Congress Asks Valve, Discord, and Twitch To Testify On 'Radicalization' (polygon.com) 138
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Polygon: The CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit have been called to Congress to testify about the "radicalization of online forum users" on those platforms, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced Wednesday. "Congress has a duty to oversee the online platforms that radicals have used to advance political violence," said chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, in a statement. "To prevent future radicalization and violence, the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit must appear before the Oversight Committee and explain what actions they will take to ensure their platforms are not exploited for nefarious purposes."
Letters from the House Oversight Committee have been sent to Humam Sakhnini, CEO of Discord; Gabe Newell, president of Steam maker Valve; Dan Clancy, CEO of Twitch; and Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, requesting their testimony on Oct. 8. "The hearing will examine radicalization of online forum users, including incidents of open incitement to commit violent politically motivated acts," Comer said in a letter to each CEO. [...] Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit execs will have the chance to deliver five-minute opening statements prior to answering questions posed by members of the committee during October's testimony.
Letters from the House Oversight Committee have been sent to Humam Sakhnini, CEO of Discord; Gabe Newell, president of Steam maker Valve; Dan Clancy, CEO of Twitch; and Steve Huffman, CEO of Reddit, requesting their testimony on Oct. 8. "The hearing will examine radicalization of online forum users, including incidents of open incitement to commit violent politically motivated acts," Comer said in a letter to each CEO. [...] Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit execs will have the chance to deliver five-minute opening statements prior to answering questions posed by members of the committee during October's testimony.
OMFG. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't these assholes ask the actual experts on the subject matter? Oh wait, you did and you didn't like the answers so you had them deleted. [thehill.com]
Well... I guess it's time to hassle some unrelated companies until they give us the sound bytes we want instead of addressing the actual problem of lax gun control.
Re:OMFG. (Score:5, Informative)
Why don't these assholes ask the actual experts on the subject matter? Oh wait, you did and you didn't like the answers so you had them deleted. [thehill.com]
Well... I guess it's time to hassle some unrelated companies until they give us the sound bytes we want instead of addressing the actual problem of lax gun control.
It's all about putting on a show to justify the suppression of political dissent via military means.
And there is more data out there than can be easily suppressed. Like:
https://www.gelliottmorris.com... [gelliottmorris.com]
Which looks at percentage of population that actually supports violence and how they are triggered.
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Ironically, he probably was radicalized through Steam, just not in any of the games. That many hours in VRChat is... telling.
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Again, explain Switzerland. Similar gun control laws, much less violence.
We see gun ownership as a duty, not a right and we not yet see our opponents in opinion as the literal anti-christ that we would have exterminated in a heartbeat if it was legal.
I have a hard time taking people seriously who want to address the "real pwoblem" and then start talking about gun control.
It's US culture that is found wanting.
Re: OMFG. (Score:2)
Do you know there are more than two countries in the world where you can own a gun?
My uncle had a FAL at home. In NL. Because if your are part of a well-organized militia in good standing that's possible.
But we don't allow any random idiot who just wants one, to have one.
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Again, explain Switzerland. Similar gun control laws, much less violence.
You might want to read up on US gun control laws. They are not similar to Switzerland's.
Re:OMFG. (Score:5, Informative)
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Again, explain Switzerland. Similar gun control laws, much less violence.
Wrong. Switzerland is subject to Directive (EU) 2021/555 [wikipedia.org] which means that all semi-automatic firearms are restricted to...
persons who have good cause, are older than 18 (or younger in case of hunters and sport shooters) and are not likely to be a danger to themselves, to public order or to public safety.
I doubt "because I want it" is a considered "good cause" in the EU.
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...and in most countries, your child will be able to buy a knife as soon as they have money.
In the US you only need to be of a minimum age, without a criminal record, nor recently found profoundly mentally disturbed, nor an obvious threat to another person to purchase a firearm. Law does not prevent someone from giving you one, though law does punish that person if discovered.
And there we have the problem. Law does not prevent, it at best discourages, and nominally punishes. With firearms, punishment for mu
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The mere thoguht that laws present is naive to the point of ignorance.
By its very nature law, and as an extension police, is ALWAYS reactionary.
