Too many people in the world crave an identity that is original enough to be interesting, but not so original that it can’t be quantified or defined by accepted or understood identity templates. They need to be able to put a name to their identity so they can talk about it.
After reading your comment I had to fight an almost overwhelming urge to buy a Nazi flag and rent out my house for the simple pleasure of screwing over renters. That’s how fast it happens.
Gotta go with “skate or die: bad n rad”
Plus it has a sweet soundtrack
I had similar experiences, and couldn’t understand why they would discourage dialog and discussion around various issues. The thing is, they don’t actually want dialog, they want to stamp out opposition to their views as though it never existed.
You probably commented on one of the verboten subreddits. That’s how I got most of my bans.
Hah! I remember reddit
Do you actually believe this? I know a lot of conservatives, some more extreme than others, but none of them envision this kind of world, not even the ones that wanted to be at the Capitol on Jan 6. It’s contrary to virtually all Christian, conservative values. The whole premise of this story wouldn’t even hold up unless there were an extreme event causing a massive shortage of fertile women. In that case, there is no telling what kind of dystopia would emerge. Frank Herbert wrote “The White plague” in 1982 (a couple years before the handmaid’s tale), where women were nearly wiped out altogether, and it plays out similar in some respects, wildly different in others. In any event, it’s not a “goal” of any sane person, and certainly not the goal of half of the country.
The main problem with this book is in how it is applied by various people to Christianity in general (as opposed to a fringe cult), or used as an analogy of events today. It might apply in some cases, but those are so rare and unusual (back woods polygamist cults and the like), that they really don’t deserve to be discussed in context of current politics.
I vowed to be done with it when it became subscription based, and now here I am. Kind of glad actually, been looking for an excuse for years as the site became more and more stale, unoriginal, and politics began to overwhelm everything. Maybe this is just how it has to be every decade or so.
That would apply to any minority opinion as well, like supporting Palestine today, or being opposed to Japanese internment camps during world war 2 or opposing the Iraq war. Or being opposed to COVID vaccine mandates or school closures. People get cancelled for this stuff all the time, and being able to speak freely is critical to derailing social movements that go too far, which they always do. Anonymity is a double edged sword, where it holds people accountable for hate speech, but also provides security to express opinions that are contrary to prevailing narratives, things that desperately need to be said.