If you encounter a young person- specifically a white male in the uniform and adornments of a radical hipster- do you stereotype? A shaved head, a roguish beard, tattoos, and a hoodie: is this some kind of tough guy? Maybe, but more likely he’s simply an insecure byproduct of the self-esteem generation where accomplishments are rare but accolades plentiful, a middle-class guy of some privilege who has yet to grow up, there being no need to do so. A befuddled young man whose very appearance is crying, “Look at me, pay attention, please fill the emptiness of my life!” To be fair and a little compassionate, it’s not his fault he attended lavish graduation ceremonies from day care to pre-school to kindergarten and so on, and was given trophies merely for being there.

Nevertheless, this fashion stereotype is also applicable to the political activist who, with or without a balaclava obscuring his face, is in the street protesting vigorously, perhaps violently, against the many things that outrage him. This especially applies to the “antifa” “social justice” warrior, but can just as well apply to the “pro-fa(scist),’’ neo-Nazi activist; they’re pretty much the same, except the latter exist mostly in the mind and fantasies of Joe Biden.