Why Does the Political Right And Left Feel the Need to Demonize Each Other ?

[Jace, Extat]

7 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

That wonderful.  I'm glad you're active.  

Yeah, I was answering a direct question so save that shit. You like being around it so much.     

[Kalbear]

1 hour ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

May I ask what you've done to combat Trump and the alt-right? Besides filling in a bubble next to the name Hillary Clinton.

Let's see.

• Applied for and participated in the king county's community oversight committee for law enforcement. That was fun.
• Done some volunteering in the community
• Worked on two websites for activists
• Helped out with fundraisers/door to door stuff for a couple of local democrats

May I ask what YOU'VE done to combat Trump and the alt-right, besides asking others for their bona fides?

[Kalbear]

24 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

That wonderful.  I'm glad you're active.  

Why aren't you?

[Kalbear]

Oh right - this is also kind of a big deal, and LGK's mentioning of it reminded me. I met my senator and she used my son as an example of what we have to lose if the ACA is repealed. 

 

[Jace, Extat]

4 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Let's see.

• Applied for and participated in the king county's community oversight committee for law enforcement. That was fun.
• Done some volunteering in the community
• Worked on two websites for activists
• Helped out with fundraisers/door to door stuff for a couple of local democrats

May I ask what YOU'VE done to combat Trump and the alt-right, besides asking others for their bona fides?

Kal, I would never fuck you because you're a Bears fan and the thought of you talking yourself into Rex Grossman in the SB is just too emasculating for me to get off. But you're good people.

Wanna be internet friends?

[Kalbear]

1 minute ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

Kal, I would never fuck you because you're a Bears fan and the thought of you talking yourself into Rex Grossman in the SB is just too emasculating for me to get off. But you're good people.

Wanna be internet friends?

Only if you let me live in Andrew Luck's neckbeard

[Jace, Extat]

2 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Only if you let me live in Andrew Luck's neckbeard

Love means never having to say you're sorry for a neckbeard

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

For the record, I've canvassesd for Clean Water Action

Ugh, Clean Water Action.  I, rather stereotypically, canvassed for them in the summer after my freshman year living in DC.  That was the year Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 came out, and the entire staff acted like its premiere was the second coming.  The atmosphere was really close to, "hey, why don't drink this koolaid?"  Never been more happy for school to start.

[DMC]

15 minutes ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Now it's more like that scene where Brad Pitt asks for volunteers at the beginning of Inglorious Basterds. "One hundred Natzi scalps!"

And I want my scalps!  And you will get me those scalps!

Yeah, one good thing I could definitely say about the experience is it was not a high-pressure work environment.

[Fragile Bird]

An aweful lot of people have been drinking and posting again, I see. 

[GAROVORKIN]

14 hours ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

What similarities do you think Joseph Stalin has with the modern left?

The minute  anyone says  they are right wing , the word fascist  or nazi seem  automatically get hung that person or persons . So when some say they are  to  left why shouldn't the Stalin  or Pol Opt  or the Mao moniker be hung them ? It's only fair.

 

[Jace, Extat]

3 minutes ago, GAROVORKIN said:

The minute  anyone  they are right  wing  , the world fascist  or nazi seem  automatically get hung that person or person . So when some say they are  left why shouldn't the Stalin  or Pol Opt  or the Mao moniker be hung them ? It's only fair.

Except that an ounce of critical thinking leads to the obvious and inescapable conclusion that Lenin's brief failed state resembled nothing of the liberal ideals as the cruel and inhuman Stalin concentrated his power. Ideology at the end of the day just becomes an excuse.

[GAROVORKIN]

3 minutes ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

Except that an ounce of critical thinking leads to the obvious and inescapable conclusion that Lenin's brief failed state resembled nothing of the liberal ideals as the cruel and inhuman Stalin concentrated his power. Ideology at the end of the day just becomes an excuse.

Do you suppose there were such things ass  right-wingers who hate Rightwing extremists? because some the opinions Ive seen here give me the impression that there  people here who either can't or won't make that distinction because it doesn't fit  their politics or worldview.

[Kalbear]

Just now, GAROVORKIN said:

Do you suppose there were right-wingers who hate Rightwing extremists? because some the opinion Ive seen here give me the impression that there  people here who either can't or won't make that distinction because it doesn't fit either their politics or worldview.

They might exist, but much like fiscally responsible conservatives they appear to be rare, and usually don't practice what they preach. 

[Larry of the Lawn]

12 minutes ago, GAROVORKIN said:

The minute  anyone  they are right wing  or Republican , the world fascist  or nazi seem  automatically get hung that person or persons . So when some say they are  to  left why shouldn't the Stalin  or Pol Opt  or the Mao moniker be hung them ? It's only fair.

No, it's actually not.  Are there any Deomocratic leaders advocating Stalinist policies?  Trump's warrantless ICE raids, his 'good people on both sides' comment after Charlottesville, his ever present dictator-boner all have actual fascist and Nazi qualities.  