There have been enough studies to show that laws suck at deterring. I tire of repeating myself.
Re: OMFG. (Score:2)
My comment wasn't directed at you. You and I agree on this. Others still think law will fix human nature.
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...present any real deterrent...
Ah well...
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You know...I have a fuck ton of guns.
And not ONCE have they spontaneously jumped up, aimed and fired themselves at me or anyone or anything around me.....not at home, or in the car or when carrying when out and about.
Guns are nothing but tools with no intrinsic evil or danger.
It's the fucking loons out there getting amped up to take out "evil" people on "the other side"....
Same people that would run a car through a crowd...mass knifing....home made expl
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Eliminate one tool...and people will...Uh....Find a way.
What you're missing is that most crimes committed are crimes of opportunity. And hey, wouldn't you know, the Charlie Kirk shooting actually turned out to be a crime of opportunity rather than a carefully executed plan. You may not like it but the fact is that if the guy didn't already have a lot of experience with and ownership of a rifle then Charlie Kirk would still be alive.
An ample and poorly regulated supply of guns is merely providing would-be criminals with opportunity.
Your arguments goalpost is zero
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Funny how nobody is burning down cities over a straight-up assassination.
I think you misunderstand people's motivations and lack a sense of scale.
A HUGE amount of people care about police violence in their own cities, and they were out in the streets in every major city and a lot of smaller ones. When you have tens of millions of people in the streets you get a few crazies. 15-26 million engaged people, feet on the ground.
I'm going to be honest, I don't think many conservatives liked Charlie Kirk in particular. He's like an uneducated Rush Limbaugh and drug religion into odd cor
Re:Stop with the be gay, do crime stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm going to be honest, I don't think many conservatives liked Charlie Kirk in particular. He's like an uneducated Rush Limbaugh and drug religion into odd corners. Few million followers on xitter, for the entertainment? There were more feet on the ground for blue lives matter than Charlie Kirk's vigils, just saying.
A couple hours before my post here Kimmel just got drummed off the air for saying roughly this and neither of you are wrong. Even a lot of conservatives knew the guy was shitty, that's why he was out in the boons doing pep rallies for small crowds. Their hyper sensitivity to anything even remotely negatively about him is absurd and is just an excuse to silence critics.
In a world where I see major conservatives saying awful things almost every day with virtually no consequence https://www.politico.com/news/... [politico.com] it's plain as day this isn't about reducing political tensions or trying to create a more civil discourse.
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Thanks for confirming my point that this has nothing to do with decency.
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No, Kimmel got drummed off the air for lying on air saying that the shooter was a conservative MAGA supporter..."one of their own", long after official statements and evidence have plainly stated the opposite.
He was trying to still promote the leftists lies that came out early on this to confuse the public.
You just made that up, why are you talking about other people lying when you can't get something simple straight to make your point? It's the only way your point can be made? Check. Here's the sentence you butchered.
We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.
That's accurate. Official statements? What, like before the investigation has even began, the governor of Utah's theory of yah, he was conservative, from a conservative family, conservative ideals but he went to college and got rapid onset leftwing extremism!
Figuring out that you're into dudes i
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immel got drummed off the air for lying on air saying that the shooter was a conservative MAGA supporter..."one of their own", long after official statements and evidence have plainly stated the opposite.
What official statements, as if those were relevant? What evidence?
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'many conservatives'
Yeah, that is defined as 'small minority'. You're wrong in your assessment, and it does not matter why.
Not going to work (Score:3, Interesting)
This is not a problem that can be solved like that. People will find echo chambers wherever they are.
It's like gun violence in the US. You can't fix that with laws or rules. Even if guns were made 100% illegal across the board there are too many and the culture too great to make that go away, it won't ever go away as long as democracy exists (and there is some question about that right now). The problem needs to be approached from a different direction if any progress is to be made.
The core issues need to be addressed. The first step would be to attempt to figure out what those are. The fact that the internet exists seems to factor in this. Technology has moved faster than the human mind and society can adapt. It amplifies mental illness and focuses extreme views.
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We've had guns freely available in the US for a LONG time.
Remember it's only been since the mid 80s since we had background checks....since I believe 1986 that would could'n't buy a modern NEW full auto machine gun.
