Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending Sunday 04 August 2024
Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.
Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.
If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.
The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)
Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.
Instead, hundreds of couples gathered in a public space and sucked face. The women wore what we might call immodest clothing and the couples groped each other and kissed and kissed and kissed some more. For the police and the Turkish regime, this was an “irresolvable dilemma.” The police could not possibly turn violent against these smooching protesters. They would look brutal and, in some ways, silly. The public would surely sympathize with the kissing anti-authoritarians if force were deployed. Police are trained to respond to force, not non-violence. In this case, they slinked away and the protesters cheered and, in some cases, made out a little more.
did the law change
The townspeople didn’t engage the neo-nazi marchers with threats and force. Residents and local businesses instead pledged money for every mile the fascists walked in their journey to Hess’ burial site. They raised about $12,000 and gave the money to an organization dedicated to de-radicalizing young people trying to exit extremist groups. Protestors threw rainbow confetti on the neo-nazis as they passed the finish line of the marathon route the pro-democracy group had created as a way of mocking the little fascist walk. These adherents to a hideous political ideology were made into subjects of ridicule. They were made to be fools by folks who smartly refused to engage them the way they wanted to be engaged: With violence.
did they stop marching to the grave
idk the answer to the previous two questions but that he didn't say is pretty sus
Pro-democracy activists have shown that far-right demonstrations of power have six core goals: To legitimize their views, strengthen their self-image as part of the downtrodden, unite their squabbling factions, attract new people to the movement, control media coverage, and feel powerful and heroic. All of these goals were met with the violent counter demonstrations in Charlottesville. It could not have turned out better for the fascists.
Charlottesville was an unmitigated disaster for the far right
In fact, movements with a mere 3.55 percent of the population actively supporting them have never failed, according to Pranksters vs. Autocrats, a comprehensive review of nonviolence and dilemma actions.
credulous
Smearing your opponent as weird and out of step with the American voter is as good a strategy as we’ve seen in the 21st century. Is it high minded and philosophical? No, it’s not. Are normies high minded and philosophical? No, they’re not. This is why Marxists have largely failed to gain power. They think too much.
In fact, movements with a mere 3.55 percent of the population actively supporting them have never failed, according to Pranksters vs. Autocrats, a comprehensive review of nonviolence and dilemma actions.
Weird to see this argument come back. Last time I saw it 'we only need to convince 10% of the population to fully believe in it, and science shows we will win all the time!' it was being said by fascists a decade ago. Not sure if it makes sense, because there are true believers on the other side as well. Anyway, just wanted to mention how odd it is to see this argument be recycled after only seeing it on the far right a long time ago.
No I mean the whole 'aren't they weird' matches that dr who episode. Basically Who gets disappointed with the PM he is traveling with, and tells her 'I will end your carreer with a few words' and then whispers 'doesn't she look tired' to one of her aides.
oh, I thought there was a literal equivalent kamala-phrase to the one at play here
unless you mean kamala team literally said "aren't they weird", in which case a'ight I agree
(again: fuck horserace content, got too few damn spoons for that. which is in part why I have no idea where the change in tide came from - just happy it's present)
all their points about cville are pure post hoc speculation trash; this is way too close to the “but but violence is bad!”; laughing at the fash is good; beating up the fash while laughing is even better.
"it's easier for me to laugh than to go punch a nazi" was what I picked up from that part of it. and yeah, punching nazis has a long proven history of effectiveness