Message from @Virgil
Discord ID: 499678116008951809
And normalization.
👆
While not selling may be the "safer" option.
It doesn't help us WIN.
WINNING must be the goal, gents
@Tyler0317 At a certain stage absolutely, but do we actually have the infrastructure to withstand the blowback lunatic or antifa going out and commiting a crime, while wearing IE merchandise?
It's a matter of mindset:
"We don't want to sell our stuff publicly because what if someone buys our stuff online and does something bad"
vs
"Our stuff is publicly available for sale, anyone can buy it, and if they do something bad - they obviously don't represent our values"
@Virgil what's stopping them from stenciling the dragons eye on a shirt and doing the same
or a synagogue?
having actual merchandise is quite different from a stencil drawing
not picking one side of the two options presented in that A vs. B but still
If it's done well, it'd be hard to say - and would it matter?
I would say it matters if it's a homemade stencil drawing vs official IE gear in this hypothetical scenario yes
A stenciling is much different from official merchandise that IE members would wear
Let's imagine the worst case scenario, lawsuits bankrupt the org.
We reshuffle, reorganize and rebrand.
We can't be timid. We have learned what we can expect by submitting to the PC powers.
I'm only arguing the stencil vs official merch point, as far as the actual path forward I'm more inclined to agree with continuing to sell some merch to anyone while retaining some IE member/IE patron exclusives
@Deleted User That's not what I'm getting at, we don't have the lobbyists or lawyers who could defend us in case of something terrible happening. I think we might be jumping the gun a bit and leaving a hole in our opsec At the end of the day, we aren't GI and our views are not as normalized as they are in Austria, Italy or even France.
@Virgil We won't get to the G.I. level by being insular and risk-averse.
For selling I.E. merch, the juice is clearly worth the squeeze IMO
@Tyler0317 We shouldn't be timid, I agree 100%, but we need to be smart. Furthermore if an individual has even a spurrious connection to us, we could get caught up in a RICO investigation
But I of course, support the decision of leadership, I just have some concerns I'm expressing.
@Tyler0317 I should also clarify, I'm not against selling merch per se, I understand it is a valuable source of income. I think we should just understand and prepare for potential consequences
Your point is well made, but again, there is nothing stopping an insane person from getting a tee shirt printed or a flag made and doing something now.
Even with 0 public availability of merch, bad things could happen.
Oh definitely what is to stop a crazy person from copying the logo from the site and making it a T-shirt?
In fact I might do that lol
^crazy person right here
absolute madlad
Recently had an antifascist jokingly ask me where to buy flags
Nothing stops a crazy person with an objective to harm our image - and $30 in their bank - from downloading our logo, and having a shirt made on VistaPrint. Determined people will always find a way, no matter what.
How about this, what about having a set of merch that we sell to the public, while having a completely different set of merch we sell to members. Of course wearing the merch that we sell to the public during activism won't be allowed.
How about we sell merch publicly and unafraid? If someone does something stupid we point out that they aren't a member, they don't represent our ideals and that our merch is publicly available.
I don't see any function difference between this approach (which would be true) vs, "ah ah well they aren't with us because they are wearing **t-shirt design 3c** instead of members designated **design 3a**"
`well what if your member bought it from your public facing store`
>reverts to my original statement anyhow
On that note, let's design *more* merch for *everyone* to buy. <:deye:359010025223618570>
From what I've seen, the left is very lazy when it comes to false flags and conservatives are increasingly aware of the proliferation of hate hoaxes. If antifa wants to give us money for what would be an obvious false flag, so be it
They would probably just spray paint a dragons eye on a shirt and call it a day if they can't steal mom and dads credit card.
Just compare their banner to ours at the Columbus statue. Low energy!
I'm more concerned about WN 1.0 types buying our stuff, but that guilt by association will exist anyway and we can still put out statements like today's when necessary
If we only allowed members to buy merch then if someone made something with our logo and did something crazy it would make us look much worse
Ian is correct. We won’t stop from selling merch publicly, full stop. Everyone does it, there’s no good reason not to.
@Deleted User It would add an extra layer of protection and provide proof that said person was not an activist or member. But I suppose the issue has been decided. Which is fine, I see your point.