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How does the World view America these days?


Rubin Farr

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The gun culture/culture of violence of the USA is contaminating us in Canada too now.

Montreal is having a quite a big surge in gun incidents and murder every month now. Loads of gun imported from the USA ends up here.

Also Police shouldnt have Guns PERIOD.

Fuck Guns.

Fuck Gun culture.

Edited by thefxbip
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The case was never going to have a good outcome, if he was found guilty we would be seeing proud boys oathkeepers and a lot of cops out for blood. The outcome we got would be a cheerleading session for the far-right and their complicit allies. The only charge that could have and should have stuck was dropped.

This isn't a gun culture or gun violence issue, it's a major indicator normalized right-wing vigilantism. If anything it's time for anyone but the right to arm themselves and train against this stuff. The cat is out of the bag - cops should be de-armed but won't and the far-right is well armed and trained and will be impossible to de-arm outside of a literal civil war.

As brutalized as maligned communities have been in American history there are a lot of instances of minorities and poor and working class people arming up to deter and resist. The Reconstruction era black militias, Battles of Blair Mountain Battle and Athens, the Range Wars, the community anti-eviction posses during the Depression, various thwarted lynchings and massacres in the South, Wounded Knee Occupation, etc. These are obstructed and downplayed in history and narratives for a reason. 

I'm actually treating this as an ugly moot point that might even have a silver lining of bringing greater attention to mainstream folks to the fact that right-winger vigilantes are an informal paramilitary for cops. This is not an exaggeration and it's something too many in the center are ignoring or denying. The shitty after-effect is this sociopath will likewise be paraded around by the right, how that pans out is anyone's guess. expect him at cpac or becoming some wingnut intern.

This kind absurd walking away from murder is not new. there was the guy who killed a Japanese student in Detroit in the 80s, the NYC subway guy who killed multiple people and was a right-wing hero, the trayvon martin murder...you know the Mỹ Lai massacre most agree now was horrendous? there was literally a top 10 hit defending the guy who lead it in the early 70s. 

The problem with gun culture in the US is the loud extremist part of it drowns out and degrades basic concepts of responsible gun rights. They excise and ignore the fact that Rittenhouse literally Last fall Michael Reinoehl, who defended himself in a similar confrontation, never made it to trial because he literally gunned down by feds while walking down a street unarmed. 

This case was going to be fucked regardless of the verdict. The hard reality has to be expected and reacted with positive efforts.

My point is - I can't get too hung up on it, it's a futile and exhausting exercise. It's more motivation organize, be aware and be prepared for further violence and unrest. No doomsday prepping so much as strengthening ties and mutual aid, reaching out to people and being paranoid of everyone. That's the major difference between the far right and everyone else. They aren't on the defense, they are out for blood.

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Getting Trump out of office and distributing vaccines were two of the most important things we've accomplished this year, but this farce of a Rittenhouse trial is a grim reminder that these white supremacist shit stains aren't going to back down. And if they ever occupy the highest echelons again, the country might as well collapse.

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More positive reminder, a citizen who shot a cops in self-defense was acquitted by a jury not that long ago. It was a harrowing experience that cops tried to cover up but justice prevailed in that case. 

https://kstp.com/news/saint-paul-man-who-shot-at-minneapolis-police-in-self-defense-acquitted-of-all-charges-by-jury/6224974/

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10 hours ago, auxien said:

yeah, not terribly surprising but nonetheless gross. i’m curious if there’a the possibility for mistrial issues or something given the judge’s….ahem, attitude.

That interpretation of the weapons charge is a fucking travesty. The whole Wisconsin legislation on minors in possession is fucking awful.

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1 hour ago, ambermonke said:

Getting Trump out of office and distributing vaccines were two of the most important things we've accomplished this year, but this farce of a Rittenhouse trial is a grim reminder that these white supremacist shit stains aren't going to back down. And if they ever occupy the highest echelons again, the country might as well collapse.

they were there before trump and will be there long after. he was a symptom of the problem... alt right/ultra right/fascism is on the ups in many places. those voices have been gathering together for a while now. out in the open.

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5 hours ago, thefxbip said:

The gun culture/culture of violence of the USA is contaminating us in Canada too now.

Montreal is having a quite a big surge in gun incidents and murder every month now. Loads of gun imported from the USA ends up here.

Also Police shouldnt have Guns PERIOD.

Fuck Guns.

Fuck Gun culture.

It amazes me at the complete logic break I see in other Americans when I try to tell them the rest of the world’s civilian population does not possess guns, they simply cannot comprehend that, and almost immediately they try to defend our gun culture. But as a Yank, only after living abroad do you truly understand the insanity that is American gun culture. Fuck guns.

2 hours ago, chenGOD said:

That interpretation of the weapons charge is a fucking travesty. The whole Wisconsin legislation on minors in possession is fucking awful.

The whole impression of the judge adopting this little fuck as his courtroom son made me sick.

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I began ignoring this story as soon as it became apparent that all parties involved in it are idiots and/or complicit. I think the worst thing liberals can do now is to make a big deal about this. there are other issues to worry about.

