Justin Mohn, a 32-year-old Pennsylvania man, is in police custody after allegedly murdering and decapitating his father, claiming the latter was a “federal employee” and a “traitor.” Before his arrest, Mohn posted a 14-minute video to YouTube in which he displayed his father’s severed head, proclaiming: "This is the head of Mike Mohn, a federal

299 points

But Antifa is the real danger, right?

permalink
report
reply
177 points

my most favorite game when i find a conservative is to ask them point blank:

are you a fascist or are you an anti-fascist? you only get to pick one.

and they squiiiiiiirm

permalink
report
parent
reply
43 points

I like asking to play a game of who can list more politically-motivated homicides for each ideology and conservatives strangely never want to play.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Let’s be real. No one wants to play that game.

permalink
report
parent
reply
26 points

I would answer anti-fascist, but if someone asked me “Are you communist or anti-communist? Pick one” I would answer “neither”

permalink
report
parent
reply
40 points

You could pick either. There’s no problem with having communist ideologies or being for capitalism.

There is a problem with fascism, it’s not comparable to communism. A closer example would be asking someone if they are a racist or not.

We should be taking a hard line at certain ideologies and anyone that hesitate is suspect imo.

permalink
report
parent
reply
27 points

Compulsory alliance is sort of a core feature of fascism so you really must be either fascist or anti-fascist.

If fascist government is in power, it will creat a system in which non-partisan participation furthers and advances the fascist state, so one cannot “opt out”. Since a fascist system won’t entertain neutral, the question “Are you fascist or anti-fascist? You can only pick one.” Is not inherently disingenuous.

Communism does not force people into supporting it, there “neither” is an acceptable answer to “Are you communist or anti-communist” in a way that cannot be applied to fascism.

Well, Communism doesn’t force participation as long as you don’t ask the tankiis, but fuck the tankies.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

The opposite would be authoritarian or anti-authoritarian, it’s possible to be conservative without being a fascist just like it’s possible to be a socialist/communist without being authoritarian.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points
*

I say “I’m personally a communist but understand that it isn’t right for most people.” I would have been awesome at communism. I’m a minimalist in a lot of ways and was good at science and math in school. I’d have probably been working at Roscosmos and then happily going home to my little apartment for my daily ration of vodka and potato bread.

Or maybe I’d have been an Olympian. I was small but athletic growing up so had no chance of playing after high school, really, but they were given athletes zoo animal growth hormones and the good steroids back then. I might have come out of the Yaroslavl Oblast Youth Olympic Reserve School the size of Arvydas Sabonis.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

I saw a post recently - pretty sure it was in nottheonion - of a screencap of a Fox News segment, where they were interviewing someone that the caption described as an “anti-anti-fascist”.

Though to be fair, Fox News viewers aren’t likely to put two and two together. Or, for that matter, realize that an anti-anti-fascist is just a fascist.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

I got it right here, old bean.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

How do you convince them, that “neither” is not an option? What if they say they care about neither?

permalink
report
parent
reply
-7 points

It’s an equivocation trick. Not all anti-fascists are associated with the movement that calls itself antifa.

Are you pro-life or anti-life? You only get to pick one.

Fuck outta here with this nonsense. Stop trying to score points and try to have conversations with people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Antifa isn’t a movement, it’s a label.

There’s no organization, no overarching political goal - it’s literally just a term for people opposing facism through word or action.

There’s organizations that use that label in their name (like antifa of XYZ), but there’s no movement to associate with - fox news made that the fuck up

Take this example “antifa blocks off campaign event”. Fox news reports it as “members of a group called antifa has…”

A more accurate description would be “a group of people describing themselves as anti facists has…”

When people take on the term, they’re not describing their alignement to a movement - they’re describing their motivation

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

All the conversations have already been had, this is just prelude to war

permalink
report
parent
reply
-97 points

Eh that’s like asking “Are you Pro Israel or Pro Hamas, you only get to pick one”

permalink
report
parent
reply
69 points

It’s really not, though. I am anti-Hamas and anti-Israeli government. I am pro-civilian - a group comprised mostly of Palestinians and Israelis in your thought experiment.

