Leftists suggest re-education camps, firing squads, banning talk radio to deprogram Trump supporters

[Stevicus]

I came across this article this morning. I've never heard of this particular source, but they've included several tweets as their source material.

Leftists Suggest “Re-education Camps,” “Firing Squads,” Banning Talk Radio to “Deprogram” 75 Million Trump Supporters
deprogram-75-million-trump-supporters/

Leftists responded to a Twitter thread asking “how do you deprogram 75 million people?” by suggesting Trump supporters should be interned in “re-education camps” and that all conservative talk radio should be banned.

“No seriously…how *do* you deprogram 75 million people? Where do you start? Fox? Facebook?” asked David Atkins (pronouns in bio), a regional director for California Democrats. “We have to start thinking in terms of post-WWII Germany or Japan. Or the failures of Reconstruction in the South,” he added.

They're comparing this to post-WW2 Germany or Japan, or Reconstruction in the South in the Postbellum period. Do people think it's really so severe as all that?

Atkins went on to frame Trump voters as a “conspiracy theory fueled belligerent death cult against reality & basic decency” before issuing a veiled threat by stating, “People are gonna try to figure out how to defend themselves.”

While asserting the moral high ground, many of the response in the thread demanded outright tyranny or yet more censorship as a means of ensuring “the good guys” have their way.

One verified user called for “Nuremberg trials.”

Nuremberg trials? I think there are some who should probably be put on trial, including a number of brutal cops and officials at some of the atrocious refugee detention centers we've been hearing about. Those who commit actual crimes should be put on trial, but not just for having certain beliefs.

“I would look at Germany and see what they did about Nazis. Because you’re dealing with the same mentality,” said another.

I sometimes wonder where they get these ideas. The "same mentality" as the German Nazis? False equivalence?

“Reeducation camps for those salvageable,” said another. Firing squad for irredeemable malcontents. Round up entire families to ensure the disease doesn’t spread.”

Reeducation camps for those salvageable.

Firing squad for irredeemable malcontents.

Round up entire families to ensure the disease doesn't spread.

— Sari Not Sari GigaCharlatan Dr. Musk for Prison (@xenomorpher1) November 19, 2020

“Generally speaking, I believe re-education camps are a good thing,” added another.

Firing squads? Rounding up entire families? I wonder who has the "same mentality" as whom?

And what kind of "re-education" are they proposing? What would this curriculum look like?

Another called for the removal of “radio talk show hosts from airwaves through rigorous application of hate speech laws.”

Well, on this one, it's really the fault of the media and those who own it, particularly the radio stations (and I'm not just referring to the right-wing broadcasters either).

Another respondent called for “banning Trump flags.”

Start by banning trump flags like we should have done with the confederate flag. One of our many mistakes and why we failed at Reconstruction. We should not allow a hate symbol to be flown with pride in our democracy. Germany got that one right after WWII

— philadelphiamoderate (@philade92850022) November 19, 2020

Hans, are we the baddies?

Honestly, I don't think these views reflect the majority of liberals and leftists, although sometimes they appear to be the loudest. Perhaps what we could do is put the loudest and most intense fanatics from both sides in the same place, let them fight it out and give the rest of us some peace.

 

[Goddess Kit]

In any dystopian situation, it is usually the extreme measures against the unreasonable ones in charge that must be employed.

 

[Stevicus]

In any dystopian situation, it is usually the extreme measures against the unreasonable ones in charge that must be employed.

Perhaps, if it really is that dystopian. At least in my corner of America, life goes on and people are trying to get on with their lives as best they can under COVID restrictions. Despite all the loud talk from both sides, it's really not that bad in the real world.

 

[exchemist]

I came across this article this morning. I've never heard of this particular source, but they've included several tweets as their source material.

Leftists Suggest “Re-education Camps,” “Firing Squads,” Banning Talk Radio to “Deprogram” 75 Million Trump Supporters
deprogram-75-million-trump-supporters/



They're comparing this to post-WW2 Germany or Japan, or Reconstruction in the South in the Postbellum period. Do people think it's really so severe as all that?





Nuremberg trials? I think there are some who should probably be put on trial, including a number of brutal cops and officials at some of the atrocious refugee detention centers we've been hearing about. Those who commit actual crimes should be put on trial, but not just for having certain beliefs.



