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LARPing and Violent Extremism

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Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#161

Post by pixl97 »

Jensson wrote: post #151
sonotathrowaway wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Republicans endorse political violence when it’s targeted against their political opponents - the plot to kidnap and execute the Michigan governor was “just a joke” (the perpetrators have been convicted and are currently incarcerated).

And seems like Democrats endorse police overreach when it is targeted against their political opponents, since it is them who are all over this thread saying basically "nothing to hide, nothing to fear". I wonder where all of those are in the typical police threads? ACAB except when cops did something I like, then it is "trust the cops to interpret this correctly!"? Politics is tiring for that reason, most people los…

Maybe the real world is a complex place where you have bad actors that need stopped, and in some cases those bad actors are also the police.

If you're trying to reduce any real world situation to a binary set of choices, you're almost always going to be incorrect. When I was a teenager I was working in a shop and a number of people around there had more radical views on the government. A few of them commonly got together and did what we'd consider LARPing now (this was 90s). One of them seems to have more a more violent anti-government take over the others. Wasn't long before the FBI was down there arresting him and he eventually served a healthy sentence over his actions.

Unfortunately Google has become a memory hole on older news like this, and I can no longer remember his name to find any articles on this.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#162

Post by pixl97 »

faeriechangling wrote: post #153
kr0bat wrote: post #10

They used the term LARP a lot more literally than I expected. Although the history of LARP as a legal defense is narrow, the authors share the concern that it may soon become commonplace. Early attempts at such a strategy have been made by a defendant acting alone or in loose cooperation with members of a fantasy group who knew each other only in the virtual world, claiming “artistic expression” to excuse threatening…

Well fuck the feds for snooping on all our conversations honestly. When we don't have privacy, people collectively engaging in edgy irony to the point you can't distinguish the signal from the noise provides people with a level of free speech.

"Posts on a public site...Complains about privacy"

What the hell you are going on about man. If you post something like "Hey, lets shoot some cops", or hell "lets start shooting ____" online you are giving up your right to privacy. Yes, the US legal system has means of taking the 'evidence' you posted online in front of a judge and getting a warrant. Via the warrant system nearly complete dismantling of your privacy can be compelled.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#163

Post by ToValueFunfetti »

ajhurliman wrote: post #154
sonotathrowaway wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When conservatives are used to feeling privileged, equality feels like oppression.

Right back atcha

Yeah, I don't see a clear case for either party having more privilege. Democrats have more control over academia, news media, and tech companies. Republicans are the typical party of the 1%, win elections without the popular vote, and often have status quo bias on their side. This makes sense; we should expect both sides to have equal power because, well, duh. That's what lets them be 'both sides' instead of the libertarians and socialists.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#164

Post by pixl97 »

seventytwo wrote: post #98
flangola7 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once you realize many individuals see written language not as a means to share ideas and have mutual constructive discussion, but as just another weapon to achieve their ends, a lot of human interactions (especially online) make a lot more sense. It's very dangerous since many of us (myself included) instinctively assume good faith and approach conflicts as possible misunderstandings or opportunities for constructive…

This is one of the least understood things in our society, and one of the things we need to understand most urgently. The same people who use rhetoric in bad faith would happily use violence if they thought it would be a more effective method to advance their motives.

If you've not watched the Alt-Right Playbook by Innuendo Studios on Youtube, you should stop what you're doing and watch all 20 or so episodes. One of the most enlightening series on this topic I've seen.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#165

Post by 2devnull »

“Live action role play is an old theatrical behavior and a new excuse. The concern that this label can be used as a defense for planning and preparing a targeted attack on a public official, democratic government, or anyone else is a real one.”

Boy is it. I’m gravely concerned the threat LARPing posed to our democratic government.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#166

Post by 2devnull »

prepend wrote: post #78
ethbr1 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're looking at this from an assumption-of-LARPing. Imagine an FBI agent looking at evidence of Timothy McVeigh at a gun show in 1994. He's selling a flare gun he claims can 'shoot down an ATF helicopter' and ATF hats with bullet holes in them. When interviewed without charge, imagine McVeigh claims that it's part of his LARPing activities. What standards would you suggest that agent applies, in order to avoid a fa…

> assumption-of-LARPing. And this seems accurate as the ratio of larping to terrorism is probably millions to one. Thousands of people larp every day in the US. Terrorism is fairly rare with maybe a few events per year.

“Terrorism is fairly rare”

The only people who make that claim are terrorists.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#167

Post by CamperBob2 »

ToValueFunfetti wrote: post #159
CamperBob2 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, if people who want to LARP as bank robbers could be paired with people who want to LARP as bankers, tellers, and cops, that could be an answer to the incipient commercial real-estate crisis. Just a matter of getting the right people in the same room together.

I would pay money for this, but probably not as much as it would cost (assuming that people who want to LARP as bankers/tellers and can't get those jobs don't really exist).

Perhaps, after the AI singularity, it will become trendy for us all to LARP our former jobs for amusement.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#168

Post by shitlord »

cronix wrote: post #49
ethbr1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also contains >> [recommendations to probe and challenge] motives during an interview (e.g., “If you were just LARPing, why did you need live explosives?”)

The answer is probably the same as why Hollywood uses them in movies. For realism.

Hollywood is notorious for creating gasoline explosions because they make gigantic fireballs. High explosives used in a war zone look totally different.

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#169

Post by kramerger »

weswilson wrote: post #127

Most of us here probably think of LARPing as fantasy-genre LARPing, but I think this is more pointed toward Mil-Sim LARPing. These are hardcore airsoft guys who go buy comms, night-vision, IR, with airsoft weapons that function like real weapons. There are multi-day events with NATO vs RUS forces. Look up "milsim west" on Youtube and you can get a sense of it. There's a good amount of folks that just like to have fun…

The crazy/normal ratio among milsim larpers is EXTREMLY high. Just listen to the language they use in YT videos to describe other participants and general public

There is this odd thing about the human brain that as soon as it is in a group and have tools of violence at hand it will often start planing to take over the society

Re: LARPing and Violent Extremism

#170

Post by PixyMisa »

tap-snap-or-nap wrote: post #123
HarryHirsch wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blatant lying from law enforcement that the citizenry has to deal with on a daily basis is underappreciated. The US has a legal system that permits a police office to say anything, but a citizen must not lie to a police officer. The Miranda warning is not a good sign - it reminds the citizen that the government can and will use anything a citizen says for its own purposes.

> citizenry has to deal with on a daily basis Sounds like a hyperbolic statement. Most citizens may be more likely to say that they do not have to deal with people who commit crime and lie to them on a daily basis unless you are in a very rough neighbourhood with very little law enforcement. People who are policing do have to deal with this daily, however there is a change that the police could potentially form some…

Look up civil asset forfeiture. It's legalized theft.
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