You see, neither Hamas nor the Israeli government have their people’s interest in mind. However, you can’t really cherry pick aspects of Fascism and anti-Fascism and say, “sEe? BoTh SiDeS!”

permalink
report
parent
reply
27 points

Nope. Israeli citizens are not all bombing Palestinians, and Palestinians are not all Hamas.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points
*

If the question is whether you’re pro/neutral/anti fascism, I think being anti-fascist is the only reasonable answer personally.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points
*

While I’ve seen many binary choice questions that are loaded questions, I think the above is a good example. A follow up (or two) if the person balks at the question itself is the following:

Do you know what fascism is and how to spot it?

Do you think antifa is a single entity and not a general ideology?

If it’s an entity, can you name or even lookup it’s leadership?

Do you believe everyone who espouses an anti fascist value system is a member of that org?

Good binary questions can help guide a discussion and expose biases and misunderstandings held by each side in the discussion. Seemingly paradoxically, nailing down specific stances using those types of questions, you can explore the nuance of certain positions.

Ex: on abortion

  1. Are you for or against the government mandated birth? (Seems loaded, right?)
  2. Are you for or against the government spending resources and citizen time investigating all miscarriages? 2a. Do you know how common miscarriages are? 2b. Do you know what the medical term is for a miscarriage?
  3. Are you in favor of the law punishing equally anybody who causes a spontaneous abortion or increases the likelihood of one? Even coal power plants?
  4. Are you for or against all abortions including those that are medically necessary to prevent undue suffering and/or injury to the mother? 4a. Do you believe an ectopic pregnancy is a condition that warrants an abortion?
  5. Are you for or against politicians making medical decisions on your behalf in the name of their ideology and/or gaining political points OR should the decision be left between the patient, their doctor, and the medical field’s understanding of the best standard of care?
  6. Are you in favor of all abortions at any time? 6a… Will a hospital in the states with the most liberal abortion laws perform an abortion on a woman with a healthy pregnancy at 8-9 months? 6b. If a fetus lacks a brain and no chance of survival, should the woman be denied the appropriate care?

Question 1 may just be a way to reframe the stances from “pro-life” / “anti-life”

Q2 helps bring the reality of what enforcement of that person’s stance may entail.

Q3 shows that big companies go unpunished for the same (or worse) violations of restrictive abortion laws and other laws that are used to punish women who miscarry.

Q4 helps bring focus on the fact that anti-abortion laws that are currently being passed and enforced are written so poorly that they are forcing doctors (through threat of imprisonment) to deny what would be routine procedures which would otherwise prevent suffering and permanent injury to women.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

yeah if i was sitting in gaza. which were not.

i dont think its crazy to expect the electorate to know the definition of fascism. its also a bit hyperbolic to compare full on genocide with electing a fascist.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

the two are not logically exclusive. a correct comparison is

“are you Pro-Isreal, or Anti-Israel” and “are you Pro-Hamas or Anti-Hamas”.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Worst made up genocidal criminal thieving country

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

Easy choice.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

To the fascist movement? Yes.

permalink
report
parent
reply
197 points

Republicans are literally CUTTING OFF PEOPLE’S HEADS because of Ideological Disagreements but they are NOT Terrorists! ISIS are Terrorists because THEY cut off people’s heads because of Ideological Disagreements!

permalink
report
reply
99 points

Not even just people…his own dad. Who seems to have worked hard to give this douchebag what he has in life. And all it took was the scum fanning the flames of his hatred for ad money and airtime.

permalink
report
parent
reply
36 points

Don’t forget that “bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaMe!”

permalink
report
parent
reply
27 points

Republicans are literally CUTTING OFF PEOPLE’S HEADS because of Ideological Disagreements but they are NOT Terrorists!

They also get a pass because they aren’t brown people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
184 points

Another “lone wolf” that has nothing at all to do with the bog standard violent demagoguery of every single right wing talking head grifter I’m sure

permalink
report
reply
96 points
*

What are you saying? This has nothing to do with the current republican party or their talking points!