I sometimes wonder where they get these ideas. The "same mentality" as the German Nazis? False equivalence?



Firing squads? Rounding up entire families? I wonder who has the "same mentality" as whom?

And what kind of "re-education" are they proposing? What would this curriculum look like?



Well, on this one, it's really the fault of the media and those who own it, particularly the radio stations (and I'm not just referring to the right-wing broadcasters either).



Honestly, I don't think these views reflect the majority of liberals and leftists, although sometimes they appear to be the loudest. Perhaps what we could do is put the loudest and most intense fanatics from both sides in the same place, let them fight it out and give the rest of us some peace.

Your source is Summit News. This appears to be an unreliable, far-right site trading in conspiracy: Summit News - Media Bias/Fact Check

Can you find a more reliable source for this stuff?

Or is just something culled from a loony on-line echo chamber, with about six participants?

 

[Father Heathen]

Let's not pretend that this nonsense reflects how most liberals think. It's nothing but fringe kook babble or hyperbolic nonsense.

 

[Stevicus]

Your source is Summit News. This appears to be an unreliable, far-right site trading in conspiracy: Summit News - Media Bias/Fact Check

Can you find a more reliable source for this stuff?

Or is just something culled from a loony on-line echo chamber, with about six participants?

Well, it's just a collection of tweets, and as I said, I don't think this represents the majority of leftists. But based on the tone and rhetoric I've seen lately, there seems to be a lot of loud talk with varying degrees of extremity. As for a reliable source, I could likely find plenty of examples, even here on RF, of Trump supporters being compared to Nazis. That's become a common trope, actually.

Even "basket of deplorables" seems to go along the same general line of reasoning at work here. If people think that these 75 million people are just so horrible and with the same mentality as Nazis, does this mean someone might propose a program of "de-Nazification" in America? What direction is the country actually taking at this point?

Granted, as you say, this could be just a bunch of wild crazy talk from a tiny echo chamber, just as there's wild crazy talk coming from tiny echo chambers on the right. But sometimes it goes beyond the echo chambers and spreads among the body politic if it goes unchecked.

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

@Stevicus

When you re-post things like this, and thereby contribute to the spreading of it; do you do so because you actually believe what you are reading?

This is fear-propaganda. Historically, there’s not much new about it - except for how it is spread (where you come in). This particular sort was especially common in Europe, between WW1 and 2. Its aim then, was to increase support for NSDAP (that’s the nazis btw) by playing on and spreading our fear of Russia.

My point is not that we should not fear a true far-left - all true extremism (incl. the far-right sort) is horrific! My point is that you here are helping to spread misinformation and fear-propaganda.

That is not a great thing, I feel.

 

[Revoltingest]

Well, it's just a collection of tweets, and as I said, I don't think this represents the majority of leftists. But based on the tone and rhetoric I've seen lately, there seems to be a lot of loud talk with varying degrees of extremity. As for a reliable source, I could likely find plenty of examples, even here on RF, of Trump supporters being compared to Nazis. That's become a common trope, actually.

Even "basket of deplorables" seems to go along the same general line of reasoning at work here. If people think that these 75 million people are just so horrible and with the same mentality as Nazis, does this mean someone might propose a program of "de-Nazification" in America? What direction is the country actually taking at this point?

Granted, as you say, this could be just a bunch of wild crazy talk from a tiny echo chamber, just as there's wild crazy talk coming from tiny echo chambers on the right. But sometimes it goes beyond the echo chambers and spreads among the body politic if it goes unchecked.

I caught your mirthful tone in the OP.
But yes, there are indeed some bizarrely extreme reactionaries on the left.
Oh, the slings & arrows I've endured at their hands & tongues.
(Too bad @columbus isn't here to misinterpret that last sentence.)

 

[ecco]

The only way to diminish the impact of the right-wing crazies is to teach critical thinking.


Don't ask me how to accomplish this.

 

[Goddess Kit]

Those on the right are well beyond being taught anything, and ironically the issue is that government is full of old dogs that cannot be taught new tricks.

 

[exchemist]

Well, it's just a collection of tweets, and as I said, I don't think this represents the majority of leftists. But based on the tone and rhetoric I've seen lately, there seems to be a lot of loud talk with varying degrees of extremity. As for a reliable source, I could likely find plenty of examples, even here on RF, of Trump supporters being compared to Nazis. That's become a common trope, actually.

