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(Found this via "Robert Wolfeagle" over on Facebook.)
Direct copy/paste (i.e. no additional editing like I sometimes do) of my share of it on FB:
"Do these people believe what they're saying? It can sometimes be hard to tell, but certainly some 8channers are being strategic in their messaging efforts."
As I've rhetorically asked, in various forms, on multiple occasions: is it worse to actually *be* a white supremacist, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, deadly-violence-adjacent asshat, or is it worse to merely *pretend* *to* *be* a white supremacist, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, deadly-violence-adjacent asshat to the point where no reasonable person can be expected to discern any difference? I'm well past the point now where I make zero distinction whatsoever between those who are True Believers™ and those who are "merely" trolls only in it "for teh lulz." Or, similarly, are "merely" disingenuous provocateurs only in it for whatever money and fame they may gain from it, e.g. (possibly, because some of these may actually be among the True Believers™) entities like Ben Shapiro or Glenn Beck or Jordan Peterson or Dinesh D'Souza or Donald Trump or Breitbart or FOX News or... so on and so forth, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. Both groups (True Believers and trolls/opportunists) are spreading the same dangerous, hateful lies, and since there's no easy way to make a distinction between the two groups, they both, in my opinion, should be dealt with in the same manner, harshly. If that happens to rope in some poor kids who "didn't really mean it"/"were only joking" alongside actual skinheads and hood-wearing KKK assholes, well, that's just too damn bad, as far as I'm concerned, at this point. People are literally dying for their "lulz." As for *how* they should all be "dealt with," though, I have no real suggestions, beyond "harshly."
Direct copy/paste (i.e. no additional editing like I sometimes do) of my share of it on FB:
"Do these people believe what they're saying? It can sometimes be hard to tell, but certainly some 8channers are being strategic in their messaging efforts."
As I've rhetorically asked, in various forms, on multiple occasions: is it worse to actually *be* a white supremacist, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, deadly-violence-adjacent asshat, or is it worse to merely *pretend* *to* *be* a white supremacist, xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, deadly-violence-adjacent asshat to the point where no reasonable person can be expected to discern any difference? I'm well past the point now where I make zero distinction whatsoever between those who are True Believers™ and those who are "merely" trolls only in it "for teh lulz." Or, similarly, are "merely" disingenuous provocateurs only in it for whatever money and fame they may gain from it, e.g. (possibly, because some of these may actually be among the True Believers™) entities like Ben Shapiro or Glenn Beck or Jordan Peterson or Dinesh D'Souza or Donald Trump or Breitbart or FOX News or... so on and so forth, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. Both groups (True Believers and trolls/opportunists) are spreading the same dangerous, hateful lies, and since there's no easy way to make a distinction between the two groups, they both, in my opinion, should be dealt with in the same manner, harshly. If that happens to rope in some poor kids who "didn't really mean it"/"were only joking" alongside actual skinheads and hood-wearing KKK assholes, well, that's just too damn bad, as far as I'm concerned, at this point. People are literally dying for their "lulz." As for *how* they should all be "dealt with," though, I have no real suggestions, beyond "harshly."
