median savings for people 55-64 is $15,000. — Count Timothy von Icarus
From the earliest days of the 2016 presidential race, [Trump's] rallies crackled with tension and anger -- a testament to his skill in finding the fault lines on issues of class and race and exploiting them to draw in followers who felt marginalized and wronged by their leaders. His supporters had hungered for a charismatic leader like him who would empower the "silent majority" and serve as a voice for their grievances. He thrilled them as he blasted through societal norms and the guardrails of democracy, while offering safe harbor to White supremacists, conspiracy theorists, anti-government renegades, racists and anti-Semitic activists who fell in line behind a political figure who would channel their rage in exchange for their fealty.
As he lurched from one shocking maneuver to the next, Trump commanded the constant attention of the press, broadening his universe of followers as he used Twitter as his megaphone. By threatening to punish his critics and by firing civil servants who tried to check his thirst for power, he cowed members of the Republican Party and his own aides, who became complicit in his unraveling of democracy. Meanwhile, much of America grew numb to his circus act, shrugging off the magnetic power of Trumpism as though it was a passing fad.
That all changed Wednesday...
A demagogue /ˈdɛməɡɒɡ/ (from Greek δημαγωγός, a popular leader, a leader of a mob, from δῆμος, people, populace, the commons + ἀγωγός leading, leader or rabble-rouser) is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.
My gut tells me they’re going to stick with Trump to the bitter end — Xtrix
Google has ratcheted things up even further by removing Parler from its app store, and Apple will likely soon follow. This push to marginalize even the already fringey social media sites is making the libertarian/shitlib argument of "If you don't like censorship just go to another platform" look pretty ridiculous. This is all happening just in time for the Biden administration, about which critics had already been voicing grave concerns regarding the future of internet censorship.
The censorship of a political faction at the hands of a few liberal Silicon Valley billionaires will do the exact opposite of eliminating right-wing paranoia and conspiracy theories, and everyone knows it. You're not trying to make things better, you're trying to make them worse. You're not trying to restore peace and order, you're trying to force a confrontation so your political enemies can be crushed. You're accelerationist.... Supporting the censorship of online speech is to support the authority of monopolistic tech oligarchs to exert more and more global control over human communication. Regardless of your attitude toward whoever happens to be getting deplatformed today, supporting this is suicidal.
The complete reversal in mentality from just a few months ago is dizzying. Those who spent the summer demanding the police be defunded are furious that the police response at the Capitol was insufficiently robust, violent and aggressive. Those who urged the abolition of prisons are demanding Trump supporters be imprisoned for years. Those who, under the banner of “anti-fascism,” demanded the firing of a top New York Times editor for publishing an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) advocating the deployment of the U.S. military to quell riots — a view deemed not just wrong but unspeakable in decent society — are today furious that the National Guard was not deployed at the Capitol to quash pro-Trump supporters. Antifa advocates are working to expose the names of Capitol protesters to empower the FBI to arrest them on terrorism charges.
...There is a huge difference between, on the one hand, thousands of people shooting their way into the Capitol after a long-planned, coordinated plot with the goal of seizing permanent power, and, on the other, an impulsive and grievance-driven crowd more or less waltzing into the Capitol as the result of strength in numbers and then leaving a few hours later. That the only person shot was a protester killed by an armed agent of the state by itself makes clear how irresponsible these terms are. There are more adjectives besides “fascist treason” and “harmless protest,” enormous space between those two poles. One need not be forced to choose between the two.
..But as was true of the Cold War and the War on Terror and so many other crisis-spurred reactions, the other side of the ledger — the draconian state powers clearly being planned and urged and prepared in the name of stopping them — carries its own extremely formidable dangers. Refusing to consider those dangers for fear of standing accused of downplaying the threat is the most common tactic authoritarian advocates of state power use. Less than twenty-four hours after the Capitol breach, one sees this tactic being wielded with great flamboyance and potency, and it is sure to continue long after January 20.
I pointed out a woman died. So, no. She happened to be a Trump supporter. You and NOS think you've achieved something. That's who you are. Live with it. — Baden
I wouldn't mind dogpiling on the motherfucker. — hypericin
All those Cunts needed mowing down, including their ringleader — The Opposite
You're like, a bit dull aren't you? — StreetlightX
You're a traitor to this country. There's nothing left to say about you. Disgusting, and utterly pathetic. You can't die off quickly enough. — Xtrix
Can you explain that?
— Brett
I could, but I won't — Maw
What a shocker. Please drop dead. — Xtrix
I heard antifa fucked your girlfriend
— Maw — Xtrix
Which makes you even more of a cancer. — Xtrix
With the number of racists and fascists on the site atm, I'm worried you think I was being serious.
— Kenosha Kid — Baden
I'm getting tired of your selective sensitivity. It wasn't there when it was black people doing much less worse stuff than killing police officers. Don't pretend to be rational when you're stinking of bias. — Baden
Just nice to know you’re not fooling anyone with this act, probably not even your self. Your hypocrisy and pro-Trump bias is obvious. — Xtrix
Go rest your head Brett. — Xtrix
Drop the act of being objective or truly interested in any way. Just jump right to the complete rationalization of what happened yesterday. Spare yourself the mental gymnastics.
— Xtrix — Brett
Still don't understand the rationale of having a user on this site who repeatedly cites and parrots nefarious lies of radical rightwing publications, and then acts like he never believed in it to begin with when he's called out on it, or just ignores it entirely and moves on to the next fabrication to waste everyone's time with. — Maw
No you fuck, you don't get to make shit up and ask to be proven wrong. — StreetlightX
Really, don't worry your pretty head about it. If you really can't figure it out, I don't want your brain to fry from over-exertion. — StreetlightX
A point people like you also conveniently ignore in favor of licking the asses of your corporate masters. — Xtrix
No one needs to respond to your made-up bullshit with actual figures other than to point out the fact that you're making shit up. — StreetlightX
People like Brett really think this is character creation in D&D or something. 10 points to charisma! -4 to humility! Fucking larping rubbish. — StreetlightX
But that's neither here nor there, given that making shit up based on lazy preconceptions is a shit way to argue. — StreetlightX
It's not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing its the fact that you fabricated shit out of thin air and expect anyone to put in any effort to take that shit seriously. — StreetlightX
No, I'm not engaging with shit you pulled out of your arse other than to call it out for having been pulled out of your arse. — StreetlightX
With Trump banned from Twitter and Facebook, shall we invite him to TPF? — tim wood
AWS provides technology and services to customers across the political spectrum, and we continue to respect Parler's right to determine for itself what content it will allow on its site. However, we cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others. Because Parler cannot comply with our terms of service and poses a very real risk to public safety, we plan to suspend Parler's account. — Amazon
As I said before - anyone ought to be free to express their opinions, but what if a medium is used solely for the propogation of lies? Are lies protected by 'freedom of expression'? — Wayfarer
What a stupid comment. — Xtrix
To say that 'all politicians lie' is just whataboutism, which is one of the techniques Trump uses to get away with lying. — Wayfarer
As I said before - anyone ought to be free to express their opinions, but what if a medium is used solely for the propogation of lies? Are lies protected by 'freedom of expression'? — Wayfarer
Twitter only started caring about the lies when it looked like it wouldn't hurt their business, and only took drastic action when they were sure it would be more damaging not to do it. — Echarmion
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