# Which Party Has the Mobs? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828 "2018-11-01T10:45:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/21 "2018-11-01T15:25:51Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s important. These things get out of hand really fast. A lot of people could get killed. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > _Could_ be killed? > > How far up your ass have you stuck your head, that you can ignore that massive number of deaths produced by right-wing ideology recently? If enough black and gays and women and Jews and Muslims and Mexicans are killed, the violence could escalate to the point where actual people might be in danger. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/22 "2018-11-01T15:28:22Z")
Yeah, not much of a debate here. The Republicans are without question the ones who are encouraging a mob mentality and indeed mob violence. “Very fine people on both sides,” my ass. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/23 "2018-11-01T15:28:44Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Civil war 2 is tepid. You should be grateful. Your side didn’t do so well in Civil War 1. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/24 "2018-11-01T15:36:32Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > The loony left has plenty of mobs. That said, what the right lacks in quantity they make up in quality. If I read this right (never a certainty since you typically write wrong), the “mobs” of “the loony left” outnumber those of the (I assume mainstream, i.e. unloony) right. So I’m sure you can cite a few examples of these mobs, since the default alternative assumption is that you’re spouting thoughtless feel-good bullshit like your hero Trump does casually and daily. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/25 "2018-11-01T15:38:51Z")
Does this help? [Deaths associated with Antifa!](https://www.newsweek.com/antifa-activist-death-leads-trial-far-right-members-france-1107885) Perhaps not. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/26 "2018-11-01T15:39:27Z")
☹ Write wrong? Now that’s not a good way to start a productive conversation. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/27 "2018-11-01T15:48:30Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > …The loony left has plenty of mobs. … Even taking this as factual (which I do not, but for the sake of argument), this isn’t about the Republican Party or the Loony Left party. It’s about the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. It’s right there in the title! Do you agree or disagree that actual elected officials in the R party have done more embracing of their loony fringe than the Democrats? It’s pretty easy to cite mainstream Rs embracing conspiracy theories and lies about Democrats and minorities. I think it’s much harder to do the same for the Democrats. That said, I thought it was a law of nature that, no matter how crazy the Right gets, the other side is always exactly as bad. That certainly seems to be the case if you watch any pundits on the talk shows. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/28 "2018-11-01T15:51:19Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > ☹ Write wrong? Now that’s not a good way to start a productive conversation. I’m not certain you could recognize a productive conversation even if it was taking place on a factory floor surrounded by active assembly lines and was strictly about how much production the factory had enjoyed in the last quarter and how much productivity it could expect in the next quarter and the factory’s only product was DVDs explaining the Product Rule. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/29 "2018-11-01T15:52:12Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m not certain you could recognize a productive conversation even if it was taking place on a factory floor surrounded by active assembly lines and was strictly about how much production the factory had enjoyed in the last quarter and how much productivity it could expect in the next quarter and the factory’s only product was DVDs explaining the Product Rule. lol, ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/30 "2018-11-01T15:54:22Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s like you are all monkeys howling and beating your fists at the other tribe of monkeys, in order to build up your sense of superiority enough to attack. And, of course the other tribe of monkeys is doing the exact same thing. > > \ > > If you want to be a good guy, if you want to be a good citizen, than you need to lower the temperature. You need to think and say nice things about people you disagree with and force yourself to see them as worthy equals, especially when the disagreement is severe fundamental and felt deeply. > > As a whole we are acting like those two monkey tribes, howling and jeering within our respective groups to build ourselves up and make our opponents look small. > This is supposed to be a message board of critical thinkers. Your just acting like monkeys. Stop it. Rise above your primate instincts. You are not better, more righteous, less violent or anything else. You are just more jabbering monkeys adding to the noise, raising the temperature. > > Lower the temperature. > It’s important. These things get out of hand really fast. A lot of people could get killed. > > In this respect, do not be on the side of the right or the left. Be on the side of those who are trying to focus on the bonds of commslity and who are lowering the temperature of the overheated hyperbole and political rhetoric. Buzz off. I get emails daily, signed by Donald Trump, saying things like: > [@Donald Trump](#): > > [ul] > [li]“SAVE AMERICA from the Democrats who want open borders and mob rule”[/li][li]Democrats have “hatred for the rule of law”[/li][li]Nancy Pelosi is trying to “steal” congress[/li][li]"While the violent liberal mob pledges “to take to the streets, I’m asking patriots like YOU to pledge to take to the polls. "[/li][li]“Handing the Democrats the keys to our government in 16 days would be no different from handing matches to an arsonist.”