6 ms·

Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes...or as adults do we realize he

Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes...or as adults do we realize he was using hyperbole? How many times have you said something along the lines of "I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!"

cool_dude85 6y ago
Do we all really believe that if you or I said this, rather than a famous white nationalist, that Facebook would give us the benefit of the doubt? Or would our accounts be immediately banned, no questions asked, please do not attempt to contact a human being for an appeal?
- googthrowaway42 6y ago
  Steve Bannon isn't a white nationalist and you would know this if you listened to even 5 seconds of his show. Why engage in such lying?
TameAntelope 6y ago
I actually don't say stuff like that because I think it's inappropriate and way too aggressive.
sumedh 6y ago
How many followers do you have that will listen to you when you make that statement? People like Bannon and Trump have lots of followers and someone of them do end up doing things like attempting to kill politicians or trying to kidnap them. > or as adults do we realize he was using hyperbole or as adults Bannon and Trump should realize that their words have consequences and some of their followers wont know if its hyperbole. You can still make your point without the violent language.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
standardUser 6y ago
A friend saying "I'll kill you" to your face is slightly different than a person saying "I'll kill these specific high-profile government officials" to an audience of millions.
- imgabe 6y ago
  If your boss says in a meeting "We need to get this done or heads are gonna roll" do you think he literally means he will cut off people's heads and bowl them down the hallway of the office?
  - standardUser 6y ago
    It would be inappropriate if the boss said "Susan Williams and Mark Goldwyn, if you don't get this done I'm going to cut your heads off and mount them on the main entrance as a warning to the other employees". Notice how my example has similarities to what Bannon actually said, and therefore sounds far more inappropriate. Let's also keep in mind that this hypothetical "boss" is probably not linked to various groups known for frequently making death threats and engaging in political violence.
    - imgabe 6y ago
      Both are inappropriate, but even your example I would not take literally unless it were 1350 and my boss were a feudal lord.
      - ZeteticElench 6y ago
        Which is why Bannon says he would like to go back to those times.
        imgabe 6y ago
        And as we all know time travel is a real thing and there is a real risk that he will send the world back in time 700 years.
cpufry 6y ago
lol hyperbole defense hasnt kept muslims in this country from harassment from the state and its citizens.
jacobolus 6y ago
> How many times have you said something along the lines of “I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!” But his threat was much more graphic and specific. How many times have you e.g. emailed your friend’s whole family with a message along the lines of “If you post that picture online I will eviscerate you and then hang you from your mother’s dining room ceiling by your intestines as a warning.” That is not normal friendly exaggerated banter, and would be pretty hard to play off as a joke.
- googthrowaway42 6y ago
  "Heads on a pike" is a common expression. "Eviscerate you and then hang you from your mother’s dining room ceiling by your intestines" is not.
  - jacobolus 6y ago
    “Heads on pikes” is used as a hyperbolic shorthand for any kind of public shaming, especially when someone is fired. But “Mount their heads on pikes at the corners of the White House as a warning the way they used to do to traitors in Tudor England” is nothing close to a common expression.
    - googthrowaway42 6y ago
      That's not a direct quote so why put it in quotes? Why can't you just be honest about what the guy actually said?
- ZeteticElench 6y ago
  It is actually a completely insane thing to say.
AaronFriel 6y ago
Well, that depends, how many times did those people follow up and clarify that they were, quote "Calling for Execution of Dr Fauci and FBI Director Wray". How many times and in how many ways is one allowed to intimate that they believe someone should be murdered before it's unacceptable to you?
- isoskeles 6y ago
  He's quoting another headline: https://www.thewrap.com/steve-bannon-suspended-by-twitter-after-calling-for-execution-of-dr-fauci-and-fbi-director-wray/ https://www.thewrap.com/steve-bannon-suspended-by-twitter-af... I am going to post this as a reply to every single one of your comments that repeats this lie.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
strawberrypuree 6y ago
Call for the assassination of the President on your verified, highly followed Twitter account and, when the Secret Service calls you up, ask them if they really believe you were literally saying it or if, as adults you can realize you were being hyperbolic. There are some things we don’t give the benefit of the doubt for. Murdering public officials is one of them.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mopsi 6y ago
> Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes...or as adults do we realize he was using hyperbole? Book reading has been in decline for a long time, and the loss of high level literacy and the ability to sense nuance and figurative language is a sign of that. A lot of people indeed can't understand how the quote could have other meanings besides the literal one, because they've rarely encountered such use of language before.
- ZeteticElench 6y ago
  There was no nuance in what Bannon said.
ZeteticElench 6y ago
I think he was clearly calling for them to be beheaded.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes... I believe Bannon was genuinely attempting to fuel the escalation of both disorganized and, through normalization, top-down political violence and intimidation against people insufficiently adherent to his vision; I don't think the statement had either literal or figurative, hyperbolic or otherwise, meaning beyond that intended effect. Discussing “meaning” of a speech act assumes that the acts intended to operate on a certain rational level, which I don't think actually applies here. But, inasmuch as an interpretation of the intended effect centered around meaning is appropriate at all, I think the literal meaning is the closest. > How many times have you said something along the lines of "I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!" That's not even remotely analogous to what Bannon did here. He wasn't personally and privately addressing the person who was the subject in a context (whether immediate or through a preexisting relationship) that undermined the literal meaning of the expression. His act differed on literally every meaningful aspect from that.
rorykoehler 6y ago
Stop making excuses for scum. It's time we held people like Bannon to account for what they say. Hyperbole has no place in public political discourse. When you say something make sure you mean it. We only need one spark to cause a civil war. This isn't funny.

cool_dude85 6y ago

Do we all really believe that if you or I said this, rather than a famous white nationalist, that Facebook would give us the benefit of the doubt? Or would our accounts be immediately banned, no questions asked, please do not attempt to contact a human being for an appeal?

googthrowaway42 6y ago
Steve Bannon isn't a white nationalist and you would know this if you listened to even 5 seconds of his show. Why engage in such lying?

