I appreciate the counter-argument, it’s not wrong in a pluralistic, we-can-both-hold-equally-valid-but-incommensurable-values sense. But I think insisting on that flag is picking a harder battle for no reason.
I think the problem with the optics - and of course, by this I mean, the problem with fascist-accelerating interpretations and not swing voters or Jeb’s feelings - is that the Mexican flag became a proxy for the movement flag. If it was a variety of flags + the American flag, that would convey a message that couldn’t be misused. But when Fox News can plaster a bunch of Mexican flag images on their immigrant-protest-panic news stories, it gives Trump cover to send in the federal military here, which - once established as precedent, as Stephen Miller knows - will now become the accepted norm for future protests, and then for future opposition purges, and then for a future normalized authoritarian state.
And while I get the “don’t cater to racists” principle, we need to think about strategic consequences - if we give the fascists ammunition, they will not hesitate to use it to kill us. In this way the protestors are not seriously thinking about this as the war that it is, as much as their passions and hearts are in the right place - they are doing things that feel good but may harm their cause. It’s, again, counter-productive.
My advocacy (didn’t intend for it to be, but it has turned out that way) to flying the American flag is that it doesn’t give the fascists ammunition that will be used against us. That should not only be a valid concern, but an overriding one to win the war.
I appreciate the counter-argument, it’s not wrong in a pluralistic, we-can-both-hold-equally-valid-but-incommensurable-values sense. But I think insisting on that flag is picking a harder battle for no reason.
I think the problem with the optics - and of course, by this I mean, the problem with fascist-accelerating interpretations and not swing voters or Jeb’s feelings - is that the Mexican flag became a proxy for the movement flag. If it was a variety of flags + the American flag, that would convey a message that couldn’t be misused. But when Fox News can plaster a bunch of Mexican flag images on their immigrant-protest-panic news stories, it gives Trump cover to send in the federal military here, which - once established as precedent, as Stephen Miller knows - will now become the accepted norm for future protests, and then for future opposition purges, and then for a future normalized authoritarian state.
And while I get the “don’t cater to racists” principle, we need to think about strategic consequences - if we give the fascists ammunition, they will not hesitate to use it to kill us. In this way the protestors are not seriously thinking about this as the war that it is, as much as their passions and hearts are in the right place - they are doing things that feel good but may harm their cause. It’s, again, counter-productive.
My advocacy (didn’t intend for it to be, but it has turned out that way) to flying the American flag is that it doesn’t give the fascists ammunition that will be used against us. That should not only be a valid concern, but an overriding one to win the war.
This is exactly what I was arguing against:
they will shoot you no matter what with
Remind yourself of every baseless lie the fascists have spread lately.
Why do you think that the Mexican flag is what is tipping anything over right now?
Remember immigrant caravans? With pictures blasted all over the Fox news?
There was a photo yesterday on Lemmy of a fallen over trash can with 50 photographers taking picture.
Reality doesn’t stop fascists, and those very minor details aren’t what’s making us lose the battle.
It’s not standing up for our principles.
Freedom, equity, tolerance, and punching fascists right into their face.
You stop doing any of that, and you will lose. No matter how ‘good’ your ‘optics’ are.