484

“This is out of the autocratic playbook. As autocrats consolidate their power once they’re in office, anything that threatens their power ... becomes illegal,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat said.

Donald Trump is ramping up his rhetoric depicting his political rivals and critics as criminals, while dropping a long trail of suggestions that he favors outlawing political speech that he deems misleading or challenges his claims to power.

In a speech Friday in Aurora, Colorado, the Republican presidential nominee blasted the immigration system and lobbed a rhetorical grenade at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“She’s a criminal. She’s a criminal,” said Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial. “She really is, if you think about it.”


🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 22 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I think this go around it's worse than Hitler.

We didn't have mass communication in the same way during the rise of Hitler.

We didn't have access to a wealth of information that ran counter to the programming during the rise of Hitler.

We didn't have the amount of available access to other parts of the country and the world during the rise of Hitler.

We didn't have the example of Hitler during the rise of Hitler.

The thing that's so fucking surreal this time is that people should largely know better, but don't.

So now, we'll watch in 4k ultra hd the rise of a wanton fascist who spouts provable lies daily: an anti-science, anti-tech, anti-globalist ignoramus who likely could've never rose to prominence without an international micro-blogging website enabling him.

[-] eupraxia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 41 minutes ago

The Internet has provided us a wealth of information. In fact.... maybe too much information, with questionable veracity. Social media has provided viral ways of spreading this information to people finding a truth that fits their existing beliefs, not necessarily finding the truth from an objective set of facts.

This isn't just about Trump, the GOP, or even just fascism. It's a complete breakdown of our trust in shared reality. It's an indication that humans are not as smart as we think about applying technology we've invented, or maybe not as capable as we think about connecting with as many people as the internet allows us to.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 8 minutes ago* (last edited 4 minutes ago)

I largely agree. However, it's not 100% of humanity that cannot handle the advent of social media.

A large portion of the population does actually know what's happening.

Some of the people pushing the lies (e.g. the FEMA crap), even know that they're creating or redistributing AI generated garbage, but they are actively participating in the perpetuation of the falsehoods and purposefully becoming detached from reality.

All of this is what makes it so surreal to me (and arguably worse than before). A large portion of the public knows that what is being pushed is a complete fabrication and it continues anyway.

It was easier to argue ignorance in the past (after the war a lot of people argued that they didn't even know that the holocaust was happening). I don't know that we could make the same argument this go around.

[-] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

You say 'mass communication', 'information', and so on.
I say a 'purposefully underfunded and failing education system' and 'online communication being used to spread anti-factual conspiracy theories'.

Human choices, human systems, and human preferences for the untrue are, for many, stronger forces than reality. You can't just invoke critical thinking, rationality, and logic to dispel those factors.

In short: people are asking for what they want. It's probably too late to ask why they want it while they're in the process of forcing it down the necks of others. All we can do is stop them moving their hands.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Human choices, human systems, and human preferences for the untrue are, for many, stronger forces than reality.

That's precisely the point. In the early 20th century, access to reputable sources of information was much more difficult. It was far easier to go about your day without seeing a single piece of information that contradicted "dear leader". Fascism was also a relatively new, relatively untested ideology said to combine the "best parts of the right and the left".

Nowadays, fascists choose to plug their ears with their fingers and hum in order to support the ideology, or they support it because they actually support its eventual ends of genocide and authoritarianism. In the first go around, not everyone knew where these roads led, but this time we should know better but either do not, or do not care.

[-] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 hours ago

Nowadays, fascists choose to plug their ears with their fingers

Yes, because they're motivated to live in that fantasy world where they are 'strong' and the 'weak' are being punished.

but this time we should know better

Why 'should' people prefer reality to a fantasy? Humans had the choice to make a reality which provided human decency for as many as possible, but it was consciously and repeatedly decided to exploit the many in order to enrich the few.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Why ‘should’ people prefer reality to a fantasy?

Maybe because other people that you punish unjustly as part of your fantasy world fucking exist and feel pain?

I get why someone with zero empathy, values, and morals would argue that acting out a fantasy in the real world is superior to hum drum reality, but that's what you have to be to act that way.

[-] Samvega@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 hours ago

Maybe because other people that you punish unjustly as part of your fantasy world fucking exist and feel pain?

It is perfectly possible for some people to not care about this, as is discussed in psychological literature. It is also perfectly possible for some people to only extend care towards their ingroup, as they discuss as part of discussions of their own political preferences.

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You were asking why someone should prefer reality over fantasy land and I answered that.

I also covered that I understood that asshole nihilists and hedonists exist, so I'm not sure why that had to be retreaded.

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

we

Some people seem to know better

this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
484 points (98.6% liked)

News

23143 readers
4313 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS