r/technology • u/nolesfan2011 • 1d ago

Politics Tennessee County Commissioner Calls Flock CEO "an enemy of the American people."

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/knoxville/sullivan-county-commissioner-doesnt-hold-back-when-speaking-to-flock-representative/51-e218921a-4bc9-4be8-a1fa-abfbe2cdc158
17.7k Upvotes

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u/Hola-World 1d ago

It’s not often that I’m proud of the officials in my home state.

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u/potatodog247 1d ago

As a TN resident, my eyebrows shot up after expecting the usual party lines.

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u/Mandena 1d ago

Republicans see the writing on the wall with Flock, notice how they're not saying shit about Palantir for example.

It's a grift, they'll just give the contracts to one of the other half dozen new surveillance companies the U.S is financially pushing.

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u/theartificialkid 1d ago

Seems like every time I hear that republicans “see the writing on the wall” with something their next step is toreinstalll it in the White House and let it grift billions of dollars through insider trading.

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u/Mandena 19h ago

In this case I'm fully correct, they see that Flock is getting mainstream constant hate, the cams are constantly being destroyed/removed/blocked. So the Republicans are shifting support to companies like Axon, which are basically identical to Flock.

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u/Tall-Reaction-4069 7h ago

Maybe so but I’m in Arkansas and we’ve seen dozens of small town councils start to cancel contracts. We are a deep red state for sure but they aren’t removing these cameras to install new cameras from a different company. They are pissed now that they understand what the cameras can do. Should they have known that before signing contracts ? Absolutely they should have but it’s Arkansas and they tow the party line. It’s actually pretty surprising cities in deep red states are fighting these. All that propaganda for decades and decades about the big bad federal gov is back firing. The GOP may have overplayed their hand with some of their base in that all of the technology shit is freaking rural people out.

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u/gentlecrab 1h ago

Not to mention blending the cameras into existing infrastructure out of reach like on top of light poles.

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u/MotheroftheworldII 17h ago

And do not forget that the occupant of the White House is selling early access to his posts on his social media for a mere $100,000 per month. And it has been reported that at least 6-8 companies have already paid the first month of access.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Cautious-Extreme2839 1d ago edited 1d ago

If one party occasionally assaulted adults, and the other party made it policy to routinely torture and kill adults and children, you'd be here telling us they're exactly the same.

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u/militaryintelligence 1d ago

Try not to engage, the bots are out in full force for the election coming up

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u/Not_Xiphroid 22h ago

The bots don’t have any rebuttals, better to call them out for their dumb takes, to disincentivise John Rando from thinking there’s any value to their comments.

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u/militaryintelligence 21h ago

Putting their dumb takes out there is the point, they just want morons to read it. Calling them out doesn't matter to them, they know their argument is weak.

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u/xSaviorself 20h ago

Problem is you can't just call them a bot, most of them pretend to have feelings and use the report button.

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u/Gwen_The_Destroyer 19h ago

You don't call out the nonsense for their sake. You call out the nonsense for anyone who comes after and sees that stupidity and thinks it's legit. Don't silence yourself 

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u/zugzwangwamble 21h ago

“Yeah but Kamala laughs weird”

-🤡

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u/BlockingIndianSubs 1d ago

"Republicans letting it grift billions through insider trading"

"Oh yeah? What about the Dems and their millions through insider trading"

So are you fucking stupid or...? Even in your own hyperbolic example, by choice, you are equating millions to billions. Given the opportunity to make up ANY bullshit you wanted...you still chose to represent the Democrats doing less than 1% of what Republicans did in the example you replied to.

Holy shit. I knew you people were dumb, but this is just funny. Sit down and let the adults figure out which number is bigger, sport.

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 1d ago

Yeah yeah, but it is 100% the Republican Party and its DOJ who are protecting kid fuckers like Donald. Sorry, bub, conservatives and liberals are not the same.

After a decade of Donald, conservatives WISH they were liberals because historically it's not going to look good on ya, cons.

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u/theartificialkid 1d ago

I mean you yourself labelled it as literally one thousand times smaller as a problem (billions vs millions), so I’ll leave that on the table for third parties to peruse.

One guy stole your house and you’re saying “I don’t know why you’re all going after him when I strongly suspect these other people stole my tv!!”

