re: Alabama Board Coronavirus Thread

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Fells

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Oh my. Where to begin?

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That makes me a Marxist. With the way so many people here talk about the "global and liberal elites", the QANON pedo ritual theories, ect, it certainly seems that a lot of you believe in a similar thing. Am I scum?

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That depends. Have you openly posted on social media that you plan to riot if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court?

That's the group I was referring to. They aren't trying to hide their plans to loot and riot. They are telling the entire world what they are going to do if she is granted a position on the Court.

So unless you are in that group, then no, you aren't a part of the scum I was talking about.

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Tidesaint, are you one of the people who thinks I should be murdered?

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Well I obviously don't believe in murder. But I do, however, believe in keeping law and order. If you break the law then you need to pay the consequences for it. If a court of law determines you committed treason you have the possibility of receiving a death sentence. Is that murder? Absolutely not.

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I have always appreciated your contributions to the board. I think of you as a reasonable moderator who keeps the board well maintained. I know that you have a very different worldview than me and your politics reflect that. I have never felt that that wasn't okay. It's not like, "He does a good job but he's a Trump supporter", because it is okay to think different things. There are great people all over the political spectrum, and while I may have moral objections to things you support, that doesn't mean that I think that you have those beliefs because you are piece of shite human who deserves to be dropped into the ocean with a chain attached to your leg.

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Thanks. I've always considered you to be a good poster as well. We can all have our political differences, but at the end of the day we are all Alabama fans, and in most cases, Alabama residents. Except for me. Damn Air Force moved me to Texas this Summer.

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The reality is that someone can advocate for the murder of millions of people here on this board, and that not only not get banned, but have the support of the rest of the people here, including the moderator. That's absolutely insane.

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Where did I show support for his position? I didn't even see that post until this afternoon. Boz and I aren't omnipotent. We don't follow every single thread, every single day. If you have an issue with someone's post then RA it. We get notified whenever somebody puts in a request. But if you don't, odds are we aren't going to see it. I've been especially busy the last two weeks at my new position so I haven't been able to check the board during the day. I got lucky today because we cancelled some of our activities this afternoon due to inclement weather.

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And for everyone who wants to "Make America Great Again", how is the slaughter of millions of Americans going to make us better? It's only the MSM and competing nations that benefit from our division, and this hypothetical violence. Don't y'all see that you are literally playing into the desires of entities that you hate?

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I don't believe saying and supporting "Make American Great Again" means advocating the mass murder of millions of Americans.

It does, in my opinion, mean bringing jobs back from overseas, boosting our economy instead of China's, making every one in the UN pay their fare share instead of us footing the bill, etc. Based on the 2016 election, a lot of people across this country tended to agree.

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If cops kidnapping Americans from their homes and dumping their bodies in the Arctic is what you people think it takes to make America great, maybe people should be rioting in the streets.

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Again, MAGA wasn't created due to riots and looting. Hell, the slogan was changed to Keep America Great before the Coronavirus showed up. The pandemic caused the switch in slogans, not the protests.

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The presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate for the Democratic party have both condemned the violence and looting.

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Kamala Harris: Black Lives Matter Protests An "Essential Component" To Counter Racist Status Quo

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HARRIS: The brilliance and the impact of Black Lives Matter and their brilliance in conceiving it, history is going to show was an inflection point in the ongoing fight for justice, to your point, and to reform the criminal justice system and America’s criminal justice system. I actually believe, as a former prosecutor, that Black Lives Matter has been the most significant agent for change within the criminal justice system, because it has been a counterforce to the force within the system that is so grounded in status quo and in its own traditions, many of which have been harmful and have been discriminatory in the way that they’ve been enforced.

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You and I have different definitions of condemnation.

So, there's a lot to unpack with this post, but I'll hit a few high points. I'll start by saying I have a cousin and a childhood friend that have lived in Portland for years. I speak to both somewhat regularly, and obviously the protests there have been a common topic. We haven't really talked much about the local government or police so I have no insight there.

