[mavidser]

This isn't sitting well with me at all. Of course it had to be done, but I also think it's a scary precedent.

    First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
         Because I was not a socialist.

    Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
         Because I was not a trade unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
         Because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I realize that the banned groups and people were really into extremism (to say it lightly), but there's also the fact that the Pandora's box has been opened, where huge private companies can remove figures and communities of an entire political spectrum - leaving them voiceless. And given the way political democracy swings, I am quite afraid of the time this starts happening to us.

Also, just to clarify: I'm thinking this from the POV of the non-violent conservatives who are seeing this as an attack on their politics, and who can then use this as a justification to block BLM/"antifa" protests for "peace" if they come back in power.

[joshuamorton]

The "they" in the poem is the people who stormed the Capitol building, not Stripe. The "me" is, say, Marco Rubio or Mitch McConnel: a conservative, willing to hitch themselves to an authoritarian for a while, but who ultimately finds the authoritarian policies too distasteful (and that the leaders policies are dangerous, even to someone who was initially a moderate ally or supporter of the leader).

And I mean this quite seriously. Neimoller, the author of the poem was at least somewhat anti-Semitic and a Nazi and a supporter of Hitler until the mid 1930s.