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Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

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Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#271
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it happened, there was a reporter on CBC talking about how it was common knowledge in DC for a long time that there was a protest planned there. So indeed. The real question is why was there seemingly no preparation to handle it.

Compared to other DC protests, the absence of preparation was the preparation. Clearly some of the Establishment wanted it to succeed.

They employed tear gas to get Trump to hold a bible upside down. [1]

It's hard to overstate how poorly they managed this. This is something a special investigation should be commissioned out by congress/the DOJ.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867532070/trumps-unannounced-...

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#272
Off topic thing.

> Two different “occupy” event listings were written in a Nazi-style font and began circulating on Facebook in December.

Do they mean a gothic/Fraktur style? Is that considered nazi in the English world? I’ve always learned it as a German script with no relation to the 3rd reich.

Edit: I off course understand that neo nazi use it to express their relationship with nazi Germany, I’m just surprised to see it described as a “nazi-font”

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- The BLM movement is, while poorly framed and easily co-opted by other people, about genuine problems with policing in the United States. Problems that are backed up with verifiable facts rather than scummy used car salesmen and the Inventor of Email™. - The BLM movement, while the source of many large large scale protests (several of which turned into riots and outstayed their welcome) never, at any point, even pre…

What are the verifiable facts again? Do you have alternative statistics because they're actually on the FBI website and contradict everything you're saying. The riots were most likely political AstroTurf before an election via amplification of convenient (and unfortunate/terrible) imagery to turn out voters. I hate to be stone cold but that's my understanding of what unfolded. We witnessed something similar in 2015.

> The riots were most likely political AstroTurf before an election via amplification of convenient (and unfortunate/terrible) imagery to turn out voters.

So, Trump was behind it, so he could run on a law and order platform? Because he certainly did take advantage of it.

I'm afraid the boring truth was that ordinary people got angry during a time of high unemployment, with protests and rioting being a predictable result. It's not as though large protests over police shootings are new.

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#274
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it happened, there was a reporter on CBC talking about how it was common knowledge in DC for a long time that there was a protest planned there. So indeed. The real question is why was there seemingly no preparation to handle it.

Yup, that's what really stinks about these protests. You could go to several social media sites and see the 6th plans. It was incredible to see so few Capitol police guarding the capitol. Further, the fact that they didn't employ things like tear gas sooner was incredible. They just sort of let the rioters through the weak barriers they setup. Security HAD to have known this was coming. This wasn't some secret plot.…

There have been a bunch of Trump protests in DC since the election. The city was boarded up in preparation for them. But they’ve all been completely peaceful. People got complacent.

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's weird that the discussion has centered around censorship, rather than like... why didn't law enforcement shut this down sooner? Or at least properly prepare for it?

Far-right terrorism in the US has never really been taken seriously. No one took them seriously. Until the Capitol was attacked. The Feds are starting to roll up high ranking militia members, so hopefully they learned their lesson this time.

Far-right terrorism has been taken seriously as recently as 2009, but conservatives complained they were being treated unfairly and the efforts were abandoned.

2009 reporting: https://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/15/extremism.report/

2012 update: https://www.wired.com/2012/08/dhs/

2017 update: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/0...

2020 update: https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2020/07/21/right-wing-terrorism...

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's weird that the discussion has centered around censorship, rather than like... why didn't law enforcement shut this down sooner? Or at least properly prepare for it?

Far-right terrorism in the US has never really been taken seriously. No one took them seriously. Until the Capitol was attacked. The Feds are starting to roll up high ranking militia members, so hopefully they learned their lesson this time.

[deleted]

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#277
post #121

>The Capitol Attack Where was this rhetoric when Antifa and BLM burned and looted for months with the blessings of all corporations and the mainstream media? Surely the Capitol Hill has an insurance policy? Or does that moronic point only apply to the common folk? Susan Rosenberg literally bombed the Capitol in 1983 and now serves as vice chair of the board of directors of Thousand Currents, a " non-profit foundation…

idk how to tell you this in a way you'll listen to but doing things for good reasons is good and doing them for bad reasons is bad.

Hacker news seems to really struggle with this, partly because there are still Trump supporters here somehow.

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#278
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If people had called one another to prepare this, would we say that the phone was responsible for the attack? And would we try to ban phones? That's a moot point, because an attack like this can't realistically be organized via one-to-one communication. It needs a broadcast medium, which the phone network isn't.

Really? How did past revolutions and terrorist attacks get organized? You realize most of world history existed before the Internet, right?

Unnecessarily combative comment. There's a reason why radio and television stations are among the first things seized in a coup. Broadcast media is crucial.

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#279
post #263

It was planned for months, openly on Facebook in plain view of everybody. Remember that when politicians call for more intrusive surveillance in response.

Yeah "we need to break all encryption to catch people planning terrorism in Facebook groups, e-mail, and unencrypted SMS..." Most terrorists are idiots because most people who are not idiots are not terrorists.

Most people who are idiots are not terrorists either.

On average a terrorist would be smarter than the average person. Terrorists are highly motiviated individuals, they can deeply understand an ideology and they activity learn/train in specialized skills. Compared to the average person their IQ would be 20 points higher.

Being a terrorist isn't easy. It's not a job for everyone.

Re: Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook

#280
post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure public support for removing Facebook from app stores wouldn't be too different than Parler. If we are principled people, and FB is failing to moderate, then any reasonable person who supported Parler's removal would support Facebook's. What would be different between the two decisions is the sheer magnitude of money on the line, in the case of Facebook's removal -- in capital markets, in employment, etc.

A coworker has a lot of conservative friends. All of them were banned from FB until the 23rd. Even her daughter, who has never written any posts supporting DJT, but liked a few posts, was banned for the same time frame. I've read absolutely nothing about this in the news. She even shared a screenshot one of her friends shared with her. It said: "Your account is restricted right now. You're temporarily restricted from…

That's wonderful news. Better late then never.
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