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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   36585 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 24, 2022

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I’ve said it before, but the January 6th defendants are lucky that, contra their reputation here, American elites are so magnanimous in victory. In a more serious country (perhaps, in fact, in the kind of country the rioters might dream of creating), even the perpetrators of such a pathetic attempt at insurrection would have been shot.

I think most of them got light sentences but some were sentenced for over a year and the longest 7 years. I think this lends credence against conspiracy theories. The government, for all its flaws, more or less tries to be impartial. This was the optimal response, and the leadership knows this. Shooting them would have created too many spillover/secondary effects, as history has shown numerous times when a regime goes too far. Turkey's economy only got worse in the years the followed. Prosecuting them sends the necessary message.

The government, for all its flaws, more or less tries to be impartial.

This strikes me as delusional.

The disparity in response is painfully obvious to anyone paying attention. A bunch of Democrat backed activists forcedly take control of 6 city blocks through force of arms shooting 2 dozen people and killing three in the process. The media describes it as a "block party" and no charges are filed. A bunch republican backed activists parade without a permit, the media describes it as the greatest threat to the nation since WWII.

I don't believe that anyone outside the most extremely online of extremely online leftist is fooled by this. I think the simpler explanation is that the regime is frightened. The conventional wisdom amongst the blue tribe is that protests don't happen without the approval of the state, that they require top down organization, funding, acquiescence. This is why Anti-fa only operates in cities with progressive DAs. I think that Jan 6 was uniquely terrifying to a lot of folks in power because it falsified this belief. Hence the outsized response.

The “Dems” (well, I doubt most of them vote) tried to invade the White House and got held back by security.

So...the main difference is competency? How is it in any way viable to have a standard where incompetency is rewarded?

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