# How do you see the future of the SDMB in light of the current political situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [February 20, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567 "2025-02-20T09:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/41 "2025-02-21T18:43:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Eventually it’ll be shut down, along with all other non-fascist media. That’s how fascists operate. Since I think Trump is a more or less normal western hemisphere caudillo, rather than a fascist, I doubt it. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/42 "2025-02-21T18:47:51Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > normal western hemisphere caudillo What the heck is a _normal western hemisphere caudillo_? [![](https://cdn.palbincdn.com/users/32772/images/IMG_1454-1559257471.JPG) ](https://cdn.palbincdn.com/users/32772/images/IMG_1454-1559257471.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/43 "2025-02-21T18:51:40Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Since I think Trump is a more or less normal western hemisphere caudillo, rather than a fascist, I doubt it. We’ll see. A caudillo is a fascist by definition. There is no difference between a fascist and a caudillo. Have a look at Spanish history of the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/44 "2025-02-21T18:56:34Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Eventually it’ll be shut down, along with all other non-fascist media. That’s how fascists operate. We’ll be back to [_samizdat_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat) - if someone can rustle up a ditto machine and supplies I think I still remember how to use one. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/45 "2025-02-21T19:07:04Z")
Interesting that you chose a Russian word. It only means self-publishing, but the connotations are somber. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/46 "2025-02-21T19:08:11Z")
Frankly, I am not seeing much of a compatibility match between “trying our best not to be noticed by The Powers That Be” and “Fighting the good fight and not changing to suit the massive shift to right”. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/47 "2025-02-21T19:09:32Z")
> [@LouMa](#): > > A caudillo is a fascist by definition. There is no difference between a fascist and a caudillo. Have a look at Spanish history of the 20th century. I am indeed no expert on Spain, but I specified a western hemisphere caudillo. Correct me if wrong, but Franco censored all media criticisms of himself. The internet, unless you just shut it down, makes censorship harder. If Trump gets a criminal law passed, and enforced, requiring all internet moderators to take down posts that slander/criticism himself, that sounds less like [Bukele in El Salvador](https://cpj.org/2024/10/a-culture-of-silence-threatens-press-freedom-under-el-salvador-president-bukele/) and more like Franco. I cannot rule out SDMB being shut down or taken over by MAGA moderators. But it wouldn’t happen until after everything critical of Trump was purged from cable TV and daily newspapers – a big job that would take years not months. Only after than was done in a thorough manner would we be next. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/48 "2025-02-21T19:10:53Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Interesting that you chose a Russian word. I assure you the choice was deliberate and the connotations intended. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/49 "2025-02-21T19:11:13Z")
Bukele in El Salvador? Yes that makes it much better: > **[Thousands of tattooed inmates pictured in El Salvador mega-prison](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64770716)** > > Suspected gang members are pictured in a huge new jail, part of El Salvador's "war on crime". Not fascist at all. Sure. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/50 "2025-02-21T19:13:55Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I cannot rule out SDMB being shut down or taken over by MAGA moderators. It doesn’t really have to be. If the job of the moderators is to stay off the radar or, worse, do the bidding of The Powers That Be to stay in line, then certain arguments may be regulated (or not) different than the way they used to be. When mods leave, they could be replaced by those less likely to “rock the boat”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/51 "2025-02-21T19:16:14Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > OK. Let me ask you this: do you (the 60-something SDMB member in general) feel elderly, or feel like you live the life of the elderly? I know many people in their 60’s and none of them do. I live in a 55+ “community” apartment building. I exercise three days a week and walk a mile+ on the off days in good weather. But I don’t require assistance for anything, and I’m not using a walker or a cane or any other device, and I still drive. I’m 78 this year. > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > One of them is chronic lymphocytic leukemia, My sister lived with that for decades and was able to do anything anyone else was able to do. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/52 "2025-02-21T19:23:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It doesn’t really have to be. If the job of the moderators is to stay off the radar or, worse, do the bidding of The Powers That Be to stay in line, then certain arguments may be regulated (or not) different than the way they used to be. When mods leave, they could be replaced by those less likely to “rock the boat”. This. And somebody earlier on mentioned preemptive compliance. I think this might stifle discussions since you never know whether your post might be reported. