Oh don’t worry - Mega-genius Elon Musk will massively expand the space force with his brilliant, bargain basement equipment, so I expect they’ll finally get around to doing something about those pesky Jewish space lasers. Exercising military control over space is good for security and stability. Everything is great.

I’m not sure I could imagine a more catastrophically stupid timeline.

To me, the clear takeaway is that they’ve walked as close as possible to (correct) genocide charges while pandering to the US.

Can’t have those uppity workers understanding what you’re trying to inflict upon them…

Thank you - that’s interesting - particularly the quote about making him uncomfortable.

I’m surprised that the shifting Overton window, which has left the Democrats far closer to Reagan than MAGA, (who are busy speed-running fascism) hasn’t swept up more Reaganites, but that boils down to naivete on my part, I think.

Whatever the case, I certainly agree that the Dems need to move from institutional neolib/neocon positions to populist left positions, but that’s the last place the party wants to go - even when failure to do so represents an existential threat to the party.

I know nothing of his work, but my immediate assumption is that he’s just a contrarian asshole that has no actual principles.

In media (as in politics), this kind of thing is almost always a product of cynical expediency rather than sincere introspection.

#notallboomers

Yeah - while Temple was my first exposure, but Ice Station is the best place to start, and up there with his best work. Later stuff goes from silly fun to just… lost.

Loveeee meeeeeee! Pleeeeease!

Enough money to fix a lot of the world’s problems, change countless lives for the better, or to disappear and live literally whatever life he wants, and this is how these pathetic creeps live their lives.

Walking arguments against the concept of meritocracy and the existence of billionaires.

https://preview.redd.it/ltfnge7l9vy61.jpg?auto=webp&s=e9b8baf98417ef9c01dd37e1ed3ac6cb38976b18

Let me introduce you to…

The Metaverse!

People have run the numbers on this - Bezos is far richer than even the greediest dragons sitting atop their mountains of gold.

We’re overpopulated given our current resource distribution/consumption, but solving that through eugenics is obviously moronic.

you don’t have a crystal ball.

Now we’re getting somewhere! Why do you shoot the school shooter - you don’t have a crystal ball - they could drop the gun and surrender at any moment. How about Hitler?

You using (Stalin) as an example of Western fascism.

Cool - distinction without a difference - I’m glad we wasted our time on that when your dictionary agrees with me.

That’s a moral decision, not a legal one.

Great - let’s stop talking about legal stuff then.

You think civilians murdering other civilians is not just a right but a moral obligation, I don’t.

So you don’t agree with killing the school shooter? What if they have their gun pointed at you? Exception after exception.

it’s not murder, it’s combat

What’s the moral difference other than scale? State approval?

The difference between you and I is that I understand moral ambiguity and how to navigate it - you pretend things are absolute, set rigid rules then fall apart the moment you encounter anything that doesn’t neatly fit with your framework.

I would not support telling random people to (…) open fire on civilians

…aaaaand we’re back off what I’ve been saying - but this gets a lot more straightforward once we address the crystal ball piece.

Man, I’m done. You’re strawmanning hard now. At what point did I say fascism is good?

The point is that you’re getting bogged down in semantic nonsense for no reason whatsoever - your nitpicking changes nothing, and if it does, it necessarily means you’re supporting fascism.

You support killing if YOU’RE sure it will prevent suffering. So if you have the opinion that killing Fuentes will prevent suffering, then you’ll go ahead and kill him because as established, you only care about morality not law.

Fuck it - I’ll do this differently, park the nuance for the minute and say sure - what’s your disagreement? If we know someone’s willful efforts and continued existence will lead to mass death and suffering, and their death is the only way to stop that, why would their death be bad?

Fascism

What part of your definition excludes Stalin’s regime?

You’re looking at the fact that both are dictatorships and ignoring that fascism is hard right authoritarianism and communism is hard left authoritarianism.

I’m looking at the definition you provided. It’s irrelevant - let’s assume Stalin’s regime wasn’t fascist. What changes?

Because I think civilians deserve, at minimum, a trial before they are murdered that means I support the Holocaust. It’s a huge overreach and a ridiculous take.

No Nazi court would sentence Hitler, no Nazi court would sentence the SS, no Nazi court would sentence German civilians shooting Jews in the face in broad daylight. You either support this position - i.e. fascism and the Holocaust were legal and fine or your pushback is based in something other than legality. The argument you’re putting forward would excuse all the above. The school shooter, Hitler, the Nazi recruiter, and the German murderer don’t get a trial because the courts are unwilling or incapable of stopping the problem - that doesn’t make the problem disappear or remove your responsibility to do something about that problem.