Mohn also calls for the end of “all woke and gender ideology propaganda in schools and other public places

I’m sure it’s a coincidence…

Mohn spouts several far-right talking points, including:

“America is rotting from the inside out as far-left woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities, turning them into lawless zones.”

" A fifth column army of illegal immigrants infiltrates our border"

Oh…

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points

Decapitating a family member because there are men in your imagination wearing women’s clothes.

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

Yikes on bikes. I’m guessing this is yet another person that probably should’ve been in a mental institution instead of alone, ignored, and getting suckered into the alt right pipeline. Surely the level of violence he exhibited is pathological.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Sadly, there’s a chance that he wasn’t alone and ignored but was getting as much help and support from his family as they could give on their own. The thought of which makes it even more heart-breaking.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

I know this a very serious discussion, but I just wanted to say the phrase “yikes on bikes” is a good one.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Is this stuff even far-right anymore? Feels like it’s fully adopted by pretty much all self proclaimed Republicans at this point.

permalink
report
parent
reply
138 points

Why is it always republicans?

permalink
report
reply
89 points

Because conservatives have hyperactive fear and disgust centers compared to liberals. They really do feel these emotions in a way that non-conservatives do not. I have concluded that it is a mental disorder to be conservative–it’s always projected insecurity.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

If hexbear was here, they’d tell you liberals are just as bad lol. I agree that to an extent, but in reality I do seem them to be much better. Crazies just so happen to line up with conservative ideals, which essentially just boils down to just bigotry at the end of the day.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

The day my instance updated to support instance blocking in the user config my Lemmy experience improved significantly

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

You’re generally correct as studies corroborated the feeling of disgust to be stronger on those on the right. But I wouldn’t necessarily put that to every single conservatives. I met many conservatives who are still sane. The term RINO is a thing after all, and the only conservative party I agree with is the German CdU.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Yeah… I dunno if the “sane” Conservatives are actual Conservatives. Like, hear me out, I know people who totally understand me as a trans person are perfectly supportive and totally grock leftist talking points and even support fairly socialist economic theory … But they still carry their identities as “Conservatives” because it’s a brilliant bit of branding. For all purposes of actual ideology they are actually progressive, but that word “conservative” strokes the ego in a very particular way.

People think “conservative” as basically just meaning “Not prone to extremes” or “careful and measured” or maybe even “liking change to be slow and incremental” or “fiscally moderate” … None of this actually describes modern Conservative party ideology but they definitely borrow off the synonyms for votes. Because everyone is primed to think of their veiw as carefully reasoned and non-volitile these “conservative at heart” types really don’t realize that they are being tricked they just like the pretty label and are willing to let themselves be hoodwinked.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Do you have a Background in Psychology or did you pull this Conlusion out of your Ass?

permalink
report
parent
reply
62 points

Fortunately for those of us who don’t have a background in psychology: the folks who are experts tend to publish their findings!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/

Highlights:

Political liberalism and conservatism were correlated with brain structure

Liberalism was associated with the gray matter volume of anterior cingulate cortex

Conservatism was associated with increased right amygdala size

So what do those parts do…

Anterior cingulate cortex: error detection, anticipation of tasks, attention, motivation, and modulation of emotional responses

Amygdala: formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events / emotional learning; fear conditioning.

…so, yeah conservatives are literally, physiologically hypersensitive to fear, and more prone to acting on emotion. WHO’DA THUNK?!?

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

It’s a good thing that I was able to read articles that professional psychologists wrote on the subject. But go ahead, be angry.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

There are a number of studies about the psychology of conservatives

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points
Removed by mod
permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

This is a legit question, albeit unfortunately phrased with fear with disgust.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

-guy who randomly capitalizes letters in a sentence and can’t spell conclusion

permalink
report
parent
reply
50 points

It’s the empathy differentiator. People with empathy self select towards one end. People without select towards the other.

