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It's more than that though. Liberalism is a religion, sure, but there's a right wing equivalent too that's just as fervent. (No, it's not Nazism, though that is

by joemi 8y ago

It's more than that though. Liberalism is a religion, sure, but there's a right wing equivalent too that's just as fervent. (No, it's not Nazism, though that isn't to say that's not a threat too.) I think it's just the polarization of the parties. Both of the main sociopolitical parties in the US have become so vehemently polarized that they view each other as the greatest threat to the country. In turn, you're either entirely 100% with them, or your clearly someone from the other party and you're the enemy.

yasp 8y ago
What is the right-wing ideological equivalent where its adherents would attempt to deplatform, smear, etc. someone for violating its dogma, and what is the dogma?
- joemi 8y ago
  Put simply: Pretty much most of what Trump stands for. In a way, he's even the "religious leader".
- rootusrootus 8y ago
  "patriotism"
- happytoexplain 8y ago
  There's plenty of extreme harassment, attacks, and "shouting down" coming from the right in response to any ideological disagreement from the left. Worse, explicit calls to violence (that have been answered) and encouragement of hatred from people all the way up and down the chain, from anonymous internet posters to the president. I'm not saying this is worse than the equivalent from the left, but to say it's not there is naive. Additionally, as far as I can tell, nearly all of the major instances of deplatforming of "the right" have really been deplatforming of meaningless hateful garbage or calls to violence that violate terms of service, but have been framed as attacks on the right, which seems like a really awful mischaracterization of the right.
- root_axis 8y ago
  The president is the leader of a right-wing ideology and he attempted to deplatform and smear kneeling players in the NFL. He explicitly asked the NFL to fire kneeling players and smeared them by deliberately misrepresenting their stated position (that they are kneeling to protest police violence).
- slavik81 8y ago
  Anita Sarkeesian is an example. She received a barrage of violent threats over her feminist critique of video game stories. The threats basically destroyed any hope of a rational conversation.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- Sacho 8y ago
  The controversy over abortion rights is way beyond deplatforming and smearing, there's actual murders by self-described anti-abortionists. In George Tiller's case, his clinic was firebombed("deplatforming"?) and O'Reilly had criticized("smearing"?) him heavily, before the assassination.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Gee. The US spent most of the 20th C invading countries, mostly for 'violating its dogma' - for being too democratic, for not being subservient enough, in the service of US business interests, mainly. Supporting dictators, giving a lot of weapons, training torturers, subverting democracy, assisting/staging coups, etc etc from Guatemala to Iran. It's a long and well-known story.[0] Millions died. [0] Although not well-known enough. Good starting points might be the Chomsky's political books (they're extensively referenced - don't just take his word for things, read his sources too), and Scott Noble's documentaries: http://metanoia-films.org/ http://metanoia-films.org/
ObsoleteNerd 8y ago
As a non-US person with zero interest in the US at all, the whole Left vs Right thing over there looks EXACTLY like a religious war from here. Both sides are violently trying to force their beliefs on everyone else, and both sides think they're right and anyone who doesn't believe the same things as them is outright wrong and deserves to be destroyed. Anyone who doesn't take a side, is basically considered to be worth nothing, and either mocked or considered as bad as the enemy. The sheer amount of HATE that flows out of the US is mind boggling.
- vokep 8y ago
  Its Russia, and others too probably. No not that "They haxed our election!" but that they are stoking the fire. Right wing discussion is filled with cartoon-style representations of the left, and the left is vice-versa. I feel that I've seen communities of too high an overall intelligence become overtaken by the lowest quality stuff. People who attempt to discuss nuance get shouted at as being from the other side. I guess it is possible that genuine consensus in these groups has lowered in quality, but I personally can't believe that, communities I've been in for awhile changed and got very intense within the last 3 years. It's unfortunate to see.
- derefr 8y ago
  I feel like a religious war is the wrong model for the US, mostly because I've never heard of a place with a pair of religions that both have roughly half of the followers, and are just fighting over the allegiance of the last one-to-five percent; and especially a place where this is somehow a long-term equilibrium state.
  - dvtrn 8y ago
    Munster's (Germany) Rebellion comes close? As far as a moment in history, I mean.
  - LukeShu 8y ago
    Campaigning actually involves fairly little persuasion; very little fighting over that last one-to-five percent. It's mostly identifying which half of the people are already your side's followers, and encouraging/motivating them to show up and vote.

