Well, considering that the running of the Jews was a real thing in Italy as part of the Carnival, and continued in some form until the 19th century, I suspect not:
(From The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Antisemitism)
I’m also in the UK and I’m worried that I may have a better chance of survival with Stalinists running things than with the alt-right neo-nazis.
That would be the same Stalinists who repeatedly tried to execute people with libertarian-socialist beliefs (like me).
How, and why did we let things get this fucked up?
There is no “difference of opinion” or “points of view” with regard to Donald Trump and his ilk. These are evil people and we are all under direct existential threat from their assumption of presidential power. We must oppose them openly and explicitly at all levels, in every forum and at every opportunity. And we must make sure anyone associated with them and their sympathizers feel acute discomfort in their choice ON A DAILY BASIS
The question “should Trump do Y” has multiple meanings. The lady who answers obviously did not interpret it to mean “what is the only morally acceptable stance on Y”; rather, she talked about how it would fit with Trump’s strategy and presumed interests. Which we already know is very different from “morally acceptable”. Yet it is still a question worth answering.
I really fail to see what CNN has done wrong here.
Except of course, the misrepresentation of a terrible anti-semitic statement as a an even worse anti-semitic statement. Not only does that give the antisemites an opportunity for a counterattack, it also puts a even worse statement out there s something that “people have said”.
I’d rather have all the right-wing nuts believe that not even the leaders of the alt-right movement would claim that Jews aren’t people.
Well, it could be worse. When I read the BB headline, I fully expected something as bad as <a href?=“http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/02/06/i-had-no-idea-cnn-had-gotten-t/”>CNN’s 2007 take on atheism.
If Soylent Green is people…then yes. Jews are people.
There, question answered, can we all beat this asshole to a pulp now?
People fear what they are unfamiliar with, whether that is a dangerous object, or people they don’t know.
Gun control became one of those pet topics for some reason that taken up into a liberal vs conservative stance. I think it stems from it being a Democrat platform from the days of Jim Crow. Remember the Democrats originally ruled the South, and they were the ones fighting against the Civil Rights movement. They passed laws like pistol permits the Sheriff has to sign off on (assuring only the right, safe people got the permits). There is a long, history of gun laws being targeted at minorities. So when the political shift happened and the Democrats lost the South, gained the North and became more Liberal, like an appendix, it stuck around.
It really shouldn’t be a liberal vs conservative issue. While the NRA is seen aligned with the GOP, and certainly there a lot of Republican members, it’s really a one issue org and they are more than willing to green light Democrats who are friendly to the cause.
But like the War on Drugs, we are just a few more laws from making a real difference. 
I won’t do a complete derail, but since you brought it up, the reason violence has risen and fall has had little to do with our laws (well, one could argue our current laws - not gun laws - are making things worse). Even the decrease from the crime explosion in the 90s has been a mystery as to why. Reduced lead in the environment and the legalization of abortions are two things thought to be contributes, but really the people in charge have no idea. Throw more cops at them was their only answer.
THIS! Are they all so desperate for “access” to the White House, etc. that not one of them had the balls to stand up and say to his face. “You are more of a liar than any of us and I will not sit here and be berated by a hypocrite like you” and walk out? (Possibly causing a Trump aneurism.)
Sure, they’ll never get access. Sure they’ll get picked on. But reporting from outside the ‘normalisation’ zone might well have many benefits and Trump starting a visible war on one of these media/news sources might show the rest of America just what a bully he is and how unfit to govern when that is his behaviour.
Ok so that last part was a bit naive/optimisic, but really? They all just sat there and took it? Not one of these media types could get a word in edgeways? Not even any passive-aggressive rolling of eyes, staring at the ceiling, quiet whistling while filing their nails?
Will we see some verbatim transcripts in the papers soon, I wonder?
Of the many…that one part, where after two centuries of abuse, it was decided that the practice was “indecorous and unbefitting the dignity of the Holy City”…so instead they simply taxed the Jews into the ground for their party.
JFC.
If anyone is feeling threatened enough to buy a gun to defend themselves, can I please urge them to get some training first. Go to a range, learn the rules for gun safety, get some practice in, and find out what kind of gun is good for you to use, so you don’t waste money on an inert lump of metal that might fail you at the critical moment because you didn’t learn how to use it properly.
We’re pretty much there. Shall we take it elsewhere?
That would be “bias”!
This is absolutely insane. Arguments for decency are much more used by racists, and evil wins quietly.
