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Comment by java-man | Hacker News Reader

Now imagine these tools in the hands of communists.

Why would a person leave that reply? Unless people are supposed to read it and think "gosh, I guess fascism isn't so bad, after all", which I doubt was the intention, it seems pointless.

Generally that is the intention of whataboutism like this, or at least dog whistling to other people that think fascism aint so bad.

"they're the same picture"

Authoritarians pretty much all treat the public the same regardless of their ideological bent.

I think what you both really mean is "imagine these tools in the hands of authoritarians", it doesn't really matter if they're fascism flavored authoritarians or communism flavored authoritarians.

Have you seen an actual Marxist-Leninist in the US? Do you even know anyone who could accurately describe Marxism-Leninism?

There are self-proclaimed Nazis and real brownshirt gangs like the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and other all over America. https://www.adl.org/blog/following-demonstration-three-neo-n...

Right wing violence and extremism are the real world threat in America, and this has been true for decades.

"Right wing violence and extremism are the real world threat in America..." let me just ask you can you tell us how many people died in 2021 due to right wing violence and extremism? Meanwhile, in Chicago, "According to the department, 2021 ended with 797 homicides. That is 25 more than were recorded 2020, 299 more than in 2019 and the most since 1996. And there were 3,561 shooting incidents in 2021, which is just over 300 more than were recorded in 2020 and a staggering 1,415 more shooting incidents than were recorded in the city in 2019." https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2021-ends-as-chicagos-...

Ehh, nobody would tolerate it if we just say "bulk collection". How about "analytics"? It sounds much nicer that way, and there is zero collusion required as long as the economic reward makes the optimized outcome inevitable http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Germany/mus...

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