Take it from someone who saw what Brexit did to the UK: Your country, by electing someone with an unpleasant set of views on race/religion, has implicitly given free reign to people with even more unpleasant views on those to do whatever they want and not fear repercussions because... after all, they've been told they're in the majority now.
I suspect it's easier to promise to stand up to the "as close to 0 as you can mathematically get" than to address problems that are happening today.
"has implicitly given free reign to people with even more unpleasant views on those to do whatever they want and not fear repercussions because..."
And I believe that our country was already giving free reign to those with "unpleasant views". For instance, I don't think it's a coincidence that race relations have generally considered to be getting worse over the past several years: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/us/poll-shows-most-america... I'm a pragmatist. If people are all saying or doing the right things in the leadership but the race relations are getting worse, then clearly they are not saying or doing the right things.
So, "no"? And no because it's a problem that already existed and keeps getting worse?
Tell me: Where's the Godwin line, exactly? You railed against ubernostrum just because he compared a current situation to one in the 1930s and what you get out of this is that America's safe: should Trump turn into Hitler, America is safe because you, and surely lots of others, will stand up to the government!
Goody. Well, I feel better now, whew!
You're a pragmatist, right? So tell me: Where is that point where you, and many others, stand up to the growing problem? Is it when the people rise up and protest? (They already have.) Is it when people start dying? (Many are). Or do you wait until a wall is being built, religions are being rejected at the border and the targeted groups are being threatened on the street?
Where is that fucking line? Do thousands have to die? Does it have to be tens, hundreds of thousands? Is it when it hits 7 digits?
You won't stand up to all this nonsense? Fine. I fully realize you don't have the logistics for it. Nobody does.
No worries, you won't have to -- an ethnic cleansing is, as you said, mathematically close to 0. And really, there'll be nobody left by the time it gets to that point, because you're not standing up now.
The world is overpopulated right now and would be better if 90% of living people didn't exist. If I had to pick America with the Republicans gone or Democrats gone I'm leaning towards Democrats.
It seems that you want people with opinions you find odious to be unhappy all the time and accept that as their lot in life. If I've understood that correctly, by what mechanism do you propose this work?
What I did was describe the current situation in the US. I'm making no particular remark, in the post you're replying to, on what I want out of "people with opinions I find odious".
If someone is willing to say that they would stand up to an ethnic cleansing, I think it's reasonable to ask them at what point they'll stand up to it.
I do find cultural bigotry to be odious though and to answer your question, I will not protect the rights of people to threaten and kill others. I will not defend a culture that promotes the exclusion of classes of people by skin color, religion, accent, gender or even political leanings.
I don't know why you're asking me what mechanism would make this work. People's unhappiness has very little impact on whether policies work. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this discussion, as the things I refuse to defend would not be happening in the first place.
> Your country, by electing someone with an unpleasant set of views on race/religion, has implicitly given free reign to people with even more unpleasant views on those to do whatever they want and not fear repercussions because... after all, they've been told they're in the majority now.
If you want these people to not feel free to express their opinions then you want some other thing. Feel free to explain what, if I misconstrued.
I think you might be reading "to do whatever they want" far too generously, unless you consider death threats (and worse) to be free expression of opinions that should be protected.
Threats are illegal, and that hasn't changed. If that is truly all you are talking about, then thank you for clarifying because that was not at all evident.
I guess in trying to keep a friendly tone to my post I overneutered it. But yes, I was referencing the stuff that was happening in the news article I linked. Similar things happened right after the Brexit vote: All of a sudden, people coming out of the woodwork thinking it's now okay to tell others to "go back to their country" (even natives), to threaten them, beat them up, etc.
The more divisive the vote is, the more violent the winner gets. Bullying is easier when you have the numbers.
America just elected someone who actively encouraged beating people up at rallies. The fallout is going to suck.
I'm not going to say it's good that people have xenophobic interactions but not liking immigrants is and has been legal for some time
I personally prefer to let the people with the ugly opinions have their say so I know who they are and I can engage them. The plan to keep them in hiding can only work until they feel too much pressure and explode, which is just what happened
I guess what I'm saying is what you seem to be advocating is what just failed. I don't think going back to it will work either.
> I'm not going to say it's good that people have xenophobic interactions but not liking immigrants is and has been legal for some time
Right, I'm definitely not attacking that. I'm also not really advocating for anything -- thankfully I haven't been put in charge of the mess that the US is, so I don't have to find a solution for it all by myself. I was just saying I won't defend such things.
If I did, though, it'd probably involve education and systemic changes. Like you said, "hiding" the problem didn't, doesn't and never will work. I don't believe that Hillary would have made any changes to the system, so if anything 2020 could have been a worse election (whereas now, I'm reasonably certain that unless Trump does exceptionally well this cycle [or exceptionally badly], Warren will be president the next).
These are all theoretical fixes to a system that's broken today, though. People are being bullied in the streets, at their work etc. When do people stand up to that?
Yesterday somebody was lamenting that people shouldn't say "democracy is gone" when it's working exactly as intended. This here isn't what's intended. Two sides fighting to the point that further escalation would result in civil war? The extreme demonization of democrats, republicans, mexicans, muslims, blacks, old people, christians, atheists and whatever demographic favours one side over the other? Seeing the immediate aftermath of the election, I fear that America really is falling apart.
