this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

These were in your argument. I assessed them as part of a neoliberal argument.

You are still, ultimately, arguing for the destruction of our institutions by trying to give the people you agree with special privilege to do wrong that you agree with.

This gets at the paradox of tolerance. Essentially the paradox of tolerance is how should a tolerant society deal with intolerant people or groups. By reframing tolerance as a social contract or peace treaty, we can resolve the paradox. If a group of people, such as fascists, decided to be intolerant, they have broken the social contract of tolerance. Having broken the agreement, the fascists are no longer protected by the agreement. Thus their speech in the case of the targeted life-threatening disinformation campaign is not protected speech.

So denying the fascists the ability to use the mail in this way is not special treatment, but a refusal by society to tolerate intolerance. Ideally we would have systems in place to prevent disinformation campaigns, but we should rather have individuals exercising civil disobedience than nothing at all. There is no point in an institution such as the mail existing as it does now if it's going to be used to deny people the fundamental right to exist.

My argument would be the same, That they would need to be punished severely to protect the institution of the US Postal Service, in order to prevent other bad actors from doing more of the same and destroying it from the inside.

Bad-faith actors do not care about being punished. The christo-fascist movement seeks to use our own institutions against us to destroy our way of life. We should not put institutions above the way of life that they are supposed to foster. To do so would defeat the purpose of the institutions.

You are as much a cancer and threat to our institutions as all the other bad actors.

The argument that sounds right wing is yours. edit: typo

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This gets at the paradox of tolerance

No, it doesnt. You're again being disingenuous.

There is no paradox.

The mail carriers deliver the mail. They do not censor it based on personal feelings.

The christo-fascist movement seeks to use our own institutions against us to destroy our way of life

He says, literally trying to undermine the institutions by arguing to allow people to undermine them, as long as he agrees with their undermining

The argument that sounds right wing is yours

Yes yes, Gaslight, Obstruct, Project

Your entire argument boils down not in favor of justice, accountability and integrity, but in favor of "Let people undermine things as long as I agree with it".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They do not censor it based on personal feelings.

Fascists getting people killed with a disinformation campaign is not feelings. We do not have to tolerate intolerance in order to be a tolerant society. We can make the strategic decision to defend ourselves and our liberty from fascists who want to destroy us.

He says, literally trying to undermine the institutions by arguing to allow people to undermine them, as long as he agrees with their undermining

FYI I'm a woman. I'll add my pronouns to my bio.

Eventually there won't be a mail service if fascists kill us all.

Yes yes, Gaslight, Obstruct, Project

This is what your argument is doing.

justice, accountability and integrity

None of these ideals are embodied by a life-threatening disinformation campaign or those who would knowingly let such a campaign slide.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Eventually there won’t be a mail service if fascists kill us all.

Only because people like you are actively arguing to undermine and destroy it. And you'll have it done before the fascists can.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Changing an institution to improve the institution is constructive. Keeping an institution the same when its flaws will cause the institution to collapse is destructive.

Standing up to fascists doesn't make us fascists. Changing flawed institutions for the better is not the same as destroying them. The way things are is how we go here. Keeping them that way is how things will get worse.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

and the only flaw you can come up with is that mail carriers might be punished for doing wrong that you agree with. Wrongs that, as long as you agree with, somehow magically are not wrongs in your view.

You have argued for more fascist control of the mail than any right winger I've ever heard of.

Again, you and the bullshit you are trying to hide behind honeyed words are a far larger, and more immediate threat to everything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The flaw being that we don't have any system in place to prevent life-threatening disinformation campaigns from being spread in the mail. People being denied the fundamental right to exist is contrary to who we are as the US. It is not a question of morality, but utility. It is a strategically sound decision for people to defend life and liberty against intolerance. The fact MAGA cultists believe they are living an alternate reality should not factor into our decision making process of what we know to be true through research and study.

If fascists takeover our democracy they will have total control of the government. They won't need us to pass laws or amendments for them to abuse our institutions. They will have total control over all of our institutions at that point no matter what we do. Our efforts should be focused on preventing them from taking power, because once they take power they will not give it up freely.

My argument is that we should act based on utility not morality or some arbitrary notion of fairness. We should reject a false equivalency between groups that are pro-democracy and groups that are pro-authoritarian. We should also reject the neoliberal idea that our institutions are perfect and immutable. Our institutions are deeply flawed and need systemic change if we want to continue to benefit from them.

My argument for changing our institutions, including our democracy, so that we can keep them is not a threat. Nor is it more immediate than the MAGA movement's publicly announced christo-fascist takeover. The presidential election is this November 5th.

