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Yes, It's Fascism

theatlantic.com

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Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#151

Post by wrs »

WickyNilliams wrote: post #147
touwer wrote: post #83

The most scaring and amazing thing is not Trump himself, but all the people (suddenly) supporting him and being silent (including too many Democrats) in order to keep their position or for for opportunistic purposes. And destroying democracy along the way. Just like all the secret police agents in Iran or the henchmen of Hitler. CEO's of bigtech. Crypto-libertarians. Too many people are sucking up to wannabe dictator…

Same pattern played out in Germany. The centrists were more concerned with leftists than Hitler. Big business thought they could cosy up to him and keep him under control. Opportunistic collaboration for self preservation or personal benefit. Of course these all turned out to be grave miscalculations. I imagine that pattern will eventually play out this time too...

Is it possible their only miscalculation was not realizing how much of the world would fight back? Because if it hadn't, they would have continued enjoying the benefits.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#152

Post by mistermaster1 »

RealityVoid wrote: post #140
mistermaster1 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your personal, individual wisdom that exceeds that of 230+ million eligible US voters in the 2026. That about settles it, we are past the point of no return so we should do absolutely nothing. In fact any action would be irrational, a waste of effort and a misallocation of time and energy vs spending it with our families and/or on ourselves. And somehow, I am the person who is defending the so-called fa…

I'm honestly sorry, you're right to be angry. I'm not trying to demobilize you. I'm despairing myself as well, I hope for the US to keep its shit together. But I just don't think it's looking great. Sorry, really, I don't want to make fun of the shit the US is in. I think I _am_ guilty of using a poor intellectual facade trying to make sense of this what the fuck historical moment we're in. Because trust me, my count…

Thank you for taking ownership. Unfortunately when the online “gang” effectively amplifies itself (either through correlation of their voices as they see something that isn’t there; or in actual coordination/racing to echo one another) the emergent effect is one of ostracization and it becomes easier to see how some people become radicalized and even get cornered into dishonestly defending worse and worse actions & positions which they never would have otherwise defended. I chose not to do that, but only because this isn’t the first time that I’ve been mobbed by groupthinkers who want to defend whatever article or tagline they are promoting to the point of attacking me for making any point that seems critical of any part of their current bible of choice.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#153

Post by tombert »

messe wrote: post #148
tombert wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think generally the mods like to avoid anything involving "politics" since it's likely to start a flame war. The issue, of course, is that literally anything can be "political", and moreover by trying to actively avoid political discussions you sort of tacitly endorse the status quo. It's a tough line to draw, and I'd be lying if I said where I knew where to draw it; HN is a fun forum specifically because the moder…

The limit should be outright fascism. It's not a tough line to draw if you've any inkling of 20th century history. The USA isn't sleepwalking, it's goose-stepping into a fucking nightmare.

Yeah that's fair. I mean, you can look at my comment history, I'm not above commenting on the bullshit from the Trump administration.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#154

Post by wrs »

protastus wrote: post #107
mnicky wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't the same happen after Biden was elected? And see, it achieved nothing, regrettably...

No, it didn't. Order was not restored, criminals were encouraged, and here we are.

There were investigations. There were indictments (including four of Trump himself). Here we are. What we learned is that the only constitutional remedy is impeachment (which was also tried twice). What has disabled all the checks and balances is the knife-edge Congressional majority, the takeover of the judiciary, and the purging of the civil service. Changing the President stops the active craziness but doesn't address the underlying problem.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#155

Post by WickyNilliams »

quercus wrote: post #37
testing22321 wrote: post #3

The parallels it dark times in history are too strong to ignore. The only question now is will the people be able to stop the takeover before it’s too late.

“weak men create hard times” never fails

I hate this quote with such a passion. It's treated as some enduring wisdom passed down through generations. When it's from a 2016 book you have probably never heard of.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#156

Post by wrs »

blibble wrote: post #40
RealityVoid wrote: post #6

I actually think that there is an amalgam of ideologies here (I know, so very fascist of them). Trump is more of a monarchist. A lot of the people supporting him are outright fascists. Some are plain idiots. Them winning absolute control over the country would be a disaster for their movement though. They'd turn to internal fighting, the entropy of victory and all that. And they don't seem terribly competent with gov…

> Them winning absolute control over the country would be a disaster for their movement though. They'd turn to internal fighting, the entropy of victory and all that. that would be after they've finished executing the undesirables? I am quite amazed that the 2nd amendment people seem to be the ones that are cheering on the federal gestapo

Yes, this is literally the scenario every 2nd amendment fanatic justifies themselves with. But we already knew that made no sense; it doesn't change anything to have the hypocrisy demonstrated.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#158

Post by mold_aid »

RealityVoid wrote: post #15
fugalfervor wrote: post #5

I am so terribly disturbed by the ICE shootings (and killings). There is no justification for them. This is supposed to be a nation of laws and the rights of those shot (to say nothing of those abducted and harassed, beaten, or removed without due process) has been so grossly violated that it's hard to believe. My heart aches for the countless victims of this band of fascists in the executive branch.

> I am so terribly disturbed by the ICE shootings (and killings). There is no justification for them. I think they are simply poorly trained people that are given free reign. The results are disastrous. They probably don't wake up thinking "Today I'm going to murder someone" but they just don't realize what they're doing. I'm not sure how it's at the destructiveness scale at this moment, but these organizations can a…

>They probably don't wake up thinking "Today I'm going to murder someone" but they just don't realize what they're doing

They absolutely woke up thinking that. This is the happiest these monsters have been in their lives

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#159

Post by gizmov21 »

quercus wrote: post #136
gizmov21 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who are the “weak men” in your interpretation of today’s scenario? I have my own ideas but I wonder about others.

[flagged]

Agreed there. I would call Trump et all pathetic pieces of shit, and Democrats (Biden and Obama admins) weak ones for not doing something while they had the chance.

Re: Yes, It's Fascism

#160

Post by jLaForest »

dang wrote: post #113
jLaForest wrote: post #76

[flagged]

HN has had numerous major frontpage threads that are critical of this administration. Not enough to satisfy those who want more, but that is a separate issue.

Yes I know because I've read through several right before they are predictably taken down. But yes I will take your word and stop believing my eyes and ears...
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