plague311
Great minds think...
Almost every "centrist" is far-right. I've never actually seen a centrist that isn't just a rightie in disguise.
So what form does the resistance take?
- Thread starter stanfr
- Start date
Almost every "centrist" is far-right. I've never actually seen a centrist that isn't just a rightie in disguise.
The Great Zaganza
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or who wouldn't instantly cave to a right/far-right position in order to keep "a seat at the table".
Safe-Keeper
My avatar is not a Drumpf hat
During a far-right takeover, they might as well be. Cue the cartoon with the KKK facing off against black protesters, with signs saying 'we wanna kill black people!' and 'we want equal rights!'. Then there's a helpful centrist in the middle with a sign saying 'compromise?'
bruto
Penultimate Amazing
It's unfortunately a common ploy of radicals of one sort or another to propose something which is essentially binary and then accuse their opponents of not compromising. There are certainly many areas where it's possible to find a middle solution and be a centrist, but there are some where it is not. A binary choice has no center.
porch
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Whatever happened to those Boogaloo Boys, anyhow? Sure, they were a bunch of psychopaths bent on destruction and murder for it's own sake, but I think they might hold the key for the future of America. Get the lead out! The resistance should take the form of civil war. The Great Experiment is pretty much tits up in the hospice; it would be a shame to end it with that unfinished item still on the agenda. Plus, I would highly prefer for you to kill one another instead of continuing to try to impose your nation's nihilistic death wish on the rest of us. Just my personal take.
The Great Zaganza
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they all joined ICE
porch
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Ha! I was just thinking a similar thing. How do you tell the difference between an ICE deployment and any other gang of armed, masked thugs? Really, anybody and their crew could just conceal their identity, tuck in their Hawaiian shirts, and wreak havoc on their fellow citizens. I hope some of you find inspiration in this. It doesn't have to be a Hawaiian shirt, it could be a Che shirt, numsain?
thaiboxerken
Penultimate Amazing
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I think there are already some incidents of this that have occured since ICE became military cos-play.
bruto
Penultimate Amazing
It's unfortunate that such options have become even a little tempting. But I'd much rather be shed of armed, masked thugs than to become one.
On the other hand, I wouldn't mind finding some way to suggest to them that they're being infiltrated, and set their paranoia off so they start shooting each other.
porch
Muse
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Your constitutional rights! Use them or lose them! The right of the people to shoot anybody dead any time for whatever reason shall not be infringed.
That's actually a pretty good idea. The best way to agitate through disinformation is AI. I know this because, up until a couple weeks ago I was a Russian troll. One of the best. Then I got replaced by AI, so there you go, my whole career down the toilet. I'm just hanging out here trying to get Americans to kill each other because that's all I know, really.
I thought it was kind of clever to pose as an overemotional Canadian who's losing his ◊◊◊◊ because of the hubris of the hegemon in his hemisphere. But, no point in maintaining the facade any longer. Fun while it lasted. I actually got a sweet bonus for my posts in R and P a while back, insisting there's no free will. It really saps morale deliciously, insidiously. Sigh. There used to be an art to it, you know? Now it's just all flood the zone with ◊◊◊◊, the end.
Emily's Cat
Rarely prone to hissy-fits
1) There are some people I don't read.
2) Yes, I said that anyone to the right of Mao is "far right" to you. It's a pretty common idiom when people start using "right" as an intentional slur and derogatory epithet. I said it because I'm NOT far right by any rational means of evaluating economic policy, and the vast majority of my principles are moderately liberal, downright socialist, or moderately conservative FISCAL policy.
3) Still waiting for you to bring forth support for my "far right" views based on actual policy positions that I hold. How about you hold yourself to some basic level of accountability and back up your assertion?
bruto
Penultimate Amazing
Sorry to tell you that even here in no-permit can-carry-anything Vermont, you can't shoot people dead any time for whatever reason. It may not be as good a reason as it ought to be, but you need at least to show some effort.
I Am The Scum
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They're your words, EC.
Yes, it's a common idiom on the right. You've surrounded yourself with people who say that this is what all leftists believe, and now you've fallen for it. It's no different from creationists who don't have a clue what evolution actually is, because they've gotten their "information" from idiotic creationists.
Emily's Cat
Rarely prone to hissy-fits
I'm 100% all for LGB rights. I'm even all for TQ being protected from discrimination and harassment, and being guaranteed equal opportunity in housing and employment. What I oppose is giving males access to female spaces where females are partially or fully nude, or are particularly vulnerable. Why do you want to give males the right to violate female boundaries as a legal right?
I don't want to overturn the second amendment, no. But that hardly makes me "far right" does it, given that a rather significant number of Democrats own guns and wish to keep the 2nd am too. Unless that also makes all of those democrats far right, which would be rather an interesting approach to politics. On the other hand, I think we should require training and qualification and licensing of firearms, similar to how we do driver's licenses. I would also be just fine with capacity limits for magazines. Why do you want to violate constitutionally guaranteed rights without a congressional act to overturn that amendment by the necessary margin?
Yes, I think proof of identity and citizenship should be required to vote... pretty much the same requirement as every other western nation. I'd like that to be managed at the federal level, including a federal ID if that makes the most sense. I also support early/mail-in voting, and I'd love to have secure electronic voting. So please explain how holding a view that aligns with nearly every european country as well as NZ and AU makes me "far right"? Why do you want to defend loopholes and weaknesses that erode trust in US elections and allow political parties to exploit them?
