The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards other is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like giving a hand is holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless. — Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

It's very possible an even more evil version of Trump can come out of this. Biden and the rest of the Democrats have no strategy or plan to deal with this, they want a status-quo return to the Obama years and it's going to backfire against them even more than it did in 2016. Obama's (and his administration) failure to turn this country in a different direction during the financial crisis is directly responsible for Trump to have the political clout he does. — Baphomet

And it will be someone else. Trump has shown the way for a future Caesar to enlist populism to overthrow the mechanism of the republic. — Banno

I think the root appeal of fascism is "authoritarianism". When you start to feel that people's political beliefs are dangerous or taking away your personal power, there is an inclination to want to dominate the other people and not let them have a say. — Philosophim

He'll probably lose then because though the GOP are willing to put up with alot, they'll not tolerate a loser. — Mr Bee

An idea that, if carried out by the members of a social group, would lead to the disappearance of that group, cannot count as moral for the members of that group. — Srap Tasmaner

The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton — Maw

When you tear down the labels and rationalizations behind everything you'll find there is no longer any point of reference, and no coherency. You are left with nothing but the sensation of your own isolated perception, with no clear source or meaning in sight.

some say it's the default position and that the solipsist doesn't need evidence but the realist does. — Darkneos

The reply name contains a link to the comment, which fulfills the same function without duplicating text :up: — darthbarracuda


But a direct quote really gives substance and respect to the source material, for example, like this:

Like, it's been four years. If people continue to be surprised that Trump is a total wanker, who, really, is the idiot?

People act like - if only one can accumulate enough evidence that Trump is an idiot, people are bound to change their minds any second. Everytime Trump says or tweets or looks or does something stupid, liberals mobilize en masse to say: 'look, we finally got him! Don't you see it?'. And when no one gives a flying fuck because no one except liberals are playing that insular, suffocating game, they bunker down and wait for the next act of outrage before crawling out of their holes again to add yet one more piece of evidence to their list that no one but them gives a shit about.

And then, to top it off, they get incredulous like - why can't the hoi polloi see what we see? They must be dumb. We must be too smart for them! Didn't you see his Tweet??!?!? Wasn't it TeRrIbLE?? Like holy shit these people are the dumbest peices of shit on the planet and they think the situation is exactly the opposite. — StreetlightX


See? — Merkwurdichliebe