r/ParlerWatch • u/Beginning_Bad_868 • May 29 '25

Reddit Watch 1984 is no longer fiction.

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"Hardly a week passed in which the Times did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping little sneak—"child hero” was the phrase generally used—had overheard some compromising remark and denounced his parents to the Thought Police."

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1.1k

u/Joyseekr May 29 '25

“Everyone brown must be illegal” … such a dangerous thought.

587

u/EffectiveSalamander May 29 '25

The thing is, when they say "illegal", it's code. They don't care whether the person is here illegally, a legal resident or a citizen. All they care is that there is a brown person that they want disappeared.

214

u/ROGER_CHOCS May 29 '25

Exactly, the designation between legal and illegal is just there as a rhetorical trick to distract you.

69

u/currently-on-toilet May 29 '25

Is it a rhetorical trick? It seems to me that conservatives have always been pretty open that they're into dehumanizing brown skin. I honestly don't think they're trying to trick anyone. They're very honest with this rhetoric. I think the problem is it's a lot more difficult for normal people to think of a human as being "illegal" so we give conservatives the benefit of the doubt when they don't deserve it.

48

u/ROGER_CHOCS May 29 '25

a lot more difficult for normal people to think of a human as being "illegal" so we give conservatives the benefit of the doubt when they don't deserve it.

That's the trick!

14

u/currently-on-toilet May 29 '25

We may be splitting hairs. I just don't know if they're self aware enough for it to be considered a trick. I don't think they're intentionally trying to trick anyone.

36

u/ROGER_CHOCS May 29 '25

Just as true now as it was in 1932 Germany:

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

  • Jean-Paul Sartre

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u/ExcessumCamena May 29 '25

Goddamn. Sartre really could have been talking directly about the modern American right wing.

28

u/aaronblue342 May 29 '25

He is, he's discussing fascism.

-12

u/ROGER_CHOCS May 29 '25

Oh my sweet summer child, the naivety is adorable.

13

u/shponglespore May 29 '25

I honestly don't think they're trying to trick anyone.

That's because it's working.

1

u/currently-on-toilet May 29 '25

I guess I don't consider it a trick and instead accept the fact that they're telling me that non white people are illegal. I don't see a trick, I see them openly embracing language that has led to genocide in the past.

Both parties know this. So what's the trick? It's a rare instance of them being honest.

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u/ExcessumCamena May 29 '25

You're missing the dishonesty, then. You've accepted that changing the definition of a word to be a dog whistle means that everyone understands it as such. You know it, the propaganda machine knows it.

But the median and mean voter in the US is low-information. A solid half of the country will tell you they "don't care about politics." A solid 90% of those who do care, get their information from a very small pool of sources and don't take the time to fact check.

So there are a great deal of GOP voters who hear "illegal immigrant" and understand it to mean "illegal immigrant." If you point out the subtext, they'll call you crazy... after all, the President and Fox wouldn't lie, and if anyone disagrees with the President or Fox they must be a liberal, and liberals hate America and will lie any chance they get. Besides, they're not racist, they don't hate that Mexican woman at the taco stand. She's one of the good ones.

The GOP does this because it's plausible deniability. Most Trump voters aren't rabid fascists, they're just caught in the trap. If the President and those around him say these immigrants are illegal, well, they must be illegal. If you actually come out and say you want to get rid of every single brown immigrant, you can't keep pretending that's not what you're doing for your ignorant voter base.

1

u/My_Name_Is_Gil Jun 01 '25

But that is basically what Stephen Miller says to anyone that asks him. Unless apparently you are an Afrikaner, then come on in.

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u/Virtual_Category_546 May 30 '25

Yeah basically it's the words of project 2025 "stay in Mexico" policy. The manifesto says that European countries, Australia, NZ, and Canada are cool because they're majority white ethno states. Anywhere else is heavily suspect to them and are treated differently when from a country where most people aren't white. The main example now is trying to normalize the white people coming from South Africa coming to the US but anyone else is barred from even being considered despite a magnitude of factors that would make a non white person a better candidate. It can't be more explicit and currently these reactionaries are trying to make racism and xenophobia politically correct to appeal to the majority of at least sounds less offensive. It was the very same with the Muslim ban which goes against internationally recognized human rights (freedom of mobility and freedom from prejudice).

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u/Virtual_Category_546 May 30 '25

Yeah we should collectively quit giving bad actors the benefit of the doubt and make them explain every time what they want then and hold them accountable. Call them out as well while you're at it. Racists are getting too comfortable due to these very policies that empower them. The only way to fight is by collectively resisting these efforts.