Hell, I remember in the 70's, you didn't have to go to a "Gun store" to buy a gun, they sold rifles at places like Western Auto, and your local hardware store.
It wasn't long ago you could order a gun via a catalog and h
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
If you were to ask the average "person on the street" to guess the murder rate, it would probably depend hugely on whether a school shooting or racially- or politically-motivated murder was currently a big media story. But that hardly corresponds to your risk as an individual.
Re:Not going to work (Score:4, Insightful)
Technology has moved faster than the human mind and society can adapt. It amplifies mental illness and focuses extreme views.
Right. That's why all the cool kids are moving in with a trans roommate and shooting at political influencers. /s
This was an outlier event that even Mr. Kirk himself somewhat ironically pointed out is just the cost of having the second amendment. Every once in awhile, some nut with a gun is going to go postal. Address the mental health, address the guns, or just have your thoughts and prayers and move on.
Re:Not going to work (Score:5, Insightful)
It's nothing like that.
They want to have the narrative that "leftists are violent!!!" because they killed Charlie Kirk. Never mind the other deaths like January 6, George Floyd, etc.
Never mind the fact that when the right spews hate, they claim censorship when platforms start to remove their posts.
The whole point is to say the left needs to be censored and everything. Ever notice how many people are being cancelled because of their less than complimentary comments about Charlie Kirk?
Double standards and all - if it's your speech been censored, then cry free speech. If it's someone you don't like, censor away!
They want Steam, Discord, etc. to start deplatforming all those leftists.
It's gotten so far that some Republicans are trying to back away because they realize that those laws being used to censor "the left" could easily be used to censor them for the exact same reason. The big fun being to see how the Supreme Court will allow the censorship but then twist themselves into knots trying to deny the same rights if a (D) gets to be President.
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It's gotten so far that some Republicans are trying to back away because they realize that those laws being used to censor "the left" could easily be used to censor them for the exact same reason. The big fun being to see how the Supreme Court will allow the censorship but then twist themselves into knots trying to deny the same rights if a (D) gets to be President.
You think the US is going to keep doing elections?
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You think the US is going to keep doing elections?
We will have sham elections, like the last one, where there were Russian bomb threats.
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It's nothing like that.
They want to have the narrative that "leftists are violent!!!" because they killed Charlie Kirk. Never mind the other deaths like January 6, George Floyd, etc.
Never mind the fact that when the right spews hate, they claim censorship when platforms start to remove their posts.
The whole point is to say the left needs to be censored and everything. Ever notice how many people are being cancelled because of their less than complimentary comments about Charlie Kirk?
Double standards and all - if it's your speech been censored, then cry free speech. If it's someone you don't like, censor away!
They want Steam, Discord, etc. to start deplatforming all those leftists.
It's gotten so far that some Republicans are trying to back away because they realize that those laws being used to censor "the left" could easily be used to censor them for the exact same reason. The big fun being to see how the Supreme Court will allow the censorship but then twist themselves into knots trying to deny the same rights if a (D) gets to be President.
That is a good post except for one thing. Charlie Kirk's killer isn't "left". He grew up in a very republican household, very much "left" hating MAGA. Jimmy Kimmel has been cancelled for saying what everyone knows. Tyler Robinson wasn't some Leftist, he was one of them, a MAGA. At the very best you have a very conservative upbringing being a key part of radicalisation.
Trump and the Republicans are going to try as hard as they can to suppress that and push the narrative that it's the "left". This will i
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It's nothing like that.
They want to have the narrative that "leftists are violent!!!" because they killed Charlie Kirk. Never mind the other deaths like January 6, George Floyd, etc.
Never mind the fact that when the right spews hate, they claim censorship when platforms start to remove their posts.
The whole point is to say the left needs to be censored and everything. Ever notice how many people are being cancelled because of their less than complimentary comments about Charlie Kirk?
Double standards and all - if it's your speech been censored, then cry free speech. If it's someone you don't like, censor away!
They want Steam, Discord, etc. to start deplatforming all those leftists.