Dude, I stopped talking about legality (…) Since then it’s been all about morality

I think civilians deserve, at minimum, a trial before they are murdered

Pick one.

You’re back?

Way to dodge the question about if you think killing social media people (not even Trump, just podcasters) is going to prevent WW3.

I can’t make this any simpler - I support it if it does.

Stalinism

Get a dictionary. Look up fascism and communism. Look up Umberto Eco’s 14 signs. You’re lost - do you think fascism is good because Stalin wasn’t fascist?

Nothing I’ve said is an excuse for the Holocaust and I’ve not once apologized for Nazis.

I’ve pointed out why your arguments do precisely this - tell me what I’ve mischaracterised.

killing people (…) is justified if you’re sure it will prevent suffering (at the scale we’re talking about)

Yep - and you’re saying it’s bad because it’s illegal - a standard that excuses Hitler’s actions after the beer hall putsch.

That part is certainly a benefit.

Stalin’s regime wasn’t communist, and it checked all the boxes for fascism. Go look up the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact - they only got antagonistic because their expansionism started treading on each-others toes. The ignorance.

I’m well aware of Mussolini’s kill count - go ahead and scale things to the population and average it all out… Or skip that, and explain me the difference this makes to the point.

As for Hitler, the numbers you are talking about aren’t his takeover of Germany - they’re WW2.

…which kicked off because…? Moron.

You are are saying, over and over, that killing people to stop suffering is right. You are absolutely talking about killing people who are SAYING things you don’t like. Fuentes is not an active shooter - I can’t even find a criminal record for him of any kind.

Why would this argument not absolve Hitler or Goebbels of all fault for the Holocaust? It doesn’t matter - we’ve already established that you can’t have a moral issue with their actions because they were legal.

Your arguments amount to straightforward Nazi apologia as you ether lie or paint what I’m saying as my playing judge, jury and executioner. I’m not dishing out death sentences to Fuentes - I’m saying that his death would be good if it prevents more death and suffering. At this point, I think that’s likely, but I don’t think I can know yet. Go spend 5 minutes familiarising yourself with consequentialism or act utilitarianism.

I spit on the feigned outrage and moralism of someone whose prescriptions excuse the fucking Holocaust, and condemn intervention against it because it was legal - absolutely monstrous and utterly moronic.

There’s no doubt they’ll keep buying, but they won’t do a full replacement unnecessarily.

You seem to think “killing mouthpieces” is going to be some magical event that makes hateful people reconsider (as opposed to spurring them to violence of their own).

Without recruiters and leaders, a movement is smaller, less coordinated, and less radicalised. This is doubly true of authoritatian movements built on lies.

Also, I’d like to add it’s ridiculous hyperbole - 3.8 million people are estimated to have died in the 20 years of the Vietnam war. Just over 900k died to violence in all the post 9-11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

When talking about the threat of Western fascism, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to look at western fascists? Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin… It’s strange you’d point to such unrelated conflicts. Tens of millions dead.

You go ahead and be “guided by morality not legality” while you do try to convince others extrajudicial violence is alright.

If killing a mouthpiece of a genocidal movement prevents the deaths of tens of millions of people, it’s morally correct. Similarly, gay marriage wasn’t immoral until it was legal.

All because you believe killing people outside the law, and getting people killed in return, is productive if you’re sure it’s right.

Its right if it’s productive. It’s not productive because I’m sure it’s right. You’re tying yourself in knots here - it’s very straightforward - minimise suffering and death.

You use the example of cops carrying guns, but they’re not under license to kill everyone they disagree with nor is it considered moral (since you don’t care about legality).

Cops carry guns because some violence is necessary, and desirable to stop more violence. You kill the school shooter to stop the kids getting murdered, you kill the Nazi leader to stop the minorities getting murdered. Attempting to spin this into a defence of killing anyone you disagree with demonstrates either willful dishonesty or a level of stupidity that would disqualify you from this conversation. Stop.

Violence should be a last resort

I’ve said as much.

used only within bounds that keep if from being a crime/war crime

Some killing is immoral and legal - e.g. the use of the death penalty, other killing is moral and illegal - e.g. killing Hitler to end World War II and the Holocaust. Why would you defer to legality in the context of fascists running the government, and being able to set the laws? Why was slavery immoral when it was legal? If your moral framework is based in legality (I don’t think it is, I don’t think you realise that), you’re definitionally amoral - a fundamentally broken human being.

not exercised by everyone at will if they’re pretty sure it’s productive.

Are you going to wait for the fascist government to try the fascist leader, remove them from power, disassemble the means to commit their series of genocides, pack up and go home? This is a material defence of fascism.

It sounds great until you realise that they’d all just buy new merch, funnelling more money to Trump.