I mean, here in Europe, people are saying left and right that the EU is falling apart because of Brexit and a general sentiment against globalization. The US has it worse now. I'm starting to wonder if there'll still be 50 states in a few years.
I expect this all ends in revolution of some sort. Our technological advances have far outpaced our government structures, so it's feeling like time to redo things.
Oh yes, because surely it's only those evil Trump supporters who are the bad guys! As you can see here a wild pack of trump supports are attacking a poor old hillary supporter:
Oh wait no, sorry, that's a group of leftists literally beating up an old man 10v1 because he's white and might have voted for Trump. Sorry, you were saying something about people not fearing repercussions?
I don't even see what your post is trying to say. The only charitable explanation I can come up with is you're trying to reinforce my point that those in the majority feel like they can be assholes without repercussions.
Take a long, hard look at both my post and yours and ask yourself what point you're attempting to make (and if you somehow don't come up empty, please share it with the rest of the class - I'd love to know at least).
Your post suggests that now that Trump supporters are the majority, it's open season on minorities. Like somehow the regular joes who voted for Trump will turn into some kind of criminals that go around beating up minorities. I find that ridiculous. It's not just the majority, it's the minority as well (see the video). Criminals gonna criminal, regardless if they are the majority or minority.
It's also unfair to say that the act of electing Trump is implicitly condoning this kind of behavior, which is absurd. ~60 million people voted for Trump. A tiny minority will use it as an excuse to commit violence and crime. Just like a tiny minority of Hillary supporters will use the election of Trump to commit violence and crime (See video).
Now, you use Brexit as an example where ordinary people who didn't agree with the direction the country was going and wanted a change, somehow turned to violence. I'd need to see some evidence of this because here's an article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3805008/The-great-Br...) that provides direct evidence from your police force that hate crimes did not significantly increase. Here's a sample from the article:
"However, its footnote added that 85 people had logged hate crime ‘incidents’ on True Vision, a website that records unverified allegations of such behaviour, during the four days in question, up from 54 during the corresponding period a month earlier.
What exactly did this mean? The police press release made things clear. ‘This should not be read as a national increase in hate crime of 57 per cent but an increase in reporting through one mechanism’ over a single 96-hour period."
And the next section is a series of images that were used as propaganda citing a 57% increase in hate crimes since brexit used by anti-brexit campaigners. A direct contradiction to your police force's analysis of the statistics.
The idea that somehow ordinary people turn into racist criminals is just wrong. So there, I shared with the class. I hope your condescending response made you feel smug and happy inside. Made me feel good to drop police stats to prove my case. Why don't you go ahead and share your stats with the class that suggest an uptick in violence due to "implicit" permission.
> Criminals gonna criminal, regardless if they are the majority or minority.
Bullying is exponential. The acts of hatred I linked have been happening for a long time, but elections such as Brexit and Trump are validation for such behaviour. They tell the population: "You have more support than you thought you did".
The filter bubbles, the disconnect that everybody talks about? That amplifies that behaviour as well. It makes people feel like the violence is justified. And yes this happens on both sides, but this isn't a fucking contest.
I'll also note that you're linking the Daily Mail, which is the lowest quality rag in the UK and is extremely biased. I don't want to argue numbers because that's not what this is about -- It's a controversial subject in the UK and I'm well aware both "sides" exaggerate everything. What I can tell you is that there was a surge of violence following the vote because of the validating effect it has.
> The idea that somehow ordinary people turn into racist criminals is just wrong
Dude, really, this isn't what I claimed anywhere. You wrote a whole fucking post arguing numbers which I didn't bring up, fighting a point which I didn't make. Only reason I'm replying is because you put effort into it, but really, step out of your damn bubble for a bit and stop seeing the world in such black and white terms.
I told you to take a look at my post and yours - you failed that basic task. All you managed to do is make assumptions, craft an entire narrative around my post and then proceed to argue that narrative you yourself built.
Ordinary people may not turn into racist criminals, but it sure highlights how people like you can turn into insufferable trolls with very little effort.
"Take it from someone who saw what Brexit did to the UK: Your country, by electing someone with an unpleasant set of views on race/religion, has implicitly given free reign to people with even more unpleasant views on those to do whatever they want and not fear repercussions because... after all, they've been told they're in the majority now."
You argued that there would be an increase in "do whatever they want", which I take to mean crimes (assault, robbery, hate crimes, etc) by people who feel empowered by a majority.
You cited anecdotal evidence as an example (take it from me, I experienced brexit...) to back up your claim there would be an increase in crime. I cited a source ("rag" or not, they cited direct quotes from the police and the police's own analysis of the statistics that there wasn't an exponential increase) to prove the idea that there is some kind of magical "exponential" increase in crime to be false.
My point is that electing Trump is not going to cause this increase because the vast majority of ordinary citizens will not turn into criminals exponentially.
Well, that's nice - although you just agreed to something you believe won't happen.
I don't believe he will, either; but are you standing up to what his electorate is doing?
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/11/trump-voters-threatened-wome...
Take it from someone who saw what Brexit did to the UK: Your country, by electing someone with an unpleasant set of views on race/religion, has implicitly given free reign to people with even more unpleasant views on those to do whatever they want and not fear repercussions because... after all, they've been told they're in the majority now.
I suspect it's easier to promise to stand up to the "as close to 0 as you can mathematically get" than to address problems that are happening today.