Words are the medium of my argument. The fact my argument refutes your argument's points does not make the words honeyed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You are a concerntroll, sitting here wringing hands and clutching pearls while making the exact same style arguments that the fascists you claim to be so very much against make, and for the very same reasons.

There is only one objective answer that protects the integrity of our institutions, and that is punishing the bad actors. By holding them accountable and removing them from their positions when they do wrong.

Something that you, bizarrely, have taking significant umbrage with, because you don't want bad actors (who are bad actors in the way you agree with) to be held accountable, to be punished. You want them to be free to continue to be bad actors. You want them to undermine our institutions (in ways you agree with) and to bring about their collapse. So you can replace them with something more easily weaponized against anyone that disagrees with or opposes you.

And golly gee, that sounds awfully familiar, doesnt it?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The fascists in this case were spreading a targeted life-threatening disinformation campaign. Gender affirming care is a collection of lifesaving medical treatments. A ban on gender affirming care would deny trans people the fundamental right to exist. This in not a false concern, but a well researched fact. In this Canadian woman's case the integrity of the mail service in Canada was being threatened by the fascists. The fascists were the bad-faith actors. With her civil disobedience, she made the strategic decision to defend life and liberty. This Canadian woman was acting in a way that was consistent with our ideals here in the US.

We should change our institutions so that they reject intolerance. This will help us prevent the self-serving agendas of bad-faith actors. Our institutions do not need to collapse in order to accomplish this. In the US, we have the capability to amend the constitution. In fact it is much more difficult to build useful institutions from the ground up, as that historically has required significant military capabilities. The integrity of our institutions is preserved by preventing bad-faith actors from misusing our institutions. Not by blindly allowing fascists to spread disinformation campaigns.

Your argument repeatedly asserts a baseless concern about systemic change for our institutions. There is no utility in being arbitrarily impartial to fascists. Turning a blind eye to their disinformation campaign would not have preserved the integrity of the Canadian mail service. Allowing fascists to takeover our democracy in the US does not preserve the integrity of our democracy. Once bad-faith actors control our institutions the institutions are lost. No amount of arbitrary impartiality before a takeover of our democracy will tie the hands of bad-faith actors. Bad-faith actors will use this leeway to harm groups of people while they are out of power.

Society should not tolerant intolerance. We should not be complicit in our own destruction. If we want to keep our democracy then we must stand up to fascists who attempt to take it away. Even if this means engaging in civil disobedience. We should not want our institutions to be impartial between truths and falsehoods. We should want our institutions to be committed to the truth even if that means being biased against fascists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes yes, big words and upset that you've been called out for wanting to undermine the institutions and lots of paragraphs bemoaning the big bad evil fascists.

and somehow instead of actually dealing with that, you want to undermine the mail service, which is totally not a thing that they want to do to interfere with elections or anything.

Weird how you decry fascists yet want the same damn thing as them, with the same damn tactics.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ignoring my argument is not a refutation of my argument. However my argument is a refutation of your argument.

We should want to improve all of our institutions. Public institutions like the mail service are no exception.

Improving a thing is not the same as destroying a thing. We should improve our institutions by using our institutions. We should not replace democracy with a christo-fascist dictatorship. Falsely conflating these two different actions is not a compelling argument.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm ignoring your bloviating bullshit cause its already been refuted, despite it being a masquerade and irrelevant to the point of the topic at hand, all of which is nothing but an example of you desperately trying to distract from that topic.

And that topic is mail carriers not having the right to choose what gets delivered and what doesn't based on personal feels and opinions, and that doing such deserves to be punished to prevent others from doing the same.

Something that, when you deign to acknowledge the topic at all, have argued against, because you agree with them, and you want to let government employees do whatever undermining, institutional destroying bad behaviors they want as long as you agree with it... Which is the core component of most right wing arguments "I agree with it there for its right and moral"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I’m ignoring your bloviating bullshit cause its already been refuted, despite it being a masquerade and irrelevant to the point of the topic at hand, all of which is nothing but an example of you desperately trying to distract from that topic.

Something that, when you deign to acknowledge the topic at all, have argued against, because you agree with them, and you want to let government employees do whatever undermining, institutional destroying bad behaviors they want as long as you agree with it…

People can confirm these are false statements by reading what we wrote. It is self-evident.

And that topic is mail carriers not having the right to choose what gets delivered and what doesn’t based on personal feels and opinions

Which is the core component of most right wing arguments “I agree with it there for its right and moral”

No where in my argument do I advocate for these positions. The decision should be based on empirical evidence.

I cite sources in my comment here:

https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/16679003/10778009

Here is the link about gender affirming care:

https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-gender-affirming-care