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0 pointsbrigandish3y ago0 comments

I think it's more about wilful ignorance than truth. I saw a video the other day with a US student protesting a speaker at his uni, and saying how he thought that some political violence could be useful. He then went on to admit he didn't know what the speaker looked like, nor what they believed, nor had he ever seen or heard anything they'd done. He'd just seen a poster saying that this person was bad, that was enough for him.

I've thought for a long time that when the generation that fought in the war, or even grew up in it, has died out, that's when idiots like this student will be free to make something terrible rise. Fight for freedoms like speech while you can.

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9 comments · 3 top-level

kingkawn3y ago· 3 in thread

your comment is asking the reader to make the same generalized leap about “US student(s)” that the student made from the poster so…

eyelidlessness3y ago

And didn’t link the video so it’s just the same narrative and we’re just expected to believe it.

brigandishOP3y ago

If you want to say I'm a liar, say it. Otherwise, what is your point? That I'm producing some sinister narrative by sharing a thought with an anecdote attached? Perhaps I'm part of a bot army, pushing a narrative insidiously through the medium of <checks notes> a comment on HN.

Log out of Twitter, that's my advice.

brigandishOP3y ago

Now that's a leap.

raisin_churn3y ago· 2 in thread

Which war? There's a couple dozen at any given moment. I fought in some, have a bunch of friends who fought in a couple entirely different ones, too. I probably won't die for another 40-50 years, so rest easy I guess? What's the special quality of "the war" that makes its participants repel tigers I mean keep idiots like this alleged student from mucking things up?

brigandishOP3y ago

I'm British. If someone from Britain references "the war" they mean WWII.

If you think WWII wasn't special in significance then I can only say you're entitled to your opinion.

raisin_churn3y ago

Okay, what are the magical qualities of "the war you mean WWII" that make its participants, who have special significance to you the British, repel the unruly youth of the United States? Or, is it possible you're just a grouch, the latest in a line stretching back to at least Socrates, complaining about "kids these days?"

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nmz3y ago· 1 in thread

I think that while its certainly ignorance. it's more about complexity (which ignorance thrives in), wherever complexity lies, divisions do as well. ignorance itself does not necessarily have to be wilful. I suppose I'll say, this is not a counterargument, I somewhat see your point and wanted to expand on it.

brigandishOP3y ago

That's a good point. It's also often the case that the differences aren't as big as they seem to outsiders. One of the benefits of going abroad for a while is to be able to see your own country's politics from a distance, and the one your in's closer. It's easy to see that the Overton window is often quite narrow.

However, I don't know many places where mainstream politics would accept political violence as anything but extreme in almost every case. I'm not sure the fringe is growing, but to come round to my initial point, I'm worried that it will after the last WWII generation dies out.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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