3 ms·

These little islands of people with strange ideas are always interesting to me, but it never seems that we ever really find out what motivates them. Not just m

by duxup 1y ago

These little islands of people with strange ideas are always interesting to me, but it never seems that we ever really find out what motivates them. Not just motivates the founders, but those who join them. Long ago my father had some contact with Jim Jones over ham radio. The FBI even came to visit and interview him.

like_any_other 1y ago
Strange ideas? Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't until the start of the 20th century most countries either explicitly or implicitly ethno-nationalist (and most countries still are today)? The USA itself had an effectively whites-only immigration policy until the Hart-Celler act of 1965 reversed that. Taking the opposite direction, most Slavic countries seceded along ethno-linguistic lines, e.g. the fall of the Soviet union, "Balkanization", the split of Czechoslovakia... In fact, the NYTimes themselves didn't find it strange, but wrote approvingly of such arrangements (or rather, disapprovingly of trying to change them).. at least when applied to other nations: Human rights activists said that the moves to change Kashmir’s status were only the first steps in a broader plan to erode Kashmir’s core rights and seed the area with non-Kashmiris, altering the demographics and eventually destroying its character. Previous laws barred outsiders from owning property. - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-jammu.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan... WaPo shared their position: Kashmir’s new status could bring demographic change, drawing comparisons to the West Bank - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new-status-could-bring-demographic-change-drawing-comparisons-west-bank/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...
- duxup 1y ago
  IMO think the choice to join some enclave in the middle of nowhere, to some extent removing yourself from what otherwise is a prosperous nation is a more complex choice. I don't dismiss the racist aspects of these choices, but I wonder if that's all there is to it for these people.
krapp 1y ago
>These little islands of people with strange ideas are always interesting to me, but it never seems that we ever really find out what motivates them. Not just motivates the founders, but those who join them. There are entire schools of academia, philosophy and political theory around what motivates white supremacy and white identity in the United States, even up to the current white supremacist/alt-right zeitgeist within the Trumpist movement. We know what these people believe, if for no other reason than they've infested every corner of every platform on the web and won't shut up. I've even seen people on Hacker News argue the beliefs reflected in the article. I think dang (or is it tomhow, now) probably has "don't incite race war" set up as a macro.
laurent_du 1y ago
[flagged]

by duxup 1y ago

like_any_other 1y ago

Strange ideas? Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't until the start of the 20th century most countries either explicitly or implicitly ethno-nationalist (and most countries still are today)? The USA itself had an effectively whites-only immigration policy until the Hart-Celler act of 1965 reversed that. Taking the opposite direction, most Slavic countries seceded along ethno-linguistic lines, e.g. the fall of the Soviet union, "Balkanization", the split of Czechoslovakia... In fact, the NYTimes themselves didn't find it strange, but wrote approvingly of such arrangements (or rather, disapprovingly of trying to change them).. at least when applied to other nations: Human rights activists said that the moves to change Kashmir’s status were only the first steps in a broader plan to erode Kashmir’s core rights and seed the area with non-Kashmiris, altering the demographics and eventually destroying its character. Previous laws barred outsiders from owning property. - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-jammu.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan... WaPo shared their position: Kashmir’s new status could bring demographic change, drawing comparisons to the West Bank - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new-status-could-bring-demographic-change-drawing-comparisons-west-bank/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/08/kashmirs-new...

duxup 1y ago
IMO think the choice to join some enclave in the middle of nowhere, to some extent removing yourself from what otherwise is a prosperous nation is a more complex choice. I don't dismiss the racist aspects of these choices, but I wonder if that's all there is to it for these people.

krapp 1y ago

>These little islands of people with strange ideas are always interesting to me, but it never seems that we ever really find out what motivates them. Not just motivates the founders, but those who join them. There are entire schools of academia, philosophy and political theory around what motivates white supremacy and white identity in the United States, even up to the current white supremacist/alt-right zeitgeist within the Trumpist movement. We know what these people believe, if for no other reason than they've infested every corner of every platform on the web and won't shut up. I've even seen people on Hacker News argue the beliefs reflected in the article. I think dang (or is it tomhow, now) probably has "don't incite race war" set up as a macro.

laurent_du 1y ago

[flagged]