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Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

nationalreview.com

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Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#61

Post by s9w »

scottlocklin wrote: post #58
s9w wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counterpoint, look at what happens with the "it's okay to be white" posters. Completely benign, commonsense and not a reaction to something. And yet...

Much like "radicalizing" the OK hand sign as meaning "WP," and the latest lolcow of making hawaiian shirts a sign of terrorist groups: seems like the right wing meme makers keep coming up with these things to alienate normies from activist types, and the left, who above all else in current year America, seems to enjoy thinking they have special knowledge that requires they lecture others about what is morally accepta…

I'm having honest problems parsing this comment. What's WP and what's a lolcow?

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#62

Post by pinkfoot »

codq wrote: post #60
downerending wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying that anyone who gets beaten for their opinion had it coming? Truly we live in evil times.

Absolutely did not say that. You seem to think the bar for being beaten for an opinion is so low that it's anything that goes against mainstream opinion. Of course people should disagree, experience dialectics, have conversations, debate, spar, parry, and enjoy rigorous conversation. But then there are sentiments that are beyond the pale. Should NAMBLA be allowed a late night talk show, or an NYT editorial to espouse…

> But then there are sentiments that are beyond the pale.

A lot of people are working, successfully it appears, to make the pale a lot smaller by publicly destroying reasonable peoples' lives for the most minor infractions as a warning to the rest of us.

Which suits them.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#63

Post by rich_sasha »

sigsergv wrote: post #59

Welcome to Soviet States of America. You can feel now exactly how it was back in those days in USSR.

Weeeell... do people keep packed bags by the door, for when political police comes to deport them to Siberia (Alaska?), or maybe shoot them in the head and dump in a ditch?

That’s still a stretch.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#64

Post by mtgp1000 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #43
montagg wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're absolutely doing things that future generations will find abhorrent. And as our thinking as humans evolves, I hope we'll also change our behavior. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. When we are aware that behaviors and symbols are hurtful to other humans, and we genuinely believe that other people should be able to live without fear, then we should change both. We're not going to get it 100%…

That's why I can never be a conservative. I think sometimes the left is absolutely full of it, but the voices I hear from the right sound as if they're saying "let's do nothing about our current social problems," at least to my ear. I'd rather have imperfect progress than no progress.

>I'd rather have imperfect progress than no progress

Progress for the sake of progress is not progress. The fact that there is a problem doesn't mean that someone has to do something when there's nothing productive to be done.

People are apparently unaware that we are living in an unprecedented globalist diversity experiment, and there's no reason to believe that forcing disparate cultures to live in such close proximity to each other will end positively. In fact history has repeatedly shown the opposite.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#65

Post by scott_paul »

s9w wrote: post #61
scottlocklin wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much like "radicalizing" the OK hand sign as meaning "WP," and the latest lolcow of making hawaiian shirts a sign of terrorist groups: seems like the right wing meme makers keep coming up with these things to alienate normies from activist types, and the left, who above all else in current year America, seems to enjoy thinking they have special knowledge that requires they lecture others about what is morally accepta…

I'm having honest problems parsing this comment. What's WP and what's a lolcow?

Ah well WP is WordPress, of course. Truly an evil thing that we must all apologize for, forever, or until it's perfectly bug-free.

As for lolcow, you'll be more entertained if you google it than if anyone explains it to you.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#66

Post by CarelessExpert »

ryandvm wrote: post #36
drocer88 wrote: post #24

"Flagged". We need to at least listen to opposing views. The sanctimonious silencing of non mainstream views is scary.

It's really annoying to me that Hacker News is the forum which I regard as having the highest bar for conversational civility, but sadly the community completely refuses to discuss anything besides tech news and startup cheerleading.

Bluntly, if I wanted that, I'll go somewhere else. Speaking as a non-American, American politics already takes up far too much oxygen in every dang forum I participate in. I appreciate places where I can find respite.

And I say that while commenting on HN about an American political post because when I see them, I just can't frickin' help myself... sigh

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#67

Post by disposekinetics »

montagg wrote: post #13
BitwiseFool wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This strikes me as awfully glib. My parents aren't racists and they empathize with the police reforms that BLM is advocating for (so do I). But they were raised with the belief that racism was due to prejudice. To them, racism is judging someone by their skin color / background rather than the actions of that individual. They don't buy into the idea of microaggressions and implicit bias. To many nowadays that makes t…

We're absolutely doing things that future generations will find abhorrent. And as our thinking as humans evolves, I hope we'll also change our behavior. But let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. When we are aware that behaviors and symbols are hurtful to other humans, and we genuinely believe that other people should be able to live without fear, then we should change both. We're not going to get it 100%…

> [...] too often that conservatives simply want to throw their hands up and either downplay or outright ignore the problem in order to say it's not solvable or not worth solving. That's just cowardice, and we can do better.

I think this is an uncharitable interpretation of conservatism. My perception is that conservatives disagree with me over the problem set, not the idea that we should solve problems.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#68

Post by sigsergv »

rich_sasha wrote: post #63
sigsergv wrote: post #59

Welcome to Soviet States of America. You can feel now exactly how it was back in those days in USSR.

Weeeell... do people keep packed bags by the door, for when political police comes to deport them to Siberia (Alaska?), or maybe shoot them in the head and dump in a ditch? That’s still a stretch.

USSR existed for over 70 years and people there have seen a lot of varieties of oppression. “Silence is Violence” is one of them. “Kitchen Talks” too (you cannot say anything to random people and only to closest friends/relatives at home). Be ready for a new life, comrade.

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#69

Post by asdfman123 »

mtgp1000 wrote: post #64
asdfman123 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I can never be a conservative. I think sometimes the left is absolutely full of it, but the voices I hear from the right sound as if they're saying "let's do nothing about our current social problems," at least to my ear. I'd rather have imperfect progress than no progress.

>I'd rather have imperfect progress than no progress Progress for the sake of progress is not progress. The fact that there is a problem doesn't mean that someone has to do something when there's nothing productive to be done. People are apparently unaware that we are living in an unprecedented globalist diversity experiment, and there's no reason to believe that forcing disparate cultures to live in such close proxi…

> Progress for the sake of progress is not progress

In our current moment, it's progress for the sake of not letting police get away with murder.

What part of the unprecedented peace we find ourselves in makes you uncomfortable?

Re: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

#70

Post by scohesc »

s9w wrote: post #61
scottlocklin wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much like "radicalizing" the OK hand sign as meaning "WP," and the latest lolcow of making hawaiian shirts a sign of terrorist groups: seems like the right wing meme makers keep coming up with these things to alienate normies from activist types, and the left, who above all else in current year America, seems to enjoy thinking they have special knowledge that requires they lecture others about what is morally accepta…

I'm having honest problems parsing this comment. What's WP and what's a lolcow?

WP - white power

lolcow - scheme or meme dreamed up by internet nerds that has the potential to cause humorous results (see: 4chan posting fake apple ads online saying your phone could be charged by putting it in the microwave, 4chan saying you could drill out the bottom corner of your iPhone to uncover the "secret" headphone jack, etc.)

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