Even "basket of deplorables" seems to go along the same general line of reasoning at work here. If people think that these 75 million people are just so horrible and with the same mentality as Nazis, does this mean someone might propose a program of "de-Nazification" in America? What direction is the country actually taking at this point?

Granted, as you say, this could be just a bunch of wild crazy talk from a tiny echo chamber, just as there's wild crazy talk coming from tiny echo chambers on the right. But sometimes it goes beyond the echo chambers and spreads among the body politic if it goes unchecked.

OK fair enough. So it's crazy echo-chamber talk, basically.

However, on the (inevitable, Godwin's Law) Nazi comparisons, there is a real point here I think, if one sets aside the hyperbole. The US has, perhaps without fully realising it, experienced a demagogue that uses appeal to people's base instincts and The Big Lie as core methods - and it has very nearly worked on them. Furthermore, we are witnessing a sort of attempted coup right now, in which the majority of one major party seem to be willing participants! Comparison with the Nazis themselves may be far-fetched, but comparisons with the ways authoritarians gain power and suppress democracy are not.

It goes to show the extent to which people will find reasons to believe what they want to believe, regardless of fact. (This is something readers of this forum see evidence of, every day.) And how willing so many are to acquiesce in what they must know to be crazy untruths, if it benefits their political tribe. This is the way people like the Nazis did it, all those years ago.

 

[Father Heathen]

The only way to diminish the impact of the right-wing crazies is to teach critical thinking.


Don't ask me how to accomplish this.

You can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

One verified user called for “Nuremberg trials.”

Tell me why I am expected to care what a "verified user" of any particular website has to say? It's not like the verified user was Biden is my point. Probably some teenager sitting in his parent's basement sipping Slurpee from 7-11 and plotting world domination in his day dreams. I can't be arsed to care.

The only way this "de-programming" can occur naturally and ethically is at the grass roots level. Just like I'm working to do with religion. Destroy it by getting people to question their understanding, pointing out to them their failures in critical thinking, not backing down when they try to get uppity, not taking their crap without a battle of wits from which they emerge reeling. Hit them in their security with their ideas... make them insecure, make them question, ridicule them while pounding home the points that you feel represent the correct position to hold. They are free to do the same - but at the end of the day, the more rational position should win out. If it doesn't, we've all failed. Ourselves and each other.

 

[exchemist]

Tell me why I am expected to care what a "verified user" of any particular website has to say? It's not like the verified user was Biden is my point. Probably some teenager sitting in his parent's basement sipping Slurpee from 7-11 and plotting world domination in his day dreams. I can't be arsed to care.

The only way this "de-programming" can occur naturally and ethically is at the grass roots level. Just like I'm working to do with religion. Destroy it by getting people to question their understanding, pointing out to them their failures in critical thinking, not backing down when they try to get uppity, not taking their crap without a battle of wits from which they emerge reeling. Hit them in their security with their ideas... make them insecure, make them question, ridicule them while pounding home the points that you feel represent the correct position to hold. They are free to do the same - but at the end of the day, the more rational position should win out. if it doesn't, we've all failed. Ourselves and each other.

Ridiculing a person is not generally a great tactic for winning them over.

It is usually better to find a way to ridicule the ideas, while carefully leaving them, personally, a dignified way to change their stance. (Negotiating skills 101)

Trying to beat them into submission, or to make them feel small, may make you feel good, but will just make them dig in their heels. This seems to be one of the errors the Democrats have been making ("deplorables" etc).

 

[tytlyf]

Something needs to be done.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I came across this article this morning. I've never heard of this particular source, but they've included several tweets as their source material.

Leftists Suggest “Re-education Camps,” “Firing Squads,” Banning Talk Radio to “Deprogram” 75 Million Trump Supporters
deprogram-75-million-trump-supporters/



They're comparing this to post-WW2 Germany or Japan, or Reconstruction in the South in the Postbellum period. Do people think it's really so severe as all that?





Nuremberg trials? I think there are some who should probably be put on trial, including a number of brutal cops and officials at some of the atrocious refugee detention centers we've been hearing about. Those who commit actual crimes should be put on trial, but not just for having certain beliefs.



