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Comment by nostromo | Hacker News Reader

The mirror opposite of a hypocritical set of positions is another set of equally hypocritical positions.

We’ll see how fond the left is when a new set of “counter terrorism” laws, corporate censorship, and the free market when it gets used on the next round of BLM protestors, to pick an example at random.

Not to mention how suddenly the far left is suddenly concerned about Twitter’s civil rights — something reaffirmed by their least favorite opinion: Citizen’s United.

Nobody should fool themselves: neither party has a consistent set of principles.

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> We’ll see how fond the left is when a new set of “counter terrorism” laws, corporate censorship, and the free market when it gets used on the next round of BLM protestors, to pick an example at random.

That has been happening? https://theintercept.com/2018/03/19/black-lives-matter-fbi-s...

Pretty much has been happening forever too. Many voices "on the left" have always been under surveillance since we started surveiling our citizens, and were often economically blackballed on the free market as well.

Also this seems like false equivalences between people saying we should change how policing works vs we should overturn the results of our election through force.

We have actual armed insurrectionists on one hand storming the capitol with zip cuffs and illegally carried firearms. You are asking how we would feel if we treated BLM, the people who want their tax dollars to go to alternatives to policing, like we treated those people inciting the capitol riot. Honestly it would probably be an improvement.

> “BLM, the people who want their tax dollars to go to alternatives to policing”

You’re coloring one ideology all good and another all bad. Not all MAGA people stormed the capital any more than all BLM supporters burned down a police precinct, took over city hall in Seattle and literally seceded from the union.

We have a lot of problems. The primary one is our inability to see that they are spread evenly across the ideological spectrum.

The OP used them as an example of how “the left” would feel if a cause they cared about was censored. I meant it only to show how silly the comparisons was to me. There simply isn’t a comparion to storming the capitol to try to stop the democratic process. The CHAZ was not BLM “ceding from the union,” they tried some poorly thought out experiment in no policing.

I’m not judging the entirety of a Maga movement, or the right, or even a “stop the steal” crowd. I am judging those who stormed the capitol and those who directly egged them on, who are being deplatformed in the article.

> We have a lot of problems. The primary one is our inability to see that they are spread evenly across the ideological spectrum.

Another contender for primary problem is the widespread use of false equivalencies and “both sides” to excuse whatever is inconvenient without nuance.

Good points - I mostly agree with 1 of them.

1) Storming the capital is far more concerning than some hippies setting up shop in Seattle. But I would contend that that these two extremes are pushing each other to more extremes and there is a distortion that whoever acts last is the current problem. Prior to the capitol incident, the fringe left had a monopoly on disgraceful behavior and unchecked violence in the streets. What would have happened had Trump actually won?

2) I think that rejecting the "both sides" argument _is_ the removal of the nuance.

The positions are hypocritical because they're post-hoc. The starting point is a visceral hatred of the opposing tribe, e.g. Trump/MAGA, and a desire to beat them - not a desire to be rationally consistent or fair.

I want to be fair. I think this /is/ fair. It’s hard for me to see how giving a platform and amplification ability to avowed racists and insurrections is a good idea. They can always start their own platforms. The only point I disagree is taking apps out of app stores. Otherwise, most of what had been happening seems well principled to me. And not a post-hoc partisan beat down.

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