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by komali2 2099 days ago
> How many open Trump supporters do you interact with a week?

As I said, about 5-8 depending on how active my group chats are.

Why would I tell my coworkers I'm voting for Trump? I'm not going to. So yes I would feel uncomfortable lying.

I don't think this is the same as bush era politics. How can I exist with coworkers while we do anti racist book clubs, and then announce support for the man who calls black protesters thugs? We don't have room for racism at my company. That's only a political issue because the republican party nominated a racist - I don't see how that's our problem.

2 comments

It's interesting how you think you've solely 'escaped' the bubble, and yet I bet I can guess your beliefs on almost every major point after this comment, as well as your race, age, and income.

Want some help?

How can I exist with co-workers who think every point of inequality is systemic racism and white supremacy, Trump supporter's are all trailer park hicks, 97% of the protests are peaceful, believe that just because of your skin color you shouldn't be called a thug for looting, believe Trump colluded with the Russians despite 0 evidence, think Flynn deserves to be in prison, think Trump isn't helping the black community...

Systemic racism is real but I don't even know what "every point of inequality" means.

Uhhh isn't palmer luckey a Trump supporter? And Kanye west? Plus a bunch of rich old folks back home. Lol obviously not all Trump supporters are trailer park (do you mean poor?), My experience at protests in LA alone would make it absurd to believe that.

Thug is a racist dog whistle. Is property damage an improper response to murder? Yet conservatives defend a kid that committed murder after traveling to protests to "protect property," so I guess murder is an appropriate response to property damage.

Are you not reading reports from yesterday wherein intelligence community members are warning congress about russian influence in the upcoming election? You make me suspect the only "evidence" you'll accept is Putin being caught with his fingers literally in the guts of a voting machine.

Trump passed a couple democrat written prison reform bills that vaguely helped the black community, but his DOJ is specifically targeting those early release people for reconviction, so it's moot.

I don't really care about Flynn.

I guess I don't fit into the clean little Other that Rupert murdoch defined for you?

>Is property damage an improper response to murder?

Maybe property damage might be a proper response to murder, _if it was the property of the murderer_ (the police), as opposed to random small business nearby, many owned by minorities.

I know. It's a shame the police keep responding to peaceful protests with extraordinary state-sponsored violence, forcing people to go to the extremes to make their voice heard.
>How can I exist with coworkers while we do anti racist book clubs, and then announce support for the man who calls black protesters thugs?

Have you not seen the videos of "peaceful protestors" literally smashing and burning down buildings? Committing indiscriminate property destruction and arson makes people thugs, regardless of the colour of their skin.

Thug is historically a racist dog whistle. Ignorance of this, pretended or otherwise, isn't a valid defense.

I saw a couple videos of burning buildings, sure. I had trouble caring though, because the only places that happened in are the ones where soldier cops got insanely abusive with peaceful protesters. The onus is on the state to back down, not the people.

Did you see video of out of state proud boys driving in armed caravans to protest areas, paintballing and pepper spraying indiscriminately?

>Thug is historically a racist dog whistle

Really? I'm a native English speaker, albeit not American, and I've never heard thug implied to have racist connotations. The original word comes from a Hindi word for criminal, which was also used for a violent cult: "Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travellers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s."

>I had trouble caring though, because the only places that happened in are the ones where soldier cops got insanely abusive with peaceful protesters.

How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings?

> How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings?

It doesn't absolve any responsibility, but if you take a step back - the police behavior was the indirect and sometimes direct cause of the other symptom.

Well said.
Dog whistle is a useful term, because it gives someone the power to redefine what has been said to mean anything that you would like.

E.g. on NPR you hear talking heads speak about “staunch conservatives” like Bill Barr. This term is now a dog whistle on the left that means ‘white nationalist’

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It was tongue in cheek to the fact that words change meaning.

The non-GTP-3 agent above was surprised to learn that the word ‘Thug’ now means something else. It’s like the rug was pulled out from under them.

Hard to care about cops being aggressive when "protesters" burn down buildings. If US cops actually got proper riot training like French police then citizens wouldn't need to take self-defense into their own hands(e.g. Kyle Rittenhouse).
You believe that arming yourself, driving across state lines, and then putting yourself into the middle of a protest, is "self-defense?"

Great! Then, the protesters are acting in self defense as well, as the bar is apparently quite low for self defense.