this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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Ok, so let me get this strait. After Hitler gets his political power by creating Jews as a common enemy. By convincing most German people he will save them. But before the holocaust start happening. Your personally going to step up to Hitler and say "Hey, have you considered not using or violence? You should not use violence because it is bad". And then Hitler will slap his forehead in disbelief that he forgot that he could just not be violent?
I am not convinced this would do anything. I think you will get disappeared, but hey, if Hitler 2 comes up, feel free to try.
How?
Remember: in this hypothetical, German society values free speech. In this society, Hitler gains no more power than David Duke. Because he staunchly opposes the freedom of Jews to speak, he opposes the ideological principles of the nation, and never gains that power in the first place.
Ohh, so we are presupposing a tolerant society? Then yeah, that would work. But to an extent that is an impossibly. Somehow the racists and fascists would have to wake up tomorrow no longer being those things and then no new person could become those things. Not sure how that would happen without violence of some kind. So you have a chicken and egg problem.
Why?
Why do we need that sort of people to stop existing? Why do we need to exterminate them? Why do we need to load them up in boxcars and ship them off to death camps?
You're not quite understanding that those racists and fascists only have those powers that society would use against them. When society decides that words alone can never justify a suspension of rights, that curtails the ability of the fascists who want that power much more than it affects anyone else.
When you demand the right to silence and suppress a fascist who offends you, you grant that same right to the fascist that you offend, and he gets to use it much more broadly than you ever would. When you defend that fascist's right to speak, you strip him of his power to infringe on your rights, as well as the rights of everyone else.
Whoa there. It was your hypothetical of a tolerant society. I am just asking questions. Questions which you curiously didn't answer.
Listen, I will tell you a big difference between me, racists, and fascists. I only use violence if they don't keep their ideas to themselves. They, on the other hand, they will kill me no matter what I do. Its not the only difference, but it is important one.
I like to say I have no problem if you want to salute a picture of Hitler every night. As long as you keep your ideology to yourself.
Also, it's not about offense, it's about outcomes. History shows that really bad stuff (genocide) happens when fascists take power. The bad stuff is also a logical outcome of their ideology, so we will never have a good fascists government or ideology. This has been covered over and over in philosophy, it's a very well known thing.
Finally, the tolerance and non-violence arguments you are using empowers fascists and racists, not because they believe in those things, but because it is beneficial for a society to believe those things for fascists and racists to take power. Once they have power or while they gain it, it is easy enough for them to direct hate to a target group and get rid of the idea of tolerance and non-violence.
So what I am saying here, is you are making some new friends by posting this stuff. Yay!
Hitler only used violence on public enemies that didn't keep their ideas to themselves. You don't seem to comprehend that whatever authority you grant yourself, you also give to the fascists. When you allow yourself to silence your enemies, you allow them to silence their enemies, including you.
Which is why I am begging and pleading with you not to grant anyone that power, not even yourself. Because as soon as you claim it for yourself, you give it to them as well.
Do not wield a power you do not wielded against yourself.
Hey, I will stop being violent when there is no need to.
Speaking of which, did you want to answer my question about your hypothetical?
What would a tolerant non-violent society do with a bunch of fascists attempting to gain power to do violent activity?
If you have non-violent solution to this, I would happily change my stance.
Have I demanded a non-violent approach? I don't think so. You have not identified an acceptable point at which violence may be used, which is why I haven't discussed the possibility of violence.
So far, the actions you have discussed are far more egregious than those of the people you have identified as your enemies. So far, you are answering "unpleasant speech" with a physical attack. That is not a reasonable response.
.
So now we are just throwing away the hypothetical you brought up and you are just ad-homing me. Great! Well, I had hoped there was a good argument behind your edginess, but seems like it is just edge and inexplicably covering for fascists.
What did I say that was an ad hominem? You raised a point:
I am rebutting the point that you raised. You indicated you would use violence if they didn't keep their ideas to themselves. I took that to mean you would commit violence in response to their speech. My argument was that an inciting "speech" was not sufficient to justify a violent response, and that such a violent response is more egregious than the inciting speech.
That is not an ad hominem. I am not rebutting your argument on the basis of you being a bad person. I am arguing against the idea you raised, not you as a person.
Ok, then what is your alternative?
You know what fascists will do when they gain power. They will use a ton of violence against their targeted groups. Way worse than punching.
Do you just let them do it?
Karl Popper's Paradox of Intolerance tells society that in order to avoid fascism, we must become fascists ourselves. We must annihilate our enemies, so that society is safe for us. The intolerance paradox is fascism. It's just a form of fascism that "we" happen to agree with.
The Nazis didn't think themselves the bad guys. They thought they were doing the right thing for their society. They thought they were protecting themselves, their kids, their way of life. They never bothered to consider the possibility that they would regret their actions just a few years later. They never considered that their grandchildren would despise them for their behavior.
My "alternative" is for everyone to consider the possibility of regret long before committing to violence. To promote the virtues of Freedom of Speech. To celebrate the exercise of our right to speak, in all its forms, even as we denounce what is actually being said.
We answer speech with speech; we answer violence with overwhelming force. A fascist should be able to scream in my face about how much he hates me and wishes I was dead. That same fascist should kill me if I escalate to violence before he does. If you want to destroy a fascist, you can wait until he crosses the line from committing "speech" to commiting "violence".
Ok, so correct me if I am wrong. The moment right before Hitler 2 gives the order to start gassing the target groups, you will attempt to use violence to stop it. You will wait until then even though Hitler 2 has talked daily about how the target groups are less than human and should be removed from society. All of this talk while Hitler 2 is rising in power and people are starting to follow them blindly.
My friend, by the time you attempt to use violence on Hitler 2 to stop them. It's too late. You are going to get killed by the police before you get close to doing anything.
If your intent is to minimize violence, this is your score:
My score:
If you got something that will get me down to 0. I am willing and excited to hear about it.
You are wrong
Hitler 2 can go ahead and preach that as much as he wants.
A society that shares my free speech values recognizes that "removing people from society" is an offensive act. They do not share his values, so he never rises to power in the first place.
Fascists can only rise to power when the people demand the right to remove their enemies from society. Which is exactly what you are doing. The powers that fascists need to cause harm are the exact powers that you are demanding for yourself. When you have those powers, so do they. When those powers are denied to you, they are denied to fascists.
Good, I am ready to learn.
Ok, so, we have Hitler 2. They have just formed their options about how they hate whatever group and want them dead. They then go to talk to others about how problematic this target group is. And then everyone just ignore them because they implicitly are aware what Hitler 2 is talking about will eventually lead to violence?
Is that right?
Replace "Hitler 2" with "Fred Phelps" of the Westboro Baptist Church, and you can see how that scenario turned out for Fred. Basically, yes.
In a society that values free speech, the idea of "how they hate whatever group and want them dead" is the antithesis of that philosophy. Any time he "talks to others" about the people he hates, they recognize he is preaching an opinion contrary to that philosophy. Consequently, they shun him, rather than follow him. They leave him to say what he wants, but his speech alienates people instead of helping him consolidate power.
Fascism is destroyed when nobody - not you; not Hitler 2 - has power to silence dissent.
I see where you are coming from. I just don't think it can be pulled off in the current reality we live in. Fascism is spreading today. Things have been getting worse. The US has freedom of speech and the Fascist are currently using it as a shield. I am not saying we have to get rid of freedom of speech. I just think there needs to be consequences to saying dumb shit.
To be clear I don't want to lose freedom of speech to silence the fascists I just want to punch them and make fun of them if they do start spreading their ideology.