121–130 of 143 posts
It's easy to say that one should voice their opinion and not retract things. It can be costly though. I've always been one to speak my mind when others won't, but the older I get the more I realize that it is often best to keep your head down and stay quiet. I would likely be further along in my career if I had just learnt to be a 'yes man'.
Likening modern 'woke' mob outrage on Twitter to Maoist China is the correct analogy. The purpose of being 'cancelled' is not any kind of real social justice. It's the enforcement of an ideological orthodoxy. Never apologise to the mob. Even a superficial understanding of game theory shows you that you have nothing to gain from the self-flagellation involved in a public apology. Remember, You'll never be forgiven. I'…
> Likening modern 'woke' mob outrage on Twitter to Maoist China is the correct analogy. I would personally rather be cancelled on social media, than having my breathing cancelled. It's should be possible to disagree and criticize without analogies to various atrocities involving mass murder. Drawing such parallels is a form of cancelling, as it effectively prevents any defense or discourse on the subject. Whatever "c…
Perhaps you don't fully grasp how communists operate, then.
Maoist struggle sessions in which you were still permitted to breathe preceded your execution by a period of time, sometimes years.
Before Pol Pot sent intellectuals and their families to the killing fields, they were merely fired from their jobs.
Communists may be evil, but they are not stupid. They know that you purge your enemies by boiling the frog slowly enough that the useful idiots defend your actions every questionable step of the way.
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Have you stopped and maybe talked to someone you respect about these beliefs? When everyone else thinks you are being an asshole sometimes it is because you are. Ive certainly had to face that at times in my life.
No, as was the entire point of my comment, I cannot talk with anyone I respect about these beliefs. And I do see myself becoming more of an asshole, that is also the entire point of my comment. I think it must have gotten past you.
"Cutting off the network of people that moderates my views and is making my views less moderate."
I understand that people can be harsh nowadays, presumably because they often find the views of others particularly harsh and feel a proportional response is necessary, but not wanting to face that isn't an excuse - it essentially amounts to "The criticism that's supposed to keep my views grounded isn't working and my views are getting more extreme, because I don't want to deal with the criticism of my extreme views". And to be fair I'm making it sound simpler than it is, it's a totally human response to avoid sharing those opinions if it has negative consequences. My only point is to remember it's not the crowds fault if you end up with extremist views, it was your decision. We all have to deal with the fact that the crowd doesn't care about our feelings, only their own views, but we do it, and if our differing opinions are important enough to us then we deal with the consequences.
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Do you speak respectfully when you speak to others, and can you respect others while you speak to them? The problem might be in how you speak, what words and phrasings you choose, rather than the contents of opinions and perspectives. A study after each conversation, might reveal that each people involved might've had entirely different experiences about the conversation. That would reveal the gap.
Why don't you pick out an unpopular or unprogressive idea, articulate it nicely on Twitter, and see how that goes?
There's a time and place for all speech. It needs the correct setting, and this is nothing new.
That you can use algorithms to rile up people seems interesting though, for weaponization. That'd be fun!
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I watched the link twitter video and he never does what they describe “laughing as they plan the attack”. It doesn’t sound like he’s a nazi/white supremacist to me.
You are welcome to reject the views of the person writing on Twitter, who is not me. I linked the video to point out that Andy Ngo was present and party to the planning of, preparation for, and movement to a violent group assault. It seems that you acknowledge his presence there. Ngo chose to omit the fact of his prior knowledge and movement to the location with the Patriot Prayer group from his own coverage of the i…
You may not like his viewpoint, or his work, but he's a journalist. He's on the ground covering all kinds of protests and riots.
>It seems that you acknowledge his presence there.
Did you know that there were journalists who interviewed Osama Bin Laden, even after he took credit for bombings that took many American lives. Do you also consider them complicit?
>Ngo chose to omit the fact of his prior knowledge and movement to the location with the Patriot Prayer group from his own coverage of the incident.
Oh, well then, he deserves to be attacked, assaulted and harassed for that omission, right?
