Neo Nazis and the Alt Right


Not exactly surprising. The original America Firsters (as opposed to these modern shitheads) were basically just American Nazis.

An interesting look at how the Internet is enabling Fascism 2.0:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/21/fascism-is-back-blame-the-internet/?utm_term=.a3ddef124681

Democracy depends upon a certain idea of truth: not the babel of our impulses, but an independent reality visible to all citizens. This must be a goal; it can never fully be achieved. Authoritarianism arises when this goal is openly abandoned, and people conflate the truth with what they want to hear. Then begins a politics of spectacle, where the best liars with the biggest megaphones win. Trump understands this very well. As a businessman he failed, but as a politician he succeeded because he understood how to beckon desire. By deliberately spreading unreality with modern technology, the daily tweet, he outrages some and elates others, eroding the very notion of a common world of facts.

In fascism, feeling is first. Fascists of the 1920s and 1930s wanted to undo the enlightenment and appeal to people as members of a tribe, race or species. What mattered was a story of us and them that could begin a politics of conflict and combat. Fascists proposed that the world was run by conspirators whose mysterious hold must be broken by violence. This could be achieved by a leader (FĂźhrer, Duce) who spoke directly to and for the people, without laws and institutions. Totalitarianism meant domination of the whole self, without respect for private and public.

Our memory of the 20th century grew hazy just as we began the plunge into cyberspace, which is perhaps why we did not notice certain alarming features of the experience. The Internet has revived fascist habits of mind.

The guy was only defenseless on the ground, and I was beating him with a hunk of wood, but there was no malice in it…

Daniel Borden, whose local TV station and newspaper have said he was known for his swastika drawings and Nazi salutes in high school, was 18 years old when he traveled from Maumee, Ohio, to Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally.

He entered an Alford plea in Charlottesville Circuit Court on May 21, which isn’t an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgement that there’s enough evidence to convict him. Judge Rick Moore did, indeed, find him guilty.

“His argument is he didn’t have malice in his heart or mind when he did this,” said defense attorney Mike Hallahan. The felony charge carries up to 20 years in prison.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nina-Alice Antony—who noted that Borden was wearing a white construction hat with “commie killer” written on it during the attack—said videos show the teenager beating Harris with a wooden object while Harris was already on the ground,

That sounds like a Russian bot made all that up.

I mean to be fair conservatism is by its very nature dangerous to minorities and the oppressed, why would there be a party that espouses it that isn’t inherently racist?

I think that the idea that the government shouldn’t spend beyond its means most of the time, that the government should tax as little as possible, and that social change isn’t something the government is responsible for is a conservative way of thinking that isn’t always rooted in racism, even if it results in maintaining the status quo which can often be racist.

I believe otherwise. I believe government can and should be an agent of progressive social change, but I have some sympathy of the opposing viewpoint. It’s difficult for me to attribute racism as the genesis of that kind of viewpoint, though it does seem to be a haven for racist leanings.

What I really despise is this idea that private industry and the ideals of capitalism are inherently always superior to the idea of government run services. I’ve seen enough waste in privately run businesses to know that privatizing government services is not going to fix anything, and it may make things worse.

I think this piece will almost always tilt towards racism. I’ve never seen this really applied in practice. It’s usually I don’t want government to enforce any sort of societal behaviors, well except mine of course.

Without government intervention putting their thumb on the scales, it’s harder for change to take place.

However, the idea that the government should have the power to impose it’s judgement about everything is in many ways self defeating, since it essentially requires (in a democratic system) that the majority already agree upon your notion of Justice. And if that’s the case, you don’t really need the government to mandate it.

Often, i feel like folks that may hold a minority position believe that the government should impose their minority position on everyone. But if the government has that power, then you are at risk of the government oppressing society as a whole, and totally disregarding the position held by a democratic majority.

There are exceptions, but i think that in most cases, it would be more productive in the long term to actually just convince society as a whole of the correctness of those positions, rather than trying to just force them to accept them through force.

The SCOTUS has protected the correct minority position on a number of cases. Relying on the majority to change their mind well we’d be in a worse position than we are now, and now isn’t great. Sometimes you do have to force it.

That’s a bit unpredictable. Now corporations are people, after all. And the Dred Scott case protected slavery. Plessy v Ferguson also protected segregation for some time. SCOTUS is not really some champion for minorities. It’s just a weathervane. SCOTUS might outlaw abortion soon if Trump gets to replace another judge.

I wouldn’t rely on them exclusively but the idea you have to have the hearts and minds of the majority to have positive change, I challenge that. Sometimes change, good change, is forced and the majority is just wrong.

Keep in mind, unlike gay marriage, in the matters of interracial marriage, the Courts in the 60s were way ahead the general population.

Putting this one on the neo Nazi thread where it belongs

Fuck everything. But mostly the GOP and the useful idiots who vote for them.

I’m not sure placing that out of context reply in the neo Nazi thread is appropriate.