TameAntelope 6y ago

I actually don't say stuff like that because I think it's inappropriate and way too aggressive.

sumedh 6y ago

How many followers do you have that will listen to you when you make that statement? People like Bannon and Trump have lots of followers and someone of them do end up doing things like attempting to kill politicians or trying to kidnap them. > or as adults do we realize he was using hyperbole or as adults Bannon and Trump should realize that their words have consequences and some of their followers wont know if its hyperbole. You can still make your point without the violent language.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

standardUser 6y ago

A friend saying "I'll kill you" to your face is slightly different than a person saying "I'll kill these specific high-profile government officials" to an audience of millions.

imgabe 6y ago
If your boss says in a meeting "We need to get this done or heads are gonna roll" do you think he literally means he will cut off people's heads and bowl them down the hallway of the office?
- standardUser 6y ago
  It would be inappropriate if the boss said "Susan Williams and Mark Goldwyn, if you don't get this done I'm going to cut your heads off and mount them on the main entrance as a warning to the other employees". Notice how my example has similarities to what Bannon actually said, and therefore sounds far more inappropriate. Let's also keep in mind that this hypothetical "boss" is probably not linked to various groups known for frequently making death threats and engaging in political violence.
  - imgabe 6y ago
    Both are inappropriate, but even your example I would not take literally unless it were 1350 and my boss were a feudal lord.
    - ZeteticElench 6y ago
      Which is why Bannon says he would like to go back to those times.
      - imgabe 6y ago
        And as we all know time travel is a real thing and there is a real risk that he will send the world back in time 700 years.

cpufry 6y ago

lol hyperbole defense hasnt kept muslims in this country from harassment from the state and its citizens.

jacobolus 6y ago

> How many times have you said something along the lines of “I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!” But his threat was much more graphic and specific. How many times have you e.g. emailed your friend’s whole family with a message along the lines of “If you post that picture online I will eviscerate you and then hang you from your mother’s dining room ceiling by your intestines as a warning.” That is not normal friendly exaggerated banter, and would be pretty hard to play off as a joke.

googthrowaway42 6y ago
"Heads on a pike" is a common expression. "Eviscerate you and then hang you from your mother’s dining room ceiling by your intestines" is not.
- jacobolus 6y ago
  “Heads on pikes” is used as a hyperbolic shorthand for any kind of public shaming, especially when someone is fired. But “Mount their heads on pikes at the corners of the White House as a warning the way they used to do to traitors in Tudor England” is nothing close to a common expression.
  - googthrowaway42 6y ago
    That's not a direct quote so why put it in quotes? Why can't you just be honest about what the guy actually said?
ZeteticElench 6y ago
It is actually a completely insane thing to say.

AaronFriel 6y ago

Well, that depends, how many times did those people follow up and clarify that they were, quote "Calling for Execution of Dr Fauci and FBI Director Wray". How many times and in how many ways is one allowed to intimate that they believe someone should be murdered before it's unacceptable to you?

isoskeles 6y ago
He's quoting another headline: https://www.thewrap.com/steve-bannon-suspended-by-twitter-after-calling-for-execution-of-dr-fauci-and-fbi-director-wray/ https://www.thewrap.com/steve-bannon-suspended-by-twitter-af... I am going to post this as a reply to every single one of your comments that repeats this lie.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

strawberrypuree 6y ago

Call for the assassination of the President on your verified, highly followed Twitter account and, when the Secret Service calls you up, ask them if they really believe you were literally saying it or if, as adults you can realize you were being hyperbolic. There are some things we don’t give the benefit of the doubt for. Murdering public officials is one of them.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mopsi 6y ago

> Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes...or as adults do we realize he was using hyperbole? Book reading has been in decline for a long time, and the loss of high level literacy and the ability to sense nuance and figurative language is a sign of that. A lot of people indeed can't understand how the quote could have other meanings besides the literal one, because they've rarely encountered such use of language before.

ZeteticElench 6y ago
There was no nuance in what Bannon said.

ZeteticElench 6y ago

I think he was clearly calling for them to be beheaded.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> Do we all really believe that Bannon was actually, literally saying he would be-head these people and put their heads on spikes... I believe Bannon was genuinely attempting to fuel the escalation of both disorganized and, through normalization, top-down political violence and intimidation against people insufficiently adherent to his vision; I don't think the statement had either literal or figurative, hyperbolic or otherwise, meaning beyond that intended effect. Discussing “meaning” of a speech act assumes that the acts intended to operate on a certain rational level, which I don't think actually applies here. But, inasmuch as an interpretation of the intended effect centered around meaning is appropriate at all, I think the literal meaning is the closest. > How many times have you said something along the lines of "I will kill you if you put that picture of me on Instagram!" That's not even remotely analogous to what Bannon did here. He wasn't personally and privately addressing the person who was the subject in a context (whether immediate or through a preexisting relationship) that undermined the literal meaning of the expression. His act differed on literally every meaningful aspect from that.

rorykoehler 6y ago

Stop making excuses for scum. It's time we held people like Bannon to account for what they say. Hyperbole has no place in public political discourse. When you say something make sure you mean it. We only need one spark to cause a civil war. This isn't funny.