benroyce

benroyce, 13 days ago

@MissingThePt Trump called the Georgia Secretary of State and asked for just one jury vote

benroyce, 13 days ago

#trump #verdict

i turned my OTA tv tuner box on (i don't have cable)

i'll live toot

benroyce, 13 days ago

#cbsnews now doing the talking heads routine, waiting for the jurors

please hold for the fate of the world...

#Trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

benroyce, 13 days ago

#trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

"does it mean he is going to jail?"

major garrett: "trump attorney got reprimanded by the judge when he said 'you can't send a former president to jail'"

ooh, go judge

SEND HIS ASS TO JAIL

benroyce, 13 days ago

#trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

#cbsnews is in a holding pattern, revisiting the issues as we wait for the jury...

i'll live toot the verdict...

benroyce, 13 days ago

GUILTY

YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

#trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

benroyce, 13 days ago

#trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

guilty up to 32 counts i can't keep up

benroyce, 13 days ago

guilty on all 34 counts

#trump #verdict #trumptrial #uspol

SEND

HIS

ASS

TO JAIL

🥳 🥳 🥳

benroyce, 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

@shoq

"puritopians"

"lefty but of such toxic perfectionism they would prefer self-defeat than sully their precious purity"

i can't believe they are all genuine

many have to be russian/ MAGA troll farm cosplay

because the real world effect of their fragile inflexibility is obvious

although some are genuine

must be nice to live in such an entitled privileged ivory tower that your mental masturbation is more important than real world defeat of trans rights, the climate, women's rights, etc

benroyce, 13 days ago

@shoq

wait a second...

the urban dictionary entry for the word "puritopian" is written by "shoqvalue"

shoq is that you? 🤭

nice

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Puritopian

benroyce, 13 days ago

@Kierkegaanks @shoq

useful fools for the right

not that they seem to know or care that is their only real world effect

that's why i have to believe some of them are MAGA/ russian troll farm agent provocateurs

how dumb does someone have to be to not realize the real world effect of self-destructive ideological perfectionism?

benroyce, 13 days ago

@Kierkegaanks @shoq

they only care about themselves in their mind palace

we can literally die (and transphobia, women denied abortions, the climate, etc means we are) and they will prioritize rearranging the seating chart in their gleaming dazzling hermetically sealed ivory tower of "moral" "perfection," far above the messy real world, which they will not sully themselves to matter to, because then they become suspect as well. apparently anyone living in the real world with real choices is

benroyce, 13 days ago

@shoq 🙌 😤

benroyce, 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago)

@MissingThePt

excuse me

they don't use a torch for the Trump criminal olympics

they use a ceremonial dumpster fire

benroyce, 16 days ago

This confusion works for those who are hateful and know what they are doing, it becomes a wedge issue to further divide: "see! They are hypocrites! They don't tolerate you while they speak of tolerance!"

So what's the solution.

Well I don't know. But there needs to be one.

Because we know what preceded WWII, and we see the parallels today. And we are doomed to repeat this loop forever, to monumental suffering, and possibly the death of civilization, unless we figure out a mechanism.

4/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

But I can say this:

Fascism is always stopped. With two mechanisms:

1. Fascism weakens itself as much as its enemies. An ingroup and an outgroup are established, but the ingroup is further subdivided such that lower classes of the ingroup become new outgroups, cannon fodder.

2. Fascism always must expand. Fascism doesn't exist without an other, an enemy, to deliver pain and suffering to. Eventually it bites off too much and after much much suffering for everyone else, it finally dies.

5/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

So there's the lesson: fascism is suffering for us, one way or another, forever. So it is always far better to nip it in the bud early, when it is small, rather than wait, obliviously, and have to face it when it grows larger and is much more dangerous.

This is why we are repeating history: "this isn't a big threat," "just wait and it will go away on its own," "too much effort, can't be bothered," etc.

And then you simply face something worse later.

So a thesis to contain fascism:

6/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

Domestically:

Every act of racism. Every instance of misogyny. Every bit of homophobia. Every aspect of transphobia. Classism, religious bigotry, etc: it needs to be stomped out up front.

If you let it slide, it builds to Trump.

Internationally:

Every little Transnitria. Every little invasion of Georgia. Every little swiping of Crimea: it needs to be stomped out up front.

If you let it slide, it builds and grows to full on invasion of Ukraine, threatening to drag us now into WWIII.

7/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

Granted, it's possible to be too aggressive here.

That casual misogynist might just need a little talking to. While a hardcore reaction might backfire.

And WWIII right up front over a minor land disagreement... yeah, no.

So again, Karl Popper:

"I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise."

8/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

So there is some finesse here. That the most difficult task in containing latent fascism is knowing how to react to it. Too harsh, and you feed it. Too soft, and it grows.

But this one thing is absolutely true, and everyone must know it:

You aren't going to have to eventually confront fascism. It is simply the truth that it is always there to be confronted.

All of us. All societies. For all time.

It's always bubbling under the surface. And it must be confronted.

Early, or it grows.

9/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

Happy #MemorialDay

For all those who gave their lives in the previous struggle against #fascism.

Let us make sure it was not in vain, and that we learn from their sacrifices.

x/x

benroyce, 16 days ago

addendum:

required viewing for all Americans

for everyone in the world

made by the US War Department at the end of WWII, a discussion between a regular Joe who almost gets seduced by a fascist street preacher, and a Hungarian immigrant who tells him this is how Hitler started, in detail

at a moment of historical clarity, an inspired piece of propaganda

how #fascism rises: divide and conquer with hate, while regular folks go "just crazy talk"

"Don't Be a Sucker"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGAqYNFQdZ4

benroyce, 15 days ago

@santiago

so how do we break it

i say decentralized commerce

if we disavow commerce we are merely poor and marginalized and the capitalist carries on unbothered

and commerce is never going away, ever

so we deliver what the capitalist delivers, with commerce, decentralized, but better, no middle man parasitizing our exchange

beat the capitalist at their own game

benroyce, 14 days ago

@ainmosni @Uair

"We need to amass enough power to change the rules, to disassemble the power structure the rich have right now."

but that's exactly what i'm talking about. decentralized tech

beat capitalism at its own game by outcompeting it on commerce, since there is no middleman parasite siphoning off mountains of cash