• TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    In all this bullshit, there is one kernel of truth I want to address.

    Russia hasn’t created anything in the shitstorm they’re inflaming. This bullshit we’re dealing with with all our divisions is home-grown and home-made. If you believe that all our problems are Russian, you’re just setting yourself up with some home-grown xenophobia while you ignore the real problem. And Russia just falling into a sinkhole one day won’t solve the massive number of problems that America has, the same problems that Adolf Hitler schemed to exploit in World War 2.

    But what is not gotten here is that Russia HAS exploited these problems, just like Hitler did in World War 2. Russia may not have ‘taken over every aspect of American government, politics, and media’, but they HAVE identified useful idiots and empowered them to disrupt our nation’s well of discourse.

    Jill Stein has literally been photographed sitting beside Putin, and she advocates for Pro-Russian positions like withdrawing our aid to Ukraine, while inflaming fake divisions like whether or not to vaccinate against diseases. Likewise with Tucker Carlson and Mr. “I’ll end the war in Ukraine on day one” Trump. We’re not keen on surrendering a nation to an authoritarian dictator like Putin, so he can go oppress gays and transgendered people over there. A Trump win here would definitely enable that, not to mention a very Russian-like playbook of capturing the government’s Civil Service to staff with sycophants, a Unitary Executive that has absolute power without checks and balances from the other branches of government, the total evisceration of the Minority Party’s power (and the relegation of the Dems to that minority status – Permanent Republican Majority, which preceded Trump as a Republican goal), and the codification of oppression of Gays, non-Christians, non-Whites, and women. Dems may be using scare tactics around these truths, but they are truths, and sometimes you just gotta call a spade a spade.

    Now, why might we call people like this a Russian troll? Well, let’s stop and think for a moment. Trump is Russia’s favourite candidate, end of line. He’ll put pressure on Ukraine to play ball with giving up the disputed territories, and he’d definitely stop the flow of guns, missiles, bombs, tanks, and planes to Ukraine. While the EU may step up, 1) Russia has plans for the EU, and 2), the EU can’t hope to replace what the biggest spender in military can afford to contribute. Getting the US out of Ukraine’s side will improve Russia’s odds and serve their purpose. We know that Russia is hiring trolls to influence Western thinking – we have empirical evidence of this! It’s part of a massive Russian (and Chinese, and Iranian) cyber plan. We’ve even seen their hardware – massive banks of smartphones hooked up to a central computer run by an operator to post inflaming and discouraging comments.

    Now, imagine a comment coming in having ‘concerns’ about how every post that defends Russian assets is ‘Dems falling for scare-mongering’, despite the clear evidence that Gabbard has been under Russia’s thumb, defending Stein’s own Russian connections, and claiming Trump of all people was not under his authoritarian buddy’s thumb contrary to EVERYTHING we’ve seen these past 8+ years? I see the concern, pal, and see it for exactly what it is: a problem that exists only in certain stupid little heads, and I call them out on it.

    People, this guy isn’t here to honestly debate us. Keep up the good work calling his bullshit out, though!

    Edited: To remove reference to an individual poster.

    • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      People, this guy isn’t here to honestly debate us. Keep up the good work calling his bullshit out, though!

      You know, I used to do quite a lot of volunteer organizing work for the Democrats when I was younger. I was even on the Christmas card list of a federal senator. (I mean, it’s not a big deal, but I valued it. I held onto those cards until last year.) I spent years of my life on that.

      Boy do I regret that now.

          • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I’ll say this, jordanlund. It’s very telling that you leave the jerk’s comments I replied to up while removing mine.

              • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Hmm…their comments are still up, though, but I’ll take a ban. Still, I think these rules are unnecessarily hampering engaging people who are not here for honest debate. But they are the rules…so I’ll abide by them. I’ll just block the trolls, which leads to them being able to say their nonsense unchallenged, which I think hurts us all.

                • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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                  2 months ago

                  Yeah, when someone gets a ban, there is a choice to remove all content. I generally don’t do that because it leaves no fingerprints in the modlog.

      • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I keep wondering if he would have sat quietly while Biden commits a genocide in Israel, and I feel certain he wouldn’t have. He was pro-Israel, but not like that.

        The party has definitely changed.