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A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

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Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#111
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't think the right wing can disown this one. Illegal methods are obviously unacceptable and this guy is a loser, but after the last election the right wing needs to be honest about the situation. One of their biggest political opponents is the big tech companies and they need to organise against them.

The big tech companies aren’t opponents of the right wing - they are the right wing - they want low taxes, reduced governmental oversight, and are vast multi billion dollar for-profit corporations. They do oppose extremist far right content. Not the political movement, but rather the content which they cannot legally host without facing repercussions themselves.

Odd that despite being right wing and wanting all those right wing things you mentioned, the vast majority of donations on a company-wide and down to the employee level go to Democrat/left-wing causes and politicians. That's not even counting the many many in-kind donations they regularly serve up to left-wing candidates and causes.

It's also interesting that despite being right wing, it is rare to witness a higher-up or decision maker at any FAANG espouse conservative views on social media.

Whereas it's not unusual for them to be calling for stuff so crazily left-wing it would even make AOC blush. And often in a trollish or provocative manner; they're not gonna deplatform and unperson themselves after all.

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#114
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but calling them a tour group is specious. Their social media posts, testimony and beating of a police officer to death clearly indicates otherwise. And while the suspect didn't admit to anything incriminating while in Washington, according to the article, it seems unlikely that someone who posts about their mass destruction plans on a right-wing militia forum would just coincidentally have been there sights…

They stole electronics, but the coroner's decision* is still out on the cop. * https://twitter.com/AugensteinWTOP/status/137986673166615347...

[deleted]

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder, does such a person share a lot of characteristics of his mental state with someone who on the other side of the political spectrum This sounds like the "horseshoe theory": "In political science and popular discourse, the horseshoe theory asserts that the far-left and the far-right, rather than being at opposite and opposing ends of a linear political continuum, closely resemble one another, analogous to t…

There is an alternative explanation for the observations of "horseshoe" theory. One of the examples often given by that theory is how both far-right and far-left is more authoritarian compared with mainstream. To me the better model would be viewing the current political paradigm as being extreme about individual freedoms. In other words - when you are at the south pole every direction is north. This tells us more ab…

I know that we don't like her here but Ayn Rand had another explanation to that which seems plausible as well - that both are extreme manifestations of the same concept - collectivism.

As someone else notices above, both Far Right and Far Left have quite a bit of disregard to personal freedoms so Ayn Rand may be onto something here...

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#116
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with quite a few left-wing friends, this comment was pretty funny to read. I have no idea why people think they can pick apart the inner machinations of the minds of people they've seemingly never spoken to, not into whose ideology they have the slightest insight or interest. Very strong "boomer opining at their suburban kitchen table about the problem with today's youths" energy. Any given person who iden…

Almost everyone identifies as anti-fascist. That's why references to Hitler are references to things considered universally awful. A problem many have with Antifa is that they took a term and made it their own, implying that everyone else is not against fascism.

> implying that everyone else is not against fascism.

Weird how you take them opposing fascism and you doing nothing about fascism to correctly conclude that you're doing nothing about fascism but then baselessly blame them.

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#117

I wonder, does such a person share a lot of characteristics of his mental state with someone who on the other side of the political spectrum, breaks into factory chicken farms to free birds, or who torches an entire dealership of SUVs to save the planet? Is there not something a little bit fascinating in realizing that regardless of the particular political belief driving them to do something, there must be something…

> I wonder, does such a person share a lot of characteristics of his mental state with someone who on the other side of the political spectrum, breaks into factory chicken farms to free birds, or who torches an entire dealership of SUVs to save the planet? If I am convinced that in so doing I'm helping save the planet, a little property damage, sabotage or violent intimidation is a small thing to ask of me. Even if i…

When these types of conversations come around, I'm always a little concerned and disappointed that more people don't hold/verbalize this or a similar attitude. Instead there's a weird amount of armchair moral confidence that I can't understand.

Especially when there are clear politics, we seem to be asking "What makes those people the way they are?" and not "What would it take for me to become one of those people?"

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The left-wing narrative is usually "[group A] is hurt by [issue and thus group B]", whereas the far-right is, "[group C] will hurt you, if you let them." I think it's a deliberate difference. The far right would never say Jews were accidentally conspiring against Americans, it wouldn't help them. But it helps the far left to say their issues are inadvertent, that [villain] can't help his bias, or that he doesn't have…

I'm not sure, class warfare isn't a thing that's accidentally happening according to those that subscribe to the theory, it's intentional. Not as a genocidal "let's annihilate the lower class" war, but to perpetually oppress, enslave and exploit them. The Great Purge didn't consider its targets as accidentally doing harm, they were portrayed as a "fifth column" that sought to destroy the Soviet Union. That external e…

I get what you're saying but Marxists don't bomb the homes of billionaires, or shoot them. There's no actual warfare, genuine violence is directed at the right, not the rich. They do make a show of constructing a set of gallows in front of Jeff Bezos' house but they don't actually do anything to him, and that's a big difference. I think it's because they don't have the fight-or-flight terror that drives far right-wingers to push the gas pedal of their car into crowds of protestors. They might, in a different system. But I think then the ideology would be different.

In the 70s there were genuine left-wing terrorists like the Weathermen, which might be a good comparison, but the vibe I get is that they liked violence first, and fell into a movement that gave them a justification to perform it. They didn't seem scared to me. The far left rarely seems genuinely scared, but the far right seems very scared.

The difference to me is that nowadays, left-wing threat narratives tend to exist to justify behaviour they already want to engage in, whereas right-wing threat narratives exist much more to be scary. Toward the center things are similar but the differences are quite stark at the fringes.

I don't mean this as a technical argument or anything. I could be wrong, I'm just trying to describe my instinct.

> The Great Purge

Was a genocide by people who attained power, not the fringes of society acting out for weird psychological reasons. I wouldn't really compare the motivations. Dictators are dictators, right or left, and the support they get is much more transactional. I'm also skeptical that Lenin was genuinely motivated by Marxism. I think Marxism was an excuse he could use to gain power.

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#119
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but calling them a tour group is specious. Their social media posts, testimony and beating of a police officer to death clearly indicates otherwise. And while the suspect didn't admit to anything incriminating while in Washington, according to the article, it seems unlikely that someone who posts about their mass destruction plans on a right-wing militia forum would just coincidentally have been there sights…

They stole electronics, but the coroner's decision* is still out on the cop. * https://twitter.com/AugensteinWTOP/status/137986673166615347...

I guess proof is unwanted here.

Re: A far-right extremist allegedly plotted to blow up Amazon data centers

#120
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the problem with crazy people, they don't realize their ideas are out of bounds.

That's very true. It's quite scary to see two very extreme sides both trying to achieve hopelessly impossible and utopian goals through either a violent 'revolution' or an 'insurrection' because it is the result they didn't like or get. Maybe there are some that are so crazy that they see Nazis everywhere on the internet or with someone that they disagree with and call for a medieval-like banishment from society i.e…

>Maybe there are some that are so crazy that they see Nazis everywhere on the internet

>Perhaps some of these crazy people just believe anything they see on the internet through a mysterious...

The sad part is that those who see Nazis under their bed aren't listening to Internet disinfo, but official sources like WaPo, MSNBC or CNN.

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