Comment by Terr_
9 days ago
That was true at one point--I used to make the same objection--but it's 2025 and the threshold has been crossed.
If you wait for unassailable academic applicability, when you finally deploy it your prison guards won't care.
A quick sampling off the top of my head: The First Consigliere throws double Nazi salutes on national TV and smirks in ambiguity when questioned whether he intended it, the President defends a Nazi march as "very fine people", violent private groups serving their political ends have been placed above any (federal) prosecution, and the administration is actively boasting that they will remove undesirables by creating the largest deportation in the entire history of the nation using the same laws abused for the WWII Japanese internment camps.
The label may be rude, but it's not unreasonable... and the more reasonable it is, the better it is to be rude!
I agree with you, but I think it’s important to present facts as facts the best we can. There’s enough terrible things out there both Trump and Musk have said and done, there’s no need to have any shred of mischaracterization.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-very-fine-people/
Is there really any point in being careful with the facts? It seems like the way to win is to convince people of low interest and/or intelligence, which is all about rhetoric and narrativizing anyways. What’s the utility in truth here?
Fair point. But I would argue if the goal is to really change minds then you have to remove little things that allow people to dismiss everything else you said. Low interest/intelligence supporters have probably been shown the rest of the video at this point, so they will label you as a lier and their side as telling the truth and move on. Is it an unfair standard? Yes! There's also so many other events to use hopefully to better effect.
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You might be interested in this YouTube series, where the author tries to deconstruct and explain the rhetoric patterns of--and countermeasures against--"The Alt-Right Playbook."
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY7v0VkYRbANnT...
I innately want to believe that a comprehensive refutation grounded and logic and citations will win the day, but that doesn't seem to be how it plays out.
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> Is there really any point in being careful with the facts?
If you don't believe in facts and truth, you are just as big of a problem as Trump is.
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