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Sort of a strange issue with the premise, right? On one hand, "I won't debate you because it only brings legitimacy to your hateful cause" is debatably valid (I

Sort of a strange issue with the premise, right? On one hand, "I won't debate you because it only brings legitimacy to your hateful cause" is debatably valid (I disagree somewhat, but don't think the choice is wrong by any means) - but the post itself mentions the person she refused to debate six times. I'm not sure refusing to debate the person and then blogging about them is consistent with the point of not giving them the spotlight. Also... "Sunlight is neither literally nor figuratively the best disinfectant. Modern white supremacy does not grow like bacteria — it grows like a weed, aggressively, crowding out everything else that stretches towards the light" That's not how ideas work. Ideas spread from human being to human being - they aren't infectious like bacteria, nor do they have their own life like weeds. This is -almost- McCarthy-esque - who would often suggest communism was like a "fever" or plague.

dnissley 8y ago
The idea that fascism is growing out of control is a popular one these days, but I have yet to see anyone present hard evidence that this is really what's happening. Does anyone here think this? What's your reasoning? The people who say these things come of like they are acting in a way, like they want to play the hero in this super simplistic narrative where the bad guys are taking over the world. To me it's really off-putting because I can spot 100 of these self-righteous people for every bigot (and like 10000 of them for every actual nazi).
- joepie91_ 8y ago
  For concrete data, take a look at for example the Netherlands; where right-wing extremist parties led by Wilders and Baudet have shifted public opinion such that the 'moderate right-wing' parties have taken on considerably more xenophobic and fascist rhetoric over the past few years, because that was the only way for them to compete against Wilders' and Baudet's brand of populism. This is fundamentally the problem with fascism; it doesn't come into power through people saying "I'm a fascist". It comes into power by 'infecting' everything around it, and gradually shifting the Overton window such that the populace will eventually willingly grant power to the fascists. That also means that such a 'fascist takeover' can only be detected and interpreted through a trend in public discourse, not as an easily calculable single metric.
- BLKNSLVR 8y ago
  Brexit, Trump, 5-eyes surveillance, NSA's snooping on US citizens, China's... anything (social credit system being the latest in the headlines I've seen), Australia's proposed anti-encryption "stuff". What I'll grant is that maybe it's not growing out of control. Maybe it's grown out of control. Maybe it's more highly publicised, the flip-side is that could mean transparency has improved. Maybe it's just the ebb and flow of complex human society after enough time without a world-scale war.
BLKNSLVR 8y ago
"Ideas spread from human being to human being" Pedantically, this is what defines infectious isn't it? Bad ideas spread to vulnerable people the same way as infections. McCarthy provided a multi-generational innoculation to communism that was so effective it also innoculated against socialism, to the detriment of the US, pushing it towards the ultra-capitalism it's owned by today.

dnissley 8y ago

The idea that fascism is growing out of control is a popular one these days, but I have yet to see anyone present hard evidence that this is really what's happening. Does anyone here think this? What's your reasoning? The people who say these things come of like they are acting in a way, like they want to play the hero in this super simplistic narrative where the bad guys are taking over the world. To me it's really off-putting because I can spot 100 of these self-righteous people for every bigot (and like 10000 of them for every actual nazi).

joepie91_ 8y ago
For concrete data, take a look at for example the Netherlands; where right-wing extremist parties led by Wilders and Baudet have shifted public opinion such that the 'moderate right-wing' parties have taken on considerably more xenophobic and fascist rhetoric over the past few years, because that was the only way for them to compete against Wilders' and Baudet's brand of populism. This is fundamentally the problem with fascism; it doesn't come into power through people saying "I'm a fascist". It comes into power by 'infecting' everything around it, and gradually shifting the Overton window such that the populace will eventually willingly grant power to the fascists. That also means that such a 'fascist takeover' can only be detected and interpreted through a trend in public discourse, not as an easily calculable single metric.
BLKNSLVR 8y ago
Brexit, Trump, 5-eyes surveillance, NSA's snooping on US citizens, China's... anything (social credit system being the latest in the headlines I've seen), Australia's proposed anti-encryption "stuff". What I'll grant is that maybe it's not growing out of control. Maybe it's grown out of control. Maybe it's more highly publicised, the flip-side is that could mean transparency has improved. Maybe it's just the ebb and flow of complex human society after enough time without a world-scale war.

BLKNSLVR 8y ago

"Ideas spread from human being to human being" Pedantically, this is what defines infectious isn't it? Bad ideas spread to vulnerable people the same way as infections. McCarthy provided a multi-generational innoculation to communism that was so effective it also innoculated against socialism, to the detriment of the US, pushing it towards the ultra-capitalism it's owned by today.