What public health initiatives have you imagined I hold "far right" views on? I'm rather a proponent of high-transmission and high-lethality vaccines being free and paid for by the federal government (which they currently are no, by the way), and having all other vaccines be reasonably prices, with financial support for those who need it.
And apparently my position that the US should adopt the same health care system as Switzerland is "far right"? I suppose you think Switzerland is a whole "far right" country? Why do you hate Switzerland?
All of the views you note as "far right" are actually very moderate, reasonable, and largely in line with other western countries. You want to give it another go, or do you want to just keep inventing things to make you feel justified in name-calling?
Meh. You're going to read that however you want. I've never denied that some of my views fall on the conservative side. But if you think a small smattering of conservative views on some things is perfectly equivalent to far right wing, you're sorely mistaken. That's as silly as saying that anyone who holds any liberal views is a commie. Why are you a commie?
Emily's Cat
Rarely prone to hissy-fits
Based on this, you're shifting my "anyone to the right of Mao is a nazi to you" tongue-in-cheek quip to being quite a bit more serious.
Also, I'm not a centrist. I don't hold "middle of the road" views on most topics. Most of my views are moderately liberal, some few are downright socialist, and some few are pretty solidly conservative especially when it comes to the government using tax funds in a fiscally responsible fashion. I'm a classical liberal by and large.
Emily's Cat
Rarely prone to hissy-fits
No material harm or damage was done. That's a true statement.
Nah, I am mostly surrounded by you lot, and it's you lot who are busy insisting that I'm a "far right" wingnut. And not for any good reason either. You do it because I don't jump on board with your vilification of anyone who isn't progressive, I don't engage in slandering and insulting sitting politicians regardless of their party, and I think most progressive policies are poorly thought out social experiments that want to use actual people as lab rats without consent.
I am absolutely, and unabashedly, NOT PROGRESSIVE. But I'm also not far right. Except apparently to you and others like you who... seemingly... think that anyone to the right of you by even a hair is a far right nazi.
W.D.Clinger
Philosopher
That @Emily's Cat does not read its own words does not surprise me at all.
I don't blame it/her/them. If those were my words, I wouldn't want to read them either.
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bruto
Penultimate Amazing
I guess EC and I watched different news coverage back then, but the armed mobs breaking into the Capitol, vandalizing offices and trhreatening death to their enemies were not what I would call "wandering." I guess we also read different reports on the aftermath, as government agencies at the time set the basic property damage expense at about one and a half million dollars.
But no doubt there's a bothsides argument to be had. The representatives huddled in their chambers were probably wasting paper and using too many pencils.
But no doubt there's a bothsides argument to be had. The representatives huddled in their chambers were probably wasting paper and using too many pencils.
Blue Mountain
Resident Skeptical Hobbit
If there was no material harm or damage, why did the building have to be repaired to the tune of $3 million, with an additional $27 million to upgrade security?
The Architect's Newspaper said:
Many of your positions are defensible, even if people to your political left don't agree with them. But this one smacks of outright denial.
One year after the Capitol insurrection, the complex is repaired and hardened
One year after an attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building complex, repairs and security upgrades are well underway
www.archpaper.com
Andy_Ross
Penultimate Amazing
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Penny Auctions
Penny auction at foreclosed Michigan farm (1936)...
At penny auctions farmers would conspire to offer low bids, resulting in a low return to the creditor. The final buyer would then return the property to the destitute farmer. Hangman nooses served as a warning to squirrelly bidders.
This haunting photograph from 1936 captures a penny auction at a foreclosed farm in Michigan, one of the most defiant and ingenious acts of resistance to emerge during the Great Depression. When banks repossessed farms after families could no longer meet their mortgage payments, local communities often took matters into their own hands.
Farmers would gather in large groups and agree beforehand to bid only pennies on each item — from livestock to land — driving the auction prices down to virtually nothing. The final “buyer,” usually a trusted neighbor, would then return the property to the original owner, ensuring the family could remain on their land.
The nooses seen hanging in the background weren’t decorative; they served as chilling warnings to outsiders who might attempt to outbid the crowd. These were not empty threats — solidarity and survival left little room for betrayal.
The penny auctions became powerful symbols of rural unity and defiance. They weren’t just about saving one farm, but about preserving a way of life, one desperate bid at a time.
By 1933, more than 200,000 farms were foreclosed across the Midwest, sparking organized movements like the Farmer’s Holiday Association, which fought to halt foreclosures entirely
Penny auction at foreclosed Michigan farm (1936)...
At penny auctions farmers would conspire to offer low bids, resulting in a low return to the creditor. The final buyer would then return the property to the destitute farmer. Hangman nooses served as a warning to squirrelly bidders.
This haunting photograph from 1936 captures a penny auction at a foreclosed farm in Michigan, one of the most defiant and ingenious acts of resistance to emerge during the Great Depression. When banks repossessed farms after families could no longer meet their mortgage payments, local communities often took matters into their own hands.
Farmers would gather in large groups and agree beforehand to bid only pennies on each item — from livestock to land — driving the auction prices down to virtually nothing. The final “buyer,” usually a trusted neighbor, would then return the property to the original owner, ensuring the family could remain on their land.
The nooses seen hanging in the background weren’t decorative; they served as chilling warnings to outsiders who might attempt to outbid the crowd. These were not empty threats — solidarity and survival left little room for betrayal.
The penny auctions became powerful symbols of rural unity and defiance. They weren’t just about saving one farm, but about preserving a way of life, one desperate bid at a time.
By 1933, more than 200,000 farms were foreclosed across the Midwest, sparking organized movements like the Farmer’s Holiday Association, which fought to halt foreclosures entirely