# What are we to do with these insects we refer to as Republicans? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076 "2019-10-01T04:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/101 "2019-10-01T21:08:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Some hyperbole? That’s a hideous caricature. If you think that’s the definition of a conservative you must really live in a bubble. That borderline insane rhetoric. Like, Alex Jones crazy. Hideous caricature, or “not you”? The point is that there are the old-school conservatives who support conservative positions, and the new school “conservatives” who base their entire position around the things they _oppose_, with no discernible concern for the babies they are throwing out with the bathwater. There are literally people out there who only want to see their enemies crushed, and who think that by supporting Trump that’s going to happen. And these are the people who by all appearances have overwhelmed and taken over both the republican party and the conservative label. I’m pretty sure that actually describes the bulk of his supporters, actually. The remainder being divided between persons who are willing to overlook _anything_ to accomplish their self-enriching agendas, and those who are quite literally agents for an enemy state. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/102 "2019-10-01T21:09:43Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > _ **Do you reject Donald Trump?** _ Or will you vote for him as a “least of evils”? Can you identify (and demonstrate) even a single point on my list which conflicts with today’s Trumpist practice or “thought”? I never voted for him and never would. He’s not fit to hold office. I wouldn’t want him taking my order at a drive thru window let alone run my country. Again, you’re conflating “Trumpist” and “conservative”. If you’re unable to separate the two there’s no real way to have a meaningful discussion. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/103 "2019-10-01T21:10:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Again, you’re conflating “Trumpist” and “conservative”. If you’re unable to separate the two there’s no real way to have a meaningful discussion. I seriously think your label has been hijacked. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/104 "2019-10-01T21:13:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Non-Player Characters? Surprisingly, yes. It’s apparently been adopted as a derogatory term by the right wing. What Is NPC, the Pro-Trump Internet’s New Favorite Insult? ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/105 "2019-10-01T21:18:35Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > **Bone:** Did you notice that I didn’t respond to the OP to either agree with it or condemn it!? I responded to another posting, and I wasn’t aware of a board rule that you can’t respond to a later message in a thread without taking a position on the OP, especially when other posters had already done so. I didn’t say Republicans were insects or vermin, and I agree that dehumanizing language is inappropriate. I was going to post this same sentiment about my post, but John Bredin said it more eloquently about his. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/106 "2019-10-01T21:19:55Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > These people posting in this thread that don’t wholesale condemn dehumanzing those they disagree with as stated in the OP, says a lot more about them than the target of the genocidal ire: > > Little Nemo What the fuck, Bone? I was the first person to respond to the OP and here’s my post: > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Watch out. Dehumanizing your opponents is a step down the path to genocide. What part of that doesn’t look like a wholesale condemnation to you? ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/107 "2019-10-01T21:28:28Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Fine. If that’s the case write into this thread, using emphasizing tags as in my example: > _ **I reject Donald Trump. I promise to vote for the D Prez candidate, if Trump is the R. I refuse to vote for pederasts, criminals and corporate whores. If/when a true conservative party re-emerges, then and only then I will resume voting against the Ds.** _ > If you can’t do that? Then I will have to agree with OP and call you EITHER ‘vermin’ OR someone so willfully ignorant and/or stupid and/or hateful that you do not understand what today’s Republican Party has become. > > hth I won’t do that because I don’t take orders from you and I’m not playing your childish games. With that being said, I didn’t vote for Trump to begin with. But I still think your “prove this or that” is utter bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/108 "2019-10-01T21:35:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Republican party is a greater existential threat to American democracy, **western civilization, and the survival of the human race** So let me get this straight: We’ve gone from comparing Republicans to Nazis (Godwinization, but that’s old stuff) to _watering down what the Nazis did,_ in the name of making Republicans look bad? Seriously, consider your implications. You’re saying that 12 million dead (including 6 million Jews,) and the tens of other millions who died in Eastern Europe, due to Nazism, are \*\*\*lesser \*\*\* atrocities than…the Republican Party in America today. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/109 "2019-10-01T21:38:14Z")
As for this thread, I’ve always been fond of insects. I used to keep a pet praying mantis. Problem is, she didn’t seem to have a sense of when to stop eating. We would feed her bug after bug after bug and eventually she gorged herself to the point where we worried. So I’m chill with half of our nation being insects. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/110 "2019-10-01T21:40:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > What the fuck, Bone? I was the first person to respond to the OP and here’s my post: > > What part of that doesn’t look like a wholesale condemnation to you? Don’t knock him off his high horse. At that height it’d be crippling. > [@Velocity](#): > > So let me get this straight: We’ve gone from comparing Republicans to Nazis (Godwinization, but that’s old stuff) to _watering down what the Nazis did,_ in the name of making Republicans look bad? > > Seriously, consider your implications. You’re saying that 12 million dead (including 6 million Jews,) and the tens of other millions who died in Eastern Europe, due to Nazism, are \*\*\*lesser \*\*\* atrocities than…the Republican Party in America today. You just now seeing the reflexive and dishonest smears? ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/111 "2019-10-01T21:41:34Z")
