Senator Rand Paul severely beaten while mowing lawn, unable to return to DC; neighbor arrested

[Wanderfound]

This seems relevant to where the discussion has gone:

[Wanderfound]

This one as well:

- YouTube

And for something more modern, this:

The Black Bloc: Inside America’s Hard Left

Although, since we’re once again discussing political violence, I should probably once again link to this:

Counter protest seeks to leave field covered in dog poop before bigoted assholes arrive

I’m pissing people off again, so I’m going to back off for a while. But since this is about the 1,000th time that it’s been suggested that I promote political violence… 1) I do not advocate for violence against the state, and never have. For the simple reason that it does not work. Unless you’re willing to ramp it up to full civil war scale, shooting one cop is useless. For that sort of tactic to work, you have to be willing to shoot all the cops, in which case you’ll have to shoot the army as…

[tlwest]

@GlyphGryph

So what you’re saying is, to maximize the benefit of this event, we should celebrate the beating privately while talking about it in the way best able to achieve our desired political goals publicly - wallow in our enjoyment while publicly condemning.

1. There is no benefit to this event. At best, it is neutral.
2. What any of us choose to do in private is only our own concern.
3. “Should” only applies in as much as it affects others. I’m not attempting mind others private morality.
4. I don’t consider public silence particularly hypocritical. Most of my private sentiments are not for public consumption. I don’t consider that hypocrisy.

[anon73430903]

Have you ever left your home when threatened with violence?

I have and there is no nobility in not fighting back, just a whole load of psychological damage. Six months homeless, and 10 years expecting to lose my new home. I don’t think I could go through that again.

[knoxblox]

Thanks for that. I regret that many of the history courses I attended were often U.S.-centric and skipped back and forth over a geographically linear (Mediterranean to Europe to the Americas - I hope that makes sense) timeline, rather than encompassing the world in a time-progressed fashion.
I now realize that my Scot-Irish namesake crossed the Atlantic to become a French citizen in the new colonies, and likely fought in the U.S. Revolutionary war because opportunity knocked.

[Snowlark]

@anon32019413

Other people would rather kill to keep what they view as theirs. We’re culturally conditioned to romanticize fighting for what is yours rather than running away.

The fight against fascism isn’t about material gain.

[LurksNoMore]

Beating up Rand Paul when he mows his lawn is not fighting against fascism by any imaginable measure.

[Snowlark]

Never said it did. I was responding to a general statement with a general statement. Committing assault over a matter of lawn care (or motor noise) is madness.

[nungesser]

Well, it’s Taiwan here, but… I’d say they’re one step ahead.

[Medievalist]

[Nobby_Stiles]

@LurksNoMore

Beating up Rand Paul when he mows his lawn is not fighting against fascism by any imaginable measure.

No - very true. But its still kind of funny to me. In much the same way as that guy who leaned out of his car shouting racist epithets to me in North London once only to find himself in a traffic jam and a large group of very big West Indians guys looking at him from the other side of the street

[GlyphGryph]

Well, yeah, but no one claimed he was beaten up because of fascism.