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Old 15th March 2017, 02:16 PM   #1647
theprestige
Penultimate Amazing
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Antimemetics Division
Posts: 69,914
Originally Posted by Mycroft View Post
MostlyDead,

It seems (to me) as though you don't support attacking fascists, but because of their odious nature would not be upset if/when it happens?

Which is how I feel about Richard Spencer being punched. That guy, whoever he is, should be prosecuted for assault if caught, but since it was Richard Spencer I still giggle a little bit when I think about it.
Giggling is fine. I think this is more than just giggling, though. What I read MD saying, both in this thread and that one, is that they are happy to give away a little rule of law, if it means seeing a little violence done to "fascists"; and that they don't mind seeing violence used to suppress speech, if it's "fascist" speech.

Seeing a deserving jerk slip on a banana peel is satisfying. Seeing a deserving jerk punched in the face by a masked vigilante is even more satisfying--in a comic book. Seeing a jerk, no matter how "deserving", punched in the face by a masked vigilante in real life, and seeing that act of violence praised and defended by my fellow citizens, is far more disturbing to me than it is satisfying.

I have fantasies about being Batman. But I know they are fantasies. I enjoy seeing fictional Batman carrying out fictional vigilante justice. I know that's not reality. MD and others seem to view the violence in Berkeley, and the violence against Richard Spencer, as if they were just another form of fantasy-fulfillment. As if they were not actually real things being done by real people in our real life society.

Richard Spencer is not Adolf Hitler. Not even close. Milos Yiannopolous is not the Joker. These vigilantes are not Batman. This violence is not cathartic fantasy.

Last edited by theprestige; 15th March 2017 at 02:23 PM.
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