Your views have been twisted by too much right-wing media. I know all about those anecdotes you've cited because they are cited on an endless loop in right-wing media. It's a brainwashing technique, and it's clearly worked on you.
And our embargo of Cuba is cruel and ineffective. Why should we keep them from buying what they want to be? W…
Your views have been twisted by too much right-wing media. I know all about those anecdotes you've cited because they are cited on an endless loop in right-wing media. It's a brainwashing technique, and it's clearly worked on you.
And our embargo of Cuba is cruel and ineffective. Why should we keep them from buying what they want to be? Why should we deprive the Cuban people of economic freedom? (Saying that does not make me an America hater. It makes me a decent human being.)
The left in this country, including AOC, wants freedom for the Cuban people every bit as much as people on the right.
But in America, it is the right that is opposed LGBTQ rights. It is the right that opposes teaching anti-racism in schools. It is the right that talks about "Second Amendment solutions" to our political problems. It is the right that stormed the capital in an attempt to subvert our democracy. You're the one who needs to wake up.
Can you understand that there are people in this country who have been liberal all of their lives but because of their experience living or growing up in a different country, they have a particular aversion to far left authoritarianism? (Call it a personal bias if you wish.) By the same token, is it possible to simultaneously repudiate the far left and the far right? I do not only think it is possible, I also think it is congruent.
I was not implying that the US is currently an authoritarian regime. Rather, I was reminding you that some of your fellow Americans have first hand experience living in such regimes. Perhaps we should listen to them a bit.
Far left authoritarianism? Where is the left using the government to oppress anyone? A lot of conservatives these days say they feel like life in America is no different from life under the Soviet Union. That is completely insane! You couldn't criticize the government in the USSR. Here, you can make millions of dollars criticizing the government. Are people out of your minds?
And I do repudiate the far left and the far right. I'm a moderate. I have contempt and pity for extremists on the left and the right. Extremists are the problem.
There are very rich people in every society. Even the authoritarian ones. Equity is a lala land idea that results in totalitarianism. Equality promotes individuals and releases individuals from any larger demographic group to find success as they deem fit.
Matt, you live in a fantasy land. When people know better, they do better (usually). The issue is you refuse to know better. You like promoting ideas and are indifferent to their very real and tragic outcomes.
The far right has not been a threat in the western world since the end of WWII. The far left has killed 100 million people and is the largest threat to health of mankind on the planet. Its not just Stalin, Lenin, and Moa. Its Pol Pot, Castro, Ho Chi Mhen, Khmer Rouge, the list goes on.
Your "ideas" aren't based in any kind of liberal open minded inquiry. If they were, you would realize that they have been tested around the globe in many different forms and have always failed - usually accompanied by torture, suffering, and death.
You have convinced no one because you are blinded by what you wish were actually true, which is illiberal and unintelligent.
Extrimists are on both sides and feeding on each other’s anger. I think we should be equally vigilant of both sides. To me, the political spectrum is more like a circle.
If the far right becomes a legitimate threat we should be vigilant of it. But today that simply isn't reality. The far left is the threat, and pretending like their is some equal force on the extreme right when no such momentum exist today is little more than an excuse to ignore the very real threat from the totalitarian far left in this country.
What about those who stormed the capitol a few months ago? I would argue that, at the very least, they were a group of very angry radicals of a conservative inclination.
You prove my point - a guy in a Viking bikini, a podium thief, some hapless tourist looking around, and a few skirmishes are about the strength of the far-right. And 5 people on the "far right," if that's ho you define Trump supporter, are the only ones who died. Nobody hit an officer with a fire extinguisher.
I don't condone what happened January 6th, but I would have been much safer there than walking on the wrong street at any time of any day in most of our once great cities. The far left has murdered more law enforcement officers in the last year than I can count on my fingers and toes, and the push by the far left the destabilize through soft on crime has lead to an incredible excess in murders and violent crimes - something we knew because Obama commissioned Roland Fryer of Harvard to study what happened after Ferguson and what he found was lots of dead inner city Black people following BLM and far left rioting.
So if January 6th, the single incident you can point to, is the worst of the far right, it doesn't hold a candle to what the far left does on an average weekend.
I don’t like Antifa or those who loot in the name of BLM. I am against irrational policies like defunding the police for the same reason you are. I also don’t like those who stormed the capitol. I think their actions are in many ways similar to Antifa’s or those who attack the police in that these groups are anti dialogue, anti rationality and motivated by anger. A radical is a radical and I don’t think we shouldn’t spend so much time o discussing which type of radicals are better/worse. Rational people across the political spectrum should unite against anger and polarization (I don’t think all those who supported Trump are necessarily radicals. If you are for respectful dialogue, I will reciprocate such respect).