It's gotten so far that some Republicans are trying to back away because they realize that those laws being used to censor "the left" could easily be used to censor them for the exact same reason. The big fun being to see how the Supreme Court will allow the censorship but then twist themselves into knots trying to deny the same rights if a (D) gets to be President.
That is a good post except for one thing. Charlie Kirk's killer isn't "left". He grew up in a very republican household, very much "left" hating MAGA. Jimmy Kimmel has been cancelled for saying what everyone knows. Tyler Robinson wasn't some Leftist, he was one of them, a MAGA. At the very best you have a very conservative upbringing being a key part of radicalisation.
Trump and the Republicans are going to try as hard as they can to suppress that and push the narrative that it's the "left". This will involve even greater abuses of power. Anyone want to take bets that witnesses will be reading prepared statements for the press, no questions permitted in case they accidentally go off script and that the court proceedings will be held behind closed doors. No access to any media that might deviate from the narrative. I'd go as far to suspect that a fake confession indicating support for MAGAs favourite hates will be created (if it has not already). Definitely no media access to the accused.
This is going to be a farce and the more people who allow it, the harder it will hit everyone including them (and they'll whine that they never expected the leopard to eat their face).
And of course the MAGA faithful don't want to see this, so they attempt to suppress it.
I have to wonder, when does it finally dawn on some people that they're on the wrong side of history? I guess for some the realisation never comes, I'm willing to bet some died in the wool German and Italian fascists went to their graves still believing they made the right choice supporting Hitler and Mussolini long after their downfalls.
MAGA rifle and assassin upbringing killed Kirk (Score:2)
Kimmel was more correct than all the BS being spewed by the MAGA echo chambers.
The rifle that killed Kirk was owned by a MAGA follower. And the shooter was raised for decades in a very conservative and now MAGA following home.
MAGA ideology appears to breed or nuture more assassins and violent actions like January 6th, 2021 than any other current ideology in the United States. [nih.gov]
Conclusion: Findings from this large, nationally representative survey demonstrate that, as defined, MAGA Republicans are more likely [nih.gov]
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Jan 6ths...really?
Let's see....1 person was killed that day at the Capitol...the lady trying to climb in a window show and killed by a guard.
That's your example??
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So can I jump to assuming mocking murder is ok with you? Or is it just mocking the victim of a murder?
While we're at it, what can people say that justifies murdering them? And what did Charlie Kirk say that you think justifies his murder?
Our president is a radicalized Oligarch. (Score:3, Insightful)
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Barking up the wrong tree (Score:4, Funny)
If you want to find radicalization, start with AOL users. I'm a member of some gun clubs, all of the weirdo's have AOL email addresses. Then consider looking into the Truth Social Network.
Everybody knows where the pipelines are (Score:5, Insightful)
If they're going after valve it's because they're going after video games. They have been wanting to go after video games for years and years and years. There is something about the right wing where they really hate video games. TV and movies too. And they aren't too fond of books.
A big part of it is they want to control your media choices so you don't have any. I don't think they ever really got over the printing press.
And they want you at church. Tithing.
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That are designed to take disaffected young men and convert them into extremists ...
(...willing to fight and potentially die for their cause.)
The US military hates competition.
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I'm honestly expecting someone to do the political math and back off to avoid offending all the gooners and GamerGate types who's votes they count on. Will definitely be tuning into C-SPAN for this one.
Trump already said it (Score:4, Insightful)
They aren't planning on allowing elections anymore. Maybe they won't pull it off maybe they will.
They just got Jimmy Kimmel pulled off the air. They already got Stephen Colbert.
Jimmy Kimmel is responsible for saving the affordable Care act. The Republicans were on the verge of eliminating it during Trump's first term and Kimmel's newborn son needed heart surgery. Kimmel of course could pay for it but he made a heartfelt plea for America to save the affordable Care act and all the people who wouldn't be able to afford that.
It worked and the Republicans backed down.
Late night comedy TV talk show hosts have quite a bit of impact on American politics. Just like how the court jester's did back in the day. The right wing recognizes that and they are destroying anything and everything that opposes them in the slightest.
The baby boomers are dying and leaving nothing in their wake. The younger generations are extremely poor and they are not going to tolerate right-wing idiots that offer moral panics and social issues over food on their tables and a roof over their heads.
