not holding back I see- Made the right choice in watching!

The old one still somehow made people think there was grey area. "Well maybe he doesn't mean me."

They all gotta go. First from here, then from the world.

Can't be tolerant if we tolerate the intolerant

Amen!!!!!!!!!!

Agreed

You. I like you. You say things that make me smile. Thank you.

Yea... what this furson said

Yes there are no "good" Nazis! You can share some opinions with them but be moderest as a person. But as soon as you really adopt their way of thinking you are lost... and an enany of the free world.

Its a shame they are on the rise again in so many countries.

Bodied.

Too right, Whimsy.

Personally, I think one of the biggest problems American conservatives have, other than the rampant bigotry, is their relationship with the concept of freedom. That is, they are obsessed with it, and yet, they no longer appear to even know what it is (assuming that they have ever even known to begin with).

They appear to think that freedom is some sort of nice and magical substance, of which there is an infinite supply in some huge barrel. Thus, they believe that "good" politicians like Trump let the freedom flow, while "bad" ones like Biden seal the barrel out of nothing but spite.

But they refuse to accept the fact that much of the time, the freedoms of different individuals are in conflict with one another. For example, one person's freedom to spread a dangerous disease like COVID-19 is incompatible with another one's freedom to refuse from being infected.

As such, these conservatives desire freedom without any responsibilities. To them, freedom is the right to be an uncaring jerk towards all others.

Additionally, when you look at how aggressively they oppose things they see as wrong or sinful, it becomes clear that their idea of freedom is the right to be free in the way they define. Try to argue against that, and they will bombard you with all kinds of insane troll logic supposedly proving how the sort of freedom you demand will destroy the society.

Now, say some madman with a gun goes to a crowded shopping mall and starts senselessly firing in random directions. Perhaps there is no malicious motive behind this action. Perhaps he thinks he is simply exerting his right to discharge his weapon. But the police officers who arrive to ventilate him do not give a damn, because he is a danger to the people around him. And is this reckless shooting actually any different from spreading a lethal disease? Not really, because whether the cause of death is bullets or viruses, innocent people die. If you argue that freedom comes with no responsibility, then you are essentially promoting utter and complete chaos.

Additionally, even if the government guidelines were ineffective, the disturbing thing is how the conservatives reacted to the situation itself. Even if the recommended measures had been more effective, would these people have taken them? I doubt that, because they either did not believe in the danger posed by the disease to begin with, or were offended by the fact that someone was telling them what to do to protect themselves and others.

Also, imagine that the next massive crisis in the United States will be caused by an extremely dangerous terrorist organization that is butchering and injuring people at the same rate as COVID-19 did. In such a case, the government's reaction would likely be positively fascist, and there would be all the curfews and unprovoked searches, and the cops would be aggressively shoving a Glock up your ear for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Meanwhile, the president would probably be busy trying to decide which foreign nation to invade. And people would likely approve this oppression because something has to be done about the threat.

But when it is a virus, rather than bombs, that is killing and crippling people, then it is... somehow completely different?

1) If you unnecessarily go to a crowded public place during a dangerous pandemic, without taking any precautions, you are essentially committing the biological equivalent of reckless firearm discharge.
a) Except that you can minimize the chances by avoiding unnecessary contact, which the denialists, who were primarily conservatives, refused to do.
b) See a).
c) With all the misinformation the denialists have been spreading, your claim is not particularly credible. And even if it actually is true, it was nevertheless wise to assume that there may be a large number of asymptomatic carriers back when the virus was still poorly understood.
d) Well, if people fear the disease, at least they are more likely to be careful.
e) And yet, the denialists were unwilling to wear any kind of mask.
f) See a).
2) Apparently the coffins in those New York mass graves were also inflated, just like balloons.
3) The constitution can be rewritten with a sufficient majority. The only reason it has gone largely unchanged, despite being awfully outdated, is that the two major parties are yet to face a threat great enough to unify them. Besides, even as it currently is, it can be interpreted quite freely and, really, it functions more like some sort of holy book rather than a precise and predictable foundation for other legislation.
4) Conservative media also have their own agendas. And judging from all the batshit insane conspiracies popular among conservatives, they are likely much more prone to bias, misinformation and unjustified censorship than their liberal counterparts.

