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@kctipton well much like the far-right it is hard to distinguish which statements originate from the russians/china themselves. The only clue we have is the friendliness of the far-right/left, and the general consistency in talking points, often expressed in ways that are self-defeating or meant to be divisive.
depends on the country you are talking about. In the USA a huge portion of the left is "far-left" and radicalized in all sorts of ways (just as the USA has a huge far-right problem)... Thankfully in much (not all) of the rest of the world you'd be right, there isnt much of a far-left or far-right in say, the Netherlands. The prevelance of the far-left seems limited to the USA, but for anyone not on the extremes of the spectrum they are a very obvious and pervasive group for sure.
In fact the USA is so polarized they tend to exist on the extremes of almost any issue, even non-political ones.
@andytiedye @freemo @kctipton Freemo may not want to give out examples, but I'll wade into that muck. I'm a left-leaning-centrist with libertarian tendencies, so most of what I define as "far left" are good ideas at their core, but taken to the extreme.
A good example is gun control. Most Americans (including most gun owners) are in favor of reasonable gun control. The far left takes this to the extreme, though, and advocates outright banning of guns, usually based on arbitrary factors like what shape or color they are.
A second, quick example would be the whole "forgive student loans" thing. That was entirely driven by the far left in this country.
Another example is environmentally friendly cars. Most people are for electric vehicle subsidies, and improving charger infrastructure... to an extent. But California's attempt to ban non-electric vehicles (while its grid still runs more than 50% on natural gas, and the state faces widespread power shortages!) is endemic of far-left thinking, putting the cart before the horse.
Finally, you have free speech. Both the far left and the far right threaten free speech, but from opposite directions. The far right wants to ban books about homosexuality, while the far left wants the state to punish "disinformation" and charge Trump with incitement over nonsense (a lefty account I saw recently suggested he should be indicted for using the word "fight" on Truth Social, despite the fact that Dems use that term to refer to 'electoral fights' just as often).
So, yeah, I have to agree with Freemo that it's one of those things where, if you can't see it, it might be because you're in the middle of it.
@freemo @LouisIngenthron @kctipton @freemo @andytiedye hold on.. you’re all over the place; lot to unpack; this should really be dozen separate threads. W.r.t guns, dems (that means USian liberals not EU liberals) advocate gun *control* not gun *prohibition*. You’ve subcategorized prohibition under “gun control” & it distorts & muddies the water. It attempts to use a fraction of 1% extreme minority as reps for mainstream dems.
@andytiedye @kctipton @LouisIngenthron @freemo One thing that puts me off buying a gun is that every single gun sold in the US comes from an #NRA supporting entity. There is no way for liberals to buy a gun w/out feeding the NRA. Even if you want a Bereta from Italy, their US-based import company finances the NRA.
@koherecoWatchdog @andytiedye @kctipton @freemo Right. Ironically, you'd need to go to a state with a gun show loophole to buy from a private seller.
I think his issue isnt just that the gun shops themselves support the NRA, but also that the gun manufacturers support the NRA.
He could custom-build though. You can buy the parts from third-parties and assemble yourself. Lots of gun people do that.
@LouisIngenthron @kctipton @andytiedye @freemo I think it wouldn’t be too hard to find an nra-detached reseller. But every single maker has ties.
@koherecoWatchdog @kctipton @andytiedye @freemo Lol, good luck. I've never seen one.
But, yeah, of course the mfrs do. The NRA is specifically the lobbying group for the manufacturing industry (not for owners like most people think). To find one without ties would be like finding a real estate agent who's not a member of the National Association of Realtors.
@freemo @kctipton @andytiedye @LouisIngenthron I recall a police dept having a gun buyback program. They were giving like $200 per shotgun. So a guy bought some pipes & built 3 handmade shotguns, brought them down to the police station and sold the lot for $600. It complied w/the terms of the program so they had to accept them.
@koherecoWatchdog @freemo @kctipton @andytiedye Lol, that's pretty smart.
Next time there is a police buyback program that offers 200$ per gun ill set up a little shop next door that says "We buy guns, 250$ per gun!"
@freemo @koherecoWatchdog @kctipton @andytiedye Have you seen the crap that ends up in police buyback programs? You'd lose sooooo much money.
@freemo @koherecoWatchdog @andytiedye @kctipton Probably both. The NRA got its stranglehold on the industry by offering insurance to gun shops and ranges when nobody else would. Now it's nearly impossible to find any gun-related-business in America that doesn't have ties to the NRA.