Time for the sartre quote again
Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
The right wing fundamentally do not care about facts and meaning. You can give as many stats and facts as you want that disprove their position and it doesn’t matter. They’re not arguing facts. They believe they’re right, and they’ll make whatever noises they want to justify that.
They’re bad people.
Perhaps the greater horror of fascism, from a philosophical perspective, is that it is essentially against the concept of meaning itself.
Language is merely another tool to enforce domination and submission. All that really matters is being on the winning side.
Definitely the most horrifying part to me (at this stage anyway, I imagine I’ll feel differently if they make it to camps phase later)
I really hope it doesn’t get to the camps phase cause I’m know I’m at the top of thr list for an extended stay. (Or, very short stay depending on how extreme they wind up being)
They’ve already got a better system than Hitler could have every hoped for: normal prison.
The US has the largest prison population per capita, plus migrant holding facilities, plus juvenile holding facilities.
All they need to do is capture the presidency and keep at least one chamber of Congress, and they can just expand the existing laws to target their enemies. The facilities are already in operation, they just need an excuse to grab the people they don’t like.
Too bad I haven’t read Sartre, that quote is brilliant and I already have reinvented it poorly a few times.
(Usually while analyzing verbal encounters with Turks\Azeris on Armenian issues, though, since open anti-Semites are hard to find, but them too.)
Highly recommend the essay that quote is from: “Anti-Semite and Jew”. It’s written from that post-liberation of Paris/ending of ww2 perspective, but a lot of the insights on the nature of that kind of societal hate still hold up pretty well.
deleted by creator
Gently reminding everybody that condeming Israel’s actions in Gaza does not equate anti-Semitism. And blaming all the Jews for your troubles is anti-Semitism.
Anyone that’s been in a relationship with an abusive narcissist can clearly see the playbook. They live in a world where the only thing that matters is power and control because their grandiosity entitles them to anything they want. They manipulate reality so that they are always on top. There is no truth beyond that. Additionally, since they are entitled to everything but don’t get it, they see themselves as an eternal victim that blames everyone else. This makes any relationship with them inherently antagonistic. Thus, anyone debating with them using logic to reach a valid conclusion will be wasting their time because the goal of the narcissist is simply to have power. They will dodge questions, distort reality, and even straight gaslight.
Another technique they use is to project. They assume that everyone else is like them, so when they accuse someone of something, the vast majority of the time it is a confession. For example, if they accuse someone of stealing an election, it’s because they tried to steal it but were unsuccessful. Since they were unsuccessful at winning the election through cheating, then the other side must have been cheating too, or they would not have won. In there minds, everyone is playing this game. They literally cannot conceive a world based on rationality and see anyone that engages in that as a threat that will dismantle their delusional grandiosity.
Watching the MAGA movement is like watching a narcissist function on a societal level. It really is the same thing. If the Democrats truly wanted to rid the country of this deranged movement, then they would hire a team of psychologists that specialize in working with narcissists in order to develop a skill set to control and limit the abuse this mentality pushes onto others. Otherwise, we’re all screwed because a narcissist cannot stop themselves from abusing others.
I wonder if that sort of right wing person is capable of doing science. I think they can’t, due to the parallels with the most deadly scientific fraud perpetrated by Ancel Keys. He had no qualifications, but in the late '40s he stole a hypothesis and claimed it was his
This new affliction heart disease could be caused by eating saturated fats
The only good thing he did was design a good study to test the hypothesis, but his study unfortunately proved the opposite. People in the control group (eating the normal diet full of butter, eggs, and meat) lived longer than the intervention group, who replaced butter, eggs, and meat with linoleic acid (an omega 6 oil)
So he buried the study and said “we didn’t run the study long enough, but we are certain due to the results we have that saturated fat is causing heart disease”
They can. They can even combine real science with tangible results and pseudo-science. It has all been witnessed in history.
They are and yet we, through their actions over the years, and our own inaction, are playing their game. We continue to talk instead of act. We continue to argue instead of act. We speak of standing up and yet do not act. We hope that, in the U.S., the justice system and democracy will act for us and yet we do not trust it, and still we do not act.
I know this is a little harsh. After all, we are doing something. Just that the Republican base and especially the MAGA cult is willing and has acted. Not that we should take such harsh action, only that I feel we rely too strongly on pushing our “leaders” instead of just coming together.
