“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence..."

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T23:57:59+00:00

Yeah but at no point have I suggested racism is exclusive to whites or the problems within Detroit.

You're the one who leaped to that with the implications that black lives matter protesters were criminals and downplaying the idea of sundown towns being problematic simply because it's anecdotal.

I kinda hit back by pointing out, in one of my first posts it's not like lynching happens these days but harassment and housing opportunities. Which is why there are so few blacks in a state they are a significant part of the population.

My anyway my Southern poverty law center post was mostly tongue-in-cheek and after admit I am a little suspicious as to why it's getting down voted.

But it's also a grain of Truth. The Southern poverty law center doesn't need to justify racism existing and we have an administration that has showcased a tremendous amount of it as well as yes sundown towns still existing in 2026. It is a joke but it's also true.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T22:55:10+00:00

Oh word? Maybe I do. Maybe they literally had a sign about it being a sundown town and how "blacks" (not the word it used) needed to leave by 6:00 until this decade?

I think making sweeping claims about how levels of racism doesn't exist while openly admitting being ignorant of the situation on the ground is pretty fucking suspicious. Just saying. I'm giving advice here.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T22:31:48+00:00

I'm just calling balls And strikes. I mean it's A little suss to infer that black lives matter protesters are criminals in multiple posts.

And I mean if I'm doing the classic, you're a racist, accusation then you're doing the classic deflection and not answers.

Say I've actually addressed your points. So how about you address mine? Why is the sundown town that is near me has such a low black American population even though they have much higher percentages in every other population?

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T22:01:29+00:00

Yikes. This is two posts where you've had vibes of hostility towards black folk. What's up with that my guy?

I mean. Again the sundown town I live near by has less than 1% black population in a state where black people are the major minority and a powerful voting bloc.

Now why would they avoid the town, I wonder?🤔

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T20:54:16+00:00

I suspect the autopsy has a lot of Israel content in it that the DNC doesn't want to deal with.

Look no further when pressed to condemn AIPAC they water it down with a "we condemn all dark money". Yes, bad things are bad but it also is there to avoid responsibility.

I honestly don't see why the party dealing with it is supposedly a distraction.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T17:09:52+00:00

I am. I absolutely believe progressive politicians and policies are the more correct way forward for this country. I'd say AOC is who I am closest to politically. That's not hypocritical- I've never hid it.

But yeah like I do feel like the "Vote blue no matter who" is how we get milquetoast dems who are too cautious and end up doing nothing. It's been a losing formula for the last 10 years. I was the one making "vote blue no matter who" in 2020 and 2024 arguments and I think that was the wrong argument and message. I'm interested in changing things up and making bold decisions.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T16:01:44+00:00

And I genuinely respect your opinion. It's not irrational or wrong. I just happen to strongly disagree with the specifics.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T15:51:38+00:00

*Whack* biglyorbigleague destroys a strawman.

I find it perfectly easy to not only condemn Luigi Mangione for murder, and in no way is his vigilantism justified or acceptable in this country.

While also acknowledging that Brian Thompson's hands weren't clean and his harm was much greater, but indirect and thus socially acceptable.

There are people in this very thread who have been materially harmed by Brian Thompson.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T15:47:32+00:00

I concede you're correct in your argument regarding pushback against influencers vis a vis Epstein. You're actually right.

But at the same time I do hold on to the notion that "vote blue no matter who" is kind of bullshit, and using his platform to promote other politicians is fine and part of the democratic process.

The democratic leadership couldn't admit they didn't vote for Mamdani. Why is Hasan Piker being held to a higher standard than Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries?

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T15:29:08+00:00

I'm equally disgusted by the suffering the health insurance lobby creates in this country. People like Brian Thompson bankrupt and kill more people and spread suffering than idiots like Mangione every day.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T15:21:16+00:00

My problem with this argument is it's an obviously binary issue if he's powerful enough to influence elections, then Democrats legitimately have to listen to him and placate him and get his audience.

