• Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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    4 months ago

    I’m getting tired of hearing these “Why doesn’t Biden just be a despot to stop another despot?” knee-jerk takes. Even as a joke, it’s not helping. Once you stoop to your enemy’s level, is there a difference anymore? Think about the kind of precedent that sets. As a country, can you even come back from that? We’d be trading one very dark path for another.

    We have a system of checks and balances that can be used, assuming we elect people who aren’t part of the problem.

    People need to get the fuck out and vote. Every election, every office, school board seat, dogcatcher, etc. Got friends who don’t vote? Try to get at least one of them to. Yeah, gerrymandering exists but it doesn’t hold a candle to voter apathy when it comes to damage done.

    Glad to know I’m getting downvoted because I don’t support becoming the very thing we’re supposedly fighting against.

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Unilaterally taking away your own options doesn’t help either. You can be damn sure Trump, and Republicans in general, will do whatever they think they can get away with. Remember when a year before the election was too early to nominate a supreme court Justice, but later it was totally cool to jam one through during the election.

      • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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        4 months ago

        Remember when a year before the election was too early to nominate a supreme court Justice, but later it was totally cool to jam one through during the election.

        Pepperidge Farm Admiral Patrick remembers.

        That also can be fixed by my “get out and vote” + “vote for people who aren’t part of the problem”. Both of those supreme court seats were stolen by Mitch “Fucking Hypocrite/Dirty Bastard” McConnell** whose reptilian fingerprints are all over that mockery of our constitution.

        SC justices can be impeached and removed, but there need to be enough in Congress who aren’t in on the plan to make that happen. Again, get out and vote for people who aren’t part of the problem. Tell your friends, too, lol.

        ** Reptilian because he looks like a cartoon turtle; I don’t believe in lizard people lol

    • ooterness@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I’m tired of having to choose between “Uvalde shooter” and “Uvalde cops” in every election. Fucking do something or get out of the way.

      • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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        4 months ago

        I stand by my original statement. Once you abandon your core values and stoop to your enemy’s level, is there a difference anymore?

        • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Yeah, there is. Many lives are at stake. It’s a trolley problem. Shit’s ugly and you can’t wish it away.

        • Notorious_handholder@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          At some point you have to make a choice. Either grab a hose to help put out the fire and fix things or you stand on your high ground, praising yourself for how noble your intentions are as everything around you burns.

          High roading only works if your opponent has a conscience and can understand guilt. The side that is playing with matches and gasoline this whole time has shown very much that they do not have one.

          And to address your original point, yes there very much is a difference. One side is doing things for tye sake of hurt others or progressing a goal that is downright evil and tyrannical. Your doing it to protect the people they’re trying to hurt and to oppose their tyranny.

          Will it be clean? No… but anything worth fighting for has never been clean. The world isn’t just black and white. And the idea that stooping to anothers level makes you the same as them is about as binary as you can get. The world is filled with nuance and a whole range of colors that needs to be observed

          • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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            4 months ago

            We have every right to defend ourselves with whatever means are necessary, but we do not strike first.

            • eran_morad@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Christ. You don’t even realize we’ve already been struck over and over. All the while inviting more.

              The only way we can get to a neutral position is tit for tat. We can try a generous tit for tat, but the degenerates won’t accept an olive branch.

              Shit isn’t as it seems to you.

        • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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          4 months ago

          Once you completely ignore the paradox of tolerance, you are already on an inevitable path to a fascist dictatorship.

    • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      What’s the point of high-roading if the destination is fascism? You going to hold your head high as you’re being dragged off to jail for not submitting your period tracker data to the state, telling yourself that at least you’re suffering nobly?

      • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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        4 months ago

        What’s the point of high-roading if the destination is fascism?

        Because you’re just ushering in a different flavor of fascism? You may solve the immediate crisis, but make no mistake, you’re creating (or at least exacerbating) a brand new crisis.

            • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              It’s only false equivalence because the American revolution worked out for the US, and was therefore retroactively justified.

              No shame in setting limits for yourself.

          • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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            4 months ago

            And neither authoritarianism nor fascism are compatible with the principles our country was founded on. What’s you point?

            • MajinBlayze@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              The point is that if the destination is fascism, violence might be justified if no other avenue is available.

              Like yes, the rhetoric is obviously extreme, but that might be what’s necessary to get the Democratic party to actually use the tools available to them, like packing the courts

              • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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                4 months ago

                Once we get there, sure, whatever, if that’s what it takes. But unless or, god forbid, until we reach that point, then there is no way you or anyone is going to convince me that abandoning our core values is the right way forward.

                Nick Fury saying 'Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on'

                • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  Ultimately, this might be the last 6 months anything can be done about this.

                  If Trump wins, it could very well be the last election, or they will be rigged so bad they make Putin shameful that he can’t be that blatantly obvious.

                  So ‘once we get there’ might mean the only solution is even worse than using the current legitimate options and newly provided power to the presidency.

                  Edit: The dude already tried to stage a coup, murder the VP, and incited an insurrection. Things will not go well if he wins, and he’s going to get off on it all as immune.

                • MajinBlayze@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  That’s cute. It’s a short, punchy statement to absolve yourself of responsibility to help.

                  It’s also fantasy.

                  There will be a lot of real harm done to real people in the transition to fascism. Not doing everything you can to stop it is allowing that harm to happen.

                  • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    Armed Robbers Fleeing Bank

                    Cops Pull Out Guns: FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR!

                    Armed Robbers: Pulls out guns aims at cops!

                    Cops: Maybe he won’t shoot, lets wait and find out!

                    Armed Robbers: Kills all the cops, runs away.

                    News at 6pm - July 12th: The armed robbers who shot and killed everyone in the bank on July 10th have done it again, this time killing all the cops outside as they fled. Who would have ever guessed they’d shoot at the cops after having killed everyone in the bank 2 days prior!

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Trump is openly saying he will do that. This won’t be fixed without amending the Constitution or SCOTUS receiving that decision.

    • girsaysdoom@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Here’s the problem: we’re watching the country errode in incredible time, the far right has sunk it’s claws into the government and it seemingly has no way to actually prevent it’s damage. All of the checks and balances seem to mean nothing as actual laws that people relied on are being repealed every month. And this might not be the worst of it, if Trump gets elected with a Senate majority, everything will probably flip seemingly overnight.

      All we can do is vote and call representatives to tell them to support us. You could probably protest too but be careful out there. If you’re someone that might be targeted by an auth right regime, you might want to get your passport ready.

    • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Fascism depends on the erosion of norms. Stooping to their level does nothing but empower them in the long run. If anything, it accelerates the process.

      • snooggums@midwest.social
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        4 months ago

        Glad to know I’m getting downvoted because I don’t support becoming the very thing we’re supposedly fighting against.

        “Don’t fight back, just lay back and take it!”

        • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Like, why even comment? You know that’s not what I’m saying. I pointed out a simple truth that is observed when fascists rise to power, that should be considered when people are saying shit like "drone strike SCOTUS. And instead of engaging with someone who’s most likely your ally, you misrepresent what they say to try for a snarky comment. Do better.