Yeah, there's some trolls but the Babylon Bee folk seem to be genuine, as far as I can tell, even though I find their content unpleasant, unfunny and dangerous even as satire:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-sati...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/06/babylon-bee-sati...
This is precisely why we need strong protections for satirists from those who are so insecure in their positions and beliefs that they respond to satire like it’s threatening.
edit: I don’t understand why people are downvoting a simple statement of undeniable fact. Do I need to mention that doesn’t mean I am in favor of government intervention?
What the parent comment means by referencing this phenomenon, which already has an Occidental analogue, is still unclear to me.
What people don't get is if you want to start censoring "dangerous speech" then you'd better have a perfect definition of what dangerous speech is. But there isn't one.
So what ends up happening is you ban speech with good reason, set a precedent, then your political opponent takes power and starts banning speech as well.
Nobody is directly hurt by it. It can be involved in a causal chain that leads to harm, but so can everything.
If you contend that speech is dangerous because it can lead to harm, then language itself is dangerous because it can lead to speech. For that matter air is dangerous, because it facilitates language.
Speech is powerful, and it can cause great changes to the world. But, while all improvements are changes, so too are all diminutions.
https://babylonbee.com/news/are-you-a-fascist-know-the-signs
Is this satire or are they just genuinely angry about stuff that isn't really happening? Hard to tell.
> You have more than one kid and you love being a parent: Dedication to the family is a distraction from service to the state. Just abort, you fascist – don't you want to be liberated?
I have a very serious question for anyone pushing a limit on free speech: where does it end?
My answer is that the Right will dictate the limits to speech, not the Left.
Stop pushing for this. It will end poorly for everyone. The people who are already suffering will be the hardest hit.
Or do you think people read that and say "oh yeah, I guess I am a fascist!"
When it does take a turn though, it appears that they really do believe that Biden supporters are literally murdering Trump voters in the streets. Or they want their readers to believe it.
The thing is, when you’re writing comedy and you break the fourth wall to say “okay here’s what I actually think,” as this article does, you’re no longer in parody territory if most of what you say is exactly what a common person believes. Mixing in satire that sounds exactly like fascist propaganda is pretty transparently manipulative.
They are: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/22/us/north-dakota-teenager-vehi...
Quote from Fox News.
Meanwhile Trump has been telling people he was a far left activist who intentionally mowed someone down in cold blood and the mainstream media refuses to cover the story (possibly because Trump made up most of the details).
There's some weird stuff about the the crazy guy saying the kid was in an extremist Republican outfit, but as far as I can tell that's just the ravings of a drunk with mental health issues who just run someone over while DUI.
Do you honestly believe this or are you just trying as hard as humanly possible to make a pedantic point for the sake of argument?
EDIT: That joke in question is about the new Italian PM. What they are satirizing is in her acceptance speech she talked about "family, god and country" and the left immediately called her fascist for it.
See, I don't think that's a thing that happened. And if you satirise something that never happened, but your audience all think happened, because someone on Twitter told them it happened then you're in a weird area.
And I can see how that could happen in other online cliques too. I think if it happened in a clique I was in and cared about, I'd call it out, not celebrate it. But that assumes you know it didn't happen, and that you care.
So fundamentally it's not the satire that's the problem, it's groups of people believing stuff that isn't true.
It's wearing the cloth, but it's really a thinly veiled screed against the "libruls".
It's positing that people are calling you fascist for saying Merry Christmas or voting for Trump. No one is doing that. Not a single goddamn person is doing that. Not a fucking soul is calling you fascist for celebrating the 4th of July.
But if you support or have supported an insurrection on your nation's capitol to install the loser of an election to the highest office in the land. You may have fascist tendencies. If you wish to install a theocracy and enforce the rules of your religion onto others. You may have fascist tendencies.
Then they throw in the mustache, goose-stepping bit. Which while both were done by actual fascists and are clear nods to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, they aren't necessary or sufficient conditions.
Then they go on with the Biden criticisms in which they distort or ignore things to make claims. Like "You use federal law enforcement to intimidate and attack political opponents". Just completely ignoring the fact that it's neither intimidation nor an attack to investigate people who broke the law. Regardless if they're a "political opponent" or not. Which is kind of hilarious as one of Trump's campaign promises/slogans was literally a promise to use law enforcement to attack a political opponent.
As with most cases, the "joke" with The Babylon Bee is "fuck liberals".
Also, jokes that are about literal things are, well, usually more boring. Have people called me a fascist for saying Merry Christmas? Nope. But... have I seen legitimate news outlets using the word fascist and Christian in the same article? Yep. Did it indirectly draw a connection between the two? Sure seems like it to me. Hence, the joke.
Some people also find cruelty funny. That wouldn't make cruelty funny.
Yes, when talking about people who are Christian nationalists trying to install a theocracy, you may have the words "fascist" and "Christian" in the same article. But it's not in the same ballpark, or even the same sport, as saying you're being called a fascist for saying "Merry Christmas".
If anything, it's motte and bailey disguised as a joke. They're trying to get people to see anyone associating anything even Christian adjacent to fascism as unreasonable people.
But. You can be Christian and not be a fascist. You can go do Christian things, worship Christian gods, attend Christian churches, have Christian holidays. No one is going to say anything about it. The minute you try to force me to accept your Christian things, worship your gods, attend your Churches, and celebrate your holidays over all others, is the minute we start having problems. The minute we begin saying that you are a fascist in addition to being a Christian. Because no one is saying Christianity is fascism. But that's what that "joke" does. It's basically staking the claim that people complaining about Christian fascists are saying that all Christians are fascists. Or at the very least, saying that's a leap you can make. And it's not.
"American Christianity is fascism, all American Christians." https://twitter.com/MayMayGraves/status/1564745487378530305
See also https://twitter.com/PatRyatt/status/1576708937725927424 https://twitter.com/sladeofyaupon/status/1309652727660785664 https://twitter.com/timberwraith/status/1529918154721398784 https://twitter.com/VofDestruction/status/157724863750710476... https://twitter.com/JasonIsCreating/status/15327851529334743...
It seems like you don't laugh at the Bee </interpretation>. I don't laugh at SNL. Or Trevor Noah. I cringe. But it's still satirical comedy nonetheless because lots of people do laugh and I would be the first person in line to protect their right to make fun of Trump or Christians or Republicans. Without this right to push the boundary, especially in a way that makes people laugh, then it really does start to look like fascism.
"Voting for Trump makes you a White Supremacist Fascist" https://twitter.com/fuzzybeargville/status/15661012675245547...
See also https://twitter.com/jeffrasley/status/1575145987974242306 https://twitter.com/Isle_of_Sun/status/1559962427529240576 https://twitter.com/KeithInKeyWest/status/156543613646131200... https://twitter.com/geoffbaron/status/1559935679559135232 https://twitter.com/NarrativeMachi1/status/15598855095764910...
> Not a fucking soul is calling you fascist for celebrating the 4th of July.
"America is a fascist country therefore, celebrating this July 4th is celebrating fascism." https://twitter.com/FFDC202/status/1542899275453046784
See also https://twitter.com/TheRickyDavila/status/154333827868577382... https://twitter.com/mackyson/status/1543846595317452800
How about limiting the proof of what you think "liberals" think to stuff that blue checkmarked Twitter accounts who aren't professional comedians say in earnest. Otherwise we might as well use stuff scrawled on a bathroom stall wall in poop for our sources.