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144

‘Weird’ And The Breaking of The Fascist Fever (bad-faith-times.ghost.io)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org to c/politics@beehaw.org

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I've seen a lot of ink spilled recently over the Harris campaign's recent adoption of the tactic of calling Trump and his cronies "weird". There's a lot of hand-wringing over the Democrats ceding the high ground or being unserious about serious matters, but this article, and especially the source material it links to by Sdrja Popovic (a non-violent Serbian revolutionary during the Milošević regime) about the power of humor in non-violent movements, really changed my thinking on this.

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[–] TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org 22 points 4 months ago

I was reminded of the trend of Milkshaking a few years ago. That wikipedia article includes a quote from a Vice Article on the trend that refers back to Serbian resistance as well.

But there's a method to all this dairy-based madness. Milkshaking can be seen within a tradition of nonviolent civil disobedience known as "dilemma action". A term coined by Serbian activists in the 1990s, dilemma action creates a lose-lose situation for the opposition. It’s a genius move reserved for some of the absolute worst people in our society, because there’s no good way to respond to a milkshaking: do nothing and you look like a twat, or fight back and look like you're overreacting. Plus, a milkshake will really mess up your suit. Still, that's not to say you should go out and do it, unless you want to risk arrest: the guy who milkshaked Farage has since been charged with assault, after all.