The perils of the modern stage of the internet. Opinions are more and more tightly attached to sense of self so if you have a disagreeing opinion, it's treated as a personal slight.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Another unfortunate aspect in this day and age and its the need people feel to force their opinions on others, just like very socially aggressive behaviours and downright bully tactics.

This x1000

I dissent all the time. And then I get called a Nazi. By the people who are, in reality, the Nazis. As Churchill warned us, "When Fascism returns it will be draped in a flag and call itself "Anti-Fascism." Except I'm pretty sure it goes by, "Progressivism" in the US. But what do I know, everyone hates everyone else for stupid reasons these days.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news.....-about-antifa/ Not an actual Churchill quote.

Pardon my mistake. Said organization are still domestic/international terrorists (recently convicted in fact for a train plot) who behave identically to the Brown Shirt enforces that pre-dated the SS. Left wing, Right wing, fascist, communist - anyone who endorses political violence is evil.

I used to hold this perspective, but violence already happens in the face of nonviolence. So at the end of the day it's just a preference of who gets to physically harm who.

Based on your bio, you think bad ideas don't hold up to scrutiny. There are plenty of moments in history when bad ideas (with especially violent rhetoric) did gain traction and the consequences were awful.

I think it's commendable to dedicate yourself to non-violence on an individual level, but you won't get very far if you try and hold entire people groups, especially if they are victims of violent oppression, to your own personal standards. And if you can't provide safety for these victims of oppression in your nonviolent aims, nonviolence just guarantees that they'll get wiped off the earth.

I'm not trying to be a dick or anything, but do you think that's a fair point?

You have a point. The problem is people cloak themselves in victimhood these days as a way to claim power they have not earned nor deserve. See: Anyone who uses the expression "white privilege" or "patriarchy" especially if they call you a racist for mentioning Islam (which is not a race). As someone who has actually experienced victimization, it isn't something empowering. And while I hate my life I don't feel I'm owed anything more than what I've worked for, unlike grifters today who enjoy mainstream media fame and millions of dollars milked from self hating idiots who feel guilty for bad things that happened centuries prior.

And believe me, the times in history where violence was necessary to deal with a problem are very clear - they go like this: People go out to PEACEFULLY protest, they are met with brutal repression in the form of physical violence and social sanctions and then, having been radicalized out of necessity, organize a violent rebellion - this of course only happens after the oppressive authorities have become so degenerate with corruption that they can fight the revolution off.

The people you see today using rhetoric are nothing more than LARPers who think they'll be "in the Party" and living as the 1% in their brave new world. Stalin called these people "useful idiots" and what typically happens is they either get lined up against the wall and shot along with the liberals who stupidly side with them (communist saying: Liberals get the bullet to) or sent to gulags, which basically has the same effect.

Your message is describing a real type of person that exists and legitimately frustrates you. I feel you, I'm also frustrated by people who would appropriate social justice language to gain online clout. You and I agree that that is a thing that does happen, and we've both seen it before.

Because you focused on that kind of person in your message, and because you're so used to being disappointed by it, it seems you might be losing sight of the people who aren't merely projecting victimhood, and aren't merely appropriating and virtue-signaling. There really are people whose lives are a living hell, and those who feel deep-seated convictions to fight these unnecessary evils. Unless you're friends with them or constantly connected to this firsthand, some of those legitimate cases may seem like this crappy strawman one tends to run into on social media. I've only seen your comment and bio, and I don't know how you act in other spaces, but It would be a shame if your frustrations towards a certain type of person steamrolled over the people you'd otherwise want to support.

The problem is there is no such thing as "social justice" - it's a marxist idea and thus unworkable and inherently evil. There exists ONLY "individual justice" because no group of people is a monolith. It's why "SJWs" get so triggered when you point out the contrasts of successful African Americans and those who "aren't getting equal outcomes" (literal marxism - we want freedom/liberty not "equity" - they use the word equality, but that isn't what they mean). If you want to see why the monolithic view of the Left is inherently wrong, all you need to do is compare and contrast African Americans and black Africans; fun fact, the Africans really, REALLY do not like African Americans, generally speaking. And they also don't like most of the other black Africans on the continent because they self segregate by ethnic group.

My point is, it's all extremely nuanced and, like the rest of reality, cannot be generalized, which is what left wing activists do - and the people who do this sort of activism aren't trying to improve anything for anyone - they're revolutionaries who think realizing Marx's degenerate, alcohol fueled rage fantasy will make their unfilled lives perfect and happy. Meanwhile, ignore all the necessary genocide that comes from that type of thinking. I fought these people in college and got more than one "professor" in trouble with administration for trying to radicalize students.

Okay, I think we can call "Social Justice" a Marxist-compatible idea, though Marx hardly coined it. He noticed prevalent models in social justice were unjust. He didn't like that the wealthiest people were all freeloaders compared to how hard the working class was at it. He noticed killing people slowly seemed to be acceptable if it earned someone else enough money in the process. I'd be surprised if you think it's evil to dismantling slavery, fighting for livable working conditionsn or giving more wealth to the people who generate said wealth with their labor. I'd be surprised if you joined the Pinkertons and feds in murdering American coal workers because they were tired of being exploited. Ignoring Twitter for a sec, I think it's pretty likely you already support Social Justice, at least by how I'm describing it here.