Careful when lumping people into groups. You say the right wing are bad people, but the Democratic party itself is center right.
deleted by creator
The irony of your comment in a post calling out both sides bullshit is lost on you?
OPs post is in no way calling out the democratic party. Can you not see that?
Or perhaps the answer lies in the very comment you are responding to.
Take a look at who created the patriot act the most fascist legislation in the US.
Before calling “the right” evil,maybe you should take a good long look in the mirror.
“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies.”
The irony. Mirror. Check it.
The democratic party isn’t actively trying to install a fascist theocracy.
They may not be the greatest, but they’re in no way comparable.
It’s like trying to say that stealing a candy bar is just as bad as mass murder because they’re both against the law.
deleted by creator
The democratic party isn’t actively trying to install a fascist theocracy.
Neither is Trump. He is too stupid and lazy.
However Trump is showing the way for future dictators, and keeping people of the ballot is precisely the type of tool dangerous people will use by redefining “insurrection”.
Being too stupid and lazy to accomplish something doesn’t mean he isn’t trying.
The fake electors bit seals it for me. In court they tried to say “oh they legitimately thought the election was stolen” then it came out that actually, they had fake electors in place. If Mike Pence had played ball they stood a very good chance of stalling things indefinitely if not seizing power completely. They could’ve pushed it to SCOTUS and let them end any recounts a la Bush v. Gore circa 2000.
These people are dangerous. They’re well-funded and their ideology and talking points have been refined by ivy league educated thinkers.
OK, yes. The people around Trump could be dangerous. But if they were successful, wouldn’t they have done more in Trumps first term?
The man isn’t competent enough to tie his own shoes unsupervised.
Trump is a puppet whose only purpose is to get the idiots they created over the past 70 years riled up. The people controlling him are the ones trying, and succeeding, at overthrowing the government.
They literally releasrd a playbook on their plans to subvert the government.
OP in no way even insinuated anything about the Democratic Party. I’m pretty sure that most people in America know that we have two options, and neither of them have been a good option since before my parents were born. It’s been lesser of two evils, possibly since the country was founded, though the first few presidents did seem to actually give a shit about the people.
OP in no way even insinuated anything about the Democratic Party.
OP labled the entire right “evil” which includes the Democratic Party.
It’s been lesser of two evils
OK. I think we are agreeing.
Right and left are subjective terms. Sure, the left may be closer to the right in the rest of the world, but that’s irrelevant because we’re not talking about global politics.
Here I don’t disagree.
What set me off was someone labeling an entire side of the political spectrum as “evil”. That was lazy and dangerous.
The easiest way to demonstrate that was to show how they could be labeling themselves as “evil”
I’m old enough to remember when Benghazi was Obama’s fault, and then it suddenly was Hillary’s fault.
Their base forgot, but I didn’t…
Ya know who’s fault it actually was the? The GOP that cut funding for security in Benghazi
When will we learn - “both sides” isn’t something that THEY actually believe (they believe in winning, however/whatever it takes, and they are quite aware of how different that makes them from us - in fact they despise us for that), it is troll-bait meant for us to get distracted, taking time to respond to it rather than move forward with whatever ACTUALLY NEEDS DOING.
I’m a big believer in the “both sides” theory. Stick with me here.
One side is a trash can fire. They do some fucked up shit.
The other is the Springfield Tire Fire.
Both sides suck, but one side sucks so bad that there’s no way to ever fix it.
If we had a mathematical equation such as “1 + 1 = ?”, Dems would give the answer of -1000000, while Repubs would rape your mother, then kill her (b/c she might get pregnant, you see, and the rights of the fetus mean that you have to do it… right?).
I get the appeal of DT - to people who don’t know anything at all, he made some good mouth noises, about getting rid of corruption blah blah. But never forget, a lot of people voted on him more to throw the dice because…
MORE PEOPLE VOTED AGAINST HILLARY THAN FOR DONALD.
