I missed the airing of grievances this year, so here goes.
While I find myself internally nodding in agreement with most of the epithets and hemi-demi-semi-portmanteaus I see describing GOP extremists and Trump-loyalists (e.g. MAGAts, redumblicans, repugnicans, etc.) I can't help but feel that their use by people who disagree with them is stooping.
Degrading the discourse.
It's fun. It 'feels' good, but we promote the idiocracy by joining in.
Is it only me? Feel free to discuss/disagree.
@justsaywhy @codeWhisperer
Unless someone literally considers themselves a Nazi, it’s more productive to criticize the beliefs or actions, even if it is with SPECIFIC comparisons to the Third Reich. “How did they sink so far and how did it start?” is a critical question. “Everyone I don’t like is Hitler” makes it easy to dismiss that question with straw man arguments. Liberals need to rein in the extremists on the Left because they ultimately undercut our arguments.
@justsaywhy @codeWhisperer actually, maggots are a creature with an important purpose in ecology... it's a bit insulting to maggots to compare them to cultists
@justsaywhy
No. If someone is a nazi or a fascist (or a conservative or a liberal), I 100% think those are valid labels.
But I can't agree that ALL republicans are nazi's, or that ALL republicans are repugnant. Nor should we believe that all people who support DT are maggots.
Similarly, not all democrats are demons. Or cucks. Or libtards. Or snowflakes.
And I'm SURE I've done it myself. Because it feels good. I just wish to stop. To upgrade the discourse, and leave the playground behind.
@codeWhisperer
No, I agree. When you treat it as a binary question with name calling and other over-simplification, you push people farther to the extremes.
Lots of Republicans are good people who happen to live in overwhelmingly Republican communities, and they judge the party by the people they personally interact with. By raising up what is good in those local organizations, you help prevent normalizing Trumpism.
@codeWhisperer I agree. “Othering” doesn’t lead to dialogue, just deeper trenches and walls between people. I’ve always believed that change comes from being in the systems or near the peoples that have views you’d like to bend towards justice and away from fascism. So I try to engage without condescending with family or colleagues. Be the change, the example they could try out themselves. This is real people dialogue and it’s important❤️
LOL at “epithets and hemi-demi-semi-portmanteaus”! Will never forget THAT!
😱👍👍🤣😎
BUT! I must make the jump from the damned iPhone to an actual QWERTYboard (epithet and portmanteau 😏) to reply in earnest, minus the constant (unseen by all nauts but me) errors and potential typos that thumb-pecking entails…
As well as breakfast…🤓
Breakfast has been had, same for the device jump.
Epithets and portmanteaus: I get it, 2 wrongs don't make a right, name-calling is what they do, etc. Yes, it does feel good to get some of that poison out...but socmed grievances are just that. We're not writing a dissertation or actual news. Humor (some profanity) is essential to maintenance of one's own sanity and safe blood-pressure.
(cont.)
Degrading/stooping -- understood, self-check is necessary. Fear not, we have nothing to fear but fallacious thinking...the same "thinking" on display in the WaPo articles today regarding Trump/R voters and their continued support for the twice-impeached, 4-times indicted candidate.
So if you compare the jaw-dropping statements of credulity/illegality frequently heard/seen issuing from the R voters...well, we ain't got nuthin' on THEM.
But the warnings are appreciated. 👍
@InUnfunky WaPo, NYtimes contortions are painful, and I'm afraid the reasons for this are not fairness, but nefarious
The stated "reasons for voting for Trump" (by said voters themselves) are nothing short of astounding...and astoundingly stupid. And enraging, especially with all that's occurred between '16 and now. These Trump voters in Iowa, NH, etc are full-blown fascists who don't know how blinkered and foolish they are.
I can't blame the WaPo for that. That's the fault of Fox, talk radio, Trump, et al. And the GOP.
@InUnfunky However, WaPo does not need to repeat their nonsense
@codeWhisperer i use GQTea, simply because Q & TeaParty ARE the Republican base now. i don't feel it's demeaning, simply more descriptive of reality.
i agree on name calling epithets, however. that is stooping to their level & ruins communication
@codeWhisperer
Not disagreeing, just curious… how about the terms nazi and fascist? How about, "un-American, " or, "traitor?" Are these also dumming down the conversation? And if not, then where do we draw the line?
I wonder if the term maggot is as appropriate as the term nazi