mkfs
Joined 1 year ago
Joined 1 year ago
Technically it's the start of a block.
Do you think it's fair to characterize every rightwing populist as a "fascist?"
From what I can tell, Jones, who's been on the air in some capacity since the mid 90s, has only two significant "IRL" incidents directly attributable to him: the raid on Comet Ping Pong--which resulted in shots fired, but no injuries (or rescued children)--and the execrable harassment of Sandy Hook families.
Meanwhile the Young Turks had an actual mass shooter, Gavin Long, who made videos directly referencing the show, and rather than resulting in their cancellation, the entire thing was memory-holed. Even their wikipedia doesn't mention it.
Granted, from time to time you do hear about "eccentric" acts of violence (e.g., against 5G towers, or people lashing out due to "gang-stalking"), and it's not difficult to imagine Jones having some influence on them.
It's a bit of both, I think. He's clearly learned that behaving in certain ways garners him more attention (which he craves), especially back in his "bullhorn on the streets" days, and he's clearly willing to ham it up for that sake. But people who knew him as a young man back in Rockwall, and later Austin, all vouched for his lunacy. In fact, I can't recall anyone close to him ever being convinced of his sanity.
I'm specifically referring to the left's acceptance of violence in response to political speech, for which there is no equivalent consensus on the right, for example, that they can and should go around assaulting Marxists, Islamists, or others with whom they fundamentally disagree.
And Kirk, for whatever faults he had, and however performative were his events, sought to debate his opponents--not encourage his followers to assault them. I couldn't find anything about him "promoting violence for years."
Then in the 2010s, the "punch/kill Nazis/fascists" messaging took off, and now the consensus position on the left is that it's acceptable to use violence in response to speech: https://www.cato.org/blog/51-strong-liberals-say-its-morally...
DHH's misstep is that he's resorting to arguing he and others are being falsely labeled as "Nazis," but conceding, even implicitly, the assumption that it's OK to respond to speech (and only rightwing speech; "tankies" and Sharia-pushing Islamists always fit through the Overton window) with violence is already surrendering too much.
I don't think that's necessary, but it might give you some perspective. Perhaps you'll appreciate America more after spending some time away from her, and if not, "self-deportation" might ultimately prove to be of mutual benefit to the country and those most contemptuous of it.
> There is a way to reduce the risk of febrile seizure, by the way. Reducing fever prevents febrile seizures. You know how you safely reduce fever in babies? Tylenol. Which has now been designated by Trump and Kennedy’s entire HHS as the cause of autism, despite having no evidence to support that claim.
I doubt the administration is this devious or thinking as far ahead as she thinks. Her reasoning is ironically similar to Trump supporters, who rebrand every flub, fumble, and gaffe as some form of "5D chess" that normies just don't understand. But it's evident form the tariff policy that much what the administration does is just shot straight from the hip.
That this is being memory-holed, much like the ill-conceived bilingual education initiatives of the 90s, is actually a good sign, as it's proof that we're winning.
I never understood this argument. Al-Awlaki was embedded with a group of enemy combatants the US was at war with, and he knew he was a wanted man, and he had plenty of opportunities to surrender, but he chose not to. So either the US does some Spec Ops snatch-and-grab to get him and risk the lives of all involved personnel, or do nothing at all?