On top of that, if you want to throw out a Stalin or Mao shot at a leftist they will probably ignore it because it's obviously just ridiculous hyperbole.  I mean we rolled out eyes at Trump calling Obama a commie-foreign born-Muslim for years.  But as soon as someone points out Trump's fascism or Nazi sympathies, you feel the need to counter with a Stalin remark without even attempting to disprove the original comparison, because you know it's fucking true and all you can do is deflect.  

This must be fucking international Poe month online or something.  

Also just out of curiosity, do you live in the US?

[GAROVORKIN]

1 hour ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Well first off, no. Political parties are not like children where you have to treat everyone equally to be "fair." If one party exhibits fascist tendencies which invite comparisons to Hitler, that doesn't mean we need to find another dictator for the opposing party. And again, what about Stalin is in any way a parallel to the modern left?

You know Robert Mueller's a Republican, right?

And, if we're putting the jokes aside, I will mention so is my mother. And she's not a Nazi. She's just uneducated, in denial, and carrying a very antiquated and ill-informed opinion about abortion.

The fiction Breitbart is trying to spread right now is that the Left are, en masse, running around painting all conservatives as Nazis. Let's not play into their hand. I've been saying it for a long time, the way to reach these people is through education and understanding, not blanket condemnation.

Daryl Davis got over 200 members of the KKK to get "woke" just by talking with them. Are you really gonna tell me that 60 million American voters don't have the same chance at redemption as (at best) the 200 most liberal Klansman?

Conservative like liberals come in all varieties . Are suggesting  that people who are conservative who are neither Nazis or anywise Racist  and might have different opinion on things then Liberals.  in the uneducated and in need of Redemption category ? Or maybe im misunderstanding here . If so please enlighten me.

 

 

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Well first off, no. Political parties are not like children where you have to treat everyone equally to be "fair." If one party exhibits fascist tendencies which invite comparisons to Hitler, that doesn't mean we need to find another dictator for the opposing party. And again, what about Stalin is in any way a parallel to the modern left?

You know Robert Mueller's a Republican, right?

And, if we're putting the jokes aside, I will mention so is my mother. And she's not a Nazi. She's just uneducated, in denial, and carrying a very antiquated and ill-informed opinion about abortion.

The fiction Breitbart is trying to spread right now is that the Left are, en masse, running around painting all conservatives as Nazis. Let's not play into their hand. I've been saying it for a long time, the way to reach these people is through education and understanding, not blanket condemnation.

Daryl Davis got over 200 members of the KKK to get "woke" just by talking with them. Are you really gonna tell me that 60 million American voters don't have the same chance at redemption as (at best) the 200 most liberal Klansman?

It should b noted that I am extreme bitter and disillusioned lately.

[GAROVORKIN]

6 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

It should b noted that I am extreme bitter and disillusioned lately.

That happens to alot of people  

 

 

[Darth Richard II]

10 minutes ago, GAROVORKIN said:

That happens to alot of people  

 

 

Yeah, particularly non white people in America.

[Altherion]

4 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Joking aside, I'm not calling people who dont vote democrat Nazis, I'm calling the people who vote Republican Nazis. Cause they voted for actual Nazis.

Look, if either the people who voted for Republicans or the people they voted for were actual Nazis, people like you would be, at best, in prison. The Republicans currently control both the legislative and executive branches of government as well as the governments of most states. This is much, much more power than the actual Nazis (i.e the ones from Germany circa the 1930s) held before they moved to make their control permanent. The Republicans have done nothing of the sort and will almost certainly lose power in the upcoming elections.

What you (and, more importantly, the media you are taking your cues from) are doing is more than a little dangerous in the manner of the boy who cried wolf. The Republicans do not even remotely resemble Nazis, but you've devalued all of the words that might reasonably apply to them (words like 'racist' and 'sexist') to the point where nobody pays attention if you call them that anymore so you've moved on to a different one. The problem, of course, is that you're devaluing this word as well and if you ever do encounter something that is similar to the actual Nazis, when you call them that, people will say "so you mean like roughly the half of the country that votes Republican, right?"

For example, consider this New York Times article about the recent election in Italy:

Quote

Fascists rallied in large numbers in Italian piazzas. The country experienced its worst political violence in years. Formerly unthinkable suggestions, like the mass deportation of migrants, became virtually routine.

...

Italy’s election “epitomizes everything, it is pure populism,” said Stephen K. Bannon, an architect of President Trump’s populist message who served as Mr. Trump’s chief strategist until he was forced out in August.

Mr. Bannon is in Italy as part of a European tour to help build a broader populist movement throughout Europe, the subject of a speech he will deliver on Tuesday in Switzerland. He said he was busy learning from the country’s populists leaders. “The Italian people have gone farther, in a shorter period of time, than the British did for Brexit and the Americans did for Trump,” he said in an interview on Friday. “Italy is the leader.”

Of course, neither M5S nor Lega are truly fascist, but the New York Times lacks the language to make such distinctions -- at this point, all they can do is call them fascists and bring in Bannon so that their (mostly American) audience understands what they mean. This and similar coverage from European outlets (who, to be fair, are not nearly as ham-handed) didn't actually help all that much: M5S won the most votes for an individual party and Lega won the most for a coalition (though neither has enough to form a government on their own.