Her corruption was of a special kind, chiefly in terms of the degree to which it was out in the open. Remember her emails? No not those proving that she accepted bribes from the Saudis, no not those other ones either, those other other ones where she illegally colluded with the DNC to do things like receive the questions in advance whereas Bernie was not given those, and to schedule her talks during popular sporting events when people were less likely to actually watch them. The Dems primary problem that year… was her? Also she would not allow anyone to even so much as run against her, which younger politicians NEED to do in spite of having no hope of winning in order to get their names out there for future runs, plus what if they were really that good and deserved to win the whole thing over her? (in comparison, if JEB had done that…) Oh yeah, and remember that time that the Supreme Court told her to turn over all the emails on her server, and she told them to take a hike? Okay so I’m exaggerating slightly: what she actually told them was “wait 3 days, I need to remove the ones that I don’t want you to see first”. THAT WAS WHAT SHE ACTUALLY SAID, IRL!!! (not necessarily word-for-word but as a paraphrase, it is accurate is it not?)
Many LIFELONG Democrats, immigrants even who have been racially profiled by the police and thus KNOW what the conservative agenda is first-hand, still chose to vote against her, thinking that she was THAT corrupt. Maybe the problem is how we think and talk about corruption in this country? e.g. the Saudis contributing money to a literal and established charity after a vote is given in their favor may be thoroughly “corruption”, but especially if it is out in the open, is it really all that bad? They are an outside entity and you can’t really stop them from doing something, so this channels their attempts at bribery to a (presumably) worthy cause… But what justification can we offer as to why Bernie was treated so unfairly, and she was given that handout, that the broad populace would accept?
Also, what would she likely have done to advance civil rights? DT made things worse, which ironically might end up making things better in the long run, but she would have just papered over the issue, unquestionably keeping things running FAR more smoothly in the short-term, but what good would that accomplish in the wider view? According to the Stoic philosophy, it’s only worth attempting to fix what you CAN potentially fix, but what Dems CAN attempt to address is why that cry of outright DESPERATION of so very many independent, moderate Americans caused them to vote for him rather than her?
e.g., to return to our question of “1 + 1 = ?”, where Dems would give the answer of -1000000, while what many middle-ground Americans did was roll the dice on a random number, which while it most certainly did not result in a good outcome, at least had a chance of avoiding that known false quantity (in their minds at least, keeping in mind that many/most of these are blue-collar workers who have other interests than keeping up with politics 24/7 - remember we are talking moderates here, not die-hard Faux News watchers, who also voted for him too).
i.e., it does no good to blame only the “other side” for all of their faults, whilst ignoring those on our own side. I think that attitude is what makes something unfixable.
This is a fallacy. You’re either one of them or they’ve got you snowed with that nonsense.
It is very much in no way a fallacy of any kind to point out that the Democrats are also not on the positive side of history.
Or do you think nicknames like Genocide Joe go down well in history?
Note that saying something negative about Democrats says literally nothing in support of Republicans. THAT would be a fallacy.
My dad used to say, even back into the Reagan era, “even the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.” Meaning that even the Democrats that were totally corrupt pieces of shit would at least be more likely to move the country further to the left and no Republican ever would.
And that’s still true. I’d like to see Bob Menendez thrown out on his ass, but I’ll take another 49 of him over one more Susan Collins because at least Menendez votes like he gives a shit.
I dunno, GWB was an actual progressive, who increased funding for food banks and schooling - historically those being liberal agendas. Ofc being incompetent, he screwed everything up and basically just gave money away to testing companies over the advice of sth like every educator in the country, but at least the mouth noises that he made sounded nice, at the time, so there’s that? :-P
Edit: /s btw - you really have to strain hard to ignore the genocide to get my point.
I agree they are the lesser of two evils, clear as day. It’s just important to remember that they are not saviors.
Especially if you don’t make six figures or more.
Oh no, definitely not saviors. They are centrist at best and arguably center-right. They’re also, unfortunately, our only hope at stopping a dictatorship.
Especially if you don’t make six figures or more.
Six figures ain’t the line anymore and hasn’t been for a while. If your household income is $100,000 in a lot of places you’re still living paycheck to paycheck. They ain’t working for those people because there’s no immediate money to be made helping the middle class.
You go high, we go low
LOVE that channel :-)
Indeed, the idea that fascists can be subdued by winning enough “Good boy points” with “Proper decor” is why we’re in this mess.
Exactly. It’s schoolyard “But… but… Timmy did…”
Hillary would have been the perfect president for Covid. She would have shut down international airports and mandated rigorous screening to avoid spread.