I have to admit I was speechless when I first saw this thread and the opening post (and the ones agreeing with the OP). I know the Pit seems to pride itself on living up to its reputation, but I think this went above and beyond that and is in bad taste. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/112 "2019-10-01T21:45:14Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > What is one to do? > > These houseflies. These mosquitoes. These vermin. > > A party they are not; they exist as a cult of perversion and perverse love of inequality. I don’t like Republicans either, and I don’t know what to do with partisans who act like they’re in a cult. I do know what crazy drunk-posting is like, this really seems like it, and I hope you’ll take care of yourself. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/113 "2019-10-01T21:47:49Z")
And to be perfectly clear, I don’t think we should kill all the Republicans, or any of them. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/114 "2019-10-01T21:48:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Surprisingly, yes. It’s apparently been adopted as a derogatory term by the right wing. > > What Is NPC, the Pro-Trump Internet’s New Favorite Insult? They do like to speak their own secret language. Wonder if they’ve got their own secret clubhouse up in a tree fort. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/115 "2019-10-01T21:48:44Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I don’t like Republicans either, and I don’t know what to do with partisans who act like they’re in a cult. > > I do know what crazy drunk-posting is like, this really seems like it, and I hope you’ll take care of yourself. And vote against Republicans. Every chance you get. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/116 "2019-10-01T21:50:06Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So let me get this straight: We’ve gone from comparing Republicans to Nazis (Godwinization, but that’s old stuff) to _watering down what the Nazis did,_ in the name of making Republicans look bad? > > Seriously, consider your implications. You’re saying that 12 million dead (including 6 million Jews,) and the tens of other millions who died in Eastern Europe, due to Nazism, are \*\*\*lesser \*\*\* atrocities than…the Republican Party in America today. The nazis were never a credible threat to the survival of the human race, nor were they ever a credible threat to the American part of western civilization. The republicans can be legitimately seen a threatening the global climate (and through it, worldwide food supplies), and they’re a _lot_ closer to home than the nazis were, if your home happens to be in America. Now, if you’re in western _Europe_, the notion that the republican party is a bigger threat to western civilization is laughable. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2019, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/117 "2019-10-01T21:50:21Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Turn the other cheek! Let them for **years** call you not a “real American”, disloyal, America-hating, etc. but don’t dare say a single bad thing about them or you’ll lose their support! :dubious: Ignore that they’re not merely talking but using those slanderous characterizations of a significant part of the American populace to justify their leaders’ increasing disenfranchisement of anyone not like them. There is a very long distance between ‘don’t call people vermin’ and “don’t dare say a single bad thing about them”. It’s entirely possible to criticize a political position up, down, and sideways without saying that the people who hold it aren’t human. > [@octopus](#): > > Things that distort markets in ways that 2nd and 3rd order effects cause great damage. Minimum wage, rent control, strong government unions, etc. I’m not unsympathetic to those who work or need money but there are better ways to distribute resources. Such as? > [@RTFirefly](#): > > Turnabout is not fair play; turnabout is willingly partaking of the same sickness. Very good line. > [@aruvqan](#): > > And then there are those like me. I remain Republican because someone needs to hang around to vote in restricted pollings to let them know that they do not all have to be repugnant. I am old school - fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I consistantly vote against their idiocies and will until I am dead. mrAru wants me to get into politics and start running small once we finally move to Nevada and are settled in. . Please do that. > [@Atamasama](#): > > you’re conflating “Trumpist” and “conservative”. If you’re unable to separate the two there’s no real way to have a meaningful discussion. This is true; but part of the problem is that the Trumpists have been conflating “Trumpist” and “conservative”, and having considerable success at presenting them as synonymous. I hope that you’re objecting to them doing so at least as much as you’re objecting to liberals doing so (maybe you have been, I don’t know.) – Bone, I think you’re lumping a whole lot of people in together when only a handful of them agreed with the original sentiment; and others may well have thought it had already been jumped on, and they didn’t have to specifically do so also. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/118 "2019-10-01T21:51:13Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > And to be perfectly clear, I don’t think we should kill all the Republicans, or any of them. Now those who’ve had anything to do with planning, implementing, or enabling what they’ve been doing to children at the border, I can only hope they’re convicted of hundreds of counts of child abuse and neglect, and spend the rest of their lives imprisoned at Gitmo. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/119 "2019-10-01T21:54:03Z")
Why are we worrying about **Bone** ’s shitlist, again? All he said was that it said more about them than it did about the insectoid republicans. And what it specidifically says is that **Bone** was none too discerning about who he put on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/120 "2019-10-01T21:58:14Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > We had a thread a few weeks back asking what conservative political values were. And we got conservatives posting that this was just another liberal attack thread. If you are referring to the **“Seriously, what conservative values _aren’t_ based off of bigotry?”** thread, I think the backlash was because the very phrasing of the OP title showed that it wasn’t meant as a genuine level-playing field question, but rather, as an inflammatory post that demanded responses and put readers on the defensive to begin with. It was accusatory by its very nature and wording. If it had been phrased as,\*\* “What are and aren’t conservative values?”\*\* I think it would have generated a much more levelheaded and cooler discussion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076.md?page=7)