Is this real? Or a stunt? I don’t know. It’s a shame either way, and it’s not like either is implausible.
But the buzz is that it’s a “false flag”–one of a supposed parade of many. At least that’s what Trump fans are saying.
One comment I’ve come across: “This is obviously fake. A trump supporter would write something like, “NO BRAKES” or “CANT STUMP THE TRUMP” or another of their hundred thousand Trump meme phrases. They wouldn’t just write, “go Trump”. Also, there’s absolutely no way they would put up swastikas. That’s the Democrats’ view of what they’re like, not Trump supporters’ views are actually like. They’re not retarded, they know swastikas are not a good thing to paint if you want people to like the person you’re celebrating.”
Perhaps the Yauch memorial really was defaced by pissed-off dyslexic Hillary supporters. I don’t know. No one does except for the person who did it. But yelling “FALSE FLAG” without any proof is just as crazy as automatically believing that every hate crime is genuine.
I have this real fear that we could all watch video footage of people being mowed down by bullets and tanks, but the masses will be convinced it’s a “false flag” planted by the other side to make us question our loyalties. And most of us will gladly embrace the theory because it will help us sleep at night. “We aren’t capable of that. We’re better than that. So it has to be got-damn lie.”
I have a feeling if the defacement had all the signatures of an authentic Trumpist act, the rhetoric would then be, “It’s way too pat to be real. FALSE FLAG!!!”
Can’t recall the exact quote so I have to paraphrase. If only a quarter of Trump’s offenses had been reported on, he would have been unelectable. But because we saw much more than a quarter, a lot of people dismissed the reports as exaggerations, lies, and liberal spin. There was a point when things seemed too bad to be true.
The same phenomenon is happening now, post-election. It’s becoming taboo to make comparisons to Hilter, but what happens if we really do see history repeating itself? Will those pointing out the obvious be shouted down as crazy? Will they be ignored and mocked as paranoid and hysterical? We already know the answer to that question because it’s already happening.
It’s up to those who want no parts of this self-delusional madness to speak up as much as they can. Do not let yourself be pressured into biting your tongue and going along to get along.
Fucked up that not only do we have to be on guard to film racist cops so our accounts can be believed, we have to be ready to do that for non-cops too.
It seems a bit unfair to say the crimes of a few represent the will of 61 million people …
I’ve spent the past eight years defending Pres. Obama’s policies as being pretty much mainstream Democrat Party politics … for example, the ACA isn’t his idea, this has been a Democrat plank for years and years …
So how much of The Donald’s rhetoric differs from what the Republican’s have been advocating for years and years as well … except that The Donald is far more caustic and rude … the ideals are still pretty much the same.
Seriously, are you just now learning Republican’s hate women, want to build that wall, and ban all Muslims from immigration?
My brother was just saying over the weekend that since with Hillary (during the election) we pretty much just focused on one big thing (email). With Donald there was so much that it was overwhelming and got to the point that people weren’t really paying attention to any of it. He went on to say that of all the Trump stuff that we heard over the past year, if the media/facebook had just focused on 2 or 3 things for a year instead of 20 or 30 the election may have turned out differently. He compared it to Mr Burns’ 3 Stooges Syndrome.
Is all the stuff that comes out of Trump’s mouth also a false flag? And the people he’s appointing to his administration? I mean, no way that’s for real.
The “liberals take Trump too literally but not seriously” meme is another manifestation of what the OP is talking about.
So the party line is that Trump approaches everything as if it’s a deal. He makes big claims and promises as a negotiation tactic or something. His supporters apparently see nothing wrong with this and probably think it’s genius.
But what is the point of telling everyone you’re bluffing all the time? From a negotiation standpoint, that’s just stupid because the opposing side then knows your words are empty. When Trump says he’s gonna make manufacturers stay domestic by threatening them with high tariffs, what are we supposed to think he will really do? If he’s just barking loud and we all know it, then logic dictates that we should ignore him. In other words, not take him seriously. But that is the opposite of what his supporters do. They take him treat him like a credible figure while simultaneously shrugging off what he says.
Which means Trump could threaten some serious things and a lot of people will be conditioned to laugh it off or spin it as being some smart strategy. Not a big deal if Trump keeps being a wingbag with no follow-through. Potentially calamitous if Trump delegates follow-through to others.
Whenever I see a swastika in a news story, I remember that I have an original. It’s a small flag liberated from a truck in Germany by my grandfather. He was a first-generation American, born to Polish immigrants, who joined the Army to fight the Nazis. About 6 million Polish people were killed in WWII, half of them Jewish. I’m descended from the non-Jewish “ethnics.”
I keep the flag in storage. It’s symbolic, a reminder of many things, none of which I want to be associated with except in its ultimate form – the ruins of a lot of dead white nationalists.
It’s hard to reconcile all that with someone defacing monkey bars, honestly. There is weapons-grade stupidity out there, and far be it from me to argue if people want to publicly beclown themselves and link the white nationalist ideology to making America great, instead of America kicking its ass. And really we don’t know who and what is responsible for it in Yauch Park.
But many, many of us will be watching for the more quiet and subtle efforts, you understand. The half-crazed and noisy agitators will never be the biggest problem.
I’m still not sure if this was a sad cynical statement from a black person, or an aggressive one from a racist Trump supporter. It could be read either way.
I think that many if not most of these are not from Trump supporters (but it is even more unlikely that they are “false flags” per se since that connotes a centrally-controlled defamatory conspiracy.)
Why? Before this election the far right loved to paint Obama as a Nazi or even Hitler. Hitler is still a bad person to them and they don’t want to be seen as a Nazi.
Which doesn’t mean that we are not seeing a fascist movement: on the scale of fascism this is pretty darn high. But nationalism demands that supporters want to be seen as American, not German.
Here’s a question: what percentage of reported bias crimes of this sort turn out to have been perpetuated by the “victims” themselves - people trying to publicize these issues (and themselves in the process) and/or demonize their opponents?
My best guess is about 25%. Maybe more.
So I’m automatically suspicious of such stories. (E.g. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “Trump supporter” who burned down the black church turned out to be a “false flag” operation of this sort.)
Why? Not saying you’re wrong*, but why 25%+? Gut feeling?
The number is definitely above zero, but how common or uncommon I personally haven’t a clue. Also I have my doubts as to a parishioner burning down their own church, but as an atheist maybe I’m overestimating your average churchgoer’s religiosity.
Based on a rough estimate of the number of media reports of these types of bias crimes which are then followed up by subsequent media reports of how the perpetrator was the “victim” themselves.
