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Please don't draw these kinds of false equivalences between normal behavior and authoritarianism, as it really muddies the waters and makes it easier for real a

Please don't draw these kinds of false equivalences between normal behavior and authoritarianism, as it really muddies the waters and makes it easier for real authoritarians to take advantage. It's really unfair to compare dang to the secret police, when most of what he does is encourage polite debate. I've gotten real death threats from real fascists and I assure you HN mod staff are not fascists. (n.b. being intolerant of the intolerant is required for a tolerant society.) Some of us have natural tendencies not to be sheep. I have walked out of rooms of twenty of my friends because what I thought they were doing was just going along with immoral cause. I've refused tasks at work because it wasn't appropriate. There are lots of artistic and revolutionary types, too. All it takes is standing up and a little guts.

cmroanirgo 7y ago
Firstly, I have loads of respect for @dang and the community here. I think a slight misunderstanding occurred here. I made no claim to facist behaviours nor tendencies toward such: Just the claim that we all want to belong, that we all want to be seen, and that we also call others out for behaviour that doesn't match our view of the rules (such as this feedback). I too walk away from immoral things... but that doesn't mean I'm not sheep like in other areas of my life (eg. blindly obeying a red traffic light when there's no one else on the road) This is what the teacher was teaching the kids in the article: "You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying"
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  > blindly obeying a red traffic light when there's no one else on the road It's funny how that is. I don't know anybody who would run a stale red light in the middle of the night when noone else is around, including me. I'm sure it happens, but I'm also sure that it's rare. In the West, we've been conditioned to blindly obey traffic signals. On the other hand, most of us have stretched the yellow into the red. What's the difference there? Running a stale red is blatant, but running a fresh red is justifiable because "it's just a few seconds!".
throw_xyzyz 7y ago
I've gotten death threats from progressives because I said that race is a capitalist invention to divide the working class and black lives matter is as damaging to labor solidarity as the KKK. The more individualistic someone wants to pretend to be in the year of our lord 2019 the more of a sheep they are.
PavlovsCat 7y ago
I'd like to help you with your comment being grayed out, but excitingly, since a few weeks HN doesn't let me upvote comments anymore -- the vote button disappears and the unvote link appears, but the color doesn't budge, neither does the commenter karma. I can upvote stories just fine, but not comments. So, yeah.

cmroanirgo 7y ago

Firstly, I have loads of respect for @dang and the community here. I think a slight misunderstanding occurred here. I made no claim to facist behaviours nor tendencies toward such: Just the claim that we all want to belong, that we all want to be seen, and that we also call others out for behaviour that doesn't match our view of the rules (such as this feedback). I too walk away from immoral things... but that doesn't mean I'm not sheep like in other areas of my life (eg. blindly obeying a red traffic light when there's no one else on the road) This is what the teacher was teaching the kids in the article: "You are no better or worse than the German Nazis we have been studying"

frosted-flakes 7y ago
> blindly obeying a red traffic light when there's no one else on the road It's funny how that is. I don't know anybody who would run a stale red light in the middle of the night when noone else is around, including me. I'm sure it happens, but I'm also sure that it's rare. In the West, we've been conditioned to blindly obey traffic signals. On the other hand, most of us have stretched the yellow into the red. What's the difference there? Running a stale red is blatant, but running a fresh red is justifiable because "it's just a few seconds!".

throw_xyzyz 7y ago

I've gotten death threats from progressives because I said that race is a capitalist invention to divide the working class and black lives matter is as damaging to labor solidarity as the KKK. The more individualistic someone wants to pretend to be in the year of our lord 2019 the more of a sheep they are.

PavlovsCat 7y ago

I'd like to help you with your comment being grayed out, but excitingly, since a few weeks HN doesn't let me upvote comments anymore -- the vote button disappears and the unvote link appears, but the color doesn't budge, neither does the commenter karma. I can upvote stories just fine, but not comments. So, yeah.