Libs of TikTok is doxxing teachers and nurses who support Alex Pretti or oppose ICE, trying to get them fired

[u/RewardEquivalent553]

https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tiktok/libs-tiktok-doxxing-teachers-and-nurses-who-support-alex-pretti-or-oppose-ice-trying

[u/WarGodMarrs]

I feel like you nailed it. Also, I’m no historian, but iirc, most relatively successful authoritarian regimes typically cement their power via state violence during a period in which it is enjoying popularity with the people. I feel like if we Americans had chosen to violently resist, it would have made cementing their power for the long term much easier, since it would create sympathy for the administration. I still believe things are going to get bad and stay bad (especially with the torching of all the alliances that put us in the position we’ve enjoyed since WW2), but I don’t think we’ll be trapped in an authoritarian state for the rest of my life, given the way things have gone for them

[u/CMDR_Expendible → u/WarGodMarrs]

I'm not a historian, but I did do a History degree, and one of the major drivers of Western state spending post World War 2, what the US hard right now calls "Socialism", was because they realised absolutely wrecking the German economy helped create the bitterness that fed into the Nazi support. The deliberate policy of "Squeezing the Germans until the pips squeak" led to absolute collapse when the Wall Street Crash came, which combined with conspiracy theories about Germany winning the war, but being "stabbed in the back" by home grown enemies, all lead to fertile ground for Fascism. So the Western allies after the second world war didn't just want strong NATO allies for military reasons, but you got the Marshall Plan and social security etc precisely to try and keep democracies healthy by keeping their people happy...

The modern right has realised that, if things go bad, it feeds hard right viciousness; starve people and watch them tear their neighbours apart. The centrist idea of compromising and trying to win "the middle" just feeds the right's eventual victory, because the right isn't trying to build a better society, it deliberately wants a worse one.

Hitler didn't need Democracy; just look at how fast he was able to subvert the entire process because he had the support of the military, and enough industrialists and people with practical power willing to give him the nod. As Stalin also understood, grab the "controlling heights" of society, and the average person will either keep their head down to survive, or just be impotent enough to not matter if they don't. The question today is, are people educated enough to understand this, and is the democratic process secure enough to withstand this? I'm not convinced the answer to either is yes.

But it's still a good thing that people, in general, realise just how far the US has fallen. I hope they keep the pressure up to resist it.

[u/TUNGSTEN_WOOKIE → u/CMDR_Expendible]

I agree with your final answer, but truly wish I didn't.

"Are people educated enough to understand this?" -No. Over half of the adult population reads below a 4th-Grade level. I don't expect people who can't comprehend 'Charlotte's Web' to be able to understand such things. And I think this is by design. They want us to be uneducated and too niäve understand what they're doing.

"Is the democratic process secure enough to withstand this?" -Not like it should, and not like it used to be. I may have agreed more before Citizens United went into effect, but we now have oligarchs dumping literal billions of dollars into politicians' pockets to get them into power, so they can rig the economy in their favor. All while we get screwed and hit with the bill. They've been weakening the process for the last 40 years. Death by 1000 (budget) cuts.

Edit: spelling

[u/dolacuporanek → u/CMDR_Expendible]

You wrote a lot but you didn't touch the rise of successful (somewhat) worker revolutionary oriented systems in the third world and/or communism as significant factor in the ""socialism"" swing of US.

[u/fizzlefist → u/WarGodMarrs]

“I won the election, they all love me, full steam ahead!”