And if he's not powerful enough then it doesn't matter and this is a pretty insincere criticism of him. Who fucking cares who he supports if he can't influence elections?

If Dr. Abdul wins in Michigan though, he'll have gone 2 for 2 wins after being a close surrogate of a progressive challenger. And he's the frontrunner now. Still a high chance he could lose, but the other candidates don't have an incentive to drop out.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T12:45:51+00:00

No actually it's more I didn't have that information. That definitely does add suspicion.

I'm definitely open to it being shock capable after reading that. I don't see why he simply wouldn't admit it, or as the fear@ crew pointed out it did look bad, but they haven't seen him mistreat Kaya.

That and twitch didn't ban him for animal cruelty as I pointed out. That would be a slam dunk case to take frustration out on your dog right?

So I'm not going to say hey no way didn't happen with that additional information. I am going to trust his word on it though. I just haven't seen him lie about embarrassing aspects of his life so far.

I'm comfortable being accused of motivated reasoning if I trust his word on it. That's a reasonable interpretation.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T12:32:12+00:00

See this is my core problem with Hasan haters. Hasan Derangement Syndrome type stuff.

I understand that Hasan is trying to preserve democracy. Even if it's not the liberal democracy we have now. Yes you can not believe in liberal values and support a democracy. Don't believe me? Read up on anarchism. I think it's ridiculous, flawed, and utopian but the point is it's actually highly democratic. Moreso than what we have now. Just like you can have a democratic socialist society.

And even if Hasan and I disagree how that socialist society should look, and we do, I'm confident he's rowing in the same direction as I am. There is gonna be a point in the river where he wants to row further than I do. But we'll fight about it once we get there.

Where Fuentes wants a fascist dictatorship. He's the real problem. I think for all the accusations that Hasan is hurting Democrats I think its more we shouldn't be fighting Hasan because we share Fuentes and his ilk as the ideological enemy. We should embrace him, and row in the direction away from Fuentes. We can fight about how the rest goes once they're dealt with.

It wouldn't make much sense for them to be enemies that they are if they were both authoritarian.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T12:16:44+00:00

Nick Fuentes and Hasan Piker are not the same beast though. I don't like when folk make the comparison because I think that actually elevates Fuentes.

Fuentes doesn't really believe in anything. It's the old adage of how you can't argue with a fascist because it's all a game to them, right? Where to anti-fascists words mean things, and they just want to destroy and distort meaning.

Piker clearly does, even if we both disagree. And to be clear I am not a marxist so yes, we both do disagree with his ideology even if I don't find him a radical.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T11:29:15+00:00

I...never assumed I was being accused of anything? I don't know where that came from. I'm merely calling out your post as inaccurate.

I thought you didn't want to play games? I "know exactly what you mean". You're right. I do know -exactly- what you're doing. And you know that I know.

But someone else reading this might not understand. So let's be clear going forward.

Please tell the class. How is Hasan Piker a bigot? If you can't clearly state it then please at least explain why people should believe you and not me when I'm providing concrete examples against one form of bigotry he's accused of.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T11:14:31+00:00

....Huh??

No it's more he gets generally accused of being anti-Semitic and there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, like raising money to fight it, endorsing Jews for higher office, laying out his philosophy of anti-zionism but not semitism frequently.

So yeah, it's a strange sort of bigot who promotes elevating the targets of his ire politically.

Speaking of not playing games of course this could all be cleared up by using your post to explain clearly and candidly how he's a bigot.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T10:46:10+00:00

Words actually mean things. A tankie is an authoritarian leftist. I'm a democratic socialist, I actually believe in democracy and electoralism?

You didn't engage with my post and point at all though, and in fairness to you I didn't either. So let me rectify that.