So it is absolutely critical that the billionaires and their cronies and democracy before the baby boomers are no longer around to vote for shit like abortion or trans girls in sports or whatever the fuck they're freaking out about right now in their mcmansions.
We are seeing a rapid acceleration into fascism. This is the end stage cancer of American democracy. At this point saving it would take a miracle.
Re:Trump already said it (Score:5, Interesting)
They just got Jimmy Kimmel pulled off the air.
This is really disturbing. The article I could find came up with the following quotes by Jimmy Kimmel:
In his Monday night monologue, Kimmel said the "MAGA gang" was trying to score political points off Kirk's killing.
And showing off some embarrassingly bad painting skills, too. [foxnews.com]
"The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it."
That checks out, too. [aljazeera.com]
"This is not how an adult grieves the murder of someone he calls a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a gold fish,"
When asked about Charlie Kirk, Trump responded by talking about his new ballroom. [thedailybeast.com] He's really excited to host some big balls. [youtube.com]
Recently on X, I'd seen some right-wingers doing mental gymnastics to defend their version of cancel culture by saying they get cancelled for speaking facts, while the left is being cancelled for spewing hate. I'm calling bullshit on that. They're cancelling anything that paints Charlie Kirk in a less than favorable light, because they truly are a bunch of fascists, and are just using martyrdom as an excuse.
Re:Trump already said it (Score:5, Insightful)
Recently on X, I'd seen some right-wingers doing mental gymnastics to defend their version of cancel culture by saying they get cancelled for speaking facts, while the left is being cancelled for spewing hate. I'm calling bullshit on that. They're cancelling anything that paints Charlie Kirk in a less than favorable light, because they truly are a bunch of fascists, and are just using martyrdom as an excuse.
One thing I've learned about the far right, whatever they claim is being done to them, whatever they claim victimhood over isn't happening to them, it's what they really want to do to others. They want to be cancelling, they want to silence others and deny them freedom of expression. They're not having their rights taken away, their problem is that they're not allowed to take way the rights of those they don't like.
The sad part is, they've been taken too seriously for far too long.
Re: Trump already said it (Score:2)
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Facebook is designed to take old people and radicalize them. 60+ and on Facebook is practically guaranteed to be an extremist.
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I mean, I've been online since about 1989 and even I don't know that much about actual 4chan, to me it was always the Lion King's "You must never go there" scene (and then came 8chan - my god).
It does
Re:Everybody knows where the pipelines are (Score:5, Interesting)
Dude, nobody is telling young girls that men are evil.
Little girls see the same little boys that you see. The same boys that won't look you in the eye. Don't talk about their feelings. Don't focus on their school work. Pick fights, be rude, roughhouse, disrupt class, etc. Way too fucking online and anti-social. If you're their parent, what are you DOING? You won't put them in Boy Scouts because "it's gAy"? You're part of the problem.
I know you know about those exact issues because you complain about them too, but you blame the school. Now it's the girls. I think maybe you're the problem. Laying those problems at the feet of other well-adjusted kids is just fucking chilling man. Literally everything you said is backwards and wrong just like that one. Young men need help. You can start by helping them instead of blaming everyone else like a lunatic. Everyone wants to complain about the boys, nobody wants to cop to being parents of those same bored, unsocialized, unfit, way too online boys. Build a fucking doghouse with them, take them out for volunteer work, take them dirt biking FFS, and show them how adult men make new friends. The fuck is wrong with you?
Re:Everybody knows where the pipelines are (Score:5, Interesting)
Everyone wants to complain about the boys, nobody wants to cop to being parents of those same bored, unsocialized, unfit, way too online boys. Build a fucking doghouse with them, take them out for volunteer work, take them dirt biking FFS, and show them how adult men make new friends.
Tyler Robinson's parents seemed to have the whole "make your boy into a man" thing turned up to 11 to the point he fucking snapped. If your adult kid wants to have a trans partner, would it kill you to just accept that they're a different person than you and be happy for them? Maybe they won't feel the need to shoot some political influencer if their parents had accepted them.
Of course, maybe he was just screwed up in the head and nothing could've helped him. Do enough rolls of the genetic dice and you'll eventually get another Jeffrey Dahmer.
