Look at the title of this thread. This is the mainstream leftist sentiment.
It’s demands contempt
I’ve called out and criticized the rare calls for violence on the left. Calls for violence from the right are more common and come from the far more powerful, in the present. And you’re saying it’s worse from the left, and justifies voting for the GOP – which is utterly ridiculous. You’re making a choice to vote for the party that celebrates and excuses hate and violence far more, at present, than the other party. That’s a choice you’re making, and it’s the wrong choice, and it’s reasonable to criticize you and challenge you for that choice.
For the record, I completely and unequivocally condemn any violence or violent rhetoric coming from liberals or against Republicans or conservatives.
Also for the record, Scylla’s assertion that the violence and rhetoric by the tiny minority of people he identifies as liberals is why he won’t vote for Democrats is the biggest pile of unmitigated, bullshit-filled rationalization that I’ve read on this board in awhile. The myopic blindness to focus only on the problems of the small, radical left and ignore the overwhelming actual violence and rhetoric of the radical right is only surpassed by the gall it takes to try and pretend he’s taking the high road.
For the record, of course.
Says the leftist in the thread titled “Republicans can go straight to hell.”
I’ve provided links to instances of hate speech an violence against Reoublicans. They are getting harassed, shot at while playing baseball, there are 30 something attacks or attempted attacks on Republican elected officials this year according IBD in an article I linked to. Democrat staffers are doxxing Republicans an their kids. There are several instances of hate and/or violence every day coming from the left. As far as I can tell, identity politics is nothing more than a tactic designed to promote hatred and racism.
There is nothing like this on the right. Donald Trump being the odious asshole he is, and defending a Nazi a year ago, should not balance the scales in the eyes of any reasonable person.
I’m voting against Democrats because of the widespread racism, hate speech, violence, and intolerance which they have adopted, largely in the last 18 months.
Scylla, way to up the ante on “alternative facts”. You, Sir, have alternative reality.
Thank you for that 1st paragraph Hamlet.
This is nuts to me. Far, far more instances of right-wing exhortations and actual instances of violence have been cited in many, many threads on the topic on the Dope. Further, there have been tons of threads criticizing the Republican party’s usage of identity politics, especially in recent months and years.
But vote for who you like. If pretending the left is more violent makes you feel more comfortable voting for the party of Trump, knock yourself out. Just don’t expect us to go along with your fantasies.
And (for the record yet again) I also completely and unequivocally condemn any violence or violent rhetoric coming from liberals or against Republicans or conservatives.
So which of these things that I linked to didn’t happen?
Condemning violence is a no brainer. And the vast majority of liberals would agree with the condemnation, despite your beliefs.
But I thought the second paragraph was where I really shined. I can see why you ignored it.
I don’t really care snout how many are cited on the dope. I care about how many there are.
How many Democrat elected officials have been physically attacked in the last 18 months? How many have had their family doxxed? How many have been accosted and harassed at their homes and restaurants? How many Democrat speakers need security on Campus or have had their invitation to speak revoked?
I’ve provided links to recent violence and hate speech from the left directed at Republicans.
If you say there are more coming from the right directed at Democrats, it should be easy to produce these examples, especially if, as you say, they have already been documented here.
Let’s compare them?
From that paragraph:
“…ats is the biggest pile of unmitigated, bullshit-filled rationalization that I’ve read on this board in awhile. The myopic blindness to focus only on the problems of the small, radical left and…”
The fact is that I was floored by your dispassionate rationalism.
Hold on! Liberals are the violent racists and the conservatives are the ones striving to stop this? :eek:
Leftists. Liberals are the good guys.
Here is a recent example:
Republican running for PA Governor threatens to stomp on the face of his opponent with golf spikes.
Does this count more than some random nut citizen that you’ve come up with?
You really are getting a lot of mileage out of “intersectionality” these days.
Going to be honest with you. I’ve never seen an America so at war with itself. You’re wrong to say that the left are responsible for the majority of incidents, but obviously the human tendency for confirmation bias means these are the ones you’ll note the most.
But as an outsider with no skin in the game, I look at the rise in out and out partisanship in the US, and wonder just who benefits the most from inciting it. I’m not a huge fan of conspiracy theories, but honestly if Putin wanted to remove the US as a power then the abuse of social media to stir up internal conflict to the levels you’re currently experience is a very nifty way of doing it.
I agree that is not good, and I condemn the sentiment. I don’t think it’s a serious threat, but I do think it’s unnecessary violent rhetoric.
The tricky thing about confirmation bias is that you can’t be sure where it’s leading you.
In this instance, I was feeling pretty good about being against Trump and the Republicans (which seems like a pretty comfortable and easy position.)
I suspected my bias would lead me against Trump.
My opinion is a bit of a reversal
There were 65 terrorist attacks in the US in the last year – almost 2/3rds were tied to right-wing extremists: https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/09/12/study-shows-two-thirds-us-terrorism-tied-right-wing-extremists
Murders by white supremacists more than doubled in 2017, killing far more people in America than Islamic extremists or leftist extremists (and more than both combined): Murders By U.S. White Supremacists More Than Doubled In 2017, New Report Shows | HuffPost Latest News
Left-wing violence is not increasing: Fact Check: Is Left-Wing Violence Rising? : NPR Further, “In the past 10 years when you look at murders committed by domestic extremists in the United States of all types, right-wing extremists are responsible for about 74 percent of those murders”.
Republican officials and candidates who have physically attacked/threatened people recently: Greg Gianforte, David Perdue, Michael Grimm (in 2014), Texas Republican Matt Rinaldi, Republican candidate for PA governor Scott Wagner. All of these but one have happened this year or last.
I found all this in a matter of minutes. There’s much, much more to be found.
But if you lived in PA, you’d still vote for him to avoid the SCARY leftists?
Punching someone in the face - unacceptable violence
Advocating for laws that are the proximate cause of tens of thousands of deaths every year - not violence
Yelling at and shoving someone - unacceptable violence
Advocating for laws that prevent people from getting the medical care they need - not violence
Harassing someone at a restaurant - unacceptable behavior
Purging a half million people from the voting rolls, increasing restrictions on voting, gerrymandering the hell out of elections - nothing to see here, it’s legal!
Trump got millions fewer votes than Clinton, millions. That’s millions of people in this country who are very unhappy, angry about it, and man it can get WAY worse than a few folks being poked at.