politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
tbh I don't especially care if people want to make politically incorrect jokes in their private chats. Obviously, not wise for a politician to do so. But my friends and I have made politically incorrect jokes in private that obviously don't reflect our actual beliefs. For instance, I am queer, and I make queer jokes all the fucking time for example, but never with strangers.
Yeah, but do you joke about mass murdering people via gas chamber? There's a line somewhere, and this 100% crosses it.
Even a joke about murdering people in a gas chamber can be funny in the right context. Arrested Development had jokes about this, and it aired on prime tv and got extremely high ratings. What's not funny is, ado of nothing, "let's just murder x demographic in a gas chamber." That's not really a joke at all.
So you didn't read a single fucking thing about what they we're saying and you're in the comments defending it?
No, they are debunking that one statement that says it is never funny.
Everything can be funny in the right context with the right nuance.
Sure...but thats not what is happening in these text threads. Ive made lots of egregiously politically incorrect jokes among friends before but we are always careful to stay on this side of the line of maniacally endorsing genocide via gas chamber.
I don't think it's possible, within the context of a private chat, to take any particular string of words and declare them verboten. What matters is the context and meaning. If it's ironic or sarcastic? I don't really find it especially problematic personally.
My larger concern is more with the gradual erosion of irony which happens in some groups. I think this happens more on public forums and in large groups, say 4chan, than in private chats, but I don't have access to large numbers of private chats, so I can't know.
I appreciate your capacity for giving people the benefit of the doubt. It is an honorable quality...but you have some context - these are the private chats of conservative staffers communicating in private. I can tell you, as someone who has been in private work chats, that there is room for irony but these chats are not using gas chamber imagery because they really believe in the intrinsic dignity of minority groups.
well no, obviously not. They're privately mocking people.
Right, and private mockery contains the verisimilitude of their intent. They may not be ready to spin up a gas chamber but their chats are fully representative of their attitudes about millions of americans and fully serves as a legitimate basis of criticism and derision.
yes, but everyone already knew they had such attitudes.
people are being disappeared by government agents in plain clothes and masks. This isn't a joke. they aren't joking. they aren't having fun. they are laughing about the horror they visit on their neighbors for not being white. I'm sure the KKK had a lot of off color jokes in private while they were building the bombs that killed black children too. You don't need be worried if they have enough free speech and personal lee way to make off colored jokes while they build the machine to kill YOU with. You're VERY high on the list, or are you insane and think this stops at Hispanic and African American people so your OK with it? OR ARE YOU SIMPLY LYING.
Oh, don't get me wrong. For these particular people, since they're my political opponents, I am glad that we can pounce on this slip-up that they made and get them cancelled. I just don't think there's anything objectively wrong with making politically incorrect jokes, and it'd be a double standard for me to think it'd permissible only if they were politicians I liked.
Of course, in 2025, we don't really have the luxury of trying to apply a consistent standard to our opponents. These days it seems like we have to take what we can get when it comes to political warfare. (/genuine, in case there was doubt.)
BTW, stop it with the all-caps or I'll block you.