• @[email protected]
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    2716 hours ago

    Maybe I’m feeling cornered, vulnerable, angry, as is often the case with these things. But how do you suggest we protect ourselves and our allies from an evil that strengthens itself off of your sickness, your hunger, your homelessness, and has absolutely no qualms about meeting you with violence and coming up with an excuse later?

    • @[email protected]
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      216 hours ago

      I would not suggest purchasing a gun if you are feeling cornered, vulnerable, and angry. Fear is the mind killer.

      I would suggest reaching out to others, talking, getting political, and organizing.

      • @[email protected]
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        2316 hours ago

        Bringing a good argument to a gunfight is unfortunately not a winning strategy. When the fascists have no qualms shooting you simply for being yourself, no amount of peaceful organizing is going to stop them. Peaceful protests and organizing only work because they have the implicit threat of violence if the demands are not met.

        • @[email protected]
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          16 hours ago

          Yeah because that is what Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted. We also have to ignore all the peaceful demonstrations throughout history to believe your line of reasoning.

          I totally get you live in a fantasy world where moar guns are the only solution. I guess the good guys just magically kill the bad guys. Glad we got that all worked out.

            • @[email protected]
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              111 hours ago

              “If the Negro succumbs to the temptation of using violence in his struggle for justice, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and his chief legacy to the future will be an endless rain of meaningless chaos.”

              I heard his words and understood the significance. You pretend he would support a literal genocide on the American people through gun violence. It is sickening really.

                • @[email protected]
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                  210 hours ago

                  I will never forget traveling to the East Coast when I was a teenager and seeing that the other side of the train tracks wasn’t just a saying. There were still restaurants blacks were not welcome at. The racism was palpable.

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            15 hours ago

            Would you like to investigate what the Black Panthers did? The number of times they shot their guns in anger is very small, but having guns was integral to their strategy of protecting the rights of black people being harassed by police. They were so effective that they changed to rules to prevent them from using guns the way they did. There were little more than 100 Black Panthers around at the time.

            Perhaps you’d like to have a broader view of history beyond peaceful protests? Peaceful and violent means of protest rarely exist alone, and are rarely effective alone.

            • @[email protected]
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              15 hours ago

              India would like a word. I have a very broad view. The difference is people don’t always have to murder each other. In fact, murdering each other rarely brings about the kind a change we need in our society.

              On today, the day we celebrate MLK Jr. maybe you could give peace a fucking chance. Tomorrow you can go back to being murderous gun nutter.

              • @[email protected]
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                15 hours ago

                There were violent groups working for India’s independence against the British.

                Which brings me to this: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/why-civil-resistance-works/9780231156837

                This book sometimes gets framed as “this proves non-violent protest is always better”, but its text is far more nuanced than that. For any peaceful group that succeeds, you can find a more violent group working for the same goals. This is so consistent that making an academic case that peaceful protest works in isolation is an impossible task. For MLK, it was groups like the Black Panthers. For Gandhi, it was the Indian National Army.

                Fascists would very much like it if you swallowed the idea that peaceful protest on its own is sufficient.

                On today, the day we celebrate MLK Jr. maybe you could give peace a fucking chance.

                So if we come back tomorrow, do we get to argue without this shield around bad facts?

                • @[email protected]
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                  110 hours ago

                  Yeah but most if not all of India was united against the British. They saw it as a potential military defeat if it did go sideways. The difference here is that Trump is wielding the government and zealous supporters against small marginalized groups of people.

                  If Britain decided to just murder people until everyone fell in line they would have had their asses kicked. If trump.does it he’d get it done pretty quickly.

                • @[email protected]
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                  114 hours ago

                  Thanks for proving my point with India despite the nuance. I mean you are really just arguing for violence at this point.

                  I get it, it is pre-emptive violence to prevent future violence!

                  Back to the argument that moar guns will solve the problem though. I get it now, more guns equals more violence and random Internet guy frezik likes violence!

                  • @[email protected]
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                    1214 hours ago

                    “Gandhi even said that he disagreed with their methods but believed that they’re committed patriots and that they’re right to refuse to take on the creed of nonviolence,” Ghosh said. “It’s very interdependent; you can’t tell the story of Gandhi without telling the story of the revolutionary terrorists.”

                    Yeah, I don’t think that proves your point at all.

        • @[email protected]
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          114 hours ago

          Why stop there, surely there is something worse. Perhaps a personal nuclear weapon. Nothing too big of course, but just big enough to let’s say make everyone regret having messed with you.

          Think what a civil society would develop if everyone had one of these. On a side note, I am taking investments on a hot new uranium mine prospect.

          • @[email protected]
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            311 hours ago

            My friend, if you nuke mar a Lago at the right time people will sing songs of your noble deeds for centuries to come.

            • @[email protected]
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              111 hours ago

              What is the right time though. Would it be on a Friday for maximum shock or on a Monday so the news would have all week to discuss it.

              And who are these people who would sing the praises. Most of all what did Mar a Lago do to deserve this. Maybe they hovered their finger over the “button” looking menacingly at you.

              But yes, we all like noble deeds and to be known for centuries sounds great. Have you ever thought of opening up your own suicide bomber school.

                • @[email protected]
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                  110 hours ago

                  Oof a big tech expo with Putin, Kim, and Poo bear. All of the mega billionaires all hanging with all the best of politicians. Is this the time?

                  I would much rather see all these people discredited and exposed for the liars and deceivers they are though.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    29 hours ago

                    Yeah but that’s never going to happen in a system they’ve bought and paid for. Also, they have been exposed. Trump is a rapist and a convicted felon, musk is a nazi ket-head edgelord. But the problem is that nobody with any power will ever hold them accountable.