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/53 "2025-02-21T19:36:51Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I cannot rule out SDMB being shut down or taken over by MAGA moderators. But it wouldn’t happen until after everything critical of Trump was purged from cable TV and daily newspapers – a big job that would take years not months. Only after than was done in a thorough manner would we be next. This will not be such a big job since after the first prosecutions, slandering and criminal convictions there would not be much more critical utterances in TV and newspapers. People observe and learn. This does not take years but weeks. Fascists rule by fear. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/54 "2025-02-21T20:11:55Z")
In terms of discussion about _general_ censorship, as opposed to the SDMB, I direct your eyes to a concurrent thread on recent censorship. > [@Judge in Mississippi violating First Amendment?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-in-mississippi-violating-first-amendment/1014575): > > Another violation of the First Amendment and the principal of “Prior Restraint”? A Mississippi judge orders a local newspaper to remove an editorial criticizing the city: The city sued the publishers of the Clarksdale Press Register over an editorial from February 8, which criticized officials for failing to notify the public about a hearing on proposed tax increases. On Tuesday, without a hearing to review the allegations, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ordered the new… Chilling stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/55 "2025-02-21T20:22:37Z")
> [@LouMa](#): > > Fascists rule by fear. And little makes me more fearful than a concentration camp. Normal, western hemisphere, caudillo (I can’t get my head around the fact that this word is being uttered without panic!) sanctioned concentration camps. And as _the_ Caudillo was Franco, this may be relevant here and now: > **[Francoist concentration camps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francoist_concentration_camps)** > > In Francoist Spain, at least two to three hundred concentration camps operated from 1936 until 1947, some permanent and many others temporary. The network of camps was an instrument of Franco's repression. > People such as Republican ex-combatants of the People's Army, the Air Force and the Navy, to political dissidents and their families, the poor, Moroccan separatists, homosexuals, Romani people and common prisoners ended up in these camps. The Classified Commissions that operated within the cam... Just to make my point clear: > There is consensus among historians to confirm, according to testimonies of survivors, witnesses, and the Franco Reports themselves, that the conditions of internment “were, in general, atrocious”. Looking at the brighter side, this year, on November 20th, we will celebrate the fiftieth aniversary of Franco’s demise. And Franco is still dead! ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/56 "2025-02-21T22:33:46Z")
> [@LouMa](#): > > And somebody earlier on mentioned preemptive compliance. I think this might stifle discussions since you never know whether your post might be reported. Preemptive compliance not only encourages the totalitarians, but in this particular case it’s royally stupid. Everything you’ve already said is already on the net. Did you make fun of Trump in 2014, here or elsewhere? That’s still out there. May as well keep making fun of him now. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/57 "2025-02-22T08:13:22Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Chilling stuff. This might only be the beginning. Since Trump is going to consider himself a king, he might as well consider a law against lèse-majesty. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/58 "2025-02-22T08:17:18Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > May as well keep making fun of him now. Yes indeed, you may. But once being interviewed in your job and asked about your posts and whether you consider yourself a truly patriotic citizen you might change your mind. After having lost your job and your family gets into trouble you might as well consider whether it is worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/59 "2025-02-22T14:33:33Z")
Again: why the hell do you think it will help when you’re already on record? If things do come to that point, having shut up now won’t help you. Nothing will help you. The only thing that stands a chance of helping you is _not_ shutting up now. ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567/60 "2025-02-22T14:56:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > If things do come to that point, having shut up now won’t help you. Nothing will help you. The only thing that stands a chance of helping you is _not_ shutting up now. Well, I’am completely on the same page here. What I wanted to say is not what should be done now, much less that people should show preemptive compliance. I wanted to expresse my fear of future developments after the system change in the US. This fear goes back to the experience of repressive systems my family had to go through and the consequences thereof. Yes, we are on the record already and yes it might help not shutting up now. But nevertheless these are bleak perspectives. And you are right too, in the end nothing will help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-see-the-future-of-the-sdmb-in-light-of-the-current-political-situation/1014567.md?page=4)