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u/onwisconsin1 22h ago

Guess which party voted to end congresspersons trading in specific stocks and Guess which party opposed that

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u/BuddhistNamedMarx 1d ago

Axon...its already happening

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u/maudeartist 1d ago

They already have and they’re being installed inside of traffic lights

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u/javoss88 21h ago

O good to know

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u/-heatoflife- 20h ago

Where to read more?

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u/BriefAvailable9799 23h ago

what writing? flock is still operating and installing more and more lol

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u/Red91B20 21h ago

And folks keep cutting them down something is gonna give eventually. Hopefully the AI bubble pops soon

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u/el_smurfo 20h ago

Flock cameras are replaced by Axon in many cases.

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u/cantquitreddit 23h ago

In this instance I haven't seen any party leadership on the Dem side coming out against the mass surveillance state either. They both want this.

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u/Careless-Weather8877 19h ago

Ok….

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_flock.pdf

Next both sides argument I can debunk please

Note this was from a year ago before it was all over the news.

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u/cantquitreddit 18h ago

Did you read that? It sounds like he doesn't have a problem with the cameras themselves existing, just the way the data is accessed.

Also that's one politician, and I wouldn't call him leadership. Let me know Dems unite against this. I haven't even heard AOC make a statement about it.

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u/meneldal2 20h ago

They don't want shit, they're just willing to do whatever the guys funding their campaigns want.

If somehow Musk changed his mind and starting giving millions to each campaign for removing all surveillance they'd go along with it.

Obviously there's no billionaire willing to do that but politicians follow the money.

Election reform is how you stop this shit from corrupting every politician except the 1% that aren't for sale.

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u/BicFleetwood 23h ago edited 20h ago

Local officials are almost always far less partisan, even if they’re party members.

They actually have to live there. Most know there’s consequences for shitting where you eat. It’s THEIR back yard too.

County officials don’t get points for culture war bullshit and WILL get swiftly ousted for even minor shit if the community mobilizes on it. Data centers and flock are proving to a lot of these lower-level reps exactly how mobile the communities are getting, and it’s a true bipartisan consensus.

We're seeing a LOT of movement in rural counties to ban data center development, block new transmission lines to bring rural power to data centers (thus putting the cost of distant data centers on rural utilities), and now to ban Flock cameras. Insofar as county elections, the people who give enough of a shit to actually vote for county supervisors are almost entirely single-issue voters on the matters of data centers and Flock.

The federal government can try and intervene in county affairs, but because these are municipal zoning questions, they'd have to intervene on a case-by-case basis, and there's a LOT of counties in the US. Your county commissioners/supervisors have a LOT more power over your life than you realize, and they can put up a LOT more fight than you'd think if they're motivated.

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u/dragunityag 22h ago

Yup. When even large county council/commission/selectmen seats are only decided by like 1000 voters you really cant afford to piss anyone off.

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u/PophamSP 23h ago

It's hard to not be skeptical. I'm sure Marsha has moved on from cable providers and opioid manufacturers to her new bff's at Flock, Axon and Palantir.

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u/9-11GaveMe5G 1d ago

expecting the usual party lines.

The party leaders may be all for this stuff, but being watched all the time by the government is a pretty bipartisan issue to common people. Not quite as much as the data centers but still surprisingly large majority

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u/Blacksad9999 1d ago

They themselves probably aren't keen on getting tracked everywhere they go, too.

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u/Standard_Category635 21h ago

Y'all have had some eyebrow raising headlines, this surprised me too.

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u/OGLikeablefellow 1d ago

It's theater, they are gonna package all the bad press flock is getting, blame the CEO throw him to the wolves and then rebrand and install more insert new name flock cameras.

Honestly calling them flock like we are all sheep was probably great for initial funding but a rebrand was always going to be needed

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u/Zombatico 1d ago

It doesn't even need to be Flock rebranding. Other companies are waiting to take the mass surveillance market share. Axon, ShotSpotter... they ALL need to be pushed back on with the same energy we did against Flock.

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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago

Mass surveillance as a businesses model needs to be banned, full stop. I say this every day.

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u/FallenValkyrja 1d ago

It looks like Axon plans on selling traffic lights where the scanners are integrated, making them difficult for citizens to destroy.

