They are not the same but the average person (not an antifa activist) has to worry about being assaulted by antifa or having their shop burned if antifa decides to 'occupy' their area. They don't have to worry that the Proud Boys will bother them.
That is just not true. You've got it backwards. I don't pretend that "antifa" has not been associated with bad behavior, but you are out of your mind or purposely ignorant if you think that "antifa" is either the same or worse than white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys.
You know what "fascism" means, right? And you know then what "anti-fascism" means? These are not arbitrary labels tossed at people we like or don't like or who agree with our ideologies. They have meaning in terms of human thought and behavior. If they were the same thing there would be no conflict. But the differences, if I have to keep repeating them, are clear. Look up "right wing authoritarian." Look up "fascism." Look up "resistance."
They're some kind of masturbation club for men.
Aren't all clubs about that?
People try to ascribe some deep philosophy to all that crap when in reality people choose their team at random. All they really want to be on some team, does not really matter which.
I beg to differ. It certainly does matter. As I've been trying to explain lately, Trump supporters, the white supremacists mainly, are attracted to Trump and each other through hatred of outgroups and a desire to harm or weaken or eradicate them. The ideology is not mysterious or a new phenomenon at all. It's the usual insecure men (mainly) who have been brought up in some form of the abusive father figure paradigm, desperately in need of validation and acceptance, and leaders like Trump strongly appeal to them. He is rich and powerful and is in charge of the whole country, and
he approves of them and what they are doing. He also routinely dog whistles their prejudices and fears, and continues to distort or outright lie about what "antifa" means and what people who call themselves antifa actually do, further stoking both the misinformation and the violent tendencies.
I posted the other day in some thread or other about how cults attract people in very different ways. Scientology and the People's Temple, for example, while they are clearly destructive, controlling cults, initially attract people for reasons that are altruistic and based in empathy and a desire to help others and make the world a better place for everyone. Those are the people who are typically attracted to groups like scientology if they don't have any knowledge of the group except for the PR and front matter.
But those people are NOT in the least attracted to the Trump cult or the Proud Boys or any other right wing group based in bigotry and weak ass manchild psychology. Most human beings are
not rabid authoritarian morons scared and contemptuous of everyone who is not like them, desperate for safety behind the authority figure as well as free to unleash whatever violence they're inclined to inflict with the authority figure's permission (regardless of how much some of them and their apologists here pretend otherwise). And so such groups would not at all be attractive to anyone else.
There are a lot of reasons people want to be part of groups, and it absolutely
does matter which, depending on that person's values, desires, fears, identity, personality, interests, etc. Some groups, either honestly or deceptively, attract the good in people, the desire to help, etc. Other groups and ideologies, such as Trumpism and the Proud Boys, appeal to prejudice and hatred of outgroups.