Good. Polite and convenient protests aren’t the way out of this.
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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Well, username checks out.
But I enjoyed going back and listening to the Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff 2 parter about the hand-in-hand relationships between violent and non-violent protesting throughout the civil rights movement.
I'm thinking you will be able to find many more people willing to do non-violent and legal or civil disobedience type activities than you will people willing to face jailtime or death. But at the same time, there needs to be appreciation for people who will get their hands dirty to keep the peaceful co-protesters safe. It only takes so many armed people to be a deterrent, for example.
To dismiss one group or the other overlooks the historic contributions of many people, and who's going to be thrilled about a takeover by any group of solely violent and/or criminalistic individuals with no peaceful support? I don't want to live under left wing authoritarianism any more than the right wing variety.
You know, I’d actually not considered the need for the peaceful protests to build the support so that when the inevitable necessary violence occurs, those heroes have the backers they need. I just wish this would speed the fuck up already; those of us who’ve seen this shitshow coming for years are just getting impatient at getting PAST this point in history. I, for one, think that the quicker we get through it the better EVERYONE comes out on the other side; continuing to draw it out leads to more entrenched parties, more hard feelings afterwards, and more pain required to fix this.
It works the opposite way as well: the radical fringe is necessary in order to make the moderates look moderate, otherwise the Overton Window shifts away from your cause.
The fact that we don't have anybody to the left of Bernie Sanders who is a fucking moderate, measured on an absolute scale is why we're at the point where all the MAGA cultists think right-wing liberal assholes like Schumer and Pelosi are radical leftists.
The sad part is I'm not sure you ever get rapid societal change without a lot of people on both sides of an issue losing their lives. I'm cool for people here getting people mobilized but not radicalized. Anyone calling us to be violent publicly is just going to get people killed. I don't want to see more homegrown terror in America.
I'd much rather see those willing to wield weapons protecting things like polling places, protests, and the representatives we support. Whitmer's kidnapping plot, Shapiro's home arson, Pelosi's home invasion type events are things where some form of organized watch can try to prevent while looking like the good guys instead of vigilantes.
The increasing calls for physical violence on Lemmy are really getting concerning. I used to frequent the news and politics stuff more often, but lately it feels a bit too hot for me and I just try to add something when there's outright disinformation. I get things are bad for many, but this is a door that can't really be closed once it gets opened. I just want everyone here to be safe and not act recklessly, but some commentary here I feel is testing some boundaries.
Anyone calling us to be violent publicly is just going to get people killed. I don't want to see more homegrown terror in America.
People are already dying to violence via the pen. Multiple stories of people dying here in the US when he ILLEGALLY froze USAID. And that ignores all of the countries that USA supports with food, medicine, infrastructure, etc....
People are being kidnapped and sent to a concentration camp in another country where both presidents are saying they will never leave, a death sentence in all but name.
This is just policy things that are killing people, they can also look at how many mass shooters, such as the Walmart shooter in Buffalo, who are being radicalized by right-wing media to the point they're killing people.
Americans need to wake up and realize that they are already using violence. We are already at war.
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We’re getting rapid societal change right now, just the wrong way. My biggest challenge to your take is that you’d have everyone always playing defense, which only slows, not stops, the evil that keeps coming.
Do I wish there were a non-violent out for this? Yes. I just can’t see it. Every day that passes, every norm that is cast aside, means that much more work just to get back to “the old ways” (which were far from perfect). The other side opened the door Jan 6, 2021, then blew it off its hinges with the pardons. The only way to win is play by their rules, or at least their rulebook of “no rules” - thank you sir may I have another and hoping they get bored/annoyed is not a viable strategy.
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As far as vandalism goes, this is about as polite as you can get. It's not even spray painted, just taped on.
Unless it’s caused them to issue a very public, unequivocal statement rebuking the administration and all of its actions I stand by my prior statement.
Gotta love all the people who seem to think if we keep doing exactly the same thing (non-violent protests that are out of people's way) and if we ask really really nicely that we will be allowed to go back to a less insane country.
Anyone who wants to sit down and ask ICE to not deport them to a concentration camp is welcome to do so I guess. I'd say "your funeral" but you'll never get a funeral. You'll be dumped in a mass grave or incinerated.
Democrats are so disappointing
“Hate has no place in our communities, and the New York State Democratic Party unequivocally condemns this shameful and inappropriate act,” the statement said. “We encourage New Yorkers across the political spectrum to denounce hate in all its forms.”
If you want to denounce hate maybe focus on the nazi-like behavior instead of the extremely mild "vandalism" of pointing that out. I think it was just signs taped, so that's all of five minutes to clean up.
To be clear, Republicans are the worst. The Democrats just... disappoint.
First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
-MLK Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail" April 16th, 1963
In 2018, someone fired six bullets into the Albany Democratic Party headquarters' front window. I don't recall a single Republican denouncing the act.
