You all laughed when I said Civil War might be preferable

[Despanan]

[Agent]

You join the DSA yet Dex?

[dexeron]

That's where I think we'll always disagree, Desp, because I reject your premise, and your proposed solution.

I reject that the they system is inherently broken, that it's necessarily a bad system. Imperfect, sure, but I don't believe the system you'd hold up as an alternative is at all sustainable in the real-world (beyond groups of about 150 people.)

I also reject that the best way to address the current system's imperfections is (per your metaphor) just to "let go of the rope." I think there are too many real-world consequences in the lives of real people, and slow reform is a much better way to fix these problems in a sustainable way without the collateral damage caused by extreme measures.

---

I also think you're a bit quick to downplay your influence. Did you determine the outcome of the election? Of course not. But no man is an island, and I still think less of you (sorry, just how I feel) for willingly (hell, gleefully) sharing falsehoods just because you saw something about someone you hated and leaped to share it without taking to time to determine its veracity. Yeah, you're just one guy, but you could have been one of the voices preaching actual skepticism and reasonableness instead of being one of the voices sharing anything negative as soon as you saw it, and only bothering to check into it and issue a correction later if someone complained. You took the low road, and even now you're justifying it because you've already decided that the "other side" is playing dirty, so anything is justified. I get where you're coming from, but I just fundamentally disagree, and that's always going to be a point of contention between us.

Doesn't make us enemies. Your enemies are (for the most part) still my enemies, but I'm still sore about it.

[Despanan]

I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't share anything that was false and the times that I did make a mistake I admitted and retracted it. Do you mean the leaks? Because those leaks were all true and troubling. They also created a somewhat distorted picture - but that's a separate matter.

I think it's ridiculous to accuse me of "carrying water" for the GOP or whatever and I think the only reason you're even doing that is someone on TV told you people were doing that and that's why you repeated a phrase that I have never ever heard you use in the entire time I've known you.

I'm not making us enemies, not as far as I know. I'm just annoyed at what I perceive is your tendency to blame the powerless and excuse the powerful.

Because while no man is an island, I MAYBE have the power to persuade 40 people with my political posts - max, and even in the closest states Trump's lead was in the hundreds of thousands.

[Rip]

There's a whoooooooole lotta privilege stench all over Desp's posts here, but it's so goddamn obvious that if he doesn't smell it himself, then I'm certainly not gonna make him realize what he's done just by rubbing his nose in it.

This post is therefore entirely pointless <3

[Despanan]

I actually do realize there's a ton of privilege in my position - but that doesn't make my position wrong. It's not my fault I'm privileged. I didn't do anything.

In any case there comes a time when we have to acknowledge that the only person we can control is ourselves, and act accordingly. I made and am making the best choice I can, given the circumstances. If other people don't want to make it that's fine, I understand that - I wouldin;t force it on anyone else (Which was why I would've voted for Hillary if I lived in a swing State).

I will admit that I attacked Hillary publicly more than I would have if I'd thought Trump had anything close to a snowball's chance in Hell. I'm still wondering if when they turned on the Large Hadron Collider they somehow knocked us into some insanely improbable dystopian timeline. I'd have probably not been nearly so critical until after the election - but I honestly thought like most of the country did, the second he became the Nominee the presidency was guaranteed to go to Hillary. I even suspected that this might have been the plan all along ( a suspicion which was semi-confirmed with that leak where the DNC made it a policy to "Elevate" Trump's campaign over the other Republicans).

I mean you guys gotta realize, I am in the bluest of the blue states - the only place less likely to go for Trump would be Vermont and that meant I was surrounded by a Horde of Hillbots who wanted to dance around in pantsuit flashmobs because they were SO EXCITED for the first female presidency and here I was thinking "This woman is most definitely gonna start a war and none of these people realize that and if they did I'm not sure they'd even care."

Honestly, to this day, I don't think she was worthy of being our first female president and I don't think she would've been a good president - but I don't think anyone predicted anything close to what's happening now.

[dexeron]

[Agent]

hey do you guys know how to get in on this paid protesting thing I need some money

[dexeron]

If "professional anarchy" was actually a thing that existed, Desp wouldn't have to be a play-write any more. I mean, he'd still be one (correct me if I'm wrong, but you enjoy that way too much to quit, right dude?) but he'd do it just for the lol'z, and he'd make all his money destroying capitalism.

Unfortunately it's not a thing though.

[Despanan]

I think Trump is just so thin-skinned that he really can't stand that so many people don't like him so he has to make up these stories to make himself feel better. He would've won the popular vote if there hadn't been over two million illegal votes. These protesters were clearly paid to be "professional anarchists".

Since OWS I have heard time and time again accusations of "paid" protesting. It's simply not a thing. The closest thing to a "professional protester" might be say, a livestreamer or a photographer with a Patreon. The only guy I ever met who even came close was this shady Democratic operative (who later showed up in a video put out by that guy who made the fake Acorn takedown - bragging about how he hired "the mentally ill" to start fights at Trump rallies.)

Like that guy was legitimately on the Clinton Campaign's payroll through a sub contractor - but people like him are so few and far between they simply don't register.