I'm more afraid of the left than the right in the US

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16 May 2019, 5:53 pm

I am afraid of both. In general the right is more lethal the left is younger.

The left is weak or even opposed to the basic "freedom of expression" and individualism. As a person who is autistic/different I think call out culture and conformity is a bad thing for people like us. The younger generations are more "left" then earlier generations for a number of reasons.

Boomers grew up with an older generation whose "rugged individulism" got them through the depression, WWII, and forged a dominent rich America where the majority could have a secure lifetime career and socilism/communism was scary. The boomers applied 'Do your own thing" in radically different ways then thier "I did it my way" parents but the basic idea was the same.

The younger generations often see individualism and "free speech" via hedonistic excesses of the boomers that left them with endless personal and government debt, a "great recession", broken families, and a broken political system. They work in open offices, communications is through collaborative social media and wikis.

In the short term the anti-youth, anti PC backlash might continue to win out with a Biden nomination or a Trump reelection but this is not sustainable. It is almost inevitable some form of socialism and "hate speech" censorship will win out in the end. Older people will eventually be outgunned by a generation that understands technology in the way older people can't and then we will get sick and die. The best we can do is mitigate some of the damage.

The above is not to underestimate the dangers of the right. Basic norms that held things together are under serious strain and more importantly, there is nothing remotely comparable on the left to the Atomwaffen Division

In summary the right more dangerous in the short term, the left long term.

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shlaifu
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16 May 2019, 6:39 pm

so...OP: do you define freedom as "freedom from restrictions" - or as "freedom to do what you want"?

these are not the same thing! - freedom to do what you want means you, as a society, can deliberately decide to react to climate change and put restrictions on yourself so you and organized human life can survive.
it also means you can freely choose to ban guns.
the way you make these choices is by democratic vote.

freedom from restrictions means, out of principle, you can't put restrictions on yourself, as a society, not even if you wanted to. So, even if a large majority really wants gun law restrictions, that goes against the freedom from restrictions.

so, in the latter case, there is freedom from restriction, but no freedom to do what you want.

another question: if you are in a position where you need to take up any work you can get to make ends meet, are you free? or are you constrained by your finances? - as long as you're constrained by finances, can you actually call yourself free from restrictions? and why would your finances be the only acceptable constraint on your freedom, whereas social institutions, or gun control for the benefit of all be inacceptable?

don't get me wrong, this is a tough one.
but as I see it from the quasi-communist country of Germany in which I live, in which we have lots of restrictions we chose to put on ourselves, and lots of socialist institutions like healthcare and tax-funded tertiary education - from over here, "American freedom" looks like the freedom to be unable to afford healthcare.

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16 May 2019, 8:13 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:

I agree, but even the right being "more dangerous short-term" is overall a bit exaggerated. I barely even know or hear about the so-called "alt/far-right" in real life, just in the mainstream and social media (who are deeply controlled by the left). And whenever I do hear about the right, at least I know it's only a response to the left.

What you describe actually does make me feel unsettled because I'm part of the younger generation myself, I am turning 28 later this year. I also am a late bloomer and didn't quite get my life started yet living independently. As soon as that happens there may be little time left if any to enjoy it before the left ruins the fun even more. It's more than outrageous that they are the winners and their influence soaked into the very big institutions that have brainwashed generations.

Very frankly, I wish our side had our own revenge for that.

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16 May 2019, 9:07 pm

Fnord wrote:

I have contempt for both the Dummycrats and the Repugnicans.

They're both in the pockets of the Billionaire Industrialists.

Agreed.

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16 May 2019, 9:22 pm

Hollywood_Guy wrote:

This is because it's getting close to 2020 and I get anxious feelings about the direction of society as I feel Western countries and the US are pretty much finished.

The left (Democrats) is who I'm more afraid of than any movement or parties on the right. Because they expressed wanting things like the crazy "green new deal" and executive actions related to owning guns when they would get to power.

Am I actually the only one who feels the other way? I'm really anxious and worried about the current direction, I don't know how I'll survive 2020.

You will survive.
I give you my personal guarantee. :mrgreen:

Australian elections tomorrow.
Looks like a change of government from the conservatives to the liberals (ironic since the major conservative party is called: The Liberal Party. :mrgreen:

)

While I agree with some of the things the Labor Party is proposing, the looney tune environmental policy changes worry me.
I might have to invest in solar panels after all to combat the possible escalation of power prices.
The Labor Party is known for economic ineptitude.

