It's time to wage a great fight against the authoritarians

I just read this columnist's opinion on what is happening to women in this country today. She is in a rage about the morality police. Everything she writes (she has won awards for her writing and is a great talent) is exactly what I think and feel but she was able to put it much better than I ever could.

If you agree, great. What, especially, did you like about what she wrote.

If you disagree, I'd like to know what you disagree with and why. A good debate could be had.

Now wait just a minute. I got my period in the fifth grade. And it was my home room teacher, Ms. Smith, who gave me all the comfort and instruction I needed. And believe me, we talkedabout what was happening to me. This did not make her part of any WOKE agenda, like legislators like to rattle on about. It made her a compassionate, responsible teacher.

I really need to write and thank her.

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Yeah, that’s the thing. Despite what OAN might tell you, you don’t need to be a religious acolyte of Marxism to reach a lot of “Woke” political positions.

Normal, kind, compassionate people understand teaching children about sexual topics at an appropriate age isn’t grooming (in fact statistically it reduces child abuse because the children understand what is happening to them), it’s just common sense. It makes the world better. Not doing makes the world worse and increases the risk of harm for those children.

And it’s the same for most “woke” political positions. Letting gay and trans people into the military? That’s not pandering. That’s treating them like ****ing people and US citizens with the same rights as everyone else.

LGBTQ people and racial minorities in media? Well…they exist, so yeah makes sense they’d appear in art.

Trans people…appearing in advertisements? I guess acknowledging they exist AT ALL is woke? Most people just do not care.

Electric cars used to be woke but Elon is right wing now so I guess they are fine.

I remember when Woke used to mean like the super crazy SJW stereotype. Like the man hating feminist trope or people who got really offended by cultural appropriation.

Now “Woke” seems to basically mean you believe in any degree of liberalism and want to live in a free society where people can freely express themselves.

I think defeating the ultraconservative right is going to be the great fight of my lifetime.

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I think we have to really define what Authoritarian is here. Is it just right wing authoritarianism that you don't like, or left wing authoritarianism is also bad? Or is all authoritarianism bad independent of political bias? I can get behind the need to avoid authoritarianism, but it has to be universal and independent of political bias. For example, I am comfortable saying that politicians shouldn't have any say in what happens inside a woman's body, but I also think a woman has the right to refuse a covid vaccine if she so chooses and shouldn't be punished in the least for doing so. But these two examples are now political battlegrounds. But perhaps the most telling feature of authoritarianism is the clamp down on free speech. If someone wants all right wing media shut down then they really can't be against authoritarianism, in fact they are all for it, just in one political direction. My guess is the left here really want conservatives to allow everything the left wants, yet are all for limiting and banning just about everything the right wants, such as free speech, gun rights, freedom of religion, etc. Prove me wrong and tell me one thing the left does that you don't like and think is authoritarian. I bet you can't.

TearItAllDown said:

I think we have to really define what Authoritarian is here. Is it just right wing authoritarianism that you don't like, or left wing authoritarianism is also bad? Or is all authoritarianism bad independent of political bias? I can get behind the need to avoid authoritarianism, but it has to be universal and independent of political bias. For example, I am comfortable saying that politicians shouldn't have any say in what happens inside a woman's body, but I also think a woman has the right to refuse a covid vaccine if she so chooses and shouldn't be punished in the least for doing so. But these two examples are now political battlegrounds. But perhaps the most telling feature of authoritarianism is the clamp down on free speech. If someone wants all right wing media shut down then they really can't be against authoritarianism, in fact they are all for it, just in one political direction. My guess is the left here really want conservatives to allow everything the left wants, yet are all for limiting and banning just about everything the right wants, such as free speech, gun rights, freedom of religion, etc. Prove me wrong and tell me one thing the left does that you don't like and think is authoritarian. I bet you can't.

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??? I don't recall anyone being forced to get a covid vaccine. Source?

Michael Cole said:

??? I don't recall anyone being forced to get a covid vaccine. Source?

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So you're saying there were no federal covid mandates?

"The requirements are among the last vestiges of some of the more coercive measures taken by the federal government to promote vaccination"
https://time.com/6276398/covid-19-vaccine-mandates-lifted/

TearItAllDown said:

So you're saying there were no federal covid mandates?

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No. I was very clear. Here. Try again.

I don't recall anyone being forced to get a covid vaccine.

TearItAllDown said:

"The requirements are among the last vestiges of some of the more coercive measures taken by the federal government to promote vaccination"
https://time.com/6276398/covid-19-vaccine-mandates-lifted/

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At work protective gear is required, but I'm not forced to wear it. I always have the option to quit.

dockside said:

I just read this columnist's opinion on what is happening to women in this country today. She is in a rage about the morality police. Everything she writes (she has won awards for her writing and is a great talent) is exactly what I think and feel but she was able to put it much better than I ever could.

If you agree, great. What, especially, did you like about what she wrote.

If you disagree, I'd like to know what you disagree with and why. A good debate could be had.

Time to wage a great fight against the authoritarians

The morality police have me scared, and shaking with anger about how this all affects real people.

www.kitsapsun.com

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I liked this astute observation - "I bring it up because when I think of how organized fundamentalists and Right to Lifers have been, I think what a better world this would be if their efforts were targeted at homelessness or addiction or mental health. Why not make affordable higher education the cause? Or health protection? Gun-violence prevention? Solve a crisis that impacts those already living and struggling beyond hope."

Why not?

TearItAllDown said:

I think we have to really define what Authoritarian is here. Is it just right wing authoritarianism that you don't like, or left wing authoritarianism is also bad? Or is all authoritarianism bad independent of political bias? I can get behind the need to avoid authoritarianism, but it has to be universal and independent of political bias. For example, I am comfortable saying that politicians shouldn't have any say in what happens inside a woman's body, but I also think a woman has the right to refuse a covid vaccine if she so chooses and shouldn't be punished in the least for doing so. But these two examples are now political battlegrounds. But perhaps the most telling feature of authoritarianism is the clamp down on free speech. If someone wants all right wing media shut down then they really can't be against authoritarianism, in fact they are all for it, just in one political direction. My guess is the left here really want conservatives to allow everything the left wants, yet are all for limiting and banning just about everything the right wants, such as free speech, gun rights, freedom of religion, etc. Prove me wrong and tell me one thing the left does that you don't like and think is authoritarian. I bet you can't.

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Can you point to any legislation introduced by the left that's clamping down on free speech?

Michael Cole said:

No. I was very clear. Here. Try again.

I don't recall anyone being forced to get a covid vaccine.

At work I have to wear protective gear. I'm not forced to do so. I always have the option to quit.

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Define force. Define anyone. Did the un-vaxxed have the exact same freedoms and liberties as the vaxxed, yes or no? If yes, why were there federal mandates?

TearItAllDown said:

Define force.

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Threat of incarceration. Abort a fetus. Go to jail. Don't get your shot. Go home. Hardly comparable.

TearItAllDown said:

Define anyone. Did the un-vaxxed have the exact same freedoms and liberties as the vaxxed, yes or no? If yes, why were there federal mandates?

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Vaccination isn't a human trait. It's an action. Certain things in life require certain actions. Job requirements are universal. Has nothing to do with freedom and liberty.

Michael Cole said:

I don't recall anyone being forced to get a covid vaccine.

At work protective gear is required, but I'm not forced to wear it. I always have the option to quit.

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If you can't find gainful employment in pretty short order elsewhere that pays somewhere near the income you have built your life around and attained the education to perform, and don't have the skills to enter into another equally paying field,
then that would seem to force ones hand a bit.