Informant is a fascinating must see documentary. Informant is about Brandon Darby, an anarchist who initially did a lot of good after Hurricane Katrina as a left-wing anarchist then decided to become a FBI informant when he thought left-wing anarchists could become a danger to the general population. Eye roll. In more breaking news, rain is wet.
Informant does a great job of objectively proving that Brandon Darby was unusually imaginative when it came to spotting credible threats of violence by left-wing anarchists. Darby probably wasn’t lying, but perceived things in an exaggerated way-perhaps a sign of a delusional disorder? One alleged threat is actually a YouTube spoof video. Another is a shield with screws, not stabbing devices to hurt police. Informant shows the negative consequences of Darby’s imagination.
What made me love Informant is that the documentary also showed when there WAS a credible threat, which Darby exposes; thus showing that Informant did not pick a side and was an objective documentary. The most radical thing that the Black Panthers wanted do was to promote a leftist Amway, but the majority of left-wing (white) anarchists discussed doing something more radical and even took concrete steps to do so. Darby was right to tattle and assume that this threat could cause more danger than the left-wing anarchists intended.
The left-wing anarchists try to rationalize that the perpetrators would not have done what they did if Darby had not escalated situation, and the perpetrators were just kids who didn’t actually do anything wrong. The left-wing anarchists advocate for property damage, but say they would never do anything against actual people. I call this segment of Informant ‪#‎crimingwhilewhite‬ because after serving a 4-5 year jail sentence, one of the actual perpetrators whom Darby calls a terrorist returns to a normal life and is gainfully employed. Even a white terrorist can expect better treatment than a twelve-year old black teenager with a BB gun in an open carry state.
Informant does a brilliant job of showing that for all their radical talk, the left-wing (white) anarchists will still benefit more from a society that they claim that they want to dismantle and will even be embraced by the Tea Party if they adjust their rhetoric slightly whereas the normal everyday church-going, establishment-affirming black people who suffered from the effects of Hurricane Katrina and are not seeking any limelight or to foment any rebellion will only be embraced if it is part of a broader agenda and otherwise can expect nothing from society. Darby isn’t disgusting for looking for affirmation from the establishment and reporting a crime though he could have joined the FBI in a more conventional way. He is disgusting for becoming a right-wing anarchist and joining the Tea Party for affirmation and a paycheck instead of finding another way to do good.