this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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The man told jurors he spent hours listening to far-right podcasts before breaking into the Pelosi home and attacking the then-Speaker’s husband with a hammer.

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[–] QHC@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago (4 children)

“The takeaway I got is that she wants to turn our schools into pedophile molestation factories,” DePape testified

Honest question: what does "pedophile molestation factory" even mean?!

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It means "scary thing that must be defeated," because that's all the people throwing those words around want you to take away from it.

It's a magical cocktail of words designed to evoke emotions and stifle higher brain functions like reason.

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

If your reason for committing a crime is because of a conspiracy theory you should get an extra harsh sentence because you are an exceptional menace to society.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I disagree. I think the punishment should be twofold: automatic parole on the condition that you see a psychiatrist for a minimum of three years (paid via subsidy). Failure to find a therapist or missing three sessions (with reasonable exceptions) sends you to prison to serve out your remaining "therapy" time.

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That would just guarantee this crap will thrive. You have vastly underestimated the menace of people like this. It is absolutely critical to deal with this in a severe way, as the equivalent of a hate crime.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Sorry. I have conspiracy theorists in my family and have a good friend with a doctorate in Administration of Justice with a focus on prison reform. These people need psychiatric help, not isolation and prison, which would just further entrench them in their worldview.

If there really was systemic child abuse and ritual murder happening all around you, any reasonable person would try to stop it; the core problem, of course, is that's not what's happening in reality. They can't tell what is fantasy and what is real, and relegating them to a cell doesn't teach them how to discern the difference.

There's no way mandating seeing a psychiatrist would result in more crimes any more than standard parole or community service does, especially if failure to participate results in prison anyway.

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If there really was systemic child abuse and ritual murder happening all around you, any reasonable person would try to stop it

You would think that, but a reasonable person would also notice that no one else is concerned about this. And the few people that are concerned seem a bit funny in the head.

You would also notice that the bad guys always appear to be (((them))) and ignore it as anti-Semitic nonsense.

The people who believe conspiracy theories are not relieved when you point out the holes in their theory. This is the difference between "belief" and "desire to believe".

Let's say you believe this weekend will be rainy, and you are upset about it. You had cool stuff planned! You check the weather on Friday and notice the weather has improved. You would be happy to have your negative belief disproven.

That's not what happens when you disprove someone's conspiracy theory. They "want to believe" it because that belief gives them something: friends, purpose, etc.

[–] AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's called being in a cult. They want somewhere to belong. Like any cult, it snatches up people in a questioning phase of their lives.

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

My friend, wanting somewhere to belong is human. They just feel they have no other options.

[–] AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Exactly. These people are in a cult. What they need is deprogramming, not isolation and engulfment in pain, which they already get from the cult they are in.

[–] aphlamingphoenix@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago

Not to mention our prisons are full of white supremacists who will further reinforce this worldview and further radicalize the Nazi. Prison is part of the problem, not the solution. We just saw this, actually, with Jacob Chansley's Congressional bid following his release from prison.

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah, ignorance and stupidity are not great defenses.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago

It's a synonym for "catholic churches"

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I watched whatever Gamergate was erupt on that other site.

I still have no idea what Gamergate is or was. At the time I had no idea what was satire, what was real, what was under Poes law.

I know it happened. I know I was present for it. I do not understand it.

[–] odelik 42 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Misgony.

From a high level.

  • Woman creates a video game about her personal struggles with depression.
  • Got favorable reviews, some from notable game reviewers.
  • Ex-boyfriend of woman posts a blog post and releases cherry picked chat logs alleging notable reviewer gave her a positive review due to sexual favors/relationship between the woman and reviewer.
  • Notable reviewer never reviewed her game.
  • Toxic gamer boys got in a huff that a woman was promoted due to sexual favors. They cried "ethics in video game reviews" together.
  • Toxicness spreads to other women in the video game industry because of the misgony.
  • Gamergate being full of easily manipulated individuals that don't feel like they belong or are heard are now organized.
  • Group is infiltrated by people that have a malicious intent to incite and recruit for far right extremeist movements.

The details are interesting, but in the end it's drama caused by frail male egos that led to a ton of misgony.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 31 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Of note here is Steve Bannon, who owned several WOW gold farming operations at one point, specifically targeted gamergate as a recruitment arm for the alt right.

Gamergate was used directly by the Trump campaign to unify disenfranchised young men to vote for Trump. The numbers were so close in the 3 swing states when he won in 2016, a total of only 40k votes, you can say quite honestly that it won him that election.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I missed this entire thing unfold.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I got you, fam.

Story: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2015/04/28/gamergate/

The Zoe Post: https://thezoepost.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/tldr/

If you wanna see what the GG rubes are doing now, just swing by the subreddit KotakuInAction at any point.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Thanks. I thought this was recent given the Pelosi attack, but it was a long time ago, and this was just the flip point for him.

[–] Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

It's about ethics in gaming journalism! And attacking geriatrics with a hammer apparently.

[–] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I don't give a fuck if it was Obama, Trump, or the Buddha himself.

You don't hit someone -with a hammer.- /strikethrough

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I actually think that if your reason is "I believed an idiotic conspiracy theory", you should get an extra harsh sentence because that makes you an exceptionally dangerous menace to society.

[–] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Nah, this is awareness leading to redemption. It deserves to be rewarded.

[–] btaf45@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Nah, this is awareness leading to redemption.

No, its just a plea for leniency. This crap deserves to be dealt with with extra severity. It is the cousin of hate rhetoric as a motivation.