permalink
report
parent
reply
16 points

This is an almost perfect description of what’s going on. I was unlucky enough to be raised in one of their conservative homeschool cults… 8 kids. 2 girls, were uneasy about the doctrine for a bit but were taught by parents to be submissive so they just accepted it. 4 other boys, no empathy or feelings whatsoever, became three hateful people and one neo-nazis. The third girl, fought against it with moderate ideas, advocating for women’s rights, etc. Was verbally abused and taunted by them and her parents to the point of extreme depression, self harm, possibly suicidal thoughts idk. Hasn’t left Christianity, but graduated early to get away from them. Then me, enby (assigned male). Not even open about it, but different from the other guys bc I actually have empathy and feelings. Depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts (the usual), survived bc of outside friends I had in secret, became a pagan liberal but still really mentally screwed up…

I do wonder if the enlargement of the parts of the brain dealing with fear conditioning, self-deception and emotional learning but lack of emotional regulation are because most if not all extreme conservatives (at least in my campus “dataset” of about 50) have survived extreme cases of abuse and either a) became numb to it and started convincing themselves to do it to others because it’s “right” or b) became extremely depressed, suicidal, learned heightened empathy and critical thinking by surviving that and ended up in the “liberal” dataset.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Lookup “Generational Trauma.”

Families of all different walks of life, from generation to generation are just stuck in cycles of perpetual trauma that they act out and pass down to their children.

With therapy you start to learn about and recognize your subconscious responses and triggers to this trauma and how to break out of that pattern.

This ensures that what they say and do no longer holds power over you, that you stop acting on or acting out your own trauma response, and most importantly you break the cycle and stop passing it down to your kids.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Raven, hang in there and great job so far! The best revenge is a long, fulfilling life. Gets ‘em every time. 🤘🏼🥰 Let’s fuckin’ go! 🔥🥳

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

There’s a lot to be said about the trauma response and a need for control. So I could see a) pretty easily. B) takes a strong person, but it’s certainly possible.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I’m so glad you eventually escaped that, Internet Stranger. I hope you continue to get the help you need. Good wishes to you.

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

To still be republican you’d certainly have to be a sociopath.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
18 points

Because their extremist speech is normalized. Go on any xitter thread with a political tone and it’s basically red flag after red flag of tweets that will be on the “what we know about the shooter” graphics in the future.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

Same reason why every time someone is murdered it turns out it was done by a murderer.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

Democrats know how to bury the body

/S

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

“We are all donestic terrorists”. The GOP had never been more honest, and probably never will be again.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Something something Dunning Kruger skews right something something

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

The funny thing about Dunning & Kruger, their study was based on faulty science. They believed their own bullshit and loudly proclaimed their findings that “felt right”. And it became a meme, when a bunch of people believed their headline without checking their study first, including me. There is no significant correlation.

So, stupid people overestimating their abilities? Let’s start with examining Dunning & Kruger.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

It’s Krugers all the way Dunning!

permalink
report
parent
reply
135 points

It’s ironic that if you proclaim to be communist or anarchist, they’ll basically blacklist you, yet one of our political parties is also the largest organized hate group in the nation, and we just accept that as normal.

permalink
report
reply
144 points
*

This dude LITERALLY pulled an ISIS beheading his father while basically giving the same talking points AS FUCKING ISIS.

Swatting, bomb threats, planting bombs, death threats, murder, mass shootings, election tampering, sedition, attacking government institutions. Let’s call a spade a spade. They’re a terrorist organization

permalink
report
parent
reply
130 points

This is not an edited photo. CPAC literally created and wore that banner of their own volition.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-31 points

On one hand this is the internet so you shouldn’t believe everything you’re told/see. On the other hand I can see Republicans being stupid and tone deaf enough to actually do this…

permalink
report
parent
reply
23 points

And they have the gall to say liberalism is a mental disorder.

Say it with me now, “P-R-O-J-E-C-T-I-O-N”

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

…and even taking that BS at face value, an actual mental disorder is infinitely preferable to sober and calculated malice.

“No -your- brain is broken! I’m just plain ol’ evil.”

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Well said. We as a nation need to snap the fuck out of it and realize how insane this all is. How utterly abnormal all this should be.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

It’s astonishing they’re even given a platform, much less being one of the most influential political parties in the nation

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

They aren’t all that organized to be fair

permalink
report
parent
reply

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

Community stats

  • 15K

    Monthly active users

  • 16K

    Posts

  • 470K

    Comments