• 1985MustangCobra
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    4 hours ago

    I understand your points, but if we are to believe trumps demeanor, what’s to stop him going full authoritarian, and throwing political protestors into camps? he seems like he want’s to do it with immigrants, what’s stopping him from doing that? This where i enter the thought of civil war. The average person will be complacent, and trumps supporters will join in as a para-military group. YOU will be labelled a terrorist regardless of pulling a luigi. Its not up to you to make that up, its up to the media and the government.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Sure, that may be possible. But again, that would just serve to radicalize people further. If people are being labeled terrorists and put in camps just for venting on social media, expect the level of violence to multiply a hundred fold. People will avoid posting on social media out of fear, but people will be so enraged that the number of people actually willing to resort to violence will increase a hundred fold. Currently Luigi is the rare exception. Put someone’s brother in a camp for posting a picture of Nintendo’s Luigi, and they may pick up a gun.

      And yet, there still wouldn’t be a civil war. There won’t be armies fighting each other on a field of combat. There won’t be an ISIS to wage war on. There would be multiple Luigis per day, each one acting independently, utterly unpredictable and utterly unpreventable. This would make Trump look completely weak and powerless. And even if everyone was too afraid to say it, most of the population would be supporting the Luigis.

      In a nation with widespread access to highly lethal firearms, the government simply cannot prevent single individuals from going on killing sprees. Sure, if a group of people plan an elaborate plot, that creates an opportunity to intervene. But in a case like Luigi’s, it was planned entirely in one man’s head. There’s nothing the government can do to prevent such random lone gunman attacks.

      And this is why I wouldn’t expect Trump to start arresting people just for social media comments. Ultimately it would multiply violence a hundred fold, and it would make Trump look weak and ineffective. And that’s the last thing someone like Trump wants. I would instead expect pressure to be applied to social media companies to wield the ban hammer more vigorously, but actually arresting people for venting on social media seems very unlikely.