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8 hours ago, joshuatxuk said:

This isn't a gun culture or gun violence issue, it's a major indicator normalized right-wing vigilantism. If anything it's time for anyone but the right to arm themselves and train against this stuff. The cat is out of the bag - cops should be de-armed but won't and the far-right is well armed and trained and will be impossible to de-arm outside of a literal civil war.

this paragraph feels terribly contradictory. it definitely is a gun culture issue, as you make clear after the first sentence: America in the 21st century is a gun culture, where the laws and social norms all perpetuate the sins of the last decades, allowing for not just plain old hunting rifles/pistols/etc. 17 year old Rittenhouse wouldn't have been walking around with an AR-15 on him at that protest looking for trouble without the gun culture of America he grew up in. it is also definitely normalized vigilantism, no doubt. but vigilantes without the gun focused worshipping of the NRA and AR-15s and fucking militia culture and media etc would be a totally different threat. 

you're 100% right that the cat is out of the bag, but that doesn't mean you should keep feeding that cat more and more rats outside so he gets bigger and bigger and still nips and fights. get that fucker neutered and teach him that living inside ain't half bad and actually pretty chill most of the time, give him some nice pâtė and some nice toys. federally gut the ability to produce and obtain weapons of mass destruction by the hands of old lonely uncle Jimmy that lives in that trailer out of the way, and incentivize programs to buy them back at high prices so when he's retired and wants to buy a year's worth of beer he sells them back to the gov who can destroy them. it may take a few decades but it's a start, and the time will allow for the fetishization to slowly drop off as the generations tumble slowly into the future.

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5 minutes ago, Squee said:

Anyone care to explain why guns are legal in the US? So you guys can protect yourselves against what? Indians?

guns are legal for the purposes of hunting and for personal protection of one's self/property. those things have (always?) been the case and i'm quite sure will always be the case. my understanding is that this is also the case in many other countries, in part or as a whole.

the types of guns/weapons average American citizens are allowed to purchase and own and use and in some places carry around in public is where there's a huge shift that differs from (most of) the rest of the world. along with our social fetishization of that imagery, that vigilante justice-bringer/cowboy in the wild west type you're alluding to.

Edited by auxien
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15 hours ago, auxien said:

guns are legal for the purposes of hunting and for personal protection of one's self/property. those things have (always?) been the case and i'm quite sure will always be the case. my understanding is that this is also the case in many other countries, in part or as a whole.

the types of guns/weapons average American citizens are allowed to purchase and own and use and in some places carry around in public is where there's a huge shift that differs from (most of) the rest of the world. along with our social fetishization of that imagery, that vigilante justice-bringer/cowboy in the wild west type you're alluding to.

I believe in the era it was written, the 2nd Amendment also took into account the need to possibly raise civilian militias in case of future incursions by foreign armies, but you also had frontier families who were not always welcome by the locals, and more cases where wild animals might need to be fended off. It’s obsolete now.

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9 minutes ago, thefxbip said:

USA has a violence fetish since day 1.

It's true for many countries but USA seems reluctant to even QUESTION the fact it could be the cause for many of its problems.

 

a lot of it is a sort of ego inflation. perceived personal attacks. "this makes me look weak. the only way to eradicate that perception is to shoot this person".

there's a lack of maturity and reason, of course, in a lot of people. there's no thought on how to resolve differences or solve a problem other than making it go away. doing hard work is too inconvenient. "it's not my problem.. it's yours."

also, in some communities when 'beefs' and anger, bullying etc amongst young people could be solved by some fists people today reach for a gun. 

but there's a long history of "might makes right" and the person w/the gun is right. old west bullshit. 

Edited by ignatius
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5 minutes ago, ignatius said:

a lot of it is a sort of ego inflation. perceived personal attacks. "this makes me look weak. the only way to eradicate that perception is to shoot this person".

there's a lack of maturity and reason, of course, in a lot of people. there's no thought on how to resolve differences or solve a problem other than making it go away. doing hard work is too inconvenient. "it's not my problem.. it's yours."

I remember James Baldwin talking about an illiteracy of the heart.

The whole culture is built upon a complete lack of emotional intelligence.

Edited by thefxbip
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Never understood how Americans are so passionate about their political parties, wether it be left or right, going completely happy bonkers at their rallies when they roll into town (whereas folks over this side of the pond are mainly sneering and cynical at our politicians) but then also have this massive paranoid mistrust of ‘central’ government. Which also plays in with the comments above about the obsession with guns and the right to bear arms. I’ve seen plenty of documentaries with American folk saying they need guns to defend themselves just in case government come after them. Maybe I’m missing something, but it all seems odd to me. 

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12 minutes ago, beerwolf said:

Never understood how Americans are so passionate about their political parties, wether it be left or right, going completely happy bonkers at their rallies when they roll into town (whereas folks over this side of the pond are mainly sneering and cynical at our politicians) but then also have this massive paranoid mistrust of ‘central’ government. Which also plays in with the comments above about the obsession with guns and the right to bear arms. I’ve seen plenty of documentaries with American folk saying they need guns to defend themselves just in case government come after them. Maybe I’m missing something, but it all seems odd to me. 

politics in the US are like a team sport most of the time. some people do care and want to make a better life for all americans etc etc.. but many other people just want the other party to lose. there are plenty of people who think it's all bullshit but just as many who think one politician or party will 'save' us from all the problems.. so they put all their hopes and dreams on a savior which is obviously just bullshit. not talking about trump in particular though the worship around him is bizarre and widespread on the right... but forever people have chosen their candidate and married him in their minds as the answer to all the problems. there's also a lack of political understanding/education/information etc in a lot of if not most of americans. people are often very disconnected from it all until it effects them personally.. and then they often vote on only that one issue. 

Edited by ignatius
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