Friend is now full on Trump-supporting, QAnon-believing conspiracy theorist

[Offskki]

I just can't believe it and I'm a bit gutted to be honest. Any advice on how to deal with this?

@Gabite

Yes that famous lefty liberal Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Sorry but I have been laughing out loud at this comment for a whole day.

Qanon is a cult. People have been swept into it by a sense of misplaced injustice and victimhood ('the government wants to steal Christmas!') And down they spiral. Nobody starts off normal and the next day they believe 100% in a worldwide cabal of paedophile billionaires who are planning genocide via tainted vaccinations. It starts with posts that are a little bit plausible, then pushes a little further, and further, until the person doesn't have any sense of fact and fiction anymore. Anything their Facebook algorithm says is the truth, anything the other side says is a lie. Facts are meaningless, emotions are everything.

Scary times.

Maybe dont take people for fucking idiots and they wont be 'nasty', Cycling.

Apparently posting an opinion on how the tech companies have handled this, which is then backed up by ministers in other countries also questioning it too not to mention other posters on here is somehow making people look like idiots.

Its my opinion on OP thread, you don't have to agree with me but to say im making people look like idiots is bit of a stretch really.

How have I made anyone look like an idiot? Love to see the justification and evidence of that

Or trying to defend Donald Trump by pretending there are loads of left wing leaders on twitter inciting violence then refusing to thname them for days. Still doing it now.

I was actually talking about greenshoots being outclassed. How shocking you should have identified the situation as yours...

Lol this is laughable now that you think I'm trying to defend Trump? Point me to an exact statement where I have defended him?

@user1471565182
Are you calling the French Finance Prime Minister a trump defender for stating what I have been about the tech companies?

Are you you calling Angela Merkel spokesperson a Trump supporter to? Again for sharing the same view about tech companies?

www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/11/14th-amendment-trump-insurrection-impeachment/

Section Three of the amendment, which says:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

[quote youvegottenminuteslynn]**@cyclingmad

Please could you name a far left major political leader who has used Twitter / Facebook / Instagram or other social media platforms to incite violence? I always want to have as much information as possible as I don't like to live in an echo chamber, so would really appreciate you sharing an example.[/quote]
Sorry @cyclingmad I know you've had lots of people address you but when you get a chance I would really appreciate a response to this as it's something a few different people have said to me IRL but nobody has given examples.

If you actually read my post, I said why are these corporations not silencing extremists and left wing fanatics as they have done with a President who also incite hatred.

So I never said left wing leaders. I was referring quite clearly to extremists and left wing fanatics who whom there are many groups like this study by a charity found many inciting hatred and some going further and inciting violence.

Hope Not Hate described the results as “worrying” and said urgent action needed to be taken against social media accounts disseminating antisemitic ideas.

The charity said: “All too often people on the left have sought to play down antisemitism, ignoring the problem or writing it off as a smear.

“The reality is that a significant number of people on the left have promoted or engaged with antisemitic content.”
Of the 27,000 social media accounts analysed, only “a small number” engaged in “extreme, violent, pro-genocide antisemitism or Holocaust denial.”

perking You sound very invested politically. I am not. I could not care less to be really honest, what I see is too old white men - too old to do the job actually vying to keep America in roughly the same place indefinitely. I do not see progress with either option. It will be nothing short of a miracle if Biden makes it through the whole term given his capacity issues and his age. However, even I can see the US is heading into a battle for its heart and soul, and it makes me feel very sad for the country. I am feeling pretty nervous about Thursday. If it goes without a hitch then that would be encouraging for the future, but I have my doubts given what happened a few days ago.

If Trump is not the front man, they will simply find another. Perhaps even more charismatic and a little more careful. You can't just shut down half the country. A record number voted for Trump, and that is being conveniently dropped from the commentary. They are not going anywhere.

Well that's a change from accusing me of working for CNN when I asked you to back up your, ahem, factually inaccurate posts on a previous thread, Icanseegreenshoots.

Democrats and those that support them get extremely upset when we talk about the enormous support for Mr Trump. You can only accept the facts, and investigate why so many people in the states feel drawn to him, and what he represents in terms of American traditions and caring for and putting the country first. I don't believe it is all based on racism like some always say, that is a lazy analysis (although true in some cases obviously, and that is clearly unacceptable) I believe the following Mr Trump has it is much more complex than race, it goes far deeper as far as I can see. You can hate Trump all you like, but he did champion America's interests no end, and to some supporters that is what they are looking for. Someone to talk for them, take on NK and other dangerous states and be unafraid to make hard decisions.
To be balanced about it we must talk about the above.

