More like…

The lever can reduce the speed of the trolley depending on which way you turn it, but regardless the trolley will gradually accelerate either way.

yes, but everyone already knew they had such attitudes.

well no, obviously not. They’re privately mocking people.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. For these particular people, since they’re my political opponents, I am glad that we can pounce on this slip-up that they made and get them cancelled. I just don’t think there’s anything objectively wrong with making politically incorrect jokes, and it’d be a double standard for me to think it’d permissible only if they were politicians I liked.

Of course, in 2025, we don’t really have the luxury of trying to apply a consistent standard to our opponents. These days it seems like we have to take what we can get when it comes to political warfare. (/genuine, in case there was doubt.)

BTW, stop it with the all-caps or I’ll block you.

I don’t think it’s possible, within the context of a private chat, to take any particular string of words and declare them verboten. What matters is the context and meaning. If it’s ironic or sarcastic? I don’t really find it especially problematic personally.

My larger concern is more with the gradual erosion of irony which happens in some groups. I think this happens more on public forums and in large groups, say 4chan, than in private chats, but I don’t have access to large numbers of private chats, so I can’t know.

Even a joke about murdering people in a gas chamber can be funny in the right context. Arrested Development had jokes about this, and it aired on prime tv and got extremely high ratings. What’s not funny is, ado of nothing, “let’s just murder x demographic in a gas chamber.” That’s not really a joke at all.

tbh I don’t especially care if people want to make politically incorrect jokes in their private chats. Obviously, not wise for a politician to do so. But my friends and I have made politically incorrect jokes in private that obviously don’t reflect our actual beliefs. For instance, I am queer, and I make queer jokes all the fucking time for example, but never with strangers.

I was saying that if the left is broadly condoning the murder, then it might as well be the party that murdered Kirk.

This seems unrelated to what I was saying. You’re talking about what one should expect. Of course I expect political violence.

I’m not claiming that.

Does it even matter that/if this guy wasn’t a leftist? The left has been celebrating and condoning the murder – isn’t that what actually counts? (I say this as someone who’s mostly leftist, slightly liberal.)

Edit: to be clear, I’m not saying that condoning violence and committing violence are morally equal. I’m saying: we can’t simultaneously celebrate and condone the murder and also act like we have the high ground for for not being the party of political violence. That’s having the cake and eating it too.

I’m sure OOP works for big AI. /s

You sound like the people in my chemistry class who say things like “don’t describe subatomic particles as happy when they’re in low-energy states.”

I like jews. Free palestine.

Cute but this wouldn’t work for this obvious reason – conservatives would be like, “sure buddy. If you say so.”

OTOH, we made the rainbow work so… I guess?

God’s rainbow has 7 colors (ROY G BIV), the LGBT rainbow has 6. Guy doesn’t even know rainbows.

Well that’s why I said “instead we have, uh…” and a frowny face. It was sarcasm, but I guess it didn’t come through.

I still don’t get it. Who doesn’t have hitler symbols? Why is that relevant?

I don’t know what that slang means.

didn’t realize until just this moment that Rise Against ≠ Rage Against The Machine