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[–]slushpilot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I'm not a fan of inflating everything someone said into a sensational headline. Sure, it's unprofessional and blunt, but so what. Guess who else was exactly this for four years.

Saying you "wish" something is not a death threat and I don't think it should be taken so seriously. People need to vent, no matter what side of the political aisle they are on. If we don't allow space for this, public discourse only going to get worse.

[–]Chipit[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

You didn't read it, did you? Who said it was a death threat? You made that up. What was he going to do, go around with a sprayer and infect people with the virus?

“As for the […] attention seeking ignoramuses young and old they will Infect each other get the flue and cull themselves. Pity it didn’t happen before the Brexit vote and we would not be leaving the EU. The next disaster which is going to hit us”.

What a hard-hearted, cruel person. And these people's crime? Disagreeing with his political opinions. He didn't threaten them, he merely wished that they were dead. How fucked up in the head do you have to be to say something like that? I despise SJWs but I'm not wishing death on them, for fuck's sake. But it makes sense once you understand that the Left considers the Right as The Other, as this outstanding essay explains.

[–]slushpilot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Yes I did read it. I said "death threat" quite vaguely because so many of these articles are just someone with third-hand outrage exaggerating about how someone "literally" wants you dead because they said something vaguely critical. Headlining this as "Wishes Death" is still hyperbolic for the actual quote so I think it fits.

So what if he's talking smack and calling those people idiots and saying they're going to make themselves sick and die. You're upset that he thinks it's the same people who voted for brexit so he just wishes it happened sooner? It's a pissy thing to say, but so what. Come up with a more clever reply instead of whinging about him being blunt and off-colour.

People are allowed to disagree with political opinions and call each other ignoramuses. That's my whole point. The answer is not to cry about how someone said something mean and they shouldn't be allowed to say it, but to address their actual point (if there is one) or just be an adult, shrug it off and say whatever—I still think you're an idiot though...

it makes sense once you understand that the Left considers the Right as The Other

Ironically, the way you phrase this makes it sound like "othering" the left. It's a good essay though.

[–]Chipit[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I can't believe someone is defending wishing for death for others just because they're on the other side of the political spectrum. But that's what we expect from those we otherize.

Ironically, the way you phrase this makes it sound like "othering" the left.

Pure psychological projection. Accusing The Other of what we ourselves are guilty of.

[–]slushpilot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Read again. I'm not defending "wishing for death". I'm saying we don't need to take everything someone says in a moment of exasperation and intentionally amplifying it into something it isn't.

Pure psychological projection

Yes, exactly this. All I'm saying both sides need to:

A. Tone it down with all the accusations of racism, comparisons to the holocaust, fill-in-the-blank-phobia, etc. B. Learn to receive a full-throated "go fuck yourself" and respond without cowering and invoking accusations of racism, etc.

Clutching your pearls about how somebody said something offensive is not a confident response: it's exactly what the Left does.