There is an extreme on the very far left...where there is resort to violence it’s extreme. It’s also statistically not the greater danger. It’s black hoodied young thugs vandalizing at protests. I don’t support their tactics but I also don’t think the counter-protestors are a greater threat to society than the neonazis. Most of them, like Heather Heyer who was killed in Charlottesville are peaceful. They are trying to keep the neonazi rallies away because neonazis represent violence in the extreme...seriously, if someone who is a trans black Jewish disabled person fears for their very life because of neonazis and these rallies are allowed unabated and even given greater priority by police, then sooner or later there will be those who try to defeat them themselves because they’re a present danger. It’s happened throughout history. It would be nice to have a kumbaya where everyone understands each other...but I can’t see where those who are threatened, and the people who love them, can just say “you hate me because I’m xyz and you are marching the streets in military regalia vocally promoting an ideology that says I should not exist...i’m okay, you’re okay...let’s shake on it.” That just isn’t reality. Again, deplatforming and not giving space and fuel for neonazi ideologies seems to me like the only way to put out the flames and turn down the threat level, enough to have human to human conversation, more broadly.
Is it possible that you frustrate others sometimes? On the bright side, frustrated oysters produce pearls.
I know one person who is racist against one other type of person, you can’t really say race, because there is only one race. And I don’t really think he would confide that with many people because it just sounds stupid. But Kimmio thinks we have burning crosses for lawn decorations.
Still, you appear to put your money where your mouth is.
I agree that those values are not healthy anywhere. But racism, and racism is toward people who have been oppressed in our society not the people who’ve held the balance of power for hundreds of years - exists where the assumption is that because xyz minority comes from that place - based on those factors, and visually I can see that they are different - they must be like that so let’s ostracize them and not give them the same human rights. (Calling out the historical bullies who continue on the same trajectory is not racism). The “squad” for example, the threats to her life that Ilan Omar endured when she is an American citizen and an elected representative are appalling. As with the rest of them. Tlib is Palestinian American but she was born on the US...she was barred from Israel for criticizing the settlements. She is coming from a place of experience with that...but she was barred for speaking up. And received threats and hate mail and everything else. She is not being treated with respect or acknowledgement that she’s a US citizen or an elected representative. And she is younger, non white, and didn’t enter politics from a position of wealth, power or nepotism...that makes her an easy scapegoat for the far right with far greater power and influence. That’s injustice.
I’m not extreme. I’m living with the consequence of the polarization. When something is split, like society there’s the thing that did it...and that was solely the designs of the far right. They facilitated the proverbial lightening rod.
I’m getting there. One thing at a time please.
... the far right was the catalyst for neonaziism. They were. And it was well and is funded and coordinated...it’s getting in through the universities, social media...in the case of the border guards there were thousands of members of a group promoting racism on Facebook. The neonazis get jobs in the army, on police forces, in politics... Yeah, there are a few scrappers on the far left...up against state sanctioned racism, or the very real possibility of it where it’s not fully materialized.... a few scraggly thugs on the far left getting in fist fights at protests is not comparable. They do not have state power behind them at the highest levels. The neonazis thing is to blend in with the mainstream and orchestrate their agenda, to try to legitimize their ideology. And the rallies are is a show of strength, new emboldenment, peacocking, meant to intimidate and sow fear. But we know neonazis represent some of the most horrific violence in history...so it’s not just “words” and freedom of expression. That’s a ruse. No, I don’t think this is the left’s fault.
Inverting the moral preference hierarchy? Explain that in your own words, please.
@Pontifex Geronimo 13 Can I ask you...what do you think of white Canadian men born here, who think women are worth less than men? What do you say to natural born Canadian misogynists? I haven’t heard you complain about them. What about the incels? How do you think society should address that...those guys incubated in homebrewed men’s rights forums and video gamer communities that somehow merged...far right caused, again - Steve Bannon thought he’d find some easily persuadable young men to join the ranks of the far right and sow chaos - you know misogyny and gender inequality - along with the idea of a nostalgic “perfect race”, is one of the cultural weapons used to advance fascism, don’t you (so that’s why the rise in anti feminism and anti trans sentiment) ? Steve Bannon (former Trump advisor former security council member - former chief of Cambridge analytica who performed psy-ops and profiling on every citizen with a Facebook account) who’d studied fascism, and is quite taken by it, knows that. So, what about them?
bud-meyers.blogspot.com