A reminder that every reactionary movement, in working itself up to violence, starts by convincing itself that its opponents -- the immigrants, intellectuals, & elites -- are a giant monolithic force that is right on the verge of destroying civilization. It's well-worn script.
I was just listening to a podcast about McCarthyism the other day & his rhetoric was practically identical to what you hear today. The commies are everywhere, right on the verge of taking over! They're all in league w/ one another! We have no time to worry about civil liberties!
You see it in the evolution of Proud Boys rhetoric too. First it was about "being ready" for when the left launched its inevitable purge. Then people get guns, get fired up, get tired of waiting, & the rhetoric shifts to "we can't afford to wait, we must preemptively strike!"
This what the "Flight 93 election" nonsense is all about -- the left is right on the verge of total victory, so *anything* is justified in preventing it, even voter suppression & cheating. The dynamic, the mentality, is the same every time.
Working themselves up into a froth about an all-powerful enemy that wants to destroy their civilization is just a collective way for reactionary movements to give themselves moral permission to indulge in their worst impulses toward cruelty & violence. They "have no choice."
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