Slop.

I certainly wouldn't be engaging online with anyone I know irl on these topics, hard pass, you'd get doxxed and swatted

I would have sent a video compilation of Charlie Kirk getting shot memes while asking her "I'm sorry are you still sensitive after your hero died?" and promptly gotten my account banned, so good on you for having self-control.

Ask her what she thinks about Huey Newton's theory of intercommunalism. If she gets confused, say you thought she knew plenty, but apparently isn't familiar with the core ideology, and offer her the "secret knowledge that the government tried to suppress" (a PDF of the book).

The best counter to reactionary takes on the Black Panthers is to point out that what the Panthers do is precisely what conservatives say people should do instead of being “dependent” on the state. Yet when it’s black people doing it conservatives flip their shit.

the middle class white girl my friend took to prom was quiet, as i recall. noteable because i would be quiet around people i didn't know back then. so the two of us at a table was like a dentist's waiting room.

fast forward 20 years later, her entire social media feed was like photoshopped pictures of obama with red glowing eyes with analysis like "obama knows the muslim brother hood is active in the US because he invited them" and "operation jade helm is going to kill all the christians".

i wasn't connected to her at all and only learned this because my friend showed me his account, since i got off facebook and shit completely a while ago.

the amount of people i went to high school with that have since become Level 99 Banana Pants could fill multiple novels. i have nothing to do with all but maybe 2-3 of them.

i can joke about it now because i live extremely far from there, and am unlikely to be arrested or shot by one of them (the crooked cops) or have my skull opened up to look for my 5g implants (Q brain).

There was an exactly 0% chance you were going to have a constructive conversation online with someone you barely know who is already so entrenched in their reactionsry views.

The closest thing to something positive you could possibly get out of that situation is blowing off some personal steam dunking on them, but even then I can see how that's less appealing when they can go spreading rumors about you being a "gommie terrorist" to the amerikkkans around them who still idolize the burger reich.

You handled it correctly imo. If your first inclination is to disengage, then you may not have been prepared or willing to start the dialogue. Which is totally okay, I’m saying that from experience as someone who is conflict averse and not good at debating.

From my experience with people like this, her opinion of you was already made. It would have been an uphill battle to even have her begin to hear you. Let alone begin having a productive conversation.

Cointel worked. Media reported it as such. I’ve even pointed out to ppl that cointel was set up to disparage the Black Panthers. And received, ‘Yeah but they stood at ballots with guns to make ppl vote.’ Like wtf?

Tell her it's good when it happens to white people

I would have just hit her with the ol PPB and called it a day, I am not wasting my time on someone that far gone

So you agree! The KKK is bad?

You agree you are being hypocritical and now that you know how it feels, you think the KKK is bad. Right?

I think from just going by what she said, there was nothing you could have done or said to make her see the error of her statement. People who say things like these don't want to learn that they're wrong. One attempt I can see working sometimes is the "Why do you think that?" approach, but that one takes a lot of patience, so I think doing what you did is pretty legit. You weren't an asshole, and you muted her, which is the most diplomatic way to go about it.

Should have posted the screenshot and tagged her

I think I would have said something like, "I've never heard about them l*nching anybody" but I enjoy arguing on the internet, so keep your peace and let it be.

Middle class people's class position depends on them being reactionary and antagonistic towards their "inferiors."

There is nothing one can do to debate people like that, because to take you seriously, they'd need to realise their position in society as exploiters and beneficiaries of bourgeoisie exploitation as unjust.

Which is why they are the main faction for fascist recruitment, as then they won't have to feel bad about being parasites and can continue profiting from unjust labor relations.

I personally would have been like "And how many white people did the Black Panthers Lynch by the way?"

But i'm an ornery son-of-a-gun, so I think what you did was fine

People like that don't want to learn

"They aren't, but even if they were, the krackkkers deserve it!"

This person seems a little tame compared to what some of my family would say about the black panthers (they would have included slurs). This shouldn't weigh on your mind. She sounds like she has the same view on the panthers as 99% of white Americans. She's expressing the baseline viewpoint and you don't argue a person out of that, it's a sticky molasses swamp of nationalist pride and unexamined racist biases and etc. It's ideology itself and it's much larger than you or me.

If she's a comfortable suburban white American, that's the situation that's doing her thinking for her. That's how it works.

I can think of all sorts of mean and unproductive things that would be incredibly fun and funny to say to her, but if you want to be actually productive then I don't think you're winning her over in bounded time and you did your best.

I woulda just sent her the dril tweet

if you barely know each other then it's unlikely she'd genuinely engage with anything you say or link to, so yeah just save your own mental health instead of worrying about it