And no, the conservatives were not right about the guidelines. If they had been, they would have demanded stricter ones, rather than denouncing even the more lenient ones as tyranny. Also, I am pretty sure that, at least in the initial part of the pandemic, the situation in Sweden was downright catastrophic.

And when I mentioned fascism, I wanted to emphasize how differently a different yet equally destructive problem would likely be handled due to people's irrationality. And besides, considering the recent conservative attacks against the rights of women and various minorities, it is safe to say that if someone in the United States is a source of fascist ideals, it is the Republicans.

Even if there have been more destructive ones in the past, COVID-19 is still a pandemic. Really, just because some brutal king sent his troops to butcher peasants one thousand years ago does not mean we should tolerate it today, and similarly, it is not acceptable to let people die of a disease just because the history has seen worse ones.

And would you call it Machiavellian to tell a child to brush their teeth or little ugly creatures drill holes in them? This situation is barely different. People should fear the disease because there very much is a reason to fear it. Really, it is like saying that radiation gives you cancer. That is not completely true, since you could be exposed even to heavy doses and still be lucky enough to suffer no long-term effects. But if you say that radiation causes cancer, rather than that it increases the risk of cancer, you are conveying the vital message in a way a less mathematically-gifted person can understand.

Besides, complaining about liberal Machiavellianism is incredibly hypocritical, considering the fact that conservatives use much dirtier tricks to further goals vastly less noble than protecting people from death and disease.

And personal responsibility? Yes, in an ideal world, there would be no need for any government mandates because people would behave responsibly. I myself had COVID-19 two months ago, and even though most people around here have been vaccinated, I still considered myself dangerous and therefore took the required precautions to protect others. No one needed to lock me in my apartment. But the problem is that some people do not know, understand or care, and these unfortunate government mandates are required to stop those fools from unnecessarily infecting and killing others.

Finally, if you ask me whether I believe in the claims that Russia is or has been attempting to influence US politics and elections, I do consider it a possibility, since both Trump and Putin are exactly the kind of men one would expect to be involved in such a dubious business. However, I do not actually believe in such theories unless sufficient evidence is presented. That is because I think rationally and do not accept something just because it would in some convenient and comfortable way explain some unpleasant things I may have suffered.

Fear porn? When the world is being ravaged by a new disease that causes people to start dropping like flies (when compared to other recent epidemics and pandemics), fear is very much a rational response. And what about the mental health of all those who have lost important people? Are justified measures against a disease somehow the only thing that can break a human mind?

For your information, I happen to live in Finland, where things occurring in Sweden are, due to the geographic proximity, more likely to be on the news than on the other side of the ocean, or wherever the hell it is that you might be located. As such, I dare to say that I am better informed on what happened in Sweden than you are.

If you criticize the authorities for simplifying the facts to keep people safe, you are being extremely hypocritical. Have you seen what your precious conservatives have been doing recently? They have, for example, attacked transgender rights by labeling even non-surgical gender reassignment for underage patients as child abuse, despite the objections from the actual experts on the matter. If you ask me, that is unnecessary, cruel, malevolent, and yes, pretty fucking Machiavellian, and purely for the purpose of antagonizing the targets of the conservatives' senseless bigotry and hatred. Compared to that kind of evil, slightly altering an important message to help it save more innocent lives is positively saintly.

And while I do not know which media you have been following, here in Finland, it has been made quite clear that the vaccine does not make you immune to the disease, and that it more or less merely significantly decreases the chances that you get it in the more serious form. And if you have actually bothered to find out some basic facts about COVID-19, you would know that it is an insidious disease because most only suffer mild symptoms, while some unfortunate people are hit by it with lethal force. As such, even if the vaccine merely reduces most of the otherwise life-threatening cases to the level of common cold, it is already a highly successful countermeasure against the disease.