Tone driving trollies is not a tool for good. And “proper” behavior and speech as they define it is inaction and complacency.
Holy fuck. It’s shit like this which is why every time I see one of those Nazi alt-righter’s arms raised in a Hitler salute, I want to break it.
Regardless, she should have started her answer with “Yes, he should.” because even if you want to explore how this might fit into Trump’s stategy, you should point out that it is expected that any leader of a free country reject any racist hate-speech. After you say that, you can dive deeper and say “But in Trump’s case…” and explain why you think Trump won’t. It is up to news outlets to make it clear what the “normal course of action” would be so people understand that Trump’s behaviour is not a normal thing.
My toddler is old enough to move into her older sister’s room, so I can squeeze a couple of refugees into my condo.
A lot of posts here talking about how CNN misquoted Spencer. Most of them come with a “Not defending Spencer” disclaimer.
First, you are defending Spencer, and defending bigotry in general. Their playbook is to say a bunch of things which are individually deniable as bigotry but which as a whole convey their clear message to anyone who is listening. Any time you defend the “alt right” on a specific quotation by saying we can’t necessarily say it was bigoted you are supporting bigotry. Your style of reasoning is systematically racist.
Second, this post is criticizing CNN for taking the question of whether Jews are people seriously, not criticizing Spencer for what he said. The fact that Spencer is an anti-semite is taken as a given (as it should be). The insane thing here is that CNN gave the question of Jewish humanity the time of day and presented it as worth discussing. That discussion really happened on CNN, and it is loathsome that it did. You’ve come to suggest that what we ought to be talking about is not how disgusting it was that CNN (not Spencer) would question the humanity of Jews on air, but the fact that they may have besmirched the reputation of a known racist anti-semite. Those are the priorities you came here with today, if those are not he priorities that you feel you ought to have, then act differently in the future.
Third, quit the Machiavellian, “We hurt our cause by…” stuff. It sounds like, “I don’t want my kid to be gay, but not because I don’t like gay people, because I don’t want their life to be harder.” If you are concerned that calling nazis “nazis” hurts your cause then don’t presume your cause is our cause. Ultimately if the racists are going to lose it is going to take a couple more generations. My grandkids aren’t going to vote in a government that treats people of all races as equals because I was courteous in my interpretations of nazis sieg heils, they are going to do that because it is obviously right to do so. You want to be Machiavellian then the right strategy is to make as much noise about this as possible so the kids growing up today know they live in a world where some people don’t think people are people so that the kids will think, “What the fuck is wrong with is wrong with stupid adults?”
What the fuck… did google autocomplete vote for trump?
My comment was completely tongue-in-cheek but holy shit! I was not aware of the goings-on in your post. Crazy.
Not all liberals. Don’t forget that one of the Clinton attack lines on Sanders during the primaries was that he was too friendly to the NRA, but that’s because Vermont, though blue is very much a gun friendly state. Plenty of liberals own guns. The NRA has become another tool of partisan politics, I think.
I think this is part of the problem, the assumption that people on one side of the aisle or the other are for or against something, just because they are liberals or conservatives.There are plenty of liberals who are pro-gun and plenty of conservatives who are pro-gay marriage or who care about the environment enough to not think it’s a Chinese hoax.
[ETA] Whoops! @cepheus42 and others already repsonded and there is even a new thread. My bad! Sorry for the pile on here. That’s what I get for not reading ahead…
Good luck finding some Stalinists to run things, over here!
We, and the Left (Left -proper, I mean - not counting bourgeois ‘moderates’) in general, have slipped into reaction - we’ve allowed the far-Right to rehabilitate within mainstream society and take the initiative. It’s no good waiting for them to make their move and then contesting it, which is what the Left has been doing, and what moderates seem limited to. Take the upcoming French elections. The moderate political world is either terrified or in denial about Marine Le Pen, but this has been on the cards for a long time. I mean, her dad (who was a far less popular figure) gave Chirac a run for his money ages ago. The problem was that once Chirac had won, everyone sighed with relief and then went back to doing things exactly as before. They should have taken it as a signal to reform and destroy his base.
I appreciate your post. Thank you for taking the time to spell out your thoughts and I do agree with them. From my own perspective, my concern is that the last 8 years I have fact-checked everything blindly thrown my way, found most of it false or highly misleading and still was told it was the liberal media with the bias. I guess I should stop caring but I want to stand on top of sound reason, logic, and facts even though those I oppose do not.
But yes, lets call Nazis by their real name.
