How I Defeated Fascism With the Power of Love

"When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town, and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."

Start with self-love friends, and then extend that love to the people closest to you.

While there's some truth to that, I want to see self-love stop a fascist pogrom.
- Also this whole "love yourself first" is nothing but another divisive distraction - keep people individualised rather than coming together as a community, and also perpetuate the idea that our problems are personal rather than systemic.
  I don't love myself, don't think I ever have, don't think I ever will, yet I don't see how that would or should stop me from fighting fascism.
  If anything, I'm able to recognise that in large part, if not entirely, my feelings come down to the world we live in and how, as an "other" in many categories, my life is seen as both worthless and also somehow such a thereat that, in both cases, it needs to be destroyed, and the idea that I shouldn't act until I manage to "get over" all of that (and potentially get comfortable enough, or at least accept, the status quo), is beyond ridiculous. In reality it's the exact opposite - I must act if there is any hope for others to have a world where they don't feel like I and so many others are made to, because not loving myself has no bearing on my wanting good for others (and no, they don't have to be "loved ones", I don't even have to know them, that's the point of wanting a better society for everyone).
- Insisting that the first step must solve all your problems at once is how you fail to take a single step towards solving your problems.
- Enough masturbation could solve that
- Can't choke fascists if you're in bed depressed.
"When I was a young man, I decided to focus on myself. So did everyone else my age. We became known as the 'Me' generation. For some reason, the sum of all our individualistic self-help didn't change the world for the better. A bunch of people who didn't give up several times did change the world though, go figure."
What the fuck does self love have to do with political violence.
- Political violence comes from the desire to change the world, but caring for yourself and others close to you will bring a more effective and worthwhile change than violence.

Relevant Owlturd/Shencomix comic

I was 19 when I realized my parents were raised to be authoritarians. My grandparents would've been considered racists even in their time and both my mom and dad were raised in a little farm town. My parents are good people and generally want to do the right thing but explaining this to them and trying to make them aware of their biases has been a full time job.

I will not show the same love and respect to your parents. Go do your jobs so we don't need step 2.

-Luigi

Nah, you need to realize your loved ones, and everything else you love is in danger by fascism, then use the power of love towards those things to gain inspiration in your fight against fascism.

If you ask: "gamergate" and similar things are just temporary things, usually just distractions from how capitalism decays art and "geek culture", and of course a recruitment tool. But in reality, you would be lucky, if you could play some state-sponsored games on your choice of platform, and would likely have to parttake in some "book burning type of event".

q aint anywhere near c bro, how'd you do that
- There never was a typo in Ba Sing Fe!

I dunno though... The power of love is a curious thing.

I've heard that it can cause some men to weep and others to sing.

this is a great post. i think people have trouble understanding that great acts of violence can be born out of love for humanity. there are people in society that are threats to humanity. those people cannot be saved by love. many powerful positions are only achievable by people who lack empathy.

many people also have a hard time understanding that goose and gander arguments only confuse simple truths. we are not all equal. just because you use the same tools that evil uses does not make you evil. evil will use those tools regardless of your morals. just because you choose the high road doesn't mean that evil will do the same.

we have an obligation as wardens of this world to insure that we don't destroy it. that might mean weeding out those of us that would do irreparable harm.

I'm a combat vet and like some others realize it was for a bunch of bullshit. I'm pretty leftist and personally am pretty anti violence because of my experiences.
That being said, some systems and people only speak one language. Trying to talk to them in "human respect" and "compromise" is like trying to talk to a Frenchman in Chinese - if the options are violence or getting steamrolled then it is what it is. 🤷

As everyone who's ever read 8-Bit Theater knows, love is in fact the most powerful force in the universe when focused into a coherent arcane energy beam of absolute magical destruction.

I'm fairly anti-violence but I know it's inevitable.

The world has a lot of social issues, and it's going to take a complete upheaval before people become capable of empathizing with each other again.

The thing is it's actually not inevitable. I suggest you read "How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them," which is about exactly what it says it's about.
- I'm not necessarily thinking about just civil wars, although that is what the meme is about.
  People are divided in more ways than just political view points. There's a growing inequality that could potentially lead to a revolution of sorts, if people are willing. I can think of a handful of other issues that might lead to similar outcomes.
  I appreciate the recommendation though, I'll try to give it a read at some point.

