8 ms·

Which part of the sentence "Calling for Execution of Dr Fauci and FBI Director Wray" is a silly figure of speech? That's how Steve Bannon's Facebook page report

Which part of the sentence "Calling for Execution of Dr Fauci and FBI Director Wray" is a silly figure of speech? That's how Steve Bannon's Facebook page reported on his banning. That's a verbatim quote. Which part of the words "Calling for Execution" is a playful, fun idiom that former White House officials get to use?

chrisco255 6y ago
It's not the middle ages any more, no one puts heads on a pike, literally. It's a figure of speech. Just like "getting the axe" is a figure of speech for getting fired.
- AaronFriel 6y ago
  Is "Calling for Execution" a figure of speech for something?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - alessivs 6y ago
    Do we rely on Bannon's account (which is available, and different from these three words that keep being repeated, as stated by others), or the choice of words of a click-baity editorial summary of the Fan Page, or Reuters' alternative choice: "urged beheading"? EDIT: As noticed below, I have edited this comment to include Reuters.
    - AaronFriel 6y ago
      A Facebook Fan Page is a business page that behaves similarly to a Facebook Profile. In this case, it is a verified Facebook Fan Page that represents and hosts content by Stephen K. Bannon. It is equivalent to an official YouTube channel or Twitter account. It is not a "fan page" in the sense that you mean. Edit: It looks like you may have edited your comment. I think it's important to emphasize that this isn't some random Facebook "fan page", but the official page of Steve Bannon, and it's a verified business page.
  - chrisco255 6y ago
    It's hyperbole. Right now, people in government don't really face a lot of consequences for the things they mess up. In fact, the worse thing that seems to happen to them is they get reassigned to some other branch in the bureaucracy, maybe a slightly less prestigious title. A lot of people have that kind of frustration and express it in that way.
amadeuspagel 6y ago
I'm guessing that Bannon's facebook page reported that this is what facebook gave as justification for banning him, not that that's what he actually meant.
oh_sigh 6y ago
The original post starts with the phrase "I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England." before getting into the beheading bit. Do you believe Bannon is actually pining for a time machine as well?
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Do you believe Bannon is actually pining for a time machine as well? No, I think Bannon is actually pining for (and has, in fact, had notable success in producing, though not to the extent he clearly prefers) a regression of social norms in the area of politics, including and especially around political violence.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
imgabe 6y ago
What do you think should be done with the activists who erected a guillotine in front of Jeff Bezos' house in DC? Should they be put in jail for attempted murder? The only possible interpretation is that they literally intend to drag Bezos from his house and publicly behead him. How about Kathy Griffin, who posted a video of herself beheading Trump in effigy? She still has a Facebook account as far as I can tell.
- AaronFriel 6y ago
  Perhaps they should also be banned from Facebook.
- awb 6y ago
  US citizens have broad rights to public free speech. Corporations have broad rights to self-regulate their platforms. No one is saying Bannon broke the law. It's just interesting how Twitter and FB are making different decisions about the kind of platforms they want to have.
  - imgabe 6y ago
    In your estimation, if Facebook doesn't censor this speech, then that makes them a certain "kind" of platform? It means that Facebook is pro-beheading? So how come if the US government doesn't censor it, it doesn't make the US a pro-beheading country? Empirically, compared to other countries the US manages to be pretty anti-beheading despite tolerating speech about beheading. Do you think that any failure to censor speech constitutes an endorsement of that speech? Is it not possible to allow speech you disagree with? Does Facebook the company have to endorse every opinion someone posts on it?
    - awb 6y ago
      I didn't attempt to answer any of those questions, but instead simply tried to illustrate that Bannon went beyond metaphor in his words. I don't like censorship and I don't like public speech that encourages violence. Unfortunately, those two stances are at odds sometimes and there are warnings from history on both sides.
isoskeles 6y ago
You keep bringing this up. It's disingenuous considering I can google that exact phrase and find other headlines. The fact is, these were headlines on other sites, that were then linked to populist.press (I assume Steve Bannon has some affiliation with the site). https://web.archive.org/web/20201106150453/https://populist.press/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201106150453/https://populist.... The second headline, "Calling for Execution", links to this article: 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... As such, the headline is, without question, someone else's description of the events.

chrisco255 6y ago

It's not the middle ages any more, no one puts heads on a pike, literally. It's a figure of speech. Just like "getting the axe" is a figure of speech for getting fired.

