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The state believes it has a monopoly on violence. After all they've spent most of a century propagandizing the public with the idea that "violence is never the answer".
It might have been well intended at first. But over the last 20ish years I've come to see it as a weapon. Look at France or hell, most other countries. Government tries to do some fuck shit and people riot. Farmers protest with a military parade of tractors and spraying manure on parliament. Those countries haven't had their populations brainwashed into the belief that "violence is never the answer". There exists an implicit threat of violence behind protest virtually anywhere on earth except the US and some other authoritarian countries.
That implicit threat doesn't exist here. Not at all. And that is why protests nationwide comprised of multiple millions of people are routinely ignored if not actively suppressed by gov't jackboots. And always mocked as agitators or outliers. And our government is absolutely terrified that people will realize it. It's why Trump's military parade is going to have 19 miles of fencing and hundreds of magnetometers. Because those at the top know the pulse of the country. They have the data. They know the causes. They've squeezed people more and more for decades. They've suppressed wages while prices grew. They've allowed technologies like AI to remain largely unregulated while wiping away millions of jobs that people depended on to survive in a sink-or-swim society that doesn't value human life beyond its utility to oligarchy. They've ignored protest for decades. Protest does not work here because it has been intentionally defanged. There is no threat behind it.
Then a fat bloviating painted cow of a man who thinks himself a king sends out masked plainclothes agents to rendition our neighbors. To kidnap people in your community. People you know. People who's children go to the same school yours do. People you see every single day. Your people. Its slow death by boiling. Suddenly interrupted by someone rapidly turning up the heat.
There are already "leftists" on Lemmy advocating for bullying out your voice, and calling the LA protests "riots", as well as "violence," when the only known violence was to waymo cars and other private property. News orgs are showing pictures of police cars being targeted from Floyd protests.
Eta: check ~~midlife~~ modlog see silencing of valid leftist voices
Authoritarians are authoritarians, regardless of what they call themselves.
I'm kind of indecisive on the last bit. Were COVID lockdowns authoritarian? Yes, but for the greater good, imo, badly managed, but *not nearly long enough. But citizens had to eat and pay bills and rich people demanded a return to work, so we got what we got.
I would posit that while COVID lockdowns were authoritarian in nature on their face - as in the State restricting individual liberties - the context of a pandemic made those behaviors a serious threat to the public good, and the people who instituted those lockdowns were not authoritarians in principle.
We also have speed limits and other traffic laws, also in order to reduce threats to the public good. Would those be considered "authoritarian"? Not a snarky question, just something to ponder on as a comparison.
Speed limits and lockdowns are very different. In theory, a speeding violation only shouldn't warrant jail, but it does often because paying the fine would mean skipping bills or food, which exacerbates the issue, and that's another discussion. COVID lockdown restricted people from checking on vulnerable adults, visiting hospital patients, yet medical faculty and staff hadn't personal protection gear and returned to their families after shifts, hence my noting it was badly managed, not to mention ubi wasn't even considered.
You're absolutely right. "It's more complicated than that" is almost always the right answer, and it is here, too. My analogy was only about whether something is "authoritarian" if it ideally serves the public good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
The way both lockdowns and traffic laws are implemented in practice is certainly problematic. I'd even say that traffic law implementation is worse, since "if the punishment is a fine, it's only illegal for poor people." There should have been more support for people during lockdowns, but I think that was more stupidity than malice (even if it was still partially malice).
I think we're probably closer in agreement on this than not. I hesitate to redefine words, in a post-truth society:
Radical leftist Democrats Antisemitism Russian bots/trolls/shills White genocide
Eta socialist Bernie Sanders, AOC 2nd ETA liberals, moderates
100% in close agreement. I see you around a lot, I'm pretty sure you see me, too. Sorry if it sounded like I was being argumentative; I totally didn't mean it that way. Just talking and exploring the details of ideas with someone who I think would appreciate that!
It's fine. I don't think it's healthy to agree 100% on all things, always. That means someone is lying someone is abandoning themselves.
You're good people. I will always listen to you, even if - especially when - we disagree.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that, feel you're a good person, too, and will return the favor. Will you do me the favor of calling me out when I fail, with you or others? Because I am human, I will fail.
Absolutely, and I hope you do the same for me. That's what friends do.
Ok it's a deal. ✊