Peace is never an option with fascism

What a twist! Really had me on the edge of my seat!

Seems like the next logical step though

Some men, you just can't reach

This nonviolent stuff'll get you killed.

It's important for two reasons
First to build support and legimize a cause. if politicians actually listen then the violence would not have been justified yet Exemplified by schools that divested from israel without calling in the cops first.
Second it is the only way a movement can grow mainstream before turning to violence.The Black Panthers got so many members because MLK did his non violent thing for years.

Does it count as love if I love violence? 🤔

Super based.

Source: Luigi

Ay yo how the fuck was this written "by Luigi" and posted 7 months ago? Not to mention the title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuzGrT2gzq4

When you want to paint left-leaning people as violent, tell them they have no choice.

Yes. But General Strike. But Yes

A general strike will almost certainly be met with violence. So comrades need to plan their reaction in advance. This could be taking the punches, or not....
- I do agree, but in case of violence, I'd rather have the control of food, logistics, communication and ammunition by our side. That's a "lesser violence" plan

Based

Based.

mario got luigi acting up i guess.

Incredible violence is just a kind of love, you know? Violence is predicated on a kind of love. You must become intimately familiar with your opponent, with their movements, their mind, in order to do effective violence, to cause effective destruction. Violence is an intimate act, it requires a kind of love, begets a kind of love. Sort of the idea of, the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. Hate and love are just two lenses through which the same core compulsion is viewed, and violence is just another kind of outlet for that compulsion.

You must become intimately familiar with your opponent, with their movements, their mind, in order to do effective violence, to cause effective destruction.
Or you could be completely indifferent and drone strike them from your office.
- I mean you don't think that the people who do the drone strikes have just outsourced that process to a series of bureaucratic apparatuses? The man who pulls the trigger is the last step in that process, before that, they have people dedicated to watching and selecting targets.

You know that old saying, violence is always the answer. /s

If history is our guide, when fascism is the question, violence is always the answer. Never in history has unchecked conservatism been defeated by pacifism.
- Nonviolent protests are an appeal to humanity or a threat of violence. If your opponent refuses to have humanity and you’re unwilling to escalate to violence it will not work.
- February Revolution doesn't count?
- The tankiest
Violence might not always be the correct answer, but it is an answer.
Look, man, if you're up against someone who is, when it comes down to it, willing to use violence, and you aren't... if the issue is serious enough that no other resolution presents itself as an acceptable compromise, the one willing to use violence is gonna win over the one who isn't.
Violence is a hard and dangerous task to undertake, with uncertain prospects, especially in the context of societal action. But without the ability to resort to it in times of crisis, no rights are secure.

Vote for Biden: 15,000 dead children by his aid.

The founding fathers of this country would be disgusted with your apathy.

The founding fathers would be applauding, lol. They were slave owning Capitalists.
Fuck those chumps, this country isn't their problem any more
The only way this country stops sucking so bad is if lefties get very serious in a big way

By the time it comes to violence, you've already lost the game.

Take a look at budget market Buddha over here...
Bilbo getting senselessly beaten by goblins: "You know I could fight back, but that's just adding more violence."
Yup, the allies totally lost WW2. If only they showed Hitler love instead surely he would have stopped with the genocide.
- Why not read a book for a change.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economic_Consequences_of_the_Peace

This reminds me of the story from some time back about a family calling emergency services because their disabled kid has a meltdown and was being violent. Cops showed up, kid went after one of them with a gardening tool, so the other one shot him.

I think it can be used as an example of why jumping from chapter 1 to chapter 2 isn't all that helpful.

counterpoint: a disabled child is not a fascist
- Also counterpoint: cops are not antifascist so the OP just made a completely irrelevant comment.
- I need to upvote this like a million more times... Jfc.. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️
- But how do you know if a fascist isn't a disabled child?
No that's an example of ACAB. The cops are the fascists
- I disagree. I can only see it as an application of chapter 2. Only that they skipped chapter 1. And usually, the grunts aren't really recruited for their ability to read books.