The authoritarian tendencies people worried about with Hillary would have led to a quick and overwhelming reaction to Covid. We might not have been hit that hard.
A stick in a pile of flaming dogshit would have been a better president than Trump.
That’s an artful way of repeating what the previous commenter said.
She would have shut down international airports
Event 201 conclusions said the opposite.
mandated rigorous screening to avoid spread.
Yes, this was possible. Many countries did track and trace well.
Yes and here, in much of europe, we literally don’t have to worry about covid at all. Nobody wears a mask anymore, not because of some political protest like in the US, but because covid rates are so low while US and Canada keep having huge waves because people are so anti-themselves and refuse to do a very simple easy thing to protect themselves and each other.
deleted by creator
And nobody would’ve died so it would’ve been overreach and unnecessary.
This is a highlight of authoritarian regimes. We just have their play book this time and have devoted hopefully enough to education in the meantime.
I mean everyone knows the mason dixon line is hopeless. Sherman didn’t get to finish and reconstruction was a joke. They also got to spread west, the Aryan nations in Idaho are testament.
We should have extinguished this deplorable shit in April 1865
Unfortunately, as a wise Walter Lippmann said: Men are mortal; but ideas are immortal.
Clearly the numbers need to be bigger to gain their support.
And Trump is leading the polls for the first time EVER. He won in 2016 while behind in the polls.
He lost the general election. By over 3 million votes. He won the EC because, for the 5th time in just under 250 years the EC went against the popular vote.
We play EC. We don’t play popular vote. Thank you founding fathers!
deleted by creator
deleted by creator
Honestly there’s hundreds of millions of Americans who don’t give a shit either way. Who gives a shit what the loud ones say. What’s important is what the most people say.
What’s important is what the most people say.
It would be if it weren’t for the electoral college.
I hear what you are trying to say (e.g. 11% are hard-right, roughly the same are hard-left, leaving almost 90% somewhere in the middle), but on the other hand… MOST people (I think?) in the countries that Nazi Germany took over did not desire to be invaded. In like manner, not everyone in Russia (most people even?) would like for the invasion of Ukraine to stop, and yet it goes on. i.e., not everyone’s opinion is always taken into account equally.
Recently we just had a fantastic example in how McCarthy was booted from his Speaker role… by a handful of hard-line extremists. Never mind what “most” people want: the extremists pushed, and they won.
Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. - Archimedes
Even that is dubious if what most say is based on nonsense.
Trump supporters support Trump.
All these 3 are corrupted politicians liars with blood in their hands. Don’t advertise for twitter on lemmy and don’t post propaganda
Pretty sure that’s Mastodon, buddy…
deleted by creator
-
It’s Mastodon
-
This is WhitePeopleTwitter.
-
The first two are, at worst, a slap to the face
The other is a rusty shank to the neck
They all hurt though
According to the post they are all 3 a trip to the coffin
And that is why the post is fucking dumb as shit and who ever made it should feel bad
Both sides though.
I mean — for at least two of those things, yeah? Current COVID-19 deaths in the United States is just over 1.1 million, with about 400,000 occurring under Trump (the tweet is misinformation, big surprise) and the remaining 700,000 occurring under Biden. Moreover, Biden was also found in unauthorized possession of classified documents.
Biden was also found in unauthorized possession of classified documents.
They were in a forgotten drawer after using them. And then immediately returned the small hand full, searched around and found a hand full more and gave those back right away.
Trump intentionally took numerous boxes, lied about having nothing, moved them around his properties to hide them. Showed them off for being top secret to numerous people, and stashed them in a bathroom. Then the government finally decided to come take them back Then the people doing the stashing tried to destroy the evidence, and intimidate witnesses.
This is NOT “both sides”.
This. Democrats sometimes fuck up, but we have processes in place to mitigate those fuckups, and Democrats generally engage with those processes.
Trump, on the other hand, lied, obfuscated, and seemed to purposefully make it as bad as feasible.
This is a perfect example of “Gaslight, Obstruct, Project”.
Imagine inheriting a disease shitshow and being blamed for how the Second Act plays out.
Plus, we’re comparing 400k over one year versus 700k over three years.
LOL YOU’RE STILL LIKING AND BOOSTING YOUR OWN POSTS!? 🤣🤣🤣 WHAT A FUCKING LOSER OMG