AaronFriel 6y ago
Is "Calling for Execution" a figure of speech for something?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- alessivs 6y ago
  Do we rely on Bannon's account (which is available, and different from these three words that keep being repeated, as stated by others), or the choice of words of a click-baity editorial summary of the Fan Page, or Reuters' alternative choice: "urged beheading"? EDIT: As noticed below, I have edited this comment to include Reuters.
  - AaronFriel 6y ago
    A Facebook Fan Page is a business page that behaves similarly to a Facebook Profile. In this case, it is a verified Facebook Fan Page that represents and hosts content by Stephen K. Bannon. It is equivalent to an official YouTube channel or Twitter account. It is not a "fan page" in the sense that you mean. Edit: It looks like you may have edited your comment. I think it's important to emphasize that this isn't some random Facebook "fan page", but the official page of Steve Bannon, and it's a verified business page.
- chrisco255 6y ago
  It's hyperbole. Right now, people in government don't really face a lot of consequences for the things they mess up. In fact, the worse thing that seems to happen to them is they get reassigned to some other branch in the bureaucracy, maybe a slightly less prestigious title. A lot of people have that kind of frustration and express it in that way.

amadeuspagel 6y ago

I'm guessing that Bannon's facebook page reported that this is what facebook gave as justification for banning him, not that that's what he actually meant.

oh_sigh 6y ago

The original post starts with the phrase "I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England." before getting into the beheading bit. Do you believe Bannon is actually pining for a time machine as well?

dragonwriter 6y ago
> Do you believe Bannon is actually pining for a time machine as well? No, I think Bannon is actually pining for (and has, in fact, had notable success in producing, though not to the extent he clearly prefers) a regression of social norms in the area of politics, including and especially around political violence.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

imgabe 6y ago

What do you think should be done with the activists who erected a guillotine in front of Jeff Bezos' house in DC? Should they be put in jail for attempted murder? The only possible interpretation is that they literally intend to drag Bezos from his house and publicly behead him. How about Kathy Griffin, who posted a video of herself beheading Trump in effigy? She still has a Facebook account as far as I can tell.

AaronFriel 6y ago
Perhaps they should also be banned from Facebook.
awb 6y ago
US citizens have broad rights to public free speech. Corporations have broad rights to self-regulate their platforms. No one is saying Bannon broke the law. It's just interesting how Twitter and FB are making different decisions about the kind of platforms they want to have.
- imgabe 6y ago
  In your estimation, if Facebook doesn't censor this speech, then that makes them a certain "kind" of platform? It means that Facebook is pro-beheading? So how come if the US government doesn't censor it, it doesn't make the US a pro-beheading country? Empirically, compared to other countries the US manages to be pretty anti-beheading despite tolerating speech about beheading. Do you think that any failure to censor speech constitutes an endorsement of that speech? Is it not possible to allow speech you disagree with? Does Facebook the company have to endorse every opinion someone posts on it?
  - awb 6y ago
    I didn't attempt to answer any of those questions, but instead simply tried to illustrate that Bannon went beyond metaphor in his words. I don't like censorship and I don't like public speech that encourages violence. Unfortunately, those two stances are at odds sometimes and there are warnings from history on both sides.

isoskeles 6y ago

You keep bringing this up. It's disingenuous considering I can google that exact phrase and find other headlines. The fact is, these were headlines on other sites, that were then linked to populist.press (I assume Steve Bannon has some affiliation with the site). https://web.archive.org/web/20201106150453/https://populist.press/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201106150453/https://populist.... The second headline, "Calling for Execution", links to this article: 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... As such, the headline is, without question, someone else's description of the events.