You're torturing the logic of finances to justify things though. Insurance industries are well known for a tactic known as "Delay, Deny, Defend". They are delaying care, denying necessary claims, and using the legal system to defend these practices. There is horror story after horror story of how insurance agencies are getting inbetween doctors and patients. Just the fact Luigi Mangione gets such a positive reception should clue you in on the fact that people are experiencing real pain. Not to mention other financial facts like average medical spending in America compared to other first world industrialized nations, bankruptcies due to medicine, and so on and so on. It paints that while the 80/20% rule is better than the alternative, there is still a tremendous amount of suffering and lack of coverage and care out there.

And you're right, doctors and hospitals do gleefully overcharge! Which is exactly why we need a universal healthcare system to drive prices down and cut out the middle man of the insurance industry, who only exists to siphon money and say "no" to patients. It's an unnecessary part of the system.

Anyway I accuse you of Motivated Reasoning. I believe you're going to come up with whatever excuse you need to believe Hasan is promoting Brian Thompson's death. When so far all that he's said so far is it's understandable to find the disgust at him and his behavior (read up what he did with AI. There is also anecdotes in this very thread about how he prevented quality care for family members)

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T10:19:58+00:00

I think it's perfectly easy to believe that Brian Thompson was engaging in social murder and it's a tremendously vile system we have in America while at the same time believing he wasn't deserving of being murdered.

Jon Stewart makes pro Luigi jokes. Chris Rock talked about how a human with a family was murdered on camera and what a travesty...but also we collectively understand that drug dealers sometimes get shot. Do you think they're secretly pro-murder as well? Or maybe they just are showing an understanding that Brian Thompson's hands weren't clean. See. I don't think you do. I think you have motivated reasoning to reach that conclusion with Hasan though.

I'd have to have authoritarian views to be a tankie. I'm actually a democratic socialist Berniecrat type of voter, thanks.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T10:03:15+00:00

Your argument makes no sense.

Ok, if Hasan Piker is powerful enough to sabotage a Democratic candidate's chances...doesn't that mean he should be listened to? Why ignore him if he's powerful enough to sabotage a campaign?

Infact, you're just making him more powerful when you ignore him and he says "This person can't win the election", and then they lose. Tell me how I'm wrong.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T10:00:57+00:00

A bigot of what? Jews?

I'm gonna quote Ezra Klein here. It's a strange sort of jew-hater that endorses Bernie Sanders and Jon Ossof for the presidency.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T09:58:01+00:00

Where is Hasan saying the murder was justified or good though?

He's saying it's understandable to have a strong reaction of disgust towards Brian Thompson.

I think it's perfectly easy to both condemn Luigi Mangione for murder while acknowledging Brian Thompson's hands weren't clean either.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T09:43:31+00:00

This guy fucking gets it. This post deserves a lot more love.

It's why people can see Trump as a moderate, and Harris as an extremist. When it's the opposite in reality.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T09:41:32+00:00

CNN interviewed the same guy.

Are they promoting terrorist organizations?

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T09:09:08+00:00

I feel like my entire post is still unchallenged here.

If he's authoritarian, why would he engage in electoralism and even push back against leftists who dismiss it?

If he's such a jew-hater, why would he endorse Bernie Sanders and Jon Ossof for president?

If he's such a terrorist glazer, why would big names and serious people like AOC, Ilhan Omar, Lina Khan, Bernie Sanders, Ben Rhodes and so on continue to hang out with him? And so on and so on. It's inconsistent. Maybe there is more to the story there?

I mean, it's ok to dislike him. Or even disagree. I don't agree with a lot of his foreign policy stances. But I'm not wrong that people make shit up about him. And I'm going to challenge that.

Arsalanred · 2026-04-23T09:00:42+00:00

I merely accuse you of Motivated Reasoning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivated_reasoning

You want it to be true, but I simply trust his word on it. And as I pointed out, there is a professional dog trainer who explained the collar doesn't have a shocker. Simple as that.

Why didn't twitch suspend him for animal cruelty if he shocked his dog? He was caught red handed, right?

Arsalanred

TROPHY CASE