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Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
Arguing over whether he was a Nazi in a technical sense feels a bit pointless.
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I don't really think it is. It's entirely possible to be as bad as a Nazi without actually being one in terms of what you're in favour of, and being specific about what bad things people are in favour of is important if you want to oppose those bad things for rational reasons, it seems to me.
There are also actual, honest to goodness Nazis who have actual followings in the USA and specifying those people as their own group, without lumping them in with other bad actors, is important to ensuring those followings shrink to as much as possible.
It's totally reasonable to not want to put in the effort at this point in separating the distinguishable types of #######s who fall under the MAGA umbrella though. I'm certainly not going to dig into Kirk's ramblings to decide whether I think he's really a nazi or whatever and I wouldn't expect anyone else to engage in that depressing an exercise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drak
Dunno about that. This seems like an endorsement
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Yeah that dude is clearly a fan of the content of his speech, not just defending his right to say horrible ####. Good point.
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Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug
I am curious how you came to the conclusion that he didn't actually believe this stuff. Can't we just trust his many published own words?
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There is a class of grifter who are sort of psychopathic in the sense that they don't really have any earnest ideology, but are willing to pretend to either because they want money or because they get a thrill from being controversial and pissing people off. I haven't watched much of Kirk but my sense is that he was part true believer (on some topics and to some degree), but mostly an opportunist and one of those pricks who really enjoys triggering people. There are a lot of people who really enjoy making other people mad. It's hard to figure out where someone like that is espousing the most extreme version of their actual beliefs, or whether those are their actual beliefs, and as I said above I don't really think it's worth the time to try to figure out which is which because regardless of their motivation they're still an awful human being of one type or another.