“Being really well dressed and using style to win people over is in the fascist playbook as well. Therefore drag queens are fascist.”
That’s you. That’s you right now.

There’s also the fact that they are too explosive to conform to flight safety standards.

I wish more people realised this. Well said comrade.

Thanks for saying so, I’m glad that the message came across.

The thing is you don’t align with the far right. At least I hope you don’t anyway. The far right either hate trans people, or they do not give a shit about them either way. They are using trans people as a political football to sow exactly this type of division. Yes, trans people in sport is an unresolved problem. No, I do not want the right wing to be the ones to resolve it. If you align superficially, you still don’t want to cede to them. Bear in mind “align” only goes as far as saying “we can agree about this one sentence”, not this whole issue.
Godwin’s law is fucked these days so let’s just use the third Reich as an analogy. You may agree that Germany has a legitimate territorial claim on Alsace-Lorraine. Does that mean you should let the Nazis take it? No, you fight them and then resolve it when someone more reasonable is asking. The reasons why should be obvious, and so should the analogy. It’s not about whether the extremely superficial claim is “correct”, it’s about why they are saying it and what they plan to do if they get enough people to agree with them.
In this case, where the war is one of ideas, you’re not a bigot if you agree in a very superficial way, but it’s completely redundant to be talking about trans women in sport when all trans people are being stripped of their rights and it looks like things are getting worse. A year ago we were hoping (again) for the first female president; long overdue. That’s not an issue anymore, as women are now being erased from history.

No.
If you fall back in front of the far right they will take that ground and demand more, as they always have done, and as they always will do. It’s how they win, it’s how they are winning, on trans rights, on immigration, on racial supremacy. Do not give them an inch. It’s not “all or nothing” it’s “give the bigots nothing”.

100%
The difference is I would leave the door open for them to come back to reason, maybe even give them the benefit of the doubt. But the people purposely manipulating then are, I think, beyond forgiveness.

You’re 100% entitled (and right) to feel that way. But there are a lot of lies these people have been fed, often from birth, about for example white supremacy etc. that only education can really erase. Education is withheld by the same liars that profit from the hatred they whip up.
Now I’m not advocating for the softly, softly approach with them, I’m all for punching Nazis, and it’s ultimately up to the individual what to believe. But these drones aren’t the right target, it’s the monsters that made them that way and hide behind them, the people in power advocating for e.g. religion and ethnonationalism to increase their power and profits. They are the root cause. And their first victims are these ignorant sheep forming a human shield around them. If I were to explain how much contempt I have for those people this would be a massive text wall that probably breaks Lemmy TOS.

James O’Brien isn’t my favourite talking head, but I do like his idea of having contempt for the conmen and compassion for the conned. These people have swallowed a lot of big lies and the fault is with the liars.

And you think by proving that technicality you’ll somehow win the argument and be correct about the rest? Give me a break.
Ok, your alliance’s border, then. Or the western world’s border. Or “the furthest east you can impose another fucking airstrip”. Whatever you prefer. Point still stands.

Your funds are being used so that Ukrainian soldiers can risk their lives defending your border with your biggest enemy.

You’re right, except it’s the only game, not the endgame. Since neoliberalism became consensus, public assets have been sold off and paid for again by the public, but privately. We bought the roads, railways, waterways, weather stations etc with our taxes, they were sold, and we didn’t see a penny of the profits, and then we have to buy them again with our wages. The endgame is where there’s nothing left to sell off, no more exponential growth to be had, that’s when it all collapses. Greed, it seems, allows you to see past the fact that this collapse is inevitable.

I’m autistic, so it’s hard for me to map those cartoons onto a real face. They all kind of look like captain Barnacle to me to be honest. It’s probably better if I don’t know, I suppose.
Bottom line though is of course that nobody should be judged on their appearance because that’s blatantly stupid. Further, I think, when you break it down, judging someone because their appearance conforms loosely to your idea of the appearance of a population which is most concentrated in a country whose government’s military is committing atrocities against a country whose population’s appearance conforms to one to which you think you belong… is beyond stupidity and can be nothing short of outright malicious. Fuck that you have to deal with that. Especially since you’ve been outspoken in your opposition to the crimes of that government.

I’ve only ever found Muslims to be at worst civil and at best excellent friends. And I used to live in Luton (highest proportion of Muslim population in the UK). I’m not Jewish though.

Weird question - I’ve never been able to say for sure if someone is Jewish by looking at them (unless they’re wearing a yarmulke or Hasidic getup). I remember someone at work telling me to go talk to Mark, he’s the ‘obviously Jewish guy’, and having zero idea who that was. Even when he was pointed out to me I couldn’t see what was different from him and any other dark-haired European. Is this a me problem or are people just projecting patterns?

Don’t be daft lad, you’re one of us now!
Anyone putting up with this fucking weather is.
2 rules:

1. Don’t be a cunt.
2. See rule 1.

Anyone othering you is in breach of rule 1 and will be tutted at furiously

“Antisemitic rhetoric” should be in quotes too, if you were going for sarcasm. I hope you were going for sarcasm

“Please, just reject the evidence of your eyes and ears, it’s no biggie”

I hope (desperately) that you’re right. There’s always hope.

I think this legitimisation of them will only make them stronger. Growing up in the UK, the far right was so inconsequential it might not have existed. Small pockets of nutters who were ridiculed any time they tried to organise, nothing more. Now they’re a serious problem, they’re recruiting young men by the ton, and they’re coming in second n elections everywhere. These views are becoming mainstream, you hear them on the street and in the pub. They aren’t a majority yet, but their rise has been mercurial to say the last. If the trend continues we will have a white nationalist in power by the end of this decade. And I’m not seeing any signs of delay. Interesting times 😔

Yes, you won’t get another iteration of the Nazi party directly. Like there won’t be swastikas and eagles and Jew-hatred. But you could absolutely get fascism. Germany supported the genocide in Israel, which is apparently a-ok because it’s not Jews who are suffering. As long as you have an Other to hate and fear, and enough uneducated/brainwashed people to rally behind you, you can fash it up. Chaplin moustache notwithstanding.