You also ignore the fact that wearing a mask is like properly using your turn signal: it alone does not magically stop accidents, but together with all the other good practices, it greatly reduces the chances.

Oh, so because people die anyway, it is fine to add some extra casualties? A rather fascinating argument.

It is true that in at least some cases recorded as COVID deaths, the virus was not the only cause. However, any disease that weakens the patient is a contributing factor, and some of those people to whom the virus was the last nail in the coffin could have lived years or even decades if they had not been infected. You also completely ignore the fact that in developing countries, the COVID deaths cannot always be properly documented, which means that some unknown number of lost lives has been left outside the official statistics.

And really, you clearly do not realize that without the vaccines and the measures to slow down the pandemic, this could well have been the next Spanish flu. Even if everyone on the planet is doomed to have the disease at least once, it will be much less destructive if the infections are distributed over a long period of time. If everybody, including the doctors and nurses, are suddenly sick, the health care system is going to collapse. Something like that actually happened in at least one part of the world (India, if I remember correctly). Essentially, people were left to die right outside hospitals because there was neither space nor resources for treating them all. But surely, to you that, too, is a perfectly fine (and perhaps even hilarious) way to deal with the planet's overpopulation, right?

Besides, diseases mutate, and every infected person is essentially a walking bioweapon incubator. And by the way, did you know that two viruses can actually produce a hybrid if they happen to infect the same cell at the same time? Now, I have no idea whether this could actually create something that combines, say, the infectiousness of COVID-19 and the lethality of Ebola, but I would rather not have any unnecessary experiments performed in that department.

And anyway, I imagine a lot of people do not know about virus hybrids. I myself did not know about them until a couple of years ago. The average person's understanding is limited. My understanding is limited. And that is why I rather trust the experts who have studied virology than some rabblerousers who claim that the disease is "just a flu" or do not even believe in its existence because they cannot see the viruses or something.

But hey, how could I know? I do not read Trump's tweets or visit any shady conspiracy theory sites. What interesting facts are you going to present next to further enlighten me? That Biden is actually a lizardman from outer space? Or that Earth is in fact both flat and hollow? Or that 5G is beaming homosexuality directly into our cells?

Amen. To many conservative crazy grifters

Well spoken my friend!

Based.

Thanks but between this and the other comments I feel I must ask, you do realize you blocked me on my old name some time ago, yes? Due, at least in part, to my pessimism and overall distaste for furries?

Just so we're clear those qualities remain intact, even if my ire is more often aimed at rightwingers for the time being.

Kudo's to you for being honest at least. I don't really see any reason to block you again. I mean...life's too short to let other people's pessimism and/or distaste bother me for long. I still don't get why anyone would let the negative keep them from celebrating all the positive but that's your loss, not mine.

Oh you know, probably the most basic observation of the news cycle over the last 6 years or so which necessitated a journal in which it was extremely necessary to tell Nazis to fuck off because I knew they'd probably be passing through on a daily basis now that they're basically winning literally everywhere in the world, either on a micro or macro scale.

But besides that, who knows, probably just me being a Negative Nelly.

I get it. I really do and it sucks, trust me but there are still a lot of good people out there. By all means, speak out against the shitty ones. I do that as much as I can just not as much here as I probably should. It's just it makes me sad that your general outlook seems to be 'people suck, always' that's all. But you have every right to see people that way. I shouldn't expect everyone to share my somewhat too rosy at times outlook. For me part of it is a coping mechanism against depression.

Yay! I like you.

the Nazis were left wing.

Nice block circumvention now fuck off, Nazi.

Found the Nazi.

Yeah, they were so left wing that they were opposed by the real socialists as well as the communists, anarchists and everyone else on the left from their beginnings right up to today.

Anarchists have as much reason to oppose Bolshies as Nazis since they were oppressed and persecuted by both. And nowadays, there's even such a thing as "NazBol!" We really are living in the worst timeline. Then there's Nick Fuentes who idolizes both Hitler and Stalin (and also Putin).