We also know this idea of Social Justice hardly started with Marx. Buddhism started with a rich person feeling convicted after witnessing abject poverty. Islam has a welfare model built right into the Qu'ran. Jesus' brother James explicitly warns against showing preferential treatment to the wealthy. People throughout history and today continue to fight for their survival against whole systems that oppress them. Sometimes, many people as a whole really do enact evil things. Sometimes it's millions of people encouraging evil without realizing it. You're right, that's not exactly a monolith, but I bet you think facing accountability for evil actions is a good thing. and there are ways we can seek equity for those wrongs. Twitter drama-mills and virtue-signaling can be really fucked up sometimes, and sometimes people oversimplify in ways that rightly frustrate the hell out of you. While that's true, I don't think it's particularly nefarious to accept that Haitians fought for their independence in violence because they were tortured and killed by the hundreds of thousands. It's okay that social justice is real and necessary, even though the term gets co-opted by real assholes sometimes.

I can validate the frustrating things you've seen firsthand while also sharing what I've witnessed: all the communist I know personally are extremely careful about what they say to fellow communists. No one wants to be a bigot by mistake. They may meme on Twitter about guillotines and gulags, but all of them know how erroneous it is to take one school of thought and project it into another time and culture indiscriminately. They also laugh at how much more people capitalism has killed than even the most generous death stats under all kinds of Communism combined. Sounds like you might be surprised by some of the details. I sure as hell was. But that's for another time and place.

If I can share how you sound from my POV, you've been so frustrated and annoyed in the past by people being short-sighted or insincere, and that comes out in your writing until you end up sharing incomplete ideas. You're accusing leftists of taking on some monolithic perspective, but I can tell you don't know leftists well at all. If you did, rather than the monolith angle you see from liberals on Twitter, you'd be better off making fun of Leftists for all their in-group fighting. You seem to jump on anything associated with Karl Marx as evil, and for anyone who supports communism as blindly justifying crimes against humanity. In your messages or journals I'm not seeing you question your own ideological shortcomings or your own personal blind spots. I'm definitely not seeing caution for the crimes against humanity that capitalism incentivizes. I said earlier that you potentially steamrolled those who need help based on your rhetoric, and your next message continued to focus on others rather than questioning yourself. That strikes me as an important detail to highlight.

In telling you this, hope you don't think I'm being patronizing. As someone who used to have beliefs closer to your current ones, I just hope you get to meet some cool new people, have some more incredible experiences, and open yourself up to some new perspectives. I hope instead of prioritizing your frustrations , you question how you can help others who need it the most. I don't think it's fair to keep this dialogue going on poor Kaa's page after someone was really insensitive an exciting life update of theirs, so I won't keep it going here. But thanks all the same for sharing your perspective with me. Good luck with whatever life throws at you, and I apologize if anything I said came off as dismissive.

*reads the previous journal*

Aaaah okay so that's what happened.

Well I can tell you I'm not much of a fan of the UK personally in regards to it's politics and it's Progressive Stack system of justice. But let's be real for a moment...that may be my opinion of the UK but it's not me making the decision to move there ergo it's none of my business, really. Not even my place to try and convince you not to move there.

The reality is every country has its pros and cons. For some the pros outweigh the cons and for others it's the other way around.

My take on this whole thing though is I've known of you for the better part of 20 years and aside from your art one other thing that has stood out to me is just how long you have had a lonely heart and sought romantic companionship. Then  Hamakei came into your life and it's like, at least what I was able to observe, that loneliness that always kinda stuck out melted away. It was simply the blahness of a long distance relationship that was the missing piece there. That's about to come to an end and that's all that matters here. Not the politics of the US or the UK. People can argue those for decades (and they do) and get no where. It's your life to live. Not ours. I'm sorry some felt the need to make it their business.

I'm seeing this from the lens of someone who spent such a long time with a lonely heart and now you're about to get married. Doesn't matter where you choose to marry and live. I mean you've lived in the US mainland for how many years now? Moving to the UK will just be another experience. It's not as though you cannot leave if things there don't pan out for whatever reason but I don't suspect that will be the case. I had a friend who moved from the US to be with someone there. I'm not sure if they're still together following some recent stuff I heard of (we no longer keep in touch) but either way she's still there in the UK instead of back in the US with her family so obviously the pros are still enough to keep her there.

So yeah. That all being said all that matters here is another major chapter in your life is going to be starting soon and it looks to be a grand one.

Cheers, dude.

Just out of interest, when you refer to "Progressive Stack" do you mean what we we refer to as "Case law"...the idea that whenever a ruling is made, it should be based on previous rulings thereby allowing the law to evolve over time to reflect changing viewpoints? Because I was under the impression that the US also had a similar legal system although you don't call it that.

Actually, I've just been reading and apparently there is no requirement for us to do this and hasn't been since the 60s. So a judge is allowed to rule differently and say "No, they've been getting it wrong all this time."

