jason1637 said:
RingoGaSuki said:
I feel this is NZ's Port Arthur moment, hopefully the safeguards are put in place to ensure this never happens again. I have faith in Ardern to put something solid in place.
Nobody needs access to those weapons. NZ police have been pursuing action on this for years, it sucks that this had to happen to spark progress on this issue.
International society needs to take this opportunity to think about tightening controls on fascists and removing their platforms altogether. Fascism is a thought virus. They aren't interested in genuine debate, they don't respect democracy, they don't believe in compromise. Instead they have an absolute goal, and they will use any tools at their disposal to achieve that goal.
They pretend to want to take place in the marketplace of ideas, but they never argue in good faith. They're not trying to convince the logical mind. Each appearance, each interaction, is an opportunity to spread the virus. To find another person who can be seduced by their rhetoric, can become another vector of infection.
It's a self replicating weakness in the human brain. It happens again and again throughout history. Fascism pops up, spreads throughout a society, reaches critical mass, then horrors happen.
Debating them doesn't work, letting them go about their business doesn't work. It's not about free speech and it's not about tolerance. It's about recognising that fascism is a flaw in the brain, a critical weakness in human psychology, that must be guarded against like any other infectious disease. Every converted person is one step closer to critical mass.
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Guns are still very important for people to use to protect themselves when their government becomes oppressive.
As for facism I'm not sure how you can really combat it without taking away the rights of regular citizens. Countries can teach about the negative affects of it more I guess.
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They aren't necessary at all in any western country, especially New Zealand and Australia. If they were, the situation would already be beyond the point where they would be useful. The whole idea of a democracy is to balance each other's views without violence, guns have no role in debate. Regardless of what conspiracy theory shit is put out there, the government is not out to get you in the vast majority of cases, and again, if it were, a gun isn't going to protect you. Their only justifiable role in modern society is in pest control or sport. That's it.
Regular citizens aren't affected by terrorists, terrorist sympathisers and instigators having their platform removed. There is literally zero negative effect on society from doing so.