A lot of the images that have played out in Portland in recent months have actually been happening since the 2016 election. There is a bit of a war between those aligned with Antifa and various right wing groups - Proud Boys, Prayer Patriots, and a couple others. Both my cousin and friend work in downtown Portland and say life is pretty normal for them, and other than a handful of instances there really hasn't been much looting or destruction of private businesses downtown. Of course, when these groups plan for demonstrations, the other always show up, and the city has learned to just shut the blocks where it will happen down, so businesses in those areas have been impacted. Still, he said it's basically one or two blocks, and people that live there have learned to just avoid those areas when those groups announce a demonstration or rally. One thing my cousin has said, is most of the Antifa people actually live in Portland, while the right wing groups come in from other areas. His roommate participates in some of the Antifa demonstrations, or did until he got arrested a couple of months ago.

I don't know, that really doesn't answer your question. Just giving some more context. Personally, I think both sides are idiots and we'd all be better off if they just went away. Framing it as Antifa being the only guilty ones is dishonest though.

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More concerning and troubling to me are the instances in some cities where police are provoking and instigating protesters to respond to their provocations so they can be painted as rioters or violent protesters.

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Watch: Protesters Berate, Scream At Police Near White House On Monday

The amount of restraint shown by the police is actually quite impressive.

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You and I have different definitions of condemnation.

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Not sure how you came to that conclusion when the quote you posted says absolutely nothing about violence.

Here is a quote from her that actually mentions looting, violence, and rioting.

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Harris, a U.S. senator who previously served as California’s attorney general, said she supported peaceful protesters.

“We should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence, including the shooter who was arrested for murder. And make no mistake, we will not let these vigilantes and extremists derail the path to justice,” Harris said in a speech from a university auditorium in Washington streamed online.

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Link to video of her comments.

Reuters

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So a bunch of people are taking the to streets to block traffic and smash windows due to perceived serious injustices against them or members of specific communities

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There's that word again. I'm glad you used it. It's perception, not reality, that they are protesting about.

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That depends. Have you openly posted on social media that you plan to riot if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the Supreme Court?
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I don't really do social media but most likely will march assuming that it doesn't conflict with work ect.

I get that is unpopular here. My thing though is just if the political discussions are getting so out of hand that people are advocating for, or supporting, violence (which is still defined by Surge as outside of the courts even with his retraction to be more clear about his intentions) and attaching it to a previous post by a moderator calling people scum, maybe the board needs to assess the perimeters there.

Now I know that this is the "say whatever you want" thread, but I also know that you know that I am not a trigglypuff. People are assholes to each other about politics here all the time, and I have participated in that as much as anyone. Its just that with tensions so high right now and everything becoming increasingly more polarized, places like this are great spaces for people who are different to connect and get outside of their bubbles and that is fricking awesome. It degrading to a point to where posters make ambiguous claims of political violence and every one thinks its cool would be very sad and quite a loss. The behavior is unacceptable, un-American, divisive and potentially very dangerous. Normalizing political violence is not what we should be about and should not be tolerated.

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Damn Air Force moved me to Texas this Summer

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Damn dude, I missed that! Gotta be better than Idaho or where ever the hell they had you before Pville.

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Where did I show support for his position?

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You did not. I had meant for that to say "potentially" as it was attached to and right after your comment on a heated subject, but I had a few things I wanted to get out and that did not make it the way I wanted.

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Boz and I aren't omnipotent. We don't follow every single thread, every single day. If you have an issue with someone's post then RA it. We get notified whenever somebody puts in a request.

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Since it was active I just assumed that it had been seen but I totally get that. I did consider RA'ing it but honestly wanted to call it out publicly. I probably should have done both.

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I don't believe saying and supporting "Make American Great Again" means advocating the mass murder of millions of Americans

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It wasn't a blanket statement for everyone who supports that perspective, it was specifically targeted at those who use it and also upvoted the comment. As was the statement that followed.

Obviously, I am not trying to get Surge banned or anything. Dude provides hella content and work into the board, which I appreciate, and that would never happen. I also expect no real changes, I just wanted to call it out publicity because that kind of shite is becoming more and more common and I don't want it to seep into this space.

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There's that word again. I'm glad you used it.

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it's just there because I am not here to argue about the actual politics involved, just the behavior on the board.

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"People are angry. We aren't seeing any change," she said. "We've been protesting peacefully and it's not paying off. And so people have every right to be mad and do what they're doing. I don't think ... violence is always the key, but sometimes it's the only way to be heard."

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This pisses me off. People don’t have any right to damage things or disrupt traffic. That’s not a “right”