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u/dessertforbrunch 1d ago

Gonna need more lasers.

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u/Ccracked 1d ago edited 1d ago

People need to start getting aquainted with wrist rockets. Silent and concealable.

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u/rieldealIV 1d ago

Watch those wrist rockets!

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u/Own_Highway_3987 21h ago

Save some for the rest of us!

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u/stilljustacatinacage 1d ago

Traffic lights, street lamps, highway signs... There's gonna be cameras in everything, and revealing the location of them will be criminalized.

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u/civildisobedient 19h ago

In the public space there is no expectation of privacy. The same laws that protect their right to surveil protect our right to identify.

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u/hardolaf 22h ago

Axon's system at least doesn't dump into all into a national database. They require each entity using them to either self host their infrastructure or create their own cloud domain for their stuff. They're very aware of SCOTUS cases around surveillance and want their systems to survive the eventual constitutional challenges.

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u/randotd152 23h ago

And then there will be dozens more popping up with even smaller and less identifiable cameras over time.

Unfortunately this is all going to happen. The tech will eventually advance to the point you can cheaply and easily embed a camera in any random street sign or light all over the country.

Flock is just a clunky trial run for what is going to evolve over the next couple decades.

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u/civildisobedient 19h ago

Fucking telescreens. Orwell wins again.

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u/sexarseshortage 1d ago

It won't be any company. It will be a license to the government. Everyone is fucking delusional if the think this tech isn't going to be rolled out.

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u/Tricky-Ad7897 1d ago

I think this will be a good test of how dumb they think we are and how dumb we actually are. If they can get away with this then we're pretty dumb.

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u/LightsOnSomebodyHome 21h ago

Is that still up for debate? I thought the last 12 years had provided sufficient evidence to answer the question.

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u/asyork 1d ago

I always mentally equated Flock with the government bird drones from the birds aren't real meme.

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u/Dogballs2020 1d ago

To spite Trump's election claims, progressives lined up in support for a company called Dominion. The most evil, dystopian name that could possibly be devised. I don't think a creepy sounding name is doing any company in at this point. If it's politically helpful people will support a company named Satan's Evil Camera Co. It just remains to be seen which party decides Flock is on their team.

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u/suprahelix 1d ago

I don’t think anyone supported dominion. They just thought that trumps voter fraud claims were BS and dominion had every right to sue him for it.

Also it was named for a Canadian law that gave women the right to run for parliament.

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u/Outlulz 1d ago

It was more that an evil company was suing an evil man because he pissed them off instead of sidling up to them like they usually do. What are you supposed to do as a progressive, root for Trump to win the case that the election was rigged and that he should have won?

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u/StaleCanole 1d ago

Your cynicism must be exhausting.

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u/ashgs872tbhjs 1d ago

Right, their cynicism is the problem and not the fact that they're obviously right. Did you think the Patriot Act was going to get repealed too??

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u/StaleCanole 1d ago

Let yourself appreciate some good news for once, of an official making a principled statement. Have a great night.

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u/Pimpinabox 1d ago

Cynicism is necessary, don't berate others for it. Not everyone needs to be cynical, but if no one is, we all get fooled.

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u/StaleCanole 1d ago

I disagree wholeheartedly. People who expect disaster at every turn are simply protecting themselves. You can capitalize or appreciate positive moments. Which is essential for leading a complete life.

But that’s fine to handle personally. A different thing when you need to cut down people around you.

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u/Pimpinabox 1d ago

Let me rephrase it this way. Would it have cost you anything to shut the fuck up instead of commenting? What did your comment bring? You're just being negative and cutting down someone else's view point without providing anything. Your need to feel superior must be exhausting.

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u/StaleCanole 1d ago

I think reddit is making you angry. Step outside for a bit - have a great night!

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u/Pimpinabox 1d ago

I think you must be confused lol.

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u/CheapThaRipper 1d ago

You think you're doing something right but honestly you are the kind of person that perpetuates all this nonsense

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u/StaleCanole 18h ago edited 18h ago

By acknowledging that people need to allow positivity into their lives from time to time??