Re: Everybody knows where the pipelines are (Score:2)
If you believe that crap you really are part of the problem.
Get your head out of your ass, you entitled twat.
Elite gaslighting (Score:2)
How do we know that there are radical political postings on these forums? Well, we called a congressional hearing on this, so by definition, there's a problem. If there weren't a problem, we wouldn't have called for the hearing.
The goal is not to establish that there is a problem. The goal is to push the hearings onto the news so that the headlines talk about the problems being discussed at the hearing. This is elite-level gaslighting.
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Or, they could just be going back to the old 1990's playbook of blaming violent video games for school shootings.
I'm sure that that are still a few senators serving that are old and naive enough to think that Doom was the reason that the Columbine shootings happened.
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Re: Elite gaslighting (Score:2)
The movie is literally where the term gaslighting comes from.
Re:Elite gaslighting (Score:5, Insightful)
The telling part is that they're giving known right-wing cesspools a free pass. Just the other day I saw some old MAGA dude post on X a picture of himself strapped with some big ass gun because he was heading to a Kirk memorial and was just itchin' for some gosh durn libruls to try somethin'.
But that's not inciting violence because it's a good guy with a gun, according to their logic.
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The telling part is that they're giving known right-wing cesspools a free pass.
Came here to say roughly the same thing. Something along the lines of "the mote that is in thy brother's eye" [ref [wikipedia.org]]. That's a biblical reference that all the God-fearing hypocrites on Capitol Hill ought to recognize.
Theatre. (Score:2)
Their slavish adherence to toxic individualism means nothing significant will be done. Casting blame is all they've got. Nothing will be done, so they can at least extract some performative political value out of it. Meaningless, but cynically useful.
Re:Theatre. (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Theatre. (Score:5, Insightful)
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I wouldn't worry about the constitution. It's doing a dead cat bounce. A great many Americans are perfectly happy to see the backside of values that are stereotypically American.
Freedom of speech unless we don't like what you're saying.
Freedom of religion so long as it's Christian.
A thin veil of democracy is permitted so long as we can gerrymander or otherwise circumvent the will of the majority. And voting can go fuck itself if our guy doesn't win.
Due process? Please.
It's all falling apart. And it's going
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Antifa headquarters is where they store all the "woke". It's like those WMDs W. Bush could never find, updated for a new generation.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
As they say, if it shits like a duck.
I'm not sure you need the scare quotes ... (Score:1)
... when your acolytes are literally engaging in political shootings.
I mean, that actually is pretty radical, ya know?
Charlie Kirk's killer wasn't radicalized. (Score:5, Insightful)
Killing Charlie Kirk makes you a murderer not a radical. Charlie said some hateful things about a lot of people, and for them it's personal. Fox News and New York Post are happy to report that the alleged shooter is a member of or adjacent to one or more groups we know for a fact Charlie has said some very hateful things about. Do to them what we did in the 1950s, stoning gays is god's perfect law, etc. That's not politics, it's not policy, it's not political theory, it's just hateful. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the possible motives here, and it wasn't disagreement over universal healthcare or college debt or size of government.
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Re:Charlie Kirk's killer wasn't radicalized. (Score:4, Insightful)
Your a sick peace of shit, you are literally the problem.
So called "MAGA" people are not the ones killing people they disagree with END OF STORY.
MAGA is 100% the problem.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politic... [go.com]
MAGA are the dumbest people on earth. ASVAB waiver stupid. I would have joined but I would have punched a DI, dumb. Maybe tariffs won't cost me money because I can't do math, morons. If I have to make up stories to bring the media's attention to how fucking dumb MAGA is, I will, to paraphrase your Vice President. MAGA is violent, MAGA is white supremecist rallies, MAGA is proud boys, MAGA is literal neo-Nazi parades, MAGA is Groypers, and all sorts of other nasty unintelligent trash. Literally the worst people in our country. Opportunistic Republicans I can respect sorta, conservatives, sure. MAGA are poor dumb fucking bigots following a con-man. Ask a MAGA dipshit how the deficit is doing now. *NPC stare* What am I supposed to do with that, feel sorry? I didn't pour the koolaid and make them drink it.