There are literally people who talk about killing him on Twitter.
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No, what’s weird is calling a religious Jew and a gay Asian man a nazi/white supremacist. It’s ridiculous on its face. They’d have to believe in the righteousness of their own destruction, something neither had espoused. It would be necessary to show strong evidence of it, which hasn’t happened, or else it’s just someone lying about them to discredit them, and doing so in a way that is utterly ridiculous. In this cas…
They don't have to believe in their own destruction. There are several minority youtubers who are ver successful who support the far-right for their own benefit, to gain support and notoriety to support their grift. And the far-right loves tokenizing these minorities to 'prove' they aren't racist. A lack of evidence(especially for something as unprovable as a specific individuals personal beliefs) doesn't prove a lie…
You seem to be conflating the far-right with white supremacy. There might be some overlap, but they are not synonymous.
Saying Ngo is "far-right"? Sure, I guess. Saying he's a "white supremacist" is a stretch.
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Anybody is free to have an opinion on Andy Ngo but calling him, with complete credulity, someone who "became noteworthy by documenting the excesses of the far left" without mentioning his vocal and widespread reporting in favor of white supremacy, with the Proud Boys being the most prominent example, doesn't make me think the author is being genuine. If the article had a more nuanced view as opposed to pushing a poin…
How is a gay asian man a white supremacist? Please give your sources. That's a bit of a bold claim, especially without providing evidence.
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You are welcome to reject the views of the person writing on Twitter, who is not me. I linked the video to point out that Andy Ngo was present and party to the planning of, preparation for, and movement to a violent group assault. It seems that you acknowledge his presence there. Ngo chose to omit the fact of his prior knowledge and movement to the location with the Patriot Prayer group from his own coverage of the i…
> I linked the video to point out that Andy Ngo was present and party to the planning of, preparation for, and movement to a violent group assault. You may not like his viewpoint, or his work, but he's a journalist. He's on the ground covering all kinds of protests and riots. > It seems that you acknowledge his presence there. Did you know that there were journalists who interviewed Osama Bin Laden, even after he too…
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Anybody is free to have an opinion on Andy Ngo but calling him, with complete credulity, someone who "became noteworthy by documenting the excesses of the far left" without mentioning his vocal and widespread reporting in favor of white supremacy, with the Proud Boys being the most prominent example, doesn't make me think the author is being genuine. If the article had a more nuanced view as opposed to pushing a poin…
"...in favor of white supremacy, with the Proud Boys being the most prominent example..." I don't have much background on the Proud Boys. I saw an article about one of their leaders pleading guilty to destruction of property or something recently, and I didn't think he was white. So I'm a little confused about this. I would have thought a white supremacist group wouldn't accept him, not to mention it seems odd that s…
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Are you trying to compare MLK's rousing and elegant speeches with the nastiness that gets sent over Twitter by these mobs?
Contemporaries certainly did not consider MLK's actions to be "rousing and elegant". He was cast as a rabble-rouser and a complainer by the establishment and called responsible for property damage done during the civil rights protests. It is only in retrospect that MLK has been adopted by the establishment as the "good" protestor and his voice has been twisted to support a "colorblindness" that he never supported.
He was routinely invited to meet with American leaders (Nixon, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ). Several of these meetings were in the White House. Foreign leaders met with him. He won the Nobel prize. He was on the cover of Time magazine twice. He was an eminent person during his life.
Here’s two newspaper snippets in contradiction with your idea that contemporaries didn’t consider his speeches rousing and elegant.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/20989079/editorial-on-martin...
https://static01.nyt.com/packages/pdf/topics/MLK/washdream.p...
This newspaper article says “Lyndon Johnson recognized that Martin Luther King possesses a certain mysticism of a crusader who can touch the emotional well springs of people and inspire them to demonstrate in a non-violent way.”
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53577271/article-discussing-...
His funeral was attended by at least a dozen dignitaries
https://www.britannica.com/story/attendees-of-martin-luther-...