But personally, I think the time is right for a change.
No reflection on ScoMo.
He is doing a good job.
But the conservatives deserve it after their disgraceful infighting over the last few years.
And the defence of big business, my personal pet hate.

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16 May 2019, 9:58 pm

I like that the right is getting rid of abortion. I feel that this is long overdue. Every life is precious from conception until natural death. I believe that every human life should be protected from conception. I'm also against euthanasia and assisted suicide. Those three things have a very dark history. Today's feminists scare me.

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16 May 2019, 10:25 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

Even if the right ends up restricting abortion or making it completely illegal there will still be a hell of a lot of long-term backlash and violence afterwards and the left will use their control of the media and pop-culture to pressure opposing to it like the norm it was for decades.

The biggest problem I have with my other peers as a millennial is that my generation prominently are brainwashed into the left and rejecting right-wing ideas. I have a personal family experience of that hitting home for us.

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16 May 2019, 10:53 pm

Hollywood_Guy wrote:

Fireblossom wrote:

I'm not American and don't know much about politics over there, but I kind of get you. There are, after all, such things as "too far on the left" just like there are "too far on the right." It's just that the right side tends to be demonized more and the fact that "too far left" exists usually gets ignored.

And just so we're clear: I'm not really neither, more like in the middle.

Are you in the UK? Where do you live?

Finland. We actually had a parlament election this year and none of the parties reached even 20 percent of the votes since there are so many of them and people have different ideals... personally, I feel like I might've made a mistake with who I voted (it still feels like a wise choice short term, but if that particular party got too much power then I think they might start doing things that are against my morals.) They're choosing people for the Europarlament now and I hope that I'll be able to be wiser with that one.

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16 May 2019, 11:22 pm

the left never did me any harm, totally unlike the right who doesn't deem me worthy of health care, a roof over my head, or even life itself.

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16 May 2019, 11:31 pm

the right wing have no "ideas" that will not do harm to me and mine. the only "freedom" the right wing offers my class is the "freedom" to starve, suffer and die. their only "ideas" are those that further enrich themselves while impoverishing anybody who is not them.

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16 May 2019, 11:55 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:

I believe it’s about recycling, eating less or no meat, believing wholeheartedly in the worst-case scenarios involving climate change, dispensing with “wasteful” lifestyles.

I’ll have to research for more specifics.

But I am one who likes to eat meat and believes in the positive “old time values.”

You forgot no cars and building a train to Hawaii and to Europe. Trains as the sole transportation cause somehow the pollution from trains is ok. And not just no meat we’d have to kill millions if animals I a mass genocide all brought to us from a lady who didn’t know what a garbage disposal was.

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16 May 2019, 11:57 pm

auntblabby wrote:

Agreed, 120%. For the right's ideology to work with a person pulling himself or herself up by the bootstraps, it also needs someone to fail so those who pull ahead by their own gumption (or family money and connections) so the successful can be superior to "losers." That's everything that sums up Trump.

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sly279
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16 May 2019, 11:58 pm

I’m afraid to but trend is we will get another 4 years of trump then 8 years of democrat then 8 years of s republican.
A repeating trend with few exceptions I don’t expect trump to be one.

But even then that’s just putting off the democrat he’ll that awaits us.

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16 May 2019, 11:59 pm

auntblabby wrote:

Feel exactly the same about the left wing.
Democrats bankrupted social society thanks to them it’ll be cut in half in 2020. It had centuries of money saved up but democrats just saw free money they could take and spend. Now I’ll probably end up homeless and starving cause of them.
Fdr would hate democrats today.

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17 May 2019, 12:01 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

auntblabby wrote:

I’m guessing his wanting to get rid of welfare is because “poor people”= “minorities”—and he wants an elaborate way to call them “lazy”.

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17 May 2019, 12:13 am

Tim_Tex wrote:

Kraichgauer wrote:

auntblabby wrote:

I’m guessing his wanting to get rid of welfare is because “poor people”= “minorities”—and he wants an elaborate way to call them “lazy”.

That's my guess.

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