HeadphonesandLSD
Bluelighter
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- Oct 10, 2011
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Political Satire and Meme Megathread
- Thread starter tathra
- Start date
Far left and far right politics are hurting us all. Extremism is an ugly thing.
i dunno man - i think it is throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater to condemn left and right because shit is so polarised.
it would be nice to go back to simpler times, where we didn't have to pick a side - but when it comes to openly hateful, bigoted politics - i'm not uncomfortable about taking a hard line against it. i think a strong stance is important for combatting nasty stuff like the normalisation of neo-nazis and the like.
and - y'know - there is no "alt left". in our 21st century western context, the radical left's links to 'the counterculture' are as undeniable as the far right's links to (the more brutal sides of) law enforcement
the collaboration and cooperation between police and fascists go from all the way back to Mussolini, to the present day - like in Greek neo-nazis Golden Dawn which are known to have members of the police forces within their ranks.
as people chant at US anti-racist rallies, "cops and klan go hand in hand". this shit goes back a long way, and it's not really a coincidence.
but - y'know, i'm told there are some good cops out there too. allegedly :D
"extremism" is kind of a relative thing.
some of the most incredible activists i've ever known - brave people who lock on to heavy machinery, superglue their hands to the balcony of parliament house, and spend weeks in forest blockades and trees-sits trying to preserve old growth forests and koala habitats and that sort of stuff - get called "extremists".
i read an article this week saying that koalas are on track to be extinct by 2050 if the destruction of their habitat continues at the rate it is now.
is it extreme to do whatever you can to change that - or is it more extreme to be complicit and/or ignore it?
i know that they're driven by deeply held, well-informed convictions and i don't necessarily consider radical politics to be extreme at all, if the people involved are sincerely doing what they think is right. not sure how many people here have engaged with anti-fascist activists on any level, but when i go to antifa actions, i get this amazing sense of being in a really fucking good bunch of people.
i'm not joking - it's like when i used to go to "bush doofs" (illegal forest psytrance parties) in my younger days - the sense of camaraderie and community, tinged with rebellion and determination.
except most of the psytrance kids are hippies, and most of the antifa kids are punks. but to me it's all much of the same thing; it's counter-culture.
sure, i never saw a fight at a psytrance party - but nor have left and right come to blows at any of the actions i've attended.
but in both cases, everyone got pretty edgy when cops and ambulances turn up.
there is an argument that any healthy "activist ecosystem" or grassroots political movement needs all manner of folks to engage - from the families going to marches with little kids on their shoulders, the "knitting nannas" we have over here who do a lot of anti-fracking actions to your anarchists and direct-action hard-liners - they all play an important role in the scheme of things.
obviously someone who disagrees with any such activist movement is going to call that idea ridiculous - but i think there is some truth to it.
there is an awful lot of cynicism in the politics of our times, but i'm not going to stop calling out racism when i see it. it is more prevalent in mainstream politics than any time in my lifetime, and that greatly disturbs me. challenging racist bullshit is - to me - an honourable thing to do.
i'm very bored of the outrage politics, the culture wars and the polarisation too, but i guess my political beliefs haven't changed much since i first started volunteering to help out candidates i liked when i was 16 or 17 and too young to vote. the world has changed, but even in the wake of trump and the alt right and stuff - my attitude to that sort of stuff has always been the same.
maybe i'm just an extremist? at least i'd be in good company - so many of my favourite writers, musicians, philosophers etc have been involved with (or linked to) radical left wing politics.
also, your post reminded me of a joke about centrists;
far right: "kill all the jews"
far left: "no killing any jews!"
centrists: "come on guys, don't be crazy, let's sort this out - we'll just kill half the jews!"
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^ Lol at those last two. I mean, seriously, that is how some people I know who describe themselves as 'centrists' see things. Tbh I think it's just denial, they don't want to deal with the shitstorm that's growing, which means they don't want to think about stuff too much or develop solutions because that would require actually acknowledging the problem. Like the the failing economic system and extreme inequality. It's a case of "I'm alright Jack - I've got a home and a car and a decent job," and a failure to register that many people, especially those under 35, are very pissed off indeed at being locked out of any chance at the kind of prosperity that their parent's generation enjoyed.
^ lol. damned if you do...
well said.
there's an awful lot of irony there that rings really true for me - especially the second last one.
"nazis marching to advocate genocide? meh".
"people are punching those heavily armed nazis?! OMG!"
i know it's a conversation that's been absolutely done to death, but i find the complacent indifference to the rise of fascism in the last few years almost as troubling as the fascists themselves.
well said.
there's an awful lot of irony there that rings really true for me - especially the second last one.
"nazis marching to advocate genocide? meh".
"people are punching those heavily armed nazis?! OMG!"
i know it's a conversation that's been absolutely done to death, but i find the complacent indifference to the rise of fascism in the last few years almost as troubling as the fascists themselves.
^ I think the problem is that people who are missing out today are being pushed to the extremes because it's only the extremes offering radical solutions and not more centrist 'sameness'/don't rock the boat.
Those with a rightward mentality shift further right; those with a leftward mentality shift further left.
The irony is that it's the same process pushing both groups of people, but their solutions to the crisis of the centrists is radically different.
Exactly the same thing happened the last time an international crunch like this occurred, in the 1930s, and people were polarized similarly.
The one dependable thing about history is how things continually repeat along similar patterns.
Those with a rightward mentality shift further right; those with a leftward mentality shift further left.
The irony is that it's the same process pushing both groups of people, but their solutions to the crisis of the centrists is radically different.
Exactly the same thing happened the last time an international crunch like this occurred, in the 1930s, and people were polarized similarly.
The one dependable thing about history is how things continually repeat along similar patterns.
invegauser
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2014
- Messages
- 1,400
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
That's the point. We only hear about the guns, not the others. It doesn't mean the others aren't happening, it means the others aren't generating the same media and public outcry or being held up as a point of political argument when the do happen. And yet, they all kill people dead, so how is one more of an outrage than the others?
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
Less words, please.
Moar pics.
Moar pics.
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
May need to come back at some point and dump a buncha Maxine gems.
https://pics.me.me/accidental-honesty-this-liberal-will-be-all-about-socializing-uh-18575773.png
https://pics.me.me/accidental-honesty-this-liberal-will-be-all-about-socializing-uh-18575773.png
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
TheLoveBandit
Retired Never Was, Coulda been wannabe
when was the last mass stabbing in the u.s.? the last mass strangling?
somebody dead by strangling is as much of a tragedy as somebody shot dead. but so many more people are shot than strangled. are you saying that's not the case? i'm confused.
alasdair
tathra
bluelighter
i think what they mean by "alt left" are actual leftists. liberals aren't left, they're right wing authoritarians simply to a lesser degree, but still capitalist scum.
invegauser
Bluelighter
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- Dec 29, 2014
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- 1,400
JGrimez
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2018
- Messages
- 5,495
Wow you just hit the nail on the fucking head.
The MEDIA.
The media tells you what to be outraged about and you're falling for it.
Gun control arguments have been debunked over and over.
More people are killed by knives, blunt objects and BODY PARTS than are killed by bullets.
"BUT LETZ BAN THA GUNZ!!!!!111"
MSM BE LIKE:
this idea that only you can have arrived at your position in a valid manner and anybody who disagrees with you is a brainwashed sheep is tiresome.
i respect your having arrived at your position by reading and concluding. i don't understand why you are unable or unwilling to extend the same courtesy.
alasdair
i respect your having arrived at your position by reading and concluding. i don't understand why you are unable or unwilling to extend the same courtesy.
alasdair