I sometimes wonder where they get these ideas. The "same mentality" as the German Nazis? False equivalence?



Firing squads? Rounding up entire families? I wonder who has the "same mentality" as whom?

And what kind of "re-education" are they proposing? What would this curriculum look like?



Well, on this one, it's really the fault of the media and those who own it, particularly the radio stations (and I'm not just referring to the right-wing broadcasters either).



Honestly, I don't think these views reflect the majority of liberals and leftists, although sometimes they appear to be the loudest. Perhaps what we could do is put the loudest and most intense fanatics from both sides in the same place, let them fight it out and give the rest of us some peace.

I see some of the usual suspects in this thread trying to downplay this meanwhile they spout similar rhetoric all over this board. Typical. It's out of hand. I don't deserve to have all this disgusting **** said about my character simply because I voted for Trump. They don't know me so they have no business judging me. I don't **** on people for voting for Biden. This is supposed to be America, where we're free to support whoever we please for president. They're just brainwashed by the MSM.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Ridiculing a person is not generally a great tactic for winning them over.

I'm not trying to "win them over." Not hardly. I'm not looking for allies. I'm looking to get people to see their opinions as ridiculous so that they might change them. That is precisely what I am trying to do.

It is usually better to find a way to ridicule the ideas, while carefully leaving them, personally, a dignified way to change their stance. (Negotiating skills 101)

Rarely do I attack the person, themselves, directly. It is usually all about the ideas. Most people are unable to separate the two, however. I do not care about this. I don't see it as my problem.

Trying to beat them into submission, or to make them feel small, may make you feel good,

I'm not, at all, looking to "feel good" with this. That's not what is about. I also do not, in any way, need your approval.

but will just make them dig in their heels. This seems to be one of the errors the Democrats have been making ("deplorables" etc).

I get this, and I have seen it. But I firmly believe that even as the heels are dug in, if the position being taken and presented is reasonable enough (more reasonable then their own) then the seed has been planted regardless. This is exactly what I sense when someone simply refuses to comment or answer to a particular point I have made, and instead goes after the lowest hanging fruit in the points I have made (for example, to call me out for making "ad hominem" attacks when all we are discussing are their opinions and ideas), or simply refuses to comment altogether. They got the point... they got the message. Rest assured that much is true. They can't run forever.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Perhaps what we could do is put the loudest and most intense fanatics from both sides in the same place, let them fight it out and give the rest of us some peace.

That would probably be a fantastic thing. We may even get our much yearned for break for campaigning and elections if we took that route.

 

[MNoBody]

Perhaps, if it really is that dystopian. At least in my corner of America, life goes on and people are trying to get on with their lives as best they can under COVID restrictions. Despite all the loud talk from both sides, it's really not that bad in the real world.

I knew a vet from vietnam, and he said some days on tour there were downright pleasant...one could almost forget there was a conflict [chopper pilot]...this is pretty much the same kind of deal..qualitatively, since here the war is in the arena of hearts and minds....but it is just as vicious and conniving...in spirit.

 

[Altfish]

I came across this article this morning. I've never heard of this particular source, but they've included several tweets as their source material.

Leftists Suggest “Re-education Camps,” “Firing Squads,” Banning Talk Radio to “Deprogram” 75 Million Trump Supporters
deprogram-75-million-trump-supporters/



They're comparing this to post-WW2 Germany or Japan, or Reconstruction in the South in the Postbellum period. Do people think it's really so severe as all that?





Nuremberg trials? I think there are some who should probably be put on trial, including a number of brutal cops and officials at some of the atrocious refugee detention centers we've been hearing about. Those who commit actual crimes should be put on trial, but not just for having certain beliefs.



I sometimes wonder where they get these ideas. The "same mentality" as the German Nazis? False equivalence?



Firing squads? Rounding up entire families? I wonder who has the "same mentality" as whom?

And what kind of "re-education" are they proposing? What would this curriculum look like?



Well, on this one, it's really the fault of the media and those who own it, particularly the radio stations (and I'm not just referring to the right-wing broadcasters either).



Honestly, I don't think these views reflect the majority of liberals and leftists, although sometimes they appear to be the loudest. Perhaps what we could do is put the loudest and most intense fanatics from both sides in the same place, let them fight it out and give the rest of us some peace.

Have you read the other articles on that website???
Makes Fox look liberal