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Ah yes, the classic. Everybody who opposes american foreign policy is labeled. Tweet about opposing the genocide in gaza? Oh dont listen to him -- he is pro kha

Ah yes, the classic. Everybody who opposes american foreign policy is labeled. Tweet about opposing the genocide in gaza? Oh dont listen to him -- he is pro khamas. Tweet about opposing war in ukraine arguing that NATO is outdated and not in the interest of Ukrainians? Oh pay no attention to him -- he is on the communist payroll. I understand when leaders in politics or industry make these character-assasination attacks as they do it for their own interests (political or economical) but why do you do it? Why would normal people throw baseless accusations like this? What is your motivation? What skin do you have in this game? Is your argument really "Kim Dotcom is an agent because he is opposing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and he is against a forever war in Ukraine"? He is presumably some guy that youve never met that happens to be fighting against the US government and its copyright laws so why are you making these comments? Are you so passionate about copyrights because you are an artist that has lost money because of mega? What motivates you?

snapcaster 2y ago
>I understand when leaders in politics or industry make these character-assasination attacks as they do it for their own interests (political or economical) but why do you do it? Thanks for articulating this, similar idea behind my sibling comment. Sadly i think the conclusion is that the vast majority of people are small minded, spiteful, and more or less accept whatever narrative the empire feeds them. Wish it wasn't like this
- kspacewalk2 2y ago
  I agree that Kim Dotcom is not likely to be on Russia's payroll, but, as you said, he's simply small minded, spiteful, and more or less accept whatever narrative that empire feeds them.
  - SXX 2y ago
    Most likely he just hate US for a good reason and gonna support anything anti-US. In his particular case he probably just needs a country that not gonna extradite him to US no matter how bad the country is. I just seriously doubt that likes of Dotcom, Musk or Trump need to be on Putin payroll. They just all have their own agenda to sell "strong russia, good putin" narrative.
    - DSingularity 2y ago
      Yeah pretty much.
  - abdulobdul 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - kspacewalk2 2y ago
      What is "the USA dictatorship", exactly? Can you be specific? Then I'd be able to answer the second question.
Tade0 2y ago
> Tweet about opposing war in ukraine arguing that NATO is outdated and not in the interest of Ukrainians? Oh pay no attention to him -- he is on the communist payroll. Hailing from a country that joined NATO in the 90s I wouldn't brand a person arguing this as being on communist payroll - just ignorant beyond measure. Russia has been a consistently bad neighbour for decades now and I for one am happy that in my country it was the post-communists out of everyone who spearheaded the effort to have a deterrent in the form of NATO membership. Finland and Sweden appear to agree, considering how they joined the alliance. If anything, NATO is now more relevant than ever.
- macintux 2y ago
  Why do people who oppose the war in Ukraine feel it's Ukraine's responsibility to roll over and die, instead of Russia's responsibility to turn around and go home?
  - DSingularity 2y ago
    Is that truly what people who oppose the war believe? Or is that an easy strawman for you to dismiss the anti-war crowd in the eyes of those who dont know the history of this conflict?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - Fokamul 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - snapcaster 2y ago
        "only good Russians are dead Russians" It's really upsetting to hear something so dehumanizing, have you ever interacted with russian people? would you say this about any other massive group of people?
enriquec 2y ago
tribalism. Probably on the democrat side and probably because Kim has been active on X. propaganda and its effects are literally that dumb and predictable (thus the NPC label).
- underlipton 2y ago
  Eh. I'm far-left and also think that the way he's been treated has been out-of-proportion to his actual crimes, and mostly predicated on his having pissed off powerful donors and not being Chinese. And I'd argue that there are plenty of people on the right who support him primarily because of his edgelord-iness, and not so much out of concern for an ever-expanding carceral state that deals out "justice" capriciously and disproportionately to whoever the oligarchs point at.
  - enriquec 2y ago
    far left huh? maybe leave this capitalist forum
- FireBeyond 2y ago
  Huh. Really. It's leftists who are demonizing him? Not the right, which has traditionally been the far far more corporate-friendly political wing? And "because he tweeted on X"? I think you're going to need something a bit more substantive than that.
seivan 2y ago
[dead]
thinkingemote 2y ago
The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964) https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/ https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-am...
lbrito 2y ago
The concept itself ("being on the payroll") is archetypical head-in-the-sand American. All countries have intelligence assets on the payroll, and that absolutely includes the US, probably on the #1 spot. Its like Americans complaining about how Chinese or Indian hit movies are covertly pro-Chinese or pro-Indian propaganda pieces. Ever heard of Hollywood?
hnpolicestate 2y ago
- "What motivates you?" Intelligence operative or peasant. Pick one.
- DSingularity 2y ago
  Neither. Tribalism is probably best fit. The question is meant to trigger reflection.