Stalin and Putin were never anything but out-and-out fascists.

In a generic sense, maybe, but they both fancied themselves "anti-fash" in their own ways, even if hypocritically so. Eventually, all forms of totalitarian collectivism start to look and sound the same.

Jello Biafra was rightly critical of Pol Pot. Ever hear the Dead Kennedys song 'Holiday in Cambodia'? Btw, do you like The Stranglers?
"No more heroes anymore... No more heroes anymore..."

Of course. They hide behind these things. They're hypocrites. Hence Putin's claim that Ukraine supports Nazis.

Am I familiar with the DKs and Jello Biafra? -Dude, I grew up in the Bay Area, and knew Jello before he even had his first album out. I was deep in the punk/experimental/DIY scene here from the beginning. I saw the DKs more times than I can even count.

Of course I like the Stranglers.
"Whatever happened to
Leon Trotsky?
He got an ice pick
That made his ears burn"

It's not so much gay children that people might have a problem with. But the general range at which people are trying to indoctrinate them.

Children who have not gone through puberty, and thus have no functional sex drive, would likewise not be in a position to figure out whether or not they are gay / bisexual.

There are reports now of teachers getting fired, for showing sexually explicit material (such as magazines) to elementary school students.

I'm sorry if you find that to be somehow offensive or prejudiced. But last time I checked, sexualizing children was a very serious crime in this country.

Dude, I've always thought you seemed like a fucking idiot and this basically confirms it. Get your bigoted, fear-mongering Fox News/Newsmax/Daily Stormer disinformation bullshit the fuck out of here and while you're at it, fuck off.

Bullshit. Where the fuck did you hear that nonsense? Faux?

I was often asked by republican family members throughout my life,why I don't vote republican and I always reply to them saying that that I can't vote for a party that is most likely to become an American version of the Nazi party who would happily send a gay man like me to a "work to death/conversion camp.

I always knew the republican party would eventually go full Nazi.

However...I thought it would happen close to the end of my life... not the middle

Make the world a better place: Punch a Nazi today!

Hear, hear!

I once said that it's easier to reason with a rabid dog than it is a right-winger. Reality continues to bear that out.

They even get the concept of "nationalism" wrong. Let's use Ukraine versus Putin's gangster imperialist regime as an example. If we're going by the ideals of civic nationalism (which is technically "wingless"), then the Ukrainian cause is good, right, and just. That could also be called "resistance nationalism." Other examples of that are the Czech and Slovak Resistance, which was backed by jolly ol' England, against Nazi occupation in what was then Czechoslovakia. Also the Gaullist faction of the French Resistance. The overall French Resistance was multi-factional with anarchists, communists, and civic nationalists united against fascism and imperialism. Sure, in-fighting made the movement less effective than it could've been, but hindsight is always 20/20.

Compared to all of those movements, Putin's goals are blatantly imperialist. Even those who side with Putin for religious reasons don't seem to realize that even the Bible condemns Putin (Ezekiel 38-39). Those who use the Bible to justify a Nazi agenda seem to have skipped over Genesis 12:3. I'm bringing that up mostly because of "Little Nickie" Fuentes and his bosom buddy, Tucker Carlson (the David Duke of the 2020s).

Whether or not you believe in the Bible, you can still use it to point out the idiocy of those who try to twist it around a fashy agenda. Especially when it comes to prophecy. There are prophecies in the Bible, especially Ezekiel and Zechariah, that imply that fashy regimes have horrifying fates to look forward to. Fates that involve stuff like what you'd see in Indiana Jones movies. Like flesh rotting and being devoured by birds and beasts. Stuff like that. So, yeah. Go ahead and use that against today's Nazis (especially the ones that call themselves "Christian").

Btw, I'm half-Southern. Part of my heritage goes back to Missouri, which means I probably have some Ruffian in me. But an individual is more than the sum of their DNA, and I fully recognize that John Brown and the Kansas Jayhawkers were absolutely justified in everything they did.