Would You Bend To Rising Extremism?

Eldritch

Eldritch

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This is a hypothetical question I've been pondering lately

Say a wave of some extremist political philosophy has taken your country by storm. Suddenly, most people you know have adopted these new ideals. Would you become a communist/fascist/anarchist if everyone else was doing it and support a new regime, or would you stay neutral/resist it, risking persecution? Would you resist some and support others?
 
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It depends on the type of extremism. If by supporting it I would be able to maintain relative autonomy being able to still own capital and do everything that I would want to do as long as I support it (I don't care whether I am prohibited from things I would never want to do anyways). If I was unable to do what I wish either due to government regulations (Trump's trade restrictions, SJWs banning marriage) or due to actively seizing property (Communists nationalizing capital, government nationalizing children) then I would try to escape or resist.

I would resist purely for the practical purpose of getting rid of the regime rather than for moral purposes so I would only take part in a resistance when I was pretty sure that I would be able to get the regime away and I would just run if it seemed completely hopeless (75% chance of victory for myself and under 25% chance I die). If the regime was somewhat politically similar to me I might try to become a critic on my own side and hope to convince the regime to be more like what I want it to be as Julius Evola was to fascist italy.
 
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I would integrate with the goal of undermining whatever the predominate thinking is. Just because you act like a XYZ doesn't mean you are one, and you are in a much better position to destroy said ideology by participating in it.

If it was unbearable, I'd probably escape the country, go to sweden, and apply for political asylum or something :lol:
 
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Eldritch said:
This is a hypothetical question I've been pondering lately

Say a wave of some extremist political philosophy has taken your country by storm. Suddenly, most people you know have adopted these new ideals. Would you become a communist/fascist/anarchist if everyone else was doing it and support a new regime, or would you stay neutral/resist it, risking persecution? Would you resist some and support others?
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Depends whether I agreed with it, although I am less likely to agree with extremism than I ever have been in the past. Also what's it actually doing? Just being annoying? Rounding up an ethnic group to exterminate them? Starting a war? Is it going to be permanent or is it a passing fad?

It'd have a lot to do also with my own quality of life and how much I had invested in society at large.

For instance, if I found out I had terminal cancer or some shit as it was getting started I might be more inclined to do something extreme in response. Similarly, I'd be more inclined to be "brave" in opposing it if my own quality of life were shit, for instance, if the extremist regime essentially made life not worth living.

Considering the constitutional order in the U.S. (and I am assuming this is happening here), it's very unlikely even a wave of extremism would overturn that order in any brief period of time. We have had waves of extremism in the past that have come and gone, leaving the established, underlying order more or less intact.

So given our historical context, I might just keep my head down for a bit and watch it go the way of the Know-Nothings.
 
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If i agreed with it or i lost more opposing it than i did going with the flow, then yeah, i'd bend
 
Eldritch said:
support a new regime, or would you stay neutral/resist it, risking persecution?
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This is the most interesting part of your question, in my opinion, and the hardest one to answer honestly. In the face of a massive tidal wave of radicalization and support for a regime you disagree with, even the worst type you could imagine, a Hitler type scenario, knowing that any show of resistance you could make would probably amount to jack shit, would you resist anyway?

Or would you hope your gut instinct is wrong, or that someone else will stand up, or that it couldn't possibly happen in reality? Or would you just be too afraid to do anything yourself?

I can't say that I know, myself, even though I like to think that I'd resist, I know I'm a lazy chickenshit a good chunk of the time, so I can't be sure. Realistically, I'd probably do like most others do and think (pray) someone else will sort it out or that it will fall apart on its own, lull myself into inaction. That's scary.

If you're really interested in this question (OP or anybody else), I highly recommend "The Power of the Powerless" by Vaclav Havel (link to pdf here). It's an essay by one of the leaders of the Czech resistance to Soviet power, a key figure in the Prague Spring, and later the first president of the Czech Republic. Very well written, very powerful; I couldn't put it down the first time I read it, and it's not as thick or difficult to get through as most political theory writing can be.
 
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If you want this thread to be realistic, make it so 999 replies out of 1000 actually read 'Well, I would just ago along with it' with the 1 reply that goes 'I'd actually try & change things (but most likely end up dead/have to flee)' if you want it to reflect what would actually happen, and not what people wish they'd actually do.

From the comfort of America it's really easy to say 'Oh man I'd join the resistance' but when the jackbooted thug can actually put a gun to your head for saying the wrong thing, people fall in line really fucking quickly.
 
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Internet War Criminal said:
If you want this thread to be realistic, make it so 999 replies out of 1000 actually read 'Well, I would just ago along with it' with the 1 that goes 'I'd actually try & change things (but most likely end up dead/have to flee)' if you want it to reflect what would actually happen, and not what people wish they'd actually do.
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Totally. Being a freedom fighter is easiest thing in the world when you're actually free.

As someone born in the last stretch of a thirty six year long civil war, including more than twenty years of military dictatorships backed by the Land of the Free, I can assure you 90% of the people don't have what it takes to stand against any form of extremism once it is in power. People just learn to roll with the punches.

A handful of college students suddenly dissapear? A shame. A political dissident is assassinated? He should've known better. A complete village is burned to the ground? Well, that's too bad.

Usually people can only pretend they're brave and moral and revolutionary and all that shit when it's painfully obvious the regime is collapsing under its own weight, and it's no uncommon for them to wait until the dust settles.
 
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Sperglord Dante said:
Usually people can only pretend they're brave and moral and revolutionary and all that shit when it's painfully obvious the regime is collapsing nbder its own weight, and it's no uncommon for them to wait until the dust settles.
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But every single Frenchman was a member of the Resistance. At least after the war was over.
 
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To be plainly honest, I feel like I have the type of right and left wing mix that I could go with the flow of most regimes, as long as they weren't after me.
I'm patriotic and white enough to live with fascists/nazis, (although it would most likely mean going in the closet for me)
socialist and collectivist enough to be fine with reds and anarchists.
(although these all have to be non-hipster type extremists who know what they're talking about)

However, I'm not selfish enough to be objectivist or SJW-school leftist. For the prior I'd defect, for the latter I'd probably openly resist, since they'd probably be too weak and sensitive to do shit about it.

In summary, if it's got people working together and society isn't a smoldering wreck, I'd at least tolerate it.
 
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I'm a free speech fundamentalist. That's the only extremism I support. Imagine the history books.

"When they called the SJWs crybabies I didn't speak up because I wasn't a SJW. When they called the Single Mothers parasites I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Single Mother. When they called the Tranpeople trannies I didn't speak up because I wasn't a transperson. And then they come for me and I cried as they called me Faggot" -Mx. Amethyst Muhammad Sparkle.

I have no clue what other type of extremism is coming to my region.
 
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Yes. I just want to live a simple life, I'm no revolutionary or deep thinker tbh.
 
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