snapcaster 2y ago

>I understand when leaders in politics or industry make these character-assasination attacks as they do it for their own interests (political or economical) but why do you do it? Thanks for articulating this, similar idea behind my sibling comment. Sadly i think the conclusion is that the vast majority of people are small minded, spiteful, and more or less accept whatever narrative the empire feeds them. Wish it wasn't like this

kspacewalk2 2y ago
I agree that Kim Dotcom is not likely to be on Russia's payroll, but, as you said, he's simply small minded, spiteful, and more or less accept whatever narrative that empire feeds them.
- SXX 2y ago
  Most likely he just hate US for a good reason and gonna support anything anti-US. In his particular case he probably just needs a country that not gonna extradite him to US no matter how bad the country is. I just seriously doubt that likes of Dotcom, Musk or Trump need to be on Putin payroll. They just all have their own agenda to sell "strong russia, good putin" narrative.
  - DSingularity 2y ago
    Yeah pretty much.
- abdulobdul 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - kspacewalk2 2y ago
    What is "the USA dictatorship", exactly? Can you be specific? Then I'd be able to answer the second question.

Tade0 2y ago

> Tweet about opposing war in ukraine arguing that NATO is outdated and not in the interest of Ukrainians? Oh pay no attention to him -- he is on the communist payroll. Hailing from a country that joined NATO in the 90s I wouldn't brand a person arguing this as being on communist payroll - just ignorant beyond measure. Russia has been a consistently bad neighbour for decades now and I for one am happy that in my country it was the post-communists out of everyone who spearheaded the effort to have a deterrent in the form of NATO membership. Finland and Sweden appear to agree, considering how they joined the alliance. If anything, NATO is now more relevant than ever.

macintux 2y ago
Why do people who oppose the war in Ukraine feel it's Ukraine's responsibility to roll over and die, instead of Russia's responsibility to turn around and go home?
- DSingularity 2y ago
  Is that truly what people who oppose the war believe? Or is that an easy strawman for you to dismiss the anti-war crowd in the eyes of those who dont know the history of this conflict?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - Fokamul 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - snapcaster 2y ago
      "only good Russians are dead Russians" It's really upsetting to hear something so dehumanizing, have you ever interacted with russian people? would you say this about any other massive group of people?

enriquec 2y ago

tribalism. Probably on the democrat side and probably because Kim has been active on X. propaganda and its effects are literally that dumb and predictable (thus the NPC label).

underlipton 2y ago
Eh. I'm far-left and also think that the way he's been treated has been out-of-proportion to his actual crimes, and mostly predicated on his having pissed off powerful donors and not being Chinese. And I'd argue that there are plenty of people on the right who support him primarily because of his edgelord-iness, and not so much out of concern for an ever-expanding carceral state that deals out "justice" capriciously and disproportionately to whoever the oligarchs point at.
- enriquec 2y ago
  far left huh? maybe leave this capitalist forum
FireBeyond 2y ago
Huh. Really. It's leftists who are demonizing him? Not the right, which has traditionally been the far far more corporate-friendly political wing? And "because he tweeted on X"? I think you're going to need something a bit more substantive than that.

seivan 2y ago

[dead]

thinkingemote 2y ago

The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964) https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/ https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-am...

lbrito 2y ago

The concept itself ("being on the payroll") is archetypical head-in-the-sand American. All countries have intelligence assets on the payroll, and that absolutely includes the US, probably on the #1 spot. Its like Americans complaining about how Chinese or Indian hit movies are covertly pro-Chinese or pro-Indian propaganda pieces. Ever heard of Hollywood?

hnpolicestate 2y ago

- "What motivates you?" Intelligence operative or peasant. Pick one.

DSingularity 2y ago
Neither. Tribalism is probably best fit. The question is meant to trigger reflection.