hogposting

but came at the cost of economic decline

At least they're right about something. Kind of surprising, actually, that such a cursory reading of the situation doesn't just default to "and capitalism made line go up because it's the greatest driver of prosperity in human history."

Great idea to put together a primer. It would probably need to be broken into two parts: one for folks with leftist groups in their area, and a second for folks who would have to start from scratch.

For the first part, the primer would look something like this:

• Day 1: Figure out what groups are in your area. Google around for groups like Food Not Bombs, DSA, PSL, or [insert list here]. Make a list, with contact information if you can find it.
• Day 2: Start reaching out to these groups. A sample email might read, "Hi, I'm Johnny Lib. I'm trying to get more involved in my community. Can you direct me to some more information on your group? What you do, how people join, if there are meetings I can attend, etc."
• Day 3: Follow up on the conversations you've started with various groups. Learn what you can. Pick one and start participating in their activities.

At that point it becomes more difficult. If the org you pick is already doing good stuff (however that's defined), you're golden. But what if it's only a few people, but they claim to be growing? What if it's poorly run? What if it's super lib? What if it does a lot of great charity work, but makes no effort to translate that into political activity? You could write pages on each question, but each situation will be so fact-dependent that it's probably something you have to work through on a case-by-case basis.

The second part -- people who have to start from scratch -- is an even bigger question, because "starting from scratch" could mean anything from "I have a group of quasi-lefty friends who all want to do something" to "I know none of my neighbors and everyone around me seems to be a chud."

At least 80 police officers have sustained injuries

:pingu-horny:

"be white"

What percentage of vets would you estimate are persuadable?

That's what I see as the central question here: if a group of people can be convinced to become leftists, we should be working with them regardless of whether it's difficult. We're not going anywhere unless we get literally tens of millions of more people on our side, and not all of those people are going to be perfect.

Note that a few comments up I've already said killing someone over this is wrong. No one is arguing that people should get the death penalty for drawing Muhammad. The argument is that you're a huge asshole if you do, because there's no reason to do it besides pissing people off.

What if you never wear red but, upon being told you’re racist if you wear red on tuesdays, you decide to start wearing red on tuesdays? Does this circularly make you racist?

If I never did something -- let's call it drawing a picture of Muhammad -- but I started doing it specifically to piss off a group of people my country has demonized and killed by the millions, yes, I would be an enormous piece of shit.

You realize christianity and islam are almost precisely the same fucking thing, right?

Bit of an oversimplification there

But I wear red plenty now, so it would at least be somewhat of a burden to remember not to wear red on Tuesdays. It's not a burden at all to not draw Muhammed because I never draw him anyway.

It's the going out of one's way to be as offensive as possible that makes this asshole behavior. No one's ordinary routine is being disrupted, no one's being even slightly inconvenienced.

How common is wearing red? How common is drawing a picture of Muhammad?

The reasonableness of the request is in large part determined by how burdensome it is to fulfill.

i literally do not give a fuck what is offensive

eat my entire ass

fuck off

Civility at the expense of accomplishing something real is bullshit, but man, you're not going to get very far with very many people if you're just an outright asshole.

i have every right if i did want to

Yes, that's exactly the "fuck you I do what I want" mentality I was criticizing. That makes you a massive piece of shit, even if you're technically free to do it.

You shouldn't be a massive piece of shit, and you certainly aren't accomplishing anything if you choose to be one. You should be a decent human being.