They were busy at the time.
Yeah, reloading.
They need to work on their doublespeak. Maybe something like:
The Democratic Party is appalled by the sad state of our nation, that individuals would need to resort to such charged and shocking language. We can do better. Democrats can do better. Americans can do better. We are better than this. Use your voice, use your wallet, use your influence to fight the wave of hatred that has enveloped our free and lawful nation.
Hey that's pretty good. If you do it just right, you can make it look like a condemnation while also supporting it and calling for stochastic anti-nazi violence.
Isn't this "vandalism" not denouncing hate?
Hope they wore nitrile gloves and face masks, because Republicans will spend tenfold the effort on finding and punishing them than they will ever spend self-reflecting.
And that they didn't use their own printer.
For those not aware: all commercially available color printers leave a pattern of almost-microscopic yellow dots which contain the printer serial number. This makes it possible for law enforcement to trace the origin of any document produced with such a printer.
If you're going to produce untraceable color artwork at scale, you need to use silk screening, or a similar DIY printmaking technique.
This is both true and untrue. On the one hand yes printers do this. On the other hand if you never registered the warranty then it’s unlikely that Best Buy still has record of which printer you bought 10 years ago.
As ever YMMV.
Printers are also often e-waste even while still functional ending up in places like recycled good shops, thrift stores etc.
I could take cash to my local Goodwill right now and get a printer that would have no connection to me.
It could still connect it to your region. It'd be best to grab one while you're traveling somewhere ideally so even if they trace it it'll take them to a place that's fairly inaccurate.
ever allowed your printer to update over the internet? chances are that same serial number attached to the printer, which is now encoded into your document, is now attached to an IP that can be meaningfully time/date attached to your e.g. cable modem MAC address which is attached to the location of the printer - at your house/work/etc... and thats just one publically known mechanism. if your printer is attached to a network with internet access, are you sure its never pinged the manufacturer? are you sure sure?
never underestimate the trail of digital forensics you leave behind when there is a sufficiently motivated adversary. seriously evaluate your risks and harm exposure and plan accordingly. just sayin'
Does this hold true for black and white laser printers as well?
If its electronic, assume its compromised.
Not that I am aware of
I like that handwritten look, but I'm also not dumb enough to use my own handwriting.
My anonymous letters are written with one of those vinyl plotter/cutter things, but it uses a pen attachment to write things instead of cut. It looks very nice when finished. And most importantly, as long as you wear gloves, you don't leave any evidence on the paper.
Note: you can also use it to draw things, but swapping out colors is tedious.
You need to get one of those pens with multiple colors, then add a mechanism that can select between them.
You know it's funny, I actually tried two different multicolor pens, but there's a limited size for the pen to fit, and the colors are never quite what you want them to be.
I use pilot g2 pens with a 0.38 tip. The gel pens work best, as there's minimal to no bleeding on the page like markers, normal Bic style pens are too hard on the paper to actually mark anything, and pencils don't auto-feed.
I'm sure a multi-color pen is feasible, and I'm positive I could find the perfect one for a price. But this works for now, as long as I don't feel like adding more than 4 colors.
It's okay. This "vandalism" reeks of false flag, so law enforcement will be pointed to their office printer.
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lol a piece of paper and some duct tape is vandalism now?
Republican feelings were hurt by the paper and some duct tape. Hurting Republican feelings. Is terrorism.
brother, always has been for some of us.
Well, if we are to look at something similar: kill a poor black kid, slap on the wrist. Kill a rich white man, death penalty.
Kill a rich white man, death penalty.
Also "charged with terrorism."
This is TERRORISM!
-People who are Deporting NON CRIMINAL AMERICAN CITIZENS to a Concentration Camp in El Salvador WITHOUT Due Process or way to Return them Home!
A concentration camp whose bosses have repeatedly said that no one ever gets out except in a coffin. The USA is kidnapping innocent people off the street and sending them to death camps.
The USA is kidnapping innocent people off the street and sending them to death camps.
Always have been. Now we're doing it in broad daylight to our own citizens.
So like Martin Luther the Godfather of Protentantism vandalised the church in Wittenberg with his 95 theses in 1517? Vandalism by pinning the truth to a door?
While Republicans vandalize the US constitution?
Funny wording in my opinion.
This is the weakest form of "vandalism" I've ever seen. I wouldn't even call it that. Might as well call junkmail vandalism at this point.
yet, somehow, the trump admin with get the fbi to investigate it as terrorism
No lies detected.
Was this vandalism or just rebranding?
Protip: if you're going to vandalize Nazi shit, write out "Nazi" instead of a swastika to differentiate from pro-Nazi graffiti
To be fair, the "vandals" were just doing the Republicans a favor by taping the correct symbol to their door.
Straight up: It wasn't actually vandalism. Like handing out Russian flags at a conservative event:
Perfect.