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wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

I didn’t say “just being friendly” makes a person a fascist. What I’m saying is that even fascists can “just be friendly” to the people they accept, and they often do. This is part of what allows fascism to perpetuate.

Someone could be casually sexist or viciously racist, but if they’re nice enough to the people in their community, people will say “he’s just a great guy,” because he’s nice to the people who they think matter. They have a word for it. They call them “good ole boys.”

I’m telling you my personal experience from living among these people and yet everyone seems to be in denial that this could be the case. But I bet a large proportion of them know an aunt or an uncle or a family friend who’s a narcissist or a fascist, but other people don’t see through that disguise because they’re nice to the ones who “matter.” I bet most people here have some experience of not being allowed to call those people out because their friends and family will come to the person’s defense and dismiss any criticism.

I’m telling you this happens on a larger scale, and the glorification of these “Kevins” is inextricably tied to it. Maybe not every Kevin with a truck is like that, but I’m telling you a lot of them are.

Also, on a more personal note:

If you want to stay a self imposed outcast

Fuck you for implying this is some sort of choice I’m making. I’ve been coping with ostracization and rejection my whole life, and you want to assume I’m doing it to myself for some inexplicable reason?

That’s a fucking “what was she wearing” moment.

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NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I’m not saying it’s an inexplicable reason.

Im saying that you’re making a lot of assumptions about people that are harming your ability to connect and learn the truth about them by jumping straight to “You’re a fascist/ableist/[insert a label that allows you to maintain your supposed moral high ground by not engaging in converssation.]”

Your attitude of assuming fascism based on one drop of ignorance, either through their poor upbringing, susceptibility/exposure to propaganda or through, in this post for example, their choice to drive a truck, is part of what’s causing your social life harm.

Now, to clarify; I am in no way suggesting that you need to make nice with actual fascists. I’m saying you should treat people with differing opinions like human fucking beings, because judging people based on your own assumptions about the miniscule amounts of information you can garner by a short interaction IS some fascist shit.

I, to suffer from being a neurodivergent and more often than not, being an antisocial person, but what I do is actually talk to people like they’re actual people, instead of painting then with a wide brush by labelling them.

I have genuinely changed someone’s mind on what’s going on in Gaza by actually talking to them about it, instead of shutting down any form of communication and cutting them out, because I KNEW they weren’t actually a racist, but instead were a product of the absolutely monumental propaganda campaign that is modern mass media and social media manipulation.

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- wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  I didn’t call anyone here a fascist, all I did was point out the uncomfortable parallels with this romanticization of truck culture to certain attitudes in society that enable fascism.
  
  I also never said that everyone who drives a truck is a fascist. I only said that a lot of them are, and that a lot of people in their communities would call them great guys, because they’re willing to help out their neighbors. But a lot of time, their willingness to help ends there. And there’s a dark side to this “good ole boy” attitude where no one cares how you treat outsiders as long as you help out your in-group.
  
  And if you don’t see the connection that this in-group/out-group dichotomy and the “good ole boy” culture that so often accompanies that “truck guy” have with fascism, I don’t know how else to explain it.
  
  But even if I try explaining further you’ll probably just lean harder on strawmen by claiming I said everyone who drives a truck is a fascist, even though I very clearly said that’s not the case…
  
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  - NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    I don’t know how else to explain it.
    
    Of course you don’t, because it’s an assumption and a generalisation that you’re hinging your entire tirade upon
    
    This was a nice post about a nice group of people that YOU decided to shit upon and suggest they were likely just " good ol boys " because they drove a truck.
    
    You literally brought up the strawman yourself when you said “but what if they were black or hispanic or trans” as if those people are all incapable of forming social connections that would put them in contact with their own version of Kevin.
    
    You’re straw manning, then pointing the finger at anyone that calls you out on it and telling “abelist” and whataboutism-ing at them until they stop talking to you. If you’re doing this in real life as well the there’s no wonder you’ve ostracised yourself.
    
    Want to know if your argument is ever making a generalisation in bad faith?
    
    I also never said that everyone who drives a truck is a fascist. I only said that a lot of them are,
    
    Replace “drives a truck” and “fascist” with anything you like. Then read your own words again.
    
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    wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    
    Of course you don’t, because it’s an assumption and a generalisation that you’re hinging your entire tirade upon
    
    It’s neither of those things. It’s an observation and personal experience.
    
    And I didn’t say “I don’t know how else to explain it” like you tried insinuating by butchering it out of context. I said IF you don’t see the connection, THEN I don’t know how else to explain it. That’s a completely different statement. The shortcoming is yours, not mine.
    
    You literally brought up the strawman yourself when you said “but what if they were black or hispanic or trans” as if those people are all incapable of forming social connections that would put them in contact with their own version of Kevin
    
    More butchering of my statements, and you accuse me of strawmanning?!?
    
    I’m telling you, the average “kevin with a truck” in smalltown, usa is going to have some exclusionary biases like racism and homophobia. You don’t have to believe me, you can say “nuh uh, doubt.” But twisting my words into something I didn’t say is fucked up.
    
    Want to know if your argument is ever making a generalisation in bad faith?
    
    I also never said that everyone who drives a truck is a fascist. I only said that a lot of them are,
    
    Replace “drives a truck” and “fascist” with anything you like. Then read your own words again.
    
    That’s literally not what a generalization is. I made it explicitly clear that what I’m doing is not generalizing. I clearly acknowledged that it’s not some sweeping blanket statement.
    
    What I did was state a trend. Trends and generalizations are not the same thing.
    
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