by joemi 8y ago

yasp 8y ago

What is the right-wing ideological equivalent where its adherents would attempt to deplatform, smear, etc. someone for violating its dogma, and what is the dogma?

joemi 8y ago
Put simply: Pretty much most of what Trump stands for. In a way, he's even the "religious leader".
rootusrootus 8y ago
"patriotism"
happytoexplain 8y ago
There's plenty of extreme harassment, attacks, and "shouting down" coming from the right in response to any ideological disagreement from the left. Worse, explicit calls to violence (that have been answered) and encouragement of hatred from people all the way up and down the chain, from anonymous internet posters to the president. I'm not saying this is worse than the equivalent from the left, but to say it's not there is naive. Additionally, as far as I can tell, nearly all of the major instances of deplatforming of "the right" have really been deplatforming of meaningless hateful garbage or calls to violence that violate terms of service, but have been framed as attacks on the right, which seems like a really awful mischaracterization of the right.
root_axis 8y ago
The president is the leader of a right-wing ideology and he attempted to deplatform and smear kneeling players in the NFL. He explicitly asked the NFL to fire kneeling players and smeared them by deliberately misrepresenting their stated position (that they are kneeling to protest police violence).
slavik81 8y ago
Anita Sarkeesian is an example. She received a barrage of violent threats over her feminist critique of video game stories. The threats basically destroyed any hope of a rational conversation.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
Sacho 8y ago
The controversy over abortion rights is way beyond deplatforming and smearing, there's actual murders by self-described anti-abortionists. In George Tiller's case, his clinic was firebombed("deplatforming"?) and O'Reilly had criticized("smearing"?) him heavily, before the assassination.
yesenadam 8y ago
Gee. The US spent most of the 20th C invading countries, mostly for 'violating its dogma' - for being too democratic, for not being subservient enough, in the service of US business interests, mainly. Supporting dictators, giving a lot of weapons, training torturers, subverting democracy, assisting/staging coups, etc etc from Guatemala to Iran. It's a long and well-known story.[0] Millions died. [0] Although not well-known enough. Good starting points might be the Chomsky's political books (they're extensively referenced - don't just take his word for things, read his sources too), and Scott Noble's documentaries: http://metanoia-films.org/ http://metanoia-films.org/

ObsoleteNerd 8y ago

As a non-US person with zero interest in the US at all, the whole Left vs Right thing over there looks EXACTLY like a religious war from here. Both sides are violently trying to force their beliefs on everyone else, and both sides think they're right and anyone who doesn't believe the same things as them is outright wrong and deserves to be destroyed. Anyone who doesn't take a side, is basically considered to be worth nothing, and either mocked or considered as bad as the enemy. The sheer amount of HATE that flows out of the US is mind boggling.

vokep 8y ago
Its Russia, and others too probably. No not that "They haxed our election!" but that they are stoking the fire. Right wing discussion is filled with cartoon-style representations of the left, and the left is vice-versa. I feel that I've seen communities of too high an overall intelligence become overtaken by the lowest quality stuff. People who attempt to discuss nuance get shouted at as being from the other side. I guess it is possible that genuine consensus in these groups has lowered in quality, but I personally can't believe that, communities I've been in for awhile changed and got very intense within the last 3 years. It's unfortunate to see.
derefr 8y ago
I feel like a religious war is the wrong model for the US, mostly because I've never heard of a place with a pair of religions that both have roughly half of the followers, and are just fighting over the allegiance of the last one-to-five percent; and especially a place where this is somehow a long-term equilibrium state.
- dvtrn 8y ago
  Munster's (Germany) Rebellion comes close? As far as a moment in history, I mean.
- LukeShu 8y ago
  Campaigning actually involves fairly little persuasion; very little fighting over that last one-to-five percent. It's mostly identifying which half of the people are already your side's followers, and encouraging/motivating them to show up and vote.