• professionalduster [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    I genuinely really struggle with this. Not in a “this is wrong” way, I agree with the screenshot, but if someone who is obviously bad appears to be nice, smiley, friendly, down to earth all of a sudden, I’ll find it really hard to stay mad at them. Definitely a weakness of mine.

  • thisonethatone [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    They are human beings who choose to pursue hate because it’s an easy choice and looking at themselves, and questioning the system that they participate in, would be too much for them. Fuck em.

  • Maoo [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    This is a valuable thing to internalize (and to spread) and expand upon, especially if you want to be effective irl. People that do terrible things and want you and yours dead can be very nice. They can be your current friends, family members that you value. Scratch that liberal and you will find they support your murder at the hands of the cops, they knee-jerk support fascists so long as they fit the hegemonic mold (Israeli, Ukrainian, KMT, Hindutva).

    And then you have to work around it, evaluating how you will subvert those tendencies. Maybe it’s recruiting from young people so you can get them into a political education pipeline that heads this off. Maybe you try to address them directly and weaken their positions. Maybe you just Isolate them.

    Either way, this bleeds over into our own spaces and our own organizing. The people we try to organize and radicalize are not there with us yet, they are not conscious. They won’t always let you know that they are your enemy. They might call the cops on you or snitch to your boss even though they called you a comrade a week ago.

    For this reason, it is imperative that we weed this out in spaces where trust is necessary. We cannot build trust in a culture that doesn’t require solidarity and explain its meaning. And we need trust, because what we do will be illegal and then criminal soon enough, if it isn’t already.

    • jol@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 years ago

      Was renting a boat at the river last summer with my gay friends to this adorable German grandma in the outskirts of Berlin/Brandenburg. When we were done and back, we were resting and I sat between the legs on my partner. No kissing, groping or anything, we were sitting and holding hands. She became really agravated and started shouting at us slurs and other things.

      So yeah. Many bigots are nice people most of the time. They’re still bigots.

        • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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          2 years ago

          Unfortunately it’s true, and it’s important that it’s true - they are humans with the full range of choice in their actions, and they chose fascism. They’re not inhuman beasts incapable of acting on more than instinct, they are people who chose to kill an oppress others, which is why punishment is justified.