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.
Sartre’s bit about how fascists want to be anything but a man, also cleanly maps onto ICE traffickers.
JEAN PAUL SARTE
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 antisemites 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 the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him.
[The anti-Semite attributes] all or part of his own misfortunes and those of his country to the presence of Jewish elements in the community, … proposes to remedy this state of affairs by depriving the Jews of certain of their rights, by keeping them out of certain economic and social activities, by expelling them from the country, by exterminating all of them …
It is not unusual for people to elect to live a life of passion rather than of reason. But ordinarily they love the objects of passion: women, glory, power, money. Since the anti-Semite has chosen hate, we are forced to conclude that it is the state of passion that he loves.
[The anti-Semite] fears every kind of solitariness… however small his stature, he takes every precaution to make it smaller, lest he stand out from the herd and find himself face to face with himself. He has made himself an anti-Semite because that is something one cannot be alone.
[The anti-Semite is afraid] of himself, of his own consciousness, of his own liberty, of his instincts, of his responsibilities, of solitariness, of change, of society, and the world – of everything except the Jews. [He is] a coward who does not want to admit his cowardice to himself.
Anti-Semitism, in short, is fear of the human condition. The anti-Semite is a man who wishes to be a pitiless stone, a furious torrent, a devastating thunderbolt – anything except a man.
The dissonance between supporting the fascist regime in Moscow and waving a Soviet flag is mind boggling. If Lenin could see what his purported followers are pushing, you could probably harness his interred rotational speed to supply most of Europe with energy.
Fuck nazis. And other fascists incarnations. Like Russia, Zionism, and whatever is happening in the US right now. Fuck Ukrainian nazis too. But the existence of nazi groups in Ukraine does not justify the Russian invasions, even if Russian propagandists keep pushing that narrative.
I look forward to Ukraine expelling the invaders, rooting out the rot, and joining the EU.
Excuse me? Where did I ever support Moscow? The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a bourgeois endeavour lmao. I hope the working class of both countries revolt and overthrow their governments. Being a liberal must be so confusing…
In theory, that’d be a positive turn of events, but I don’t see any reason why the outcome would be different from the dictatorships of China, North Korea, or the USSR, human nature being what it is. Maybe I’m too cynical.
In the meantime I’ll support Ukraine against the invaders, since I see living in a liberal democracy as a better condition than being ruled by Moscow.
Also: the world is confusing. If you’re not confused (the general you, not you in particular), and certain of everything, chances are you are not being completely honest with yourself.
Excerpt from Sartre.
Originally about anti-semites, fits fascists too. For some reason I thought about this when reading your comment chain.
Sartre’s bit about how fascists want to be anything but a man, also cleanly maps onto ICE traffickers.
JEAN PAUL SARTE
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 antisemites 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 the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him.
[The anti-Semite attributes] all or part of his own misfortunes and those of his country to the presence of Jewish elements in the community, … proposes to remedy this state of affairs by depriving the Jews of certain of their rights, by keeping them out of certain economic and social activities, by expelling them from the country, by exterminating all of them …
It is not unusual for people to elect to live a life of passion rather than of reason. But ordinarily they love the objects of passion: women, glory, power, money. Since the anti-Semite has chosen hate, we are forced to conclude that it is the state of passion that he loves.
[The anti-Semite] fears every kind of solitariness… however small his stature, he takes every precaution to make it smaller, lest he stand out from the herd and find himself face to face with himself. He has made himself an anti-Semite because that is something one cannot be alone.
[The anti-Semite is afraid] of himself, of his own consciousness, of his own liberty, of his instincts, of his responsibilities, of solitariness, of change, of society, and the world – of everything except the Jews. [He is] a coward who does not want to admit his cowardice to himself.
Anti-Semitism, in short, is fear of the human condition. The anti-Semite is a man who wishes to be a pitiless stone, a furious torrent, a devastating thunderbolt – anything except a man.
Removed by mod
The dissonance between supporting the fascist regime in Moscow and waving a Soviet flag is mind boggling. If Lenin could see what his purported followers are pushing, you could probably harness his interred rotational speed to supply most of Europe with energy.
Fuck nazis. And other fascists incarnations. Like Russia, Zionism, and whatever is happening in the US right now. Fuck Ukrainian nazis too. But the existence of nazi groups in Ukraine does not justify the Russian invasions, even if Russian propagandists keep pushing that narrative.
I look forward to Ukraine expelling the invaders, rooting out the rot, and joining the EU.
Excuse me? Where did I ever support Moscow? The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a bourgeois endeavour lmao. I hope the working class of both countries revolt and overthrow their governments. Being a liberal must be so confusing…
In theory, that’d be a positive turn of events, but I don’t see any reason why the outcome would be different from the dictatorships of China, North Korea, or the USSR, human nature being what it is. Maybe I’m too cynical.
In the meantime I’ll support Ukraine against the invaders, since I see living in a liberal democracy as a better condition than being ruled by Moscow.
Also: the world is confusing. If you’re not confused (the general you, not you in particular), and certain of everything, chances are you are not being completely honest with yourself.
Removed by mod