I Issue A Challenge

This is for topical issues effecting our fair world... you can quit snickering anytime. Note: It is the desire of the leadership of SFDebris Conglomerate that all posters maintain a civil and polite bearing in this forum, regardless of how you feel about any particular issue. Violators will be turned over to Captain Janeway for experimentation.
Fuzzy Necromancer
Overlord
Posts: 6133
Joined: Wed Mar 15, 2017 1:57 am

Re: I Issue A Challenge

Post by Fuzzy Necromancer »

The Romulan Republic wrote:
Fuzzy Necromancer wrote:
The Romulan Republic wrote:
Fuzzy Necromancer wrote:And this is not a rhetorical question, or a Gotcha, or a trick.

This is addressed to all of you who condemn the violent opposition of Nazis, because you protect free speech, or because you believe that peaceful means are more effective.

I want you to tell me what non-violent means you are using to oppose the Neo-Nazis.
At present:

Besides voting, and attempting to contribute through my modest means to the political discourse of our society by engaging in discussions such as this, I am a registered member of the Democratic Party and a volunteer for Democrats Abroad. I will continue to support efforts to elect politicians who will reform our Justice System and contain, not condone, domestic terrorists, white supremacists, and Right-wing extremists.

Outside of American politics*, I volunteered extensively for the BC Green Party during the last provincial election.

I intend to make a donation to a civil rights organization, or to the Democratic Party, as soon as I have the available funds (I have made similar donations in the past).

If you can suggest any other non-violent means I might use to oppose Neo-Nazis, and Right-wing extremism generally, I'm all ears.

*In case this is unclear, I am a duel citizen of the US and Canada.

Edit: To be honest, Trump's election, and the rise of Right-wing extremism in America, was part of the impetus for me to take the step from just voting and talking, to actively participating in political parties.
Certainly!

You can raise funds for a nonprofit cause even if you DON'T have money through Goodsearch.com. It's a search engine, like yahoo or google or bing, except that you get to CHOOSE which registered nonprofit you support, and then every time you search they get a penny of ad revenue.

You can participate in protests.

You can call your members of congress asking them to denounce 45 and his twinkle-eyed encouragement of Neo Nazis. Emails rarely get read, letters and petitions don't have a lot of impact either, but deluging the phones gets noticed. If your congress members have town hall meetings nearby, show up to them and make your position clear in person.

Go to a Nazi speech or demonstration with a speaker set and blast out "The Hobbits are coming to Isengard!" every time they try to say something.

Watch out for anti-semetic dog-whistles, especially terms like "cultural marxism" and call them out in public.

These are all classics.
Thanks.

I've called my Congressman before (over America's lack of support for refugees), but I'll try to do so more often.

Protests too, if any relevant ones occur here.

Congressional Town halls are probably out, though, since I'm currently living in Canada.
One more thing: take a Street Medic training. If a peaceful protest is met with violence, you want to be ready to provide help to people who didn't prepare for it.
"Believe me, there’s nothing so terrible that someone won’t support it."
— Un Lun Dun, China Mieville
The Romulan Republic
Captain
Posts: 748
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 12:02 pm

Re: I Issue A Challenge

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Another good suggestion.

As is taking self-defence courses, honestly. I don't support offensive or retaliatory violence, but I do respect the individual right to use force if necessary to defend oneself, or others, against an attacker.
User avatar
Fixer
Doctor's Assistant
Posts: 592
Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:27 am

Re: I Issue A Challenge

Post by Fixer »

Fuzzy Necromancer wrote:Yeah waving a noise-maker isn't equivalent to mutiliation. It's a way of letting somebody know that they are not welcome here and forcing them to vent there spleen at chums in a bar or their favorite subreddit.
Well yes but I hope we don't confuse the figurative and the literal. The word "literally" has been abused enough of late ;)

The point stands though. If you totally silence your opposition you create sympathy for them and make people desire to hear what they have to say, since it scares the people in authority so much.

Fuzzy Necromancer wrote: Before I scuttled my subreddit, I saw people crying "cultural marxism" whenever something sounded too lefty for their tastes. The existence of a valid, academic meaning does not erase the fact that Neo-Nazis have taken it up as one of their dog-whistles. Virtually everything the Nazis use once had a good and decent meaning or purpose. They almost validate the Augustinian and Tolkeinesque view of evil as being able to corrupt or copy but not truly create.
Which means context is all important. Seeing someone use the term does not automatically a nazi.

Back to the main topic at hand and speaking of reddit, there was a great link to a leaflet handed out at a recent protest. Under a peace sign of a dove with laurel it had a long list of advice for peaceful protest and avoiding conflict, noting the far right used reciprocal violence as a way to gain acceptance and sympathy.

It was really quite good but now that I have access to a desk PC I'll be damned if I can actually find the thing.

Edit: Wait, managed to find it :)
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/ ... ay_out_by/
Thread ends here. Cut along dotted line.
------8<--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Reply