[/li][/ul] “Lower the temperature”? The President of the United States declares that the opposing party is going to burn down the government and hates the rule of law, and you have the audacity to complain that Democrats on a message board are howling a little too loudly? That they should take some sort of moral “high road” Look, I am the first person to call for rising above petty arguments about “what side did what when, and who’s worse”. It’s not solutions-based discussion, and often does little except make the people involved upset and angry. However, there’s a line that’s clearly been crossed, and it’s no longer responsible, I think, to sit and wag a finger at people who are upset. Watch the video in the link that **asahi** just posted. This is a sitting President. Never in my life have I ever heard a President speak that way. It’s scary, and the people in the room with him are terrifying. To continue your metaphor, the governing party in America at the moment has turned up the temperature, and they’re not going to turn it down if Democrats just relax and calm down. The message of Trump (and of the Republican party that stands by him) is that illegal immigrants are stealing American privilege and money, Jews are buying the government and manipulating media, the queers are going to rape you, and the blacks are going to shoot you, but DONALD TRUMP is there to help. And the more you fear those things, the more he wins. And if it takes bloodying the faces of a few (or many) immigrants, Jews, queers, and blacks, well, they’re out to get us, and probably deserve it. This message has been clear for quite some time, and it is only getting more direct and more extreme. Things are not “getting out of hand” because the two parties are fighting particularly loudly, they’re “getting out of hand” because one party has latched on to and is feeding off of the fears mentioned above. Tu quoques have nothing to do with it. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/31 "2018-11-01T15:55:23Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m not certain you could recognize a productive conversation even if it was taking place on a factory floor surrounded by active assembly lines and was strictly about how much production the factory had enjoyed in the last quarter and how much productivity it could expect in the next quarter and the factory’s only product was DVDs explaining the Product Rule. There is stupid, then there is Baldrick-Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/32 "2018-11-01T16:14:11Z")
And stop calling me a monkey, you fuckin’ racist. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/33 "2018-11-01T16:20:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > There is stupid, then there is Baldrick-Stupid. I think Baldrick could recognize his limitations while octopus’s most crippling limitation is the inability to do the same. I personally have to hope that if I was making a sincere effort to describe and justify my political views on this board (as I have numerous times) and I experienced even a fraction of the simple _factual_ correction that octopus gets, I would become introspective and examine my preconceptions rather than redoubling my effort to advance my views again, only louder because that’s SURE to work sooner or later. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/34 "2018-11-01T16:49:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I think Baldrick could recognize his limitations while octopus’s most crippling limitation is the inability to do the same. I personally have to hope that if I was making a sincere effort to describe and justify my political views on this board (as I have numerous times) and I experienced even a fraction of the simple _factual_ correction that octopus gets, I would become introspective and examine my preconceptions rather than redoubling my effort to advance my views again, only louder because that’s SURE to work sooner or later. My sincerest apologies…to Baldrick. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/35 "2018-11-01T16:58:54Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s like you are all monkeys howling and beating your fists at the other tribe of monkeys, in order to build up your sense of superiority enough to attack. And, of course the other tribe of monkeys is doing the exact same thing. > > It is obvious to me that Bernie Sanders does not his supporters shooting at Congressman, that Black Lives Matter leaders don’t want policemen shot, that Democratic leaders don’t want people punching or trying to knife their political opponents, and don’t really approve of having their opponents’ headquarters shot up, etc, etc. > > Similarly, I don’t think Trump wants anybody shooting up synagogues, running over protestors, mailing bombs or any of that shit. > > This is one of these that is not a political problem. It is a human problem. There is a certain percentage of nuts who are going to react violently and stupidly in support of whatever it is that they care about or served as their justification. > > Why on earth would you care which is side is currently in the lead for having the biggest nuts? Why would you stand on this? What will you do if next week somebody on the left commits a bigger and more atrocious act? Will you concede that the right has the moral high ground because they are less violent? > > This kind of thinking is so fucking incredibly stupid it literally makes me ill. > > Why is it that somebody has to be better? Why do there have to be these tribal lines where one side are the good guys and one side are the bad guys? We literally live in the best times there have ever been in perhaps the most free society that has ever existed and we all basically agree on 90-95% of everything. > > The violence is a function of the heightened political rhetoric raising the temperature. The higher the temperature the more violent nut jobs feel justified. > > If you want to be a good guy, if you want to be a good citizen, than you need to lower the temperature. You need to think and say nice things about people you disagree with and force yourself to see them as worthy equals, especially when the disagreement is severe fundamental and felt deeply. > > As a whole we are acting like those two monkey tribes, howling and jeering within our respective groups to build ourselves up and make our opponents look small. > This is supposed to be a message board of critical thinkers. Your just acting like monkeys. Stop it. Rise above your primate instincts. You are not better, more righteous, less violent or anything else. You are just more jabbering monkeys adding to the noise, raising the temperature. > > Lower the temperature. > It’s important. These things get out of hand really fast. A lot of people could get killed. > > In this respect, do not be on the side of the right or the left. Be on the side of those who are trying to focus on the bonds of commslity and who are lowering the temperature of the overheated hyperbole and political rhetoric. You voted for the candidate with the slogan, “Love trumps hate,” I assume? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/36 "2018-11-01T17:02:10Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > It’s like you are all monkeys howling and beating your fists at the other tribe of monkeys, in order to build up your sense of superiority enough to attack. And, of course the other tribe of monkeys is doing the exact same thing. > > It is obvious to me that Bernie Sanders does not his supporters shooting at Congressman, that Black Lives Matter leaders don’t want policemen shot, that Democratic leaders don’t want people punching or trying to knife their political opponents, and don’t really approve of having their opponents’ headquarters shot up, etc, etc. > > Similarly, I don’t think Trump wants anybody shooting up synagogues, running over protestors, mailing bombs or any of that shit. > > This is one of these that is not a political problem. It is a human problem. There is a certain percentage of nuts who are going to react violently and stupidly in support of whatever it is that they care about or served as their justification. > > Why on earth would you care which is side is currently in the lead for having the biggest nuts? Because unlike you, we believe there IS a connection between what the leaders and major propagandists on each side are saying, and what their followers do. I don’t know what Bernie Sanders **wants** , nor do I know what Donald Trump **wants**. I’m not a fucking mind-reader. All I can go by is what they publicly say and do. When Trump and Fox and numerous GOP politicians say that Dems and the news media aren’t merely wrong, but are the enemy, there’s no equivalent in what Bernie Sanders or any other major Dem leader has said. You can always nutpick and find someone on the Internet who’s said just about anything, but by and large, people on the left don’t demonize those on the right - unless ‘describing things they’ve actually done’ is ‘demonizing.’ But the thing is, people _kill_ enemies. And when Trump and Fox and numerous GOP politicians spread the message that the refugee convoy (still nearly a thousand miles from our border) is composed of gangs and Middle Eastern terrorists that are preparing to invade our country, and that Democrats and the Jewish financier George Soros are behind the whole thing, that creates a fictitious but dangerous world view, one where it makes sense to send bombs to Soros and Dem politicians (already defined as the enemy) and kill the Jews who are behind this assault on our country. There’s no even remote equivalent to that on the left. And that is why > [@Republicans can just go straight to fucking hell](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-can-just-go-straight-to-fucking-hell/822918/219): > > I was totaling up the number of people killed by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the like in the incidents documented by the SPLC for [2017](https://www.splcenter.org/20180723/terror-right#2017) and [2018](https://www.splcenter.org/20180723/terror-right#2018). The total came to 36 killed and at least 43 injured. And that was before last week, so now the grisly total is up to 49 of each. And going the other way, you’ve got one lefty injuring Steve Scalise. If this is merely a human problem and not a political problem, how the hell did it get so lopsided? This conversation feels like the one at the beginning of _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead_, where Guildenstern gets increasingly agitated as the streak of coin flips coming up ‘heads’ extends into the seventies and eighties, and Rosencrantz says, “Getting a bit of a bore, isn’t it?” ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/37 "2018-11-01T17:04:34Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Even taking this as factual (which I do not, but for the sake of argument), this isn’t about the Republican Party or the Loony Left party. It’s about the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. It’s right there in the title! > > Do you agree or disagree that actual elected officials in the R party have done more embracing of their loony fringe than the Democrats? It’s pretty easy to cite mainstream Rs embracing conspiracy theories and lies about Democrats and minorities. I think it’s much harder to do the same for the Democrats. > > That said, I thought it was a law of nature that, no matter how crazy the Right gets, the other side is always exactly as bad. That certainly seems to be the case if you watch any pundits on the talk shows. Can we discount Trump for these calculations? > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I’m not certain you could recognize a productive conversation even if it was taking place on a factory floor surrounded by active assembly lines and was strictly about how much production the factory had enjoyed in the last quarter and how much productivity it could expect in the next quarter and the factory’s only product was DVDs explaining the Product Rule. Trying to be Stranger-lite? > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > And stop calling me a monkey, you fuckin’ racist. That’s pretty lame. Oh no! Called a monkey in the Pit. And you wonder why people don’t take that’s racist! That’s sexist! seriously. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/38 "2018-11-01T17:05:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Because unlike you, we believe there IS a connection between what the leaders and major propagandists on each side are saying, and what their followers do. > > I don’t know what Bernie Sanders **wants** , nor do I know what Donald Trump **wants**. I’m not a fucking mind-reader. All I can go by is what they publicly say and do. > > When Trump and Fox and numerous GOP politicians say that Dems and the news media aren’t merely wrong, but are the enemy, there’s no equivalent in what Bernie Sanders or any other major Dem leader has said. You can always nutpick and find someone on the Internet who’s said just about anything, but by and large, people on the left don’t demonize those on the right - unless ‘describing things they’ve actually done’ is ‘demonizing.’ > > But the thing is, people _kill_ enemies. > > And when Trump and Fox and numerous GOP politicians spread the message that the refugee convoy (still nearly a thousand miles from our border) is composed of gangs and Middle Eastern terrorists that are preparing to invade our country, and that Democrats and the Jewish financier George Soros are behind the whole thing, that creates a fictitious but dangerous world view, one where it makes sense to send bombs to Soros and Dem politicians (already defined as the enemy) and kill the Jews who are behind this assault on our country. > > There’s no even remote equivalent to that on the left. > > And that is why > And that was before last week, so now the grisly total is up to 49 of each. > > And going the other way, you’ve got one lefty injuring Steve Scalise. > > If this is merely a human problem and not a political problem, how the hell did it get so lopsided? > > This conversation feels like the one at the beginning of _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead_, where Guildenstern gets increasingly agitated as the streak of coin flips coming up ‘heads’ extends into the seventies and eighties, and Rosencrantz says, “Getting a bit of a bore, isn’t it?” Yeah. All that dehumanizing language equating all Republicans with Nazis, even when it’s prevalent among the nuts on this board, doesn’t actually exist.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/39 "2018-11-01T17:10:39Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Lower the temperature. One side is doing bad shit, and the other side is pointing out the bad shit that the other side’s doing. Yeah, both sides are equivalently raising the temperature. I suppose the Dems could ‘lower the temperature’ by ceasing to be an opposition party, and letting Trump do whatever the fuck he wants, but that’s about the only way, and that would be pretty goddamn stupid. So fuck that stupid shit. Only one party can lower the temperature, and it’s not going to. > [@](#): > > It’s important. These things get out of hand really fast. A lot of people could get killed. Please note the death toll from my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828/40 "2018-11-01T17:15:18Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Yeah. All that dehumanizing language equating all Republicans with Nazis, even when it’s prevalent among the nuts on this board, doesn’t actually exist.:rolleyes: 1. No, it’s not prevalent here on the Dope. 2. The condemnation of \*actual \*Nazis by the President of the United States has been perfunctory at most. He’s not a Nazi, but the Nazis sure seem to regard him as an ally. Rep. Steve King pals around with actual Nazis, and his party has done its level best to take minimal notice of it. The GOP has a number of blatant white supremacists running for Congress this year, and probably a ton of them running at the state level across the country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-party-has-the-mobs/823828.md?page=3)