the alt-right

"I thought I had the story of the decade,” Burkman recalled. His wife, Susan, was more skeptical. She warned him that she didn’t think he was dealing with the FBI. But, he said, the emails “looked super real,"

how in the actual fuck is this person not living in a box under a bridge

I urge his wife to not, in fact, stand by her man.

Burkman said he is now traveling with security. But the experience has not soured him on conspiracy theories. His profiling project concluded that Rich was shot by a hired killer, and he wonders if Doherty was working for someone else.

You know, seems to me you can pull a realllll long con on this guy.

"Now I know the fourth guy you hired was put up the shadowy forces behind the third guy but the FIFTH guy, trust me."

we blame ourselves bc we fear that we're powerless (the corollary to the assertion that we cling to the idea that we can make a positive intervention in our own lives) and we blame others bc we fear that we are personally deficient.

yes it seems weird to debate whether it's easier for ppl to "imagine they could have succeeded if they did something different" or easier to believe that they failed due to external factors beyond their control, when surely what most ppl are afraid of is the third option, that you failed because you personally are inherently and irremediably inadequate, defective - the first two options both give you the comfort that you *could* have succeeded under the right circumstances

as Daniel said upthread, blame or no blame, i think most people believe in their own agency and believe that other people's lives reflect their personal worth at a deep, barely examined level

I know this is maybe too obvious to be worth saying, but when JP and his acolytes push back against this supposed SJW worldview where 'people blame the world for their problems', it's more about pushing back against an acknowledgement that inequalities of outcome between different genders/ethnicities/classes etc are a result of structural inequalities rather than anything that happens at the individual level, whether effort or inherent aptitude?

so the question of whether or not it's comforting to accept these structural inequalities depends on who you are - if you are from a marginalised group then seeing the world this way absolves you of responsibility for failures, if you are from a privileged group it does the opposite, if you couldn't succeed even with these structural inequalities working in your favour then that's an indictment of you at a personal level?

imo lot of the time internet social justice discourse is big on moralising individual responsibility for success or failure and personal excellence, identifying mediocre white men etc. and there's this idea that the straight white men who are hostile to social justice are the one's whose personal inadequacies mean they couldn't succeed without unfair structural advantages, contrasted with adept straight white men who would be able to succeed regardless

Yeah, that popular line of SJ discourse does strike me as a little strange and even wilfully cruel.

Oh yes. So popular that line is. I also can't remember how many hours I've spent in the secret SJW meetings identifying mediocre white men.

https://www.google.com/search?q=mediocre+white+men&client=safari&rls=en&ei=cFOyWs2PN5KK5wLf77Qg&start=0&sa=N&biw=1168&bih=609

let's not be beastly to the white men

Wouldn't have expected you to defend such a meritocratic pov

I mean, it's not beastly at all to (the presumably easily identifiable) excellent white men.

Oh yes. So popular that line is. I also can't remember how many hours I've spent in the secret SJW meetings identifying mediocre white men.

It's beginning to fall out of fashion (I think), but the "you're losing at life on the easiest difficulty setting" and its variants were pretty popular in certain circles for a while

why shouldn't they be. why is it always these little turds' feelings that are paramount

It's a meme. A joke. And, btw, quite a lot at the insecure women's expense as well. It's not something that people spend a lot of time on. It doesn't need your concern trolling.

Simon, when were you in those circles? Because I've literally never spent any times in the feminist groups I've been in on that. I've seen women being annoyed at being passed over by less accomplished men. A lot. But that's not quite the same thing.

It's possible to dislike a meme or joke. I'm not sure you know what concern trolling is.

It's a meme. A joke.

lmao from what other corners have I heard the "we're just having a laugh" argument

Idc about chuds' feelings and I don't think it's "concern trolling" to say that some arguments (or jokes) are not going to be v effective in bringing people onside. I get that's not always the point.

feels a bit like we're missing the forest for the trees. the bigger-picture contribution of so-called SJWs has surely been to highlight the "difficulty settings" themselves, not the "losers." i mean essentially we're looking at a popularization and memeification of understanding structural racism, structural sexism, etc., known to countless humanities undergrads for generations. so many little comics explaining privilege, new variations on the "invisible knapsack," and so on. individuals reaching for zings at members of privileged groups surely exist but that seems idk super minor.

depends which groups you belong to obv

I wasn't really saying that this meme is the primary focus of race and gender activists, or that it discounts the whole project, just that it's a popular meme that I don't think really works.