Re: Charlie Kirk's killer wasn't radicalized. (Score:2)
Except when they do, and examples abound of that.
Re: Charlie Kirk's killer wasn't radicalized. (Score:2)
Memory of a gold fish.
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Instead of shooting someone, why not go to your safe-room and play with your bubble-wrap
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Instead of shooting someone, why not go to your safe-room and play with your bubble-wrap /s
Well, for a few people, they feel more empowered by taking other people's lives. It's the ultimate sense of control. A sense of power that is enabled by access to firearms without necessary background checks and ongoing certification and training.
Are their campaigns on how to recognize when you aren't able to use a firearm safely because of your emotional state? Mental health resources to call to help you de-escalate and manage your emotions better? Laws that would allow people to report their concerns to a
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> Charlie said some hateful things about a lot of people
Instead of shooting someone, why not go to your safe-room and play with your bubble-wrap /s
If wishes were fishes, road rage would end with bubble-wrap and kisses.
The state charged the shooter with some enhancements that require them to go nuts deep into motives. Besides that, the shooting has been publicly framed as politically motivated. If a communist says you're gay and you punch him in the face, is that politically motivated assault? It's not terribly difficult to see the personal conflict here, and not a political or ideological one. All we're going on is the insistence that digging chicks w
Yeah he was (Score:5, Insightful)
The stuff written on his bullets comes from memes from a right-wing extremist group headed by a white supremacist called Nick Fuentes. They are pseudo anti-fascist phrases said ironically and as dog whistles.
I doubt that the kid was fully radicalized though. He was in the pipeline to be radicalized until right-wing extremism. Which is hardly a surprise because his family are Maga
Not that it really matters. You won man. You got your victory. Jimmy Kimmel just got taken off the air by Sinclair media threatening ABC. They already took Stephen Colbert off the air. They are firing anyone and everyone who does anything but sycophantically praise the great Lord Charlie Kirk and anyone who's so much is considered as quoting anything Kirk actually said when he was alive.
Meanwhile the Department of Justice is getting ready to attack the enemies of the Republican party using the full force of the American Justice system. And we have military deployments in the streets of America.
You won man. This is what you wanted and you got everything you wanted.
I sure hope you have the day you voted for.
Re:Yeah he was (Score:4, Insightful)
What's so completely hypocritical is that just a few months ago, Baby Vance and Elmo Musk were foaming at the mouth about how Europe lacks freedom of expression.
But unless you publicly state that Charlie Kirk crapped nuggets of sunshine and was the most brilliant person on Earth... you now get canceled in the USA.
Re: (Score:2)
Republicans are incapable of hypocrisy (Score:2)
If a republican accuses someone of hypocrisy it's because they recognize a pattern that they don't actually understand.
This is why Republicans can engage in perfect double think where they hold two ideas contradictory in their head at the same time.
This is because the Republican party is a fascist party and frankly it has been for
Re: (Score:2)
The stuff written on his bullets comes from memes from a right-wing extremist group headed by a white supremacist called Nick Fuentes. They are pseudo anti-fascist phrases said ironically and as dog whistles.
Gen Z uses each others' memes under so many layers of irony it's almost impossible to tell if they're for or against something. Seriously, go on X and try to figure out if someone in that demographic is pro or anti something based on their memes. They're so obtuse it will give you a fucking headache.
A message exchange between the suspect and his roommate has been released. [cnn.com] It reads like AI generated slop, which has the conspiracy theorist wheels spinning, but if it's genuine, does make a strong case that
Typical right winger (Score:2)
The Nazis did the exact same thing before they were in power. Every single right winger follows the exact same playbook the Nazis did because it works.
We're not talking about exchanges here what we are talking about are the memes and online spaces that radicalized him into violence. We're talking ab
Re:Typical right winger (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're only interested in a story that aligns with your preferred narrative, you're doing exactly the same thing that the MAGA folks did when they originally insisted that the shooter had to be trans (and some are actually still pushing the theory that the roommate was the actual mastermind). I only want to see the truth come out, regardless of which side of the aisle has their feelings hurt, because justice is supposed to be blind and facts aren't partisan.
