• CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      2 months ago

      “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        2 months ago

        If we’re doing quotes, this Sartre one is good:

        Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

        https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7870768-never-believe-that-anti-semites-are-completely-unaware-of-the-absurdity

        Basically they often know they’re being absurd, but they don’t care. They use language for power and effect, not truth.

        • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The bullshit asymmetry principle aka Brandolini’s Law which states that debunking bad faith claims is an order of magnitude more difficult than creating the bullshit to begin with is a natural consequence of this behavior, and it’s one the conservatives have used forever. The torrent of absolute bat shit crazy nonsense flooding right wing media is extremely difficult to pull someone out of once they’ve been drawn in. We need to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine

    • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      That’s more fascism than conservatism. But the two terms are used interchangeably enough these days that your statement holds. Modern day American conservatives don’t wish to conserve anything. They wish to promote fascism.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Fascism is just conservatism with the addition of hyper-nationalism and the blaming of minorities for all of society’s problems.

        But the core belief, that some groups are inherently better than others, is exactly the same.

      • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        They’d like to conserve the power imbalance currently in favor of white men and wealthy people.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        Eh, that’s more limited to the vocal minority. Unfortunately, that vocal minority is being supported by the quiet majority.

        There are some reasonable conservatives in Congress that aren’t big Trumpers, but they don’t get the spotlight.

    • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      Trump just moved it to another level.

      He is the In-group and everyone else is the Out-group all depending on how big of a shit he took in his diaper, how sweet the diet coke in his cup is, who the last he spoke to pointed him towards commenting at, and how many uppers he shoved down his throat with his big Mac.