I don't think it's "concern trolling" to say that some arguments (or jokes) are not going to be v effective in bringing people onside. I get that's not always the point.

― Simon H., 21. marts 2018 14:30 (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You get it :)

it's a popular meme that I don't think really works.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), 21. marts 2018 14:36 (eighteen seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You don't

i think it's wrong to be needlessly mean to people but on the other hand i don't have much faith in the idea that people in positions of power/privilege will voluntarily give it up en masse thru a process of enlightened persuasion

If we want to talk about things working or not, I don't think spending an inordinate amount of time policing womens jokes will do much in the creation of a progressive political coalition.

politely discussing on a msg board is my fave form of policing

Mine as well

Lol @ an hour on a message board while waiting on hold = "policing for an inordinate amount of time". The reasons why I don't think it works don't have to do with strategy or coalition-building btw. 2xp

I’ve always figured that MWM snark was helpful in reminding me to check myself and as a series of illustrative examples. Also I’m definitely sympathetic because I’ve always worked around and for pretty powerful white dudes whose crowning qualification for anything was being morning people.

It def makes me remember how many breaks I got back when I was a mediocre film critic.

Well, I'm going to shut up and listen to white men, then. They mostly seem OK with this (although they might not be mediocre enough). xp I defer to your mediocrity.

Anyway, stupid white people!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/satanism-drama-is-tearing-apart-the-murderous-neo-nazi-group-atomwaffen

Oh my god

Another Atomwaffen-affiliated person created a Gab account aimed at “exposing” the group’s satanic ties, and started leaking Atomwaffen chat logs, alongside Harry Potter memes. That person linked to audio of a call, purportedly between Atomwaffen members arguing about satanism.

“In your opinion, Satanism contradicts the ideals of national socialism, right?” one Atomwaffen member asked another during the debate.“Yeah,” the second man answered.
“Okay, I’m not gonna try to get mad and say you’re a fuckin idiot,” the first said. “Like, I want to know legitimately what part of it contradicts the ideals of national socialism.”
“Uh, every part. I’ve literally read both those books. Nothing in it stood out to me as—”
“Have you read the Satanic Principles?” the first Atomwaffen member interrupted. “The fucking baseline ideas of what Satanism stands for? You cannot honestly read that and tell me it reflects none of what national socialism teaches.”

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J41iFYO0NQA/hqdefault.jpg

say what you like about the tenets of national socialism, dude, but at least it's compatible with satanism

“Harry Potter memes” and “literally read both those books,” it’s too much

satanists are usually a great bunch of lads ime, kinda sucks that nazis are dragging their good name through the mud like this

god i wish i could see those harry potter memes, bet they're dank as fuck

i remember when ppl used the term "speech policing" and idpol folks went bananas, "you consider chiding and mockery on the internet to be equivalent of pigs shooting black men in the street???" but i guess that was just a rhetorical tactic and not real moral outrage in hindsight.

wasn't it 'tone policing' get it right u monster

i can't believe you'd use the term monster what am i walking around w/ bolts in my skull brought to life by lightning? sucking the blood of innocents on the streets of london? some hideous deformed green thing that has emerged from the local swamp???

the monster was actually named 'doctor'

Some of like the swamp so much we moved here and started families. So what.

Yeah wait I thought Satanists were cool :( are they cancelled?

there are two major groups that call themselves Satanists, one of which is cool and the other not so much

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-Anton-LaVeys-Church-of-Satan-and-the-Satanic-Temple

it's more satanic that way

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world one of him was cool

Good friend of mine was telling me her 10th grade son is getting into this stuff and I didn't know what to tell her, nor do I have any idea what I'd do if my own son got into it when he was older.

what, satanism?

the internet

I think I was in 9th or 10th grade when I was told about/shown Anton LeVey in the Hoel California gatefold, it made no lasting impresYOUR MOTHER SUCKS COCKS IN HELL