian was protesting — but the video got picked up by so-called conservative outlets to push a warped narrative…

[I]f the SUV driver’s statement to police is accurate, the only protest taking place was one against bad traffic habits.

So, we’re not going to endorse the practice of individuals upset about drivers not using their turn signal blocking traffic to make a point about safety, since that appears to be a great way to attract more trouble than this particular gentleman bargained for. We’d say there are better ways to express one’s displeasure over turn signal use, like maybe a letter to the editor. We certainly don’t endorse punching people who are only causing a momentary inconvenience either.

But if you’re looking for the latest battle in Antifa’s slap-happy struggle against global capitalist oppression, and the “very fine” Based Stickmen who vest up to brawl with them–the street protest equivalent of a self-licking ice cream cone–you’ll have much better luck in Portland than Pueblo.

And per usual in the outer orbits of conservative media like The Blaze and RedState, the banal truth is a few days behind the fake headline.