I guess that's the difference when you don't have a written constitution. Unless the magna carta counts....and it doesn't, as many anti-mask people have found out this last year or so...

I give you the skit that best describes the latter people you mentioned... sorta.
https://youtu.be/DVCBjCf8YZM

Really all you gotta do is "not feed the trolls" keep the comment up and ignore it.

No worries, I think most people get what you mean. There are a disturbing number of people these days who see absolutely everything through the lens of politics. I don't think they can turn it off. That's an entirely different thing than simply disagreeing about something.

At any rate, congrads on everything, and best of luck!

^ 100% this.

Too many are hyper-fixated on looking at things from a political viewpoint. That's the problem with it cuz they'll always fixate on the negative as a result. It's like... they're glossing over the fact Kaa here is going to be getting married and just nitpicking about where he's planning to live with his soon to be husband. It's like wtf XD they're acting like he's moving to North Korea or something.

Here in the UK we do find it strange how absolutely everything in the US seems to be a partisan issue regardless of the subject matter. Although of course we do have individuals who feel that way, it thankfully doesn't seem to be nearly as widespread.

I didn't get to post this on your last journal but I'm so glad a path has opened up for you to be together! I've been to the UK myself, its nicer in some ways than the states.

My only advice is, don't stick your hand out of a rolled down window in a car, apparently that's not good/ illegal/ a traffic infraction, they never told me, but that was the strongest anyone ever scolded me there. Even when I had a bit much to drink at a pub. XD

Also, there is no kraft cheese there only REAL cheese as they call it.

Huh. I have heard this one before about sticking your hand out, but I don't think there is a specific law against it.

The only thing I can think of is that they didn't like you doing it because it could be mistaken for a hand signal indicating that you were planning to turn....and misleading other road users isn't a good idea.

We do have what you call "Kraft singles" but you're right in that we don't have "American cheese"...the stuff that is like Kraft singles but comes in a big block and is sliced off. Though I suspect France laughs at both of us.

About the cheese, I was legit lost with out the cheese being individually wrapped slices XD Thankfully the person I was staying with was very patient and assisted me with slicing cheese XD

As for the hand out of the car thing, I was behind the passenger side. They said my hand be ripped off by another car. We were in the Wide open morres of the north.

I'm not the type who's afraid to speak up when I have something to say and I did read the original posts that one critter left.
Not sure where all that came from, I thought the comments seemed misplaced. I'm still happy for yuns two and wish nothing but the best!

I bring my own opinions, ideas and what not out in a civil manner, being rude is just not needed when one wishes to have a healthy dialogue. All I wanna say is that I am happy for ye two and I hope things will go well~ <3

First off, I want to say Congratulations, Kaa! This is VERY good news, and no amount of nit-picking or internet trollery can take that away from you. I am happy for you. You are so talented! And the little bit of interaction I, personally, have had with you tells me that you are a good person.

With that said, I agree with you. Society today has fostered this atmosphere where you can say anything you like, anyWAY you like, and everyone is just expected to deal with it. We do have the right to speak freely, but that should NOT mean that you do not need to put any thought into HOW you say things. Taking a few extra seconds to make sure the things you say are worded as inoffensively as possible should be a reflex for everyone. But it's not. Internet Trolls are becoming, more and more often, face-to-face trolls. And it's not right.

Anyway, I refuse to end this on a sour note, so congratulations again, and I sincerely hope that your plans all go smoothly and you are in the arms of the one you love in no time at all! And don't think for one moment that just because you make the transition from American to Britain citizen that I am going to stop following your work. The good ones are the ones worth holding onto, in all facets of life! ;)

I didn't get the impression you were being intolerant at all. It's unfortunate that our current moment has poisoned so much of what would be otherwise normal discourse. Setting that aside, Congratulations! Your news was far more important than anyone trying to ruin your day.

Congrats, buddy. I've been following you almost as long as I've been a furry, cuz I'm pretty sure your art was what really brought me truly into the fandom. It's nice to see you've found your someone. Have fun in the UK.

It was very sad to see some really not necessary comments on the last journal. I haven't seen the hateful one, but I can imagine it wasn't pretty. I find it curious to start throwing topics in an actually only positive journal which have nothing to do with it and start rambling on things and insult people. It must have been a very unhappy or frustrated person or just an ignorant.

Opinions are fine and might differ, but there is never a reason to become a dick about it and condemn others for their opinion. To live and let live, I'd say. And at least most other comments was positive, we shouldn't lose track of the good things too.

Since comments was blocked in the last journal due to these issues I had no chance to congratulate you two to your new steps in life and the upcoming marriage, so I'll do it now. I definitely wish you two just the best and a fruitful relationship!

Congratulations to both of you!

There are major problems in many countries of the world right now, but it's important to have someone you can call lover and partner through all of it. It's the foundation we need for making a change.

And in the online world of today, it doesn't matter where one resides... But it helps if you're living under the same roof with your love. 'w'

Congratulations! Don't listen to those people, you deserve to be happy! I wish I could move to the UK as well.