Also, again, for the umpteenth time, I'm not a right-winger. [x.com]
Yeah you're a right winger (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't get to make your bed with Nazis and then say you're not a nazi. And you don't get to do the same with right wingers and pretend you want the right winger. You are the policies and people you support whether you like it or not.
Keep having the day you voted for.
Re: (Score:2)
That would certainly be interesting, but we'd need to see better evidence. I'm basing my opinion on what's publicly available and we have more than enough to reasonably believe the alleged shooter hated Charlie Kirk personally.
The memes don't add anything for me. I'd guess the guy at that age didn't fall far from the family tree politically or ideologically, it certainly seems that way from the interview with the mom. Guy goes to college, discovers himself. Mom says he started getting political, and what's
Why is it these community sites responsibility? (Score:3)
These platforms allow users to create private instances for their own private purposes. Why is it the platforms responsibility to police every abuse by their users?
Re: Why is it these community sites responsibility (Score:3)
Propaganda (Score:5, Interesting)
These networks have proven, highly-abusive posters: Still a small proportion of the population but the racists on these platforms make a point of glorifying their cruelty.
Other posters are correct: This is 'something I don't like, happened', 'I'm the victim', and 'somebody else, do something' propaganda: Whatever the results, Fox News/the GOP/Trump/Miller/Voight will re-write history (memory-hole facts) to decrease the power of the people truly suffering, AKA gaslighting.
While he's under oath (Score:2)
Someone ask Gaben where Half Life 3 is
Ignore them (Score:2)
The MAGArats just want a clip of them ranting about liberals.
they just want to know who's left and right (Score:1)
No elephants in the room? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just more desparate MAGA spin (Score:1)
So let’s get this straight: a MAGA true-believer shoots and kills a MAGA kingmaker, and the MAGA-chaired House Oversight Committee’s big takeaway is call in the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Twitch, and Reddit? Comer calls Kirk a “patriot” and frames this as proof of “radicalization of online forums.” What’s missing in Comer's script is the part MAGA refuses to acknowledge: the shooter wasn’t some “Antifa super-soldier” conjured from MAGA fever dreams.
Why Valve? (Score:2)
Maybe I am behind the times as a gamer, but I don't recall a single time where my gamer friends and I gathered on Steam to hash out our next gaming plans.
This might be the dumbest panel yet.
We've got Television under our thumb, (Score:2)
Time to get social media on MAGA's side
Re: (Score:2)
No, he didn't deserve it. Political violence is always wrong.
But come on. You have to admit there's a huge amount of irony in the fact that a guy who says a certain number of gun deaths per year are acceptable was the victim of gun violence. Doesn't mean he deserved it, but does cast his words in a new light.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
All I'm seeing is "Charlie deserved it" comments.
Pointing out that the right-wing is using his death as justification to potentially violate the 1A is not saying "Charlie deserved it". Based on what I've actually seen Charlie say when he was still alive, I think he'd actually hate the idea that his death became a catalyst to further dismantle freedom of speech.
I absolutely will give Charlie Kirk credit for this: unlike many on the right, he absolutely was willing to listen to opposing viewpoints. He might condescendingly mock your viewpoints while his M
Re: So far (Score:2)
A lone gunman shows up and murders a man that is unpopular with half of America. Rather than questioning guns, the victims politics, the university's security, or chalking it up to bad luck. You have extremist going on a crusade to blame half of America for a death they had nothing to do with.
Re: Evil leftist (Score:2)
There is so much insanity in your post that your connection with reality seems pretty tenuous. Please get help before you hurt yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
and indoctrinate them to turn away from both religion and family values. Now the byproduct of these lies
You don't need lies to turn children away from religion. History and facts will do.
violence is the language of fascism (Score:2)
The so-called Leftists aren't the ones that literally states they were going to start a civil war if they can't have their way. Out of the mouths of both Vance and MTG only a few months ago, but part of the conversation on the Right for many years. https://www.vice.com/en/articl... [vice.com]
The vast majority of us in America wish to work our differences peacefully and move on with our lives. Most of us know that war is not romantic. It is costly in money and lives, and clearly won't make our streets safer.