Your views have been twisted by too much right-wing media. I know all about those anecdotes you've cited because they are cited on an endless loop in right-wing media. It's a brainwashing technique, and it's clearly worked on you.
And our embargo of Cuba is cruel and ineffective. Why should we keep them from buying what they want to be? Why should we deprive the Cuban people of economic freedom? (Saying that does not make me an America hater. It makes me a decent human being.)
The left in this country, including AOC, wants freedom for the Cuban people every bit as much as people on the right.
But in America, it is the right that is opposed LGBTQ rights. It is the right that opposes teaching anti-racism in schools. It is the right that talks about "Second Amendment solutions" to our political problems. It is the right that stormed the capital in an attempt to subvert our democracy. You're the one who needs to wake up.
Can you understand that there are people in this country who have been liberal all of their lives but because of their experience living or growing up in a different country, they have a particular aversion to far left authoritarianism? (Call it a personal bias if you wish.) By the same token, is it possible to simultaneously repudiate the far left and the far right? I do not only think it is possible, I also think it is congruent.
Also,
I was not implying that the US is currently an authoritarian regime. Rather, I was reminding you that some of your fellow Americans have first hand experience living in such regimes. Perhaps we should listen to them a bit.
Far left authoritarianism? Where is the left using the government to oppress anyone? A lot of conservatives these days say they feel like life in America is no different from life under the Soviet Union. That is completely insane! You couldn't criticize the government in the USSR. Here, you can make millions of dollars criticizing the government. Are people out of your minds?
And I do repudiate the far left and the far right. I'm a moderate. I have contempt and pity for extremists on the left and the right. Extremists are the problem.
There are very rich people in every society. Even the authoritarian ones. Equity is a lala land idea that results in totalitarianism. Equality promotes individuals and releases individuals from any larger demographic group to find success as they deem fit.
Matt, you live in a fantasy land. When people know better, they do better (usually). The issue is you refuse to know better. You like promoting ideas and are indifferent to their very real and tragic outcomes.
The far right has not been a threat in the western world since the end of WWII. The far left has killed 100 million people and is the largest threat to health of mankind on the planet. Its not just Stalin, Lenin, and Moa. Its Pol Pot, Castro, Ho Chi Mhen, Khmer Rouge, the list goes on.
Your "ideas" aren't based in any kind of liberal open minded inquiry. If they were, you would realize that they have been tested around the globe in many different forms and have always failed - usually accompanied by torture, suffering, and death.
You have convinced no one because you are blinded by what you wish were actually true, which is illiberal and unintelligent.
Where is the left using the government to oppress anyone? Well, for starters: https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1416195710526103563
Extrimists are on both sides and feeding on each other’s anger. I think we should be equally vigilant of both sides. To me, the political spectrum is more like a circle.
If the far right becomes a legitimate threat we should be vigilant of it. But today that simply isn't reality. The far left is the threat, and pretending like their is some equal force on the extreme right when no such momentum exist today is little more than an excuse to ignore the very real threat from the totalitarian far left in this country.
What about those who stormed the capitol a few months ago? I would argue that, at the very least, they were a group of very angry radicals of a conservative inclination.
You prove my point - a guy in a Viking bikini, a podium thief, some hapless tourist looking around, and a few skirmishes are about the strength of the far-right. And 5 people on the "far right," if that's ho you define Trump supporter, are the only ones who died. Nobody hit an officer with a fire extinguisher.
I don't condone what happened January 6th, but I would have been much safer there than walking on the wrong street at any time of any day in most of our once great cities. The far left has murdered more law enforcement officers in the last year than I can count on my fingers and toes, and the push by the far left the destabilize through soft on crime has lead to an incredible excess in murders and violent crimes - something we knew because Obama commissioned Roland Fryer of Harvard to study what happened after Ferguson and what he found was lots of dead inner city Black people following BLM and far left rioting.
So if January 6th, the single incident you can point to, is the worst of the far right, it doesn't hold a candle to what the far left does on an average weekend.
I don’t like Antifa or those who loot in the name of BLM. I am against irrational policies like defunding the police for the same reason you are. I also don’t like those who stormed the capitol. I think their actions are in many ways similar to Antifa’s or those who attack the police in that these groups are anti dialogue, anti rationality and motivated by anger. A radical is a radical and I don’t think we shouldn’t spend so much time o discussing which type of radicals are better/worse. Rational people across the political spectrum should unite against anger and polarization (I don’t think all those who supported Trump are necessarily radicals. If you are for respectful dialogue, I will reciprocate such respect).