Quote (Skinned @ Nov 11 2020 08:11am)

How has that been working out for us so far?

Military said they wouldn't step in already.

Quote (MxVivianWulf @ Nov 11 2020 08:13am)

2020? Probably not. 2024-8? Who the fuck knows honestly.

It's worth noting that most democidal cults don't get into power. When Aum Shinrikyo tried they got laughed out. But QAnoners have won elections and the GOP is embracing this kind of conspiratorialism with alarming enthusiasm. Luckily Q hasn't posted since election night... There's a fair chance that the 8kun admin who stepped down held a fundamental role in the Q posts and there are rumours Jim Watkins (who owns both 8kun and Qmap) might be selling up. But even if Q stops entirely we still have to address the fact that a millenarianist cult based on the blood libel has rapidly expanded it's influence under the Trump administration. We still have to contend with that streak of satanic panic that has always infected the US since it's inception being more prevalent now than at any time since the satanic panic of the 80s-90s. The USA has a history of caving into this. McCarthyism, Nazism, Salem... there are still folks in prison today who were charged during the satanic panic with crimes related to fictional satanic ritual abuse.

I'm not saying another holocaust will materialise. I'm saying that when the conspiratorially minded are in control they inevitably enact atrocities.

It would be silly not to recognise this and take note of the parallels between the state of America right now and historical genocides and societal purges and moral panics such as, on the extreme scale, Rwanda (whose radio and media contributed in very similar fashion to more extreme outlets like OANN in the US) to McCarthyism and the Satanic Panic. AND we have to take note of the social and stochastic threat of an ever increasing base of committed nationalist militants, conspiratorial militia, cultic movements and neo-fascists that, if historical data is anything to go by, will only be invigorated by a democratic presidency.

Quote (thesnipa @ 11 Nov 2020 14:14)

why would they? what will they send a tank into the whitehouse?

this is a job for the secret service or CIA, always has been.

but sure, keep reading into whatever u want to lol. a shit Pompeo joke and a lack of aircraft carrier support = coup now? lol.

he's a sore loser, and he can remain a sore loser up until EC vote day, and then inauguration. THEN, and only THEN is it a problem.



i recognize in an era with the internet fueling the desire for instant info which creates ever growing disinformation loops conspiracy grows on both wings.

i reject the notion that this will lead to some uptick it largescale travesty as a result, and still see a corporatized Orwellian automation driven faux-utopian future as the true risk to mankind that we should focus on.

but ill fight robots u handle the neo nazis ok? good to divide labor anyways.

Quote (thesnipa @ 11 Nov 2020 15:04)

i already did, and agreed Erdogan or Putin is a more apt comparison. to expand tho i dont think that the checks and balances of the USA will allow it, for instance we have a secret service that i trust wouldnt let it happen and i dont think Trump has enough of them to make it work. Nor does he have the military brass in line, just the common foot soldier. Nor does he have true support from congress, or the scotus, or just about anyone to the degree that he could literally retain power in an undemocratic manner.

what we have here is simple, a stain on american democracy that a good washing machine trip will scrub right out. its not a shit filled pair of pants u leave in a gas station bathroom then shuffle back to your car with a sweatshirt tied around your waist.

and for reference, ive been saying for a bit now that i think trump will try to use LEGAL loopholes to retain power. dirty politics to be sure, but legal.

Quote (fender @ Nov 11 2020 06:08pm)

i think someone already inb4'd virtually every single appeaser tactic you're displaying here: the strawmanning, the downplaying, and the 'this is fine' rhetoric, only focusing on the differences, never acknowledging the striking and significant similarities (like the systematic attacks on critical press, the undermining of democratic institutions, the cabinet of loyal lackeys, the scapegoating of minorities, the militarism, isolationism, cult of personality...).

proven crimes going unpunished thanks to a partisan judiciary and senate, deployment of unaccountable military forces against political opposition, a leader that is basically untouchable by the law, tens of millions perfectly ok with all of that... that's not something that washes right out, not something you can cover up so easily. that's truly bad shit that will remain a visible and stinky stain for years... at best.

Quote (Leevee @ Nov 11 2020 02:03pm)

Differences and similarities were not even really the point.

The only point is the way those dictators install themselves, which is via a lot of manipulation, waving patriotism around (ergo: if you don't agree with me, you're a bad citizen), and incrementally defying the country's democratic system.

It doesn't matter whether or not Trump is as evil as Hitler. What matters is that people need to see that he is trying to become the same type of ruler that Hitler was: a dictator who is above any constitution or law.

Quote (thesnipa @ 11 Nov 2020 21:16)

just curious how your stance would/will change if these cases are tossed out and Trump leaves office but still grumbles about it on twitter.

dont we think in that case all of this hitler, putin, stalin, etc comparisons are a bit silly and alarmist? even if we remove holocaust imagery for shock and awe the US has far more checks and balances than any of those nations by a mile.

i trust the system, if it lets me down ill take it on the nose. but it wont lol. u cant just choose to stay in office in 2020 USA under the guise of unproven fraud. its not 1930s germany or russia, its not even modern day sham russia. excuse my american cockiness, but we're far better.

Quote (fender @ Nov 11 2020 03:08pm)

imagine your only criterion for whether someone is an autocrat / fascist or not, is if they are literally hitler, suggesting that if they eventually (are made to) leave office, no real harm could have been done.

imagine outright ignoring the lasting damage done by someone who made at least a third of your country believe he was cheated out of office, mistrust the democratic system that their own party systematically rigged in its FAVOUR for decades, fundamentally mistrust the media that tried to hold their leader to account, and maybe most importantly, see how your so called "checks and balances" completely fail if one party is just sufficiently committed and crooked... imagine being too proud to be objective, too blind to overcome your undeserved sense of superiority, too dumb to think critically...

imagine blindly trusting a system that has PROVEN to be toothless and entirely susceptible to partisan hackery, something every rational thinker would acknowledge and be concerned about, because the next autocrat might NOT be a bumbling, incompetent buffoon, too occupied with filling their own pockets and destroying a black man's legacy...

america today is NOT 1930s germany, that much is true, it has its own unique history and challenges, but only an arrogant fool would ignore history and all the alarm bells going off, just because of that...