It’s a good point about not taking the bait of debating with the far right about their nonsense, but I’m not convinced it quite counts as trolling when, being a proud Nazi, you get up in front of a bunch of Nazis and do Nazi salute to show them you are a Nazi. I guess the trolling is what he did afterwards.
It has been known to happen.
Yes, part of the authoritarian playbook is to train the populace to disengage from politics.
Here’s a poster for the party Elon Musk is supporting in Germany. Do we still give him the benefit of the doubt? I don’t see much doubt to be had.
…crickets…
Sorry, too busy genociding.
That was the first one, and then another one a few seconds later. Nothing accidental here.
You know, like that irritating Mr. Hitler.
Jebus.
This is definitely his getting-blown-by-an-ostrich face.
If I saw serious attempts anywhere from right-wingers to advocate for their views as an actual political philosophy I’d be more concerned by this. But we need spaces where people actually discuss how to build a better society, and simply because of that concern these spaces lean left. It’s rare to find right-wingers who are even seriously interested in that question, except as a pretext to vent their unexamined prejudices and personality issues.
If, on internet forums, you push for everyone to have equal say even when their views are not well considered, everyone’s energy gets used up arguing with the most offensive right-wing posters. I think it’s a good thing to have spaces where that isn’t how it goes. As for centrists, I think there’s a place for engaging with them because there’s more of a chance that they just haven’t examined their views but can be brought to. But I’m not going to miss them if they’re so put off by a left-leaning space that they won’t participate, and I don’t think every left space needs to spend its time arguing with liberals.
Frankly, my view of the right wing these days is that there’s no particular need to treat a mishmash of selfishness, greed, lust for power, deceit, gullibility, ignorance, insecurity and hatred as if it’s a political philosophy at all. Left versus right isn’t a helpful picture. Serious vs unserious would be a better one. If someone has serious arguments for a right-wing position made in good faith, then they’re not just wasting people’s time. But that’s not usually what you see, and I suspect it’s because there’s a lack of serious arguments to be made for it.
I don’t miss the right-wing voices. For the most part they just dominate, disrupt and obstruct serious discussion. That said, it’s important we don’t forget how unrepresentative our online discussions are of society as a whole, and how little impact merely talking about them here has.
They’re quite good at hoodwinking and swindling gullible and ignorant people.
Every single news outlet is doing the same. Not daring to call it the Nazi salute it was, and firing those who do.
CBS 58 weather reporter Sam Kuffel is out after criticizing Elon Musk arm gesture
When we wonder how people did not resist the Nazis in 1930s Germany, this is how. Everyone afraid and trying not to anger them, and all the businesses silencing dissent to protect themselves.