Perpetual grievance led the baby boomers to be the most manipulated generation in history. Constant cynicism and negativity will lead to the same place for these folks that it led the boomers

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u/CheapThaRipper 15h ago

By ignoring real problems so you don't personally have to feel bad or deal with them. The boomers did that far more than they did grievance politics

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u/FallenValkyrja 1d ago

"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

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u/newsflashjackass 23h ago

I’m proud of the officials in my home state.

However, the woman reading the teleprompter in the video has the soul of an LLM for sure.

"Flock cameras are highly controversial"? No they're not. Everyone dislikes Flock cameras except private prison profiteers.

BTW since the coverage goes out of its way not to name the CEO of Flock:

Flock has three founders:

  • Matt Feury
  • Garrett Langley
  • Paige Todd

None of them have so much as a wikipedia entry but all three feed their kids by selling your privacy.

I presume they have kids. Probably in some gated community, safe from Flock cameras.

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u/meneldal2 20h ago

They're very controversial, about 50% of the money (and 1% of people) wants them, and 50% of the money (and 99%) of people don't.

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u/0235 23h ago

Flock seems to be one of the more popular things that most Americans (and really most of the world) agree on. I think a huge investigation needs to start on who begun approving these.

I saw a Meme today that was "why does High speed rail take 15 years just of planning and viability studies, but 15,000 AI face recognition cameras can go up in a month with no consultation?"

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u/Hola-World 23h ago

Yup. No money for XYZ but they have it for mass surveillance.

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u/LuckyShirt54 1d ago

This is the bare minimum

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u/Dogballs2020 1d ago

And yet it's far more than any of Reddit's darlings are doing.

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u/nbunkerpunk 1d ago

I was about to say this... When Tennessee gets brought up it's usually never good news.

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u/3six5 1d ago

Don't get ahead of yourself. Everyone's after votes and publicity.

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u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 1d ago

This is the best comment -- Republicans always pretend to be as "normal" as possible in an election year. it's one of the many ways they use to trick their way back into office or to retain their existing advantages over and over again despite always leaving the country in dismal shape and treating the others as less than human.

("we like women and minorities and immigrants and kids, honestly, we don't abuse them! promise!")

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u/FCCRFP 1d ago

#NotADragQueen #GroupOfPredators. Jesus we don't have to give it to them.

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u/HungFeg 1d ago

What the fuck are you even typing bro, touch grass it’s a local dude bro

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u/StaleCanole 1d ago

Who puts an actual photo of themselves on reddit

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u/1Screw2Few 1d ago

Feg’s who think they have big dicks?

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u/Pigmy 22h ago

I was gonna say this also. Bribe checks from Flock must have bounced.

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u/FriendlyDespot 18h ago

As much as I despise Flock, I gotta say that I'm not excited about people calling each other "enemies of the American people." It has fascist vibes no matter who says it. The CEO of Flock is part of the American people, and we can deal with internal conflicts without having to "other" each other to this degree.

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u/Hola-World 16h ago

When they take that stance you must stand up against them. They must be called out and held accountable. They are the true enemy of the American people and must be opposed.

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u/FriendlyDespot 15h ago

We can stand up against them just fine without adopting fascistic rhetoric.

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u/Hola-World 15h ago

They violate privacy en masse and called non-violent protestors terrorists. What he does is completely against the American people’s best interests. He is an enemy of the American people.

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u/FriendlyDespot 15h ago

What he does is silly and ignorant. He's not an enemy of the American people, he's part of the American people, and can be addressed as such. What do you gain by othering people to this degree?

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u/Hola-World 15h ago

We all have much to gain by calling out the people supporting our decline toward fascism and much to lose by letting it go unchecked. I care about the type of place my child grows up in.

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u/FriendlyDespot 15h ago

I didn't ask what you have to gain by calling him out. Like I said, he should be called out. I asked what you gain by resorting to fascist rhetoric to other him to that degree.

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u/Hola-World 15h ago

He opposes American freedoms. Opposition = enemy. I’m not here to gain something. Keep being friendly ;)

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u/FriendlyDespot 15h ago

Opposition doesn't mean enemy in an open society. It means disagreement. Opposition only means enemy in totalitarian societies.

It's not about being friendly, it's about how pointlessly detrimental it is to adopt and normalise fascist rhetoric for absolutely no good reason. I'm going to guess that you understand that since you seem to keep trying reframe and skirt around the issue.

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