Why is nazism popular today?

[Logik]

OK. Well, you got me then. I guess I was wrong. Sounds like the ethical thing to do would be to cheat on your taxes.

I know. You don't have to tell me that it's ethical to rob the government so I can feed, clothe and educate my kids.

[Gary Childress]

OK. Well, you got me then. I guess I was wrong. Sounds like the ethical thing to do would be to cheat on your taxes.

I know. You don't have to tell me that it's ethical to rob the government so I can feed, clothe and educate my kids.

I know. I wasn't telling you. I was conceding that you are right and I am wrong.

[Logik]

I know. I wasn't telling you. I was conceding that you are right and I am wrong.

Yeah, but the key point is not your concession.

The key point is that "right" and "wrong" are contextual.

Democracy is not a silver bullet. It works in some places. It fails in some places.

In situations where democracy has failed I don't need your approval to do what I think is right. I just need to make sure I don't get caught

[Gary Childress]

I know. I wasn't telling you. I was conceding that you are right and I am wrong.

Yeah, but the key point is not your concession.

The key point is that "right" and "wrong" are contextual.

Democracy is not a silver bullet. It works in some places. It fails in some places.

Your country sounds pretty messed up. Do you all have a regressive tax code or do you tax the rich even more than 70% of their income or wealth?

[Logik]

Your country sounds pretty messed up. Do you all have a regressive tax code or do you tax the rich even more than 70% of their income or wealth?

On paper, the revenue tax is 45% maximum. It is marginal tax so the rich pay more.

But all the other government levies add up. Especially since the original 45% gets you nothing of value in return.

If I lived in Switzerland - I would gladly pay 45%. But I live in South Africa.

[henry quirk]

...you're in line at the grocery: your basket has what you reckon to be about ten dollars worth of products. You might be off a dollar or two in either direction, but you expect to pay no more than twelve and no less than eight bucks. You reach the checkout, your items are rung up, you're told your bill is fifty bucks. You're shocked, mebbe a bit miffed: how the hell is this paltry list of products gonna cost me fifty bucks?, you ask. The cashier explains that most of that fifty is goin' to pay the bill of the fellow behind you (you eye him: he certainly seems capable of payin' his own way [his clothes, shoes, cell phone, haircut, and the fine honey hangin' on his arm, are certainly better than yours]), or to pay down the cost of on-going renovations to the store (you look around: what renovations?, you ask yourself).

Now: are you gonna pay that bill? No, I imagine you'll say no thank you and leave the products on the checkout and your cash in your wallet. It won't matter to you all the other customers pay their inflated bills, no, you'll say pffftt!, if them folks agree to be suckers, that's on them, me, I never agreed to such nonsense and I'll take my business elsewhere.

Now: imagine there is no other grocery (the store employs folks with big honkin' guns to put down the competition). Imagine also: the other customers get to tell you, by way of some formal process (call it 'voting') how you should spend your money. Is this a circumstance you'll just accept?

I won't...I don't.

[Gary Childress]

...you're in line at the grocery: your basket has what you reckon to be about ten dollars worth of products. You might be off a dollar or two in either direction, but you expect to pay no more than twelve and no less than eight bucks. You reach the checkout, your items are rung up, you're told your bill is fifty bucks. You're shocked, mebbe a bit miffed: how the hell is this paltry list of products gonna cost me fifty bucks?, you ask. The cashier explains that most of that fifty is goin' to pay the bill of the fellow behind you (you eye him: he certainly seems capable of payin' his own way [his clothes, shoes, cell phone, haircut, and the fine honey hangin' on his arm, are certainly better than yours]), or to pay down the cost of on-going renovations to the store (you look around: what renovations?, you ask yourself).

Now: are you gonna pay that bill? No, I imagine you'll say no thank you and leave the products on the checkout and your cash in your wallet. It won't matter to you all the other customers pay their inflated bills, no, you'll say pffftt!, if them folks agree to be suckers, that's on them, me, I never agreed to such nonsense and I'll take my business elsewhere.

Now: imagine there is no other grocery (the store employs folks with big honkin' guns to put down the competition). Imagine also: the other customers get to tell you, by way of some formal process (call it 'voting') how you should spend your money. Is this a circumstance you'll just accept?

I won't...I don't.

I've always paid my taxes and I've never cheated on them. So, if your analogy is a true one, then I guess it is indeed a circumstance that I have accepted. Call me a "sucker" I guess. But whatever. I don't really care one way or the other at this point what you do with your taxes.

[henry quirk]

Then we're on the same page, you and me: you don't care if I'm a criminal; I don't care if you're a sucker.

This is how civillization starts.

[Immanuel Can]

Then we're on the page, you and me: you don't care if I'm a criminal; I don't care if you're a sucker.

This is how civillization starts.

Well, in truth, I think the whole premise of this strand is screwed up. Nazism isn't "popular today": totalitarian Leftist thuggery has some currency, especially with people like ANTIFA. But nobody else is doing it.

What's popular, though, is damning your opposition AS "Nazis" and abusing them instead of hearing whatever they might have to say. Shutting down free speech, well, that's massively popular. And maybe that's what we ought to be asking about.

[henry quirk]

"I think the whole premise of this strand is screwed up."

That's why I focused my attention elewhere, from the start.

#

"What's popular...is damning your opposition AS "Nazis" and abusing them instead of hearing whatever they might have to say."

True. They ask "is is it wrong to punch a nazi?"; I say 'it's perfectly acceptable to clothesline a commie'.

#

"Shutting down free speech, well, that's massively popular. And maybe that's what we ought to be asking about."

Here ya go: everyone should speak freely (just don't expect me to listen).

[Arising_uk]

Well, in truth, I think the whole premise of this strand is screwed up. Nazism isn't "popular today": totalitarian Leftist thuggery has some currency, especially with people like ANTIFA. But nobody else is doing it.

What's popular, though, is damning your opposition AS "Nazis" and abusing them instead of hearing whatever they might have to say. Shutting down free speech, well, that's massively popular. And maybe that's what we ought to be asking about.

Are you taking the piss!? The far-right is all over the weeb and social media punting their rebranded toss. They are also out and about murdering people and politicians.

[Logik]

Are you taking the piss!? The far-right is all over the weeb and social media punting their rebranded toss.

Surely you don't think brandishing a swastika and shouting Sig Heil makes one a Nazi in 2019?

The world is more complex than appearances.

They are also out and about murdering people and politicians.

Like who?

[Immanuel Can]

Here ya go: everyone should speak freely (just don't expect me to listen).

Yep. Everybody has a right to speak, short of actively inducing violence or injury, and you have a perfect right to ignore them. I'm with you there.

[henry quirk]

"The far-right is all over the weeb and social media punting their rebranded toss."

Just like everyone...not seein' any one line of thinkin' dominating the net ether.

#

"They are also out and about murdering people and politicians."

Here, in America, it's self-described socialists makin' with the violence.

[Immanuel Can]

"They are also out and about murdering people and politicians."

Here, in America, it's self-described socialists makin' with the violence.

And you've got to know that if the Right Wing were a problem in the U.S., the American media would be all over that. But they're having a heck of a time finding incidents, and having to overlook a whole ton of obvious from the Left Wing on a regular basis.

It isn't the "Rightists" that are the plague of Portland, and it isn't the Right that's shutting down speakers on U.S. campuses, beating in windows and ATM machines, or blocking ordinary people from going to work.