As for Mr Biden I am extremely happy about his green policies, his commitment to Nato etc and he seems to be much more diplomatic - I am hopeful we will see the return of a more gentle and refined kind of politics. At long last someone with manners and grace.

I don't remember accusing you of working for CNN but if I did then perhaps I should have said, CNN should absolutely hire you!! I can vouch for that!

Goodness, you don't sound invested at all Icanseegreenshoots.

cyclingmad there are an awful lot of fanatics out there - left wing and right wing.

There are not a lot of fanatics out there who are on the level of Donald Trump in terms of power and influence. That is why he's been taken down - because he incited violence as the President of the United States. With great power should also come great responsibility.

And yes, I would like to see more checks and balances on extremist content of all kinds, but as I've said before, that needs to be done through legislation.

Lastly, once again: Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel are not saying Trump should have been allowed to carry on. They just disagree with the timing and method of his removal from Twitter and other platforms. This is a nuance you don't seem to have understood.

Ah, well, it's a written medium. Not only can you check for your previous comments, but so can everyone else.

(It's on the Trump threads, if anyone cares. Poster above repeatedly misrepresented a speech that we had all read. Eventually I posted the speech and asked the poster to comment. S/he stropped! It was a fine, fine display of being uninvested. Obviously I take everything s/he says terribly seriously now.)

Maybe they can hire me as well perking, the boredom of this lockdown is killing me and I think I can come out with something slightly more intelligent than 'all my gawd, they are disgusting! Idiots! I just can not believe this' on repeat whilst wetting pants and so on, I could raise the bar a little maybe, as could you

@Icanseegreenshoots "I think I can come out with something slightly more intelligent than 'all my gawd, they are disgusting! Idiots!"

No, nothing you've said is intelligent.

"what he represents in terms of American traditions and caring for and putting the country first."

Wait, actually you've got this intelligent. He represents a 400 year tradition of violent white supremacy; caring for the needs of racist white people in the country first comes naturally for Trump.

You're a Trump apologist. Disgusting.

@cyclingmad when the did anti-semitism become an example of left-wing extremism?

Is it opposites day?

I believe the following Mr Trump has it is much more complex than race, it goes far deeper as far as I can see

Icanseegreenshoots you are a racist pushing White supremacist ideology, and you think by using lots of words you're hiding what you are.

STFU about racism - You know nothing about it. Racism isn't "complex". It's idiots hating on other human beings for being a different colour and culture.

You are simply an apologist for racism, trying to pretend you're not the same as any bonehead racist out there.

[quote Chookie89]@cyclingmad when the did anti-semitism become an example of left-wing extremism?

Is it opposites day?[/quote]
Maybe read what I say properly instead. I said extremists AND left wing fanatics.

So yes anti semitic views are pushed by extremists and falls under the 'inciting hatred category so you not agree? So tech companies should be banning these people too.

I saw a YouTube video the other day of a Jewish mum in the US saying that anti-semitism in the US has become far, far worse under Trumps administration. Nothing left about anti-semitism.

This is the thing though - white supremacist fascists have taken their bigotry and twisted it into ‘we’re light workers and everyone who wants justice is a luciferian pedophile. It’s mind bending sickness.

@SugarbabyMilly QUite, there was that disturbing video from Charlottesville where the right wing crowd were chanting "Jews will not replace us". Terrifying that this is happening in the 21Century. Which is not to say that the left (particularly in the UK, more so than America I suspect) does not have its own issues with anti-semitism. But while Labour/the left absolutely needs to deal with this I have never seen a mob of momentum activists chanting "Jews will not replace us" (and I loathe momentum).

In the US the racism has become overt. Insidious racism is also damaging. But thank goodness Trump is going.

@Kendodd

And now for a little poetry.

Michael Rosen
Sunday, 18 May 2014

Fascism: I sometimes fear...
I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.

Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will restore your honour,
make you feel proud,
protect your house,
give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood,
remind you of how great you once were,
clear out the venal and the corrupt,
remove anything you feel is unlike you...

It doesn't walk in saying,
"Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."

gosh, @Kendodd, that's a really good poem. Wish I'd seen that before.

@OchNoAgain

I just mean the friend sounds a bit vulnerable and has already been 'silenced' by other friends and family. If she feels totally cut off and from everyone and abandoned maybe it will drive her further into the madness. I don't know. Maybe tough/harsh is the way to go.

I really think this friend has crossed the barrier where she really can't demand that other people listen to her deluded rants. In effect she is endorsing a revolting misgynist, racist bigoted fascist, and if she doesn't want people walking away from her when she talks at them the remedy lies in her hands.