Re:Harvard withdraws 10 acceptances for ‘offensive’ memes in...
by ziggysak on Tuesday June 06, 2017 @08:37AM
(#14496701)
I used to be there too, and still am so I can observe how it's evolving. I'm not necessarily even disagreeing with you, but what I am arguing for is not normalizing the bigotry, it's to go back to not even considering their views. The issues arise when we give the alt-right names like "alt-right". It makes them sound powerful and organized.
They're not "literal fascists". Literal fascists were in Italy overthrowing the government 70 years ago. All these people have is the ability to create chaos. When we give them coverage and attention, we feed them. What you're advocating for is what we're doing right now - trying to shut off these toxic wells. But what it's simply doing is adding fuel to the fire.
No, the bigots then just push the line further, and further, and further, to normalize their bigotry because "yeah they're jokes but they make a good point, you know?"--and if you say "no, that's wrong," you get "it's just a joke, brah, why are you so offended?"
That's what /pol/ is. That's what it's been since its inception. It has been a bunch of useful idiots with a hard core of literal fascists being edged further and further right by pushing that line through rhetoric and through those "harmless" memes.
I used to be there. I spent a lot of time watching this. They turned people to actual hard-core bad shit through that "humor".