[Mediterraneo10]

I saw this firsthand with a former flatmate of mine. He passionately studied Semitic languages and Persian at uni, spent a lot of time traveling or studying abroad in Israel, Arab countries, and Iran. His social circle in Europe was heavy with immigrants from those countries and with them he seemed to be the best of friends. And yet he loved to visit 4chan and collect anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim memes to repost elsewhere just for the lols. Deciding if a person is "really racist" or not has become a challenge in our age.

[chatmasta]

Why do we need to decide if someone is "really racist" in the first place? To make ourselves feel good about being morally superior? To feel offended on behalf of people who we may not even understand?

Political correctness really has gotten out of hand, and the sooner people realize this, the sooner they'll begin to understand how we ended up with Trump as president.

The pendulum swings both ways. Be careful how hard you push it.

[Mediterraneo10]

I think it’s entirely normal that if you have a friend who expresses two completely opposite sentiments, you wonder which of them he/she really espouses. It has nothing to do with feeling good or superior.

[unityByFreedom]

Trump is also politically correct, just not the kind we're used to. He didn't say anything about the Portland knife attack and had a lot to say about the London one. Doing so kept his base happy.

Don't be fooled into thinking Trump is not a politician.

[pyre]

But making that shit turn up everywhere just normalizes it. People start seeing those things and agreeing with them, no matter how "ironically" he intending them to be taken.

Ideas like "let's get Donald Trump elected for the lulz" have real-world effects. "It was just for laughs, mate" isn't really a good excuse. At a certain point, it approaches "watching the world burn" territory.

[2_listerine_pls]

> Ideas like "let's get Donald Trump elected for the lulz" have real-world effects.

Do you have statistics to back that claim?

[pyre]

I'm not making a claim either way on the idea that Donald Trump was "meme'd into office" as has been claimed elsewhere.

My statement is that attempting to get someone elected president just because it would be "funny" to see that person as President has real-world consequences. At some point these things go beyond being "just a prank" regardless of how effective they are at actually accomplishing their goal. Were they to actually accomplish their goal, it would have real-world consequences beyond just providing more fuel for their image board meme battles.

[anabis]

Judge him by his actions.