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Watching the Charlie Kirk video felt good. (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/goodoffmychest@lemmy.world
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I'm not sorry. Seeing someone who spread so much hate and bigotry and weaponized disinformation get his clock cleaned was absolutely fine by me.

I have empathy for lots of people even if we don't always agree, but not for people like Charlie Kirk.

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[–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

I agree on a lot of particulars there, but I feel compelled to quibble on behalf of historical contingency. We are separated from the past by an infinity of momentary possibilities, and just as people in the past did not know what was going to happen, we can never know what possibilities did not come to fruition. It seems impossible that there was ever such a thing as a foregone conclusion in light of the sheer amount of things that are left to chance every single day. Any historian worth the time of day will tell you that their subject is a litany of unintended consequences, and I am happier knowing that no fate is preordained, especially not war.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I see what you're saying about possibilities, but there are definitely patterns to history. Historians will be the first to say that "history rhymes." The pattern of events that we've been seeing unfold over the past few years has occurred countless times before, and surprise surprise, it's never ended peacefully.

    As much as I wish that we, as a society, could have learned enough from the past not to keep falling into the same routines, I see no evidence that we've matured that far as a species yet. If the building of tensions has led to violent breaks over and over again throughout history, what makes "now" so special as to be immune from the same fate?

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