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I'm not sure both sides-ism is helpful here. I appreciate the perspective that right-wingers have been feeling this fear, and I think that's real and something

I'm not sure both sides-ism is helpful here. I appreciate the perspective that right-wingers have been feeling this fear, and I think that's real and something that should be taken seriously. And also, as with so many things trump, he's taking the rhetoric and threats to another planet. There was not a huge list of banned words and books, or keyword-based government purges of content previously. There was no threat of punishment for attorneys representing the "wrong" side in a case. There were no blanket threats of imprisonment or deportation for "illegal protests". The rhetoric and actions being taken by trump/musk in this regard are FAR, FAR beyond anything we've seen here before at least going back to the red scare.

potato3732842 2y ago
You're missing my point. My point is that the ability to chill speech, put is on lists, make examples out of the tall nails, etc. is something the government has had and has used. The author is just now complaining because he's only now seeing it applied in his general direction (because academia is establishment adjacent) though not directly at him. This executive power was built up over decades by the establishment on both sides of the isle in bits and pieces (to be clear, I'm not alleging some conspiracy here, just that this is the result of natural incentives in an expanding government) and now it's being wielded by an outsider populist and this is what happens. Nobody should be surprised by this. When we elected a Lite(TM) populist on a platform of change in '08 and nothing changed this outcome was basically destined. The fact that the populists we ultimately elected are "simple" billionares who have grand delusions of making the country wealthy through deregulation, short sighted geopolitics and fiscal conservatism is just good luck. We could have done, way, way, way worse. And if these guys don't cause some sort of change in the country's course (for better or worse, probably doesn't matter) we probably will elect another even more extreme one.
- rco8786 2y ago
  > The author is just now complaining because he's only now seeing it applied in his general direction (because academia is establishment adjacent). This is the only thing I'm really trying to correct here. The author is complaining because of the extreme extent to which it is being applied. Not just that it's coming more generally in his direction now. His initial example happens to be a personal one, but the long bulleted list of other examples he supplies does not appear to be personal to him. It's not a "wow now that this is happening to me I'm going to start caring" it's a "wow this is happening to huge swaths of people in ways that are much more extreme than I've seen in the past"
  - LightHugger 2y ago
    The extent is not even a fraction of extreme as what the left has been doing for years. But the author speaks like he was completely onboard with and even endorses that stuff. Hard to take anything he writes seriously after he gives off that impression, while being simultaneously too scared to say it more directly.
    - rco8786 2y ago
      Sorry that is just objectively untrue. Unless you’re confusing “the left” as “the government”, somehow.
- archagon 2y ago
  In what way was the government causing the chilling effects you describe?

potato3732842 2y ago

You're missing my point. My point is that the ability to chill speech, put is on lists, make examples out of the tall nails, etc. is something the government has had and has used. The author is just now complaining because he's only now seeing it applied in his general direction (because academia is establishment adjacent) though not directly at him. This executive power was built up over decades by the establishment on both sides of the isle in bits and pieces (to be clear, I'm not alleging some conspiracy here, just that this is the result of natural incentives in an expanding government) and now it's being wielded by an outsider populist and this is what happens. Nobody should be surprised by this. When we elected a Lite(TM) populist on a platform of change in '08 and nothing changed this outcome was basically destined. The fact that the populists we ultimately elected are "simple" billionares who have grand delusions of making the country wealthy through deregulation, short sighted geopolitics and fiscal conservatism is just good luck. We could have done, way, way, way worse. And if these guys don't cause some sort of change in the country's course (for better or worse, probably doesn't matter) we probably will elect another even more extreme one.

rco8786 2y ago
> The author is just now complaining because he's only now seeing it applied in his general direction (because academia is establishment adjacent). This is the only thing I'm really trying to correct here. The author is complaining because of the extreme extent to which it is being applied. Not just that it's coming more generally in his direction now. His initial example happens to be a personal one, but the long bulleted list of other examples he supplies does not appear to be personal to him. It's not a "wow now that this is happening to me I'm going to start caring" it's a "wow this is happening to huge swaths of people in ways that are much more extreme than I've seen in the past"
- LightHugger 2y ago
  The extent is not even a fraction of extreme as what the left has been doing for years. But the author speaks like he was completely onboard with and even endorses that stuff. Hard to take anything he writes seriously after he gives off that impression, while being simultaneously too scared to say it more directly.
  - rco8786 2y ago
    Sorry that is just objectively untrue. Unless you’re confusing “the left” as “the government”, somehow.
archagon 2y ago
In what way was the government causing the chilling effects you describe?