i've seen this phrase used around here in a few variations and it rarely gets called out as problematic. i really don't think its ok so i thought i'd ask: does hexbear think its ok? i can understand and support the use of violence against fascists and colonizers, but genocide is really their thing. i don't see why it makes sense to use it even as a rhetorical device. why doesn't this get called out? is genocide so normalized in casual conversation that it doesn't register or what?
edit: i have all the [he/him]s on the website telling me that this is actually a very funny joke. i still don't like it or get it, but i've had my fill of arguing with y'all so thanks for the info. i can see why nobody calls this one out. it kinda fucking sucks. i'll just go ahead and block people who post this type of joke and go on my merry way.
now that everyone has had a chance to chime in, i'm just going to add some context for y'all
most of the responses i got at first were from [he/him]s which is why i said the above. nothing against any gender, just what i saw.it wasn't my intention to misgender anyone sorry if it came across that way. i really meant it as an observation of who was jumping in to reply at the start of the thread, but i didn't realize how it could be perceived in other contexts.- i'm not american. i'm technically a US citizen, but i have much more significant cultural ties to SV, MX, and separately and to a lesser extent NA indigenous community. i don't always get where western people are coming from. i like the overall tone of hexbear maybe i just don't how imaginary genocide is supposed to be cathartic. i apologize if it came across like i'm trying to tone police y'all. that's really not my jam, but y'all do seem a little pre-disposed to getting offended when your little jokes are questioned.
- i still don't like the joke, so i'm going to remove them from my feed. if y'all don't have an issue with it that's fine. i was just trying to get a feel for what y'all think. the push back was a little upsetting after the day i had yesterday, but i'm over it now. i can live with curating my own experience based on my personal taste.
- i haven't been that articulate, but i think my feelings are best summarized by this reply:
As someone that does find the joke funny, upon some reflection i have realised that it is an inapropiate joke, genocide is a horrific thing and to make light of it by making it a subject of a joke is in bad taste the same way that jokes about sexual assault are in bad taste, we rightfuly look down on redditors for the latter but allow the former
- Show
the original meme was about communist banter being unhinged and socially unacceptable.
I think it resonates with us because it's relatable, we've all been the person holding their tongue at a family gathering. I also think it resonates as a reaction to the lopsided "colonizer deaths are a tragedy while colonized deaths are a footnote" tone-policing in western media (see Israel discourse). Also, a politics of violent revolution makes flippant humor inevitable, back in '73 people were joking about "spain's first astronaut" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carrero_Blanco
Spain's first astronaut is a hilarious bit btw and noticeably does not include jokes about genocide.
It also speaks to the insidious nature of discourse in the West.
Incivility of language is considered deeply uncouth, but electing leaders who have promised to do horrific things is perfectly fine, as long as they express it in acceptable language.
Biden sending billions to Ukrainian skinheads, continuing to build a wall, increasing police funding, doing nothing about COVID, gutting the child tax credit etc is all perfectly fine because he was polite and well spoken about it. Can't come out and say overtly you want Israel to turn Palestine into a graveyard, but aiming to help them achieve that is fine.
People by and large don't get extremely obvious satire -- they aren't going to get any of that out of "unlimited genocide" jokes.
Sure, I agree; I'm just adding my metaphorical 2 cents to the original comment
Part of the reason I think it resonates is the deep seated hatred of 'civil' discourse, coupled with the frustrations of being politically neutered
thanks for explaining. i still don't think i get the humor part, but its good to have some context.
It's an inside joke. I'd never say it in public. That would make me look ridiculous.
edit: i have all the [he/him]s on the website telling me that this is actually a very funny joke. i still don't like it or get it, but i've had my fill of arguing with y'all so thanks for the info. i can see why nobody calls this one out. it kinda fucking sucks. i'll just go ahead and block people who post this type of joke and go on my merry way.
another poSSter down UNLIMTED GENOCIDE AGAINST THE LEMMY DOT FIRST WORLD
GLORY to the joint dictatorship of the posters of oppressed instances!! 
This is a good point. Like most boomers, my socdem Dad used to browse Hexbear as part of his morning routine. Unfortunately he came upon a post using the offending phrase and now just posts 'so much for the tolerant left' under any article about Joe Biden on the Washington Post's website. Y'all need to reflect on this. If not for the sake of this website, but for the democrats reelection chances in 2024
I can see being critical of it for site culture, but this somehow tying to the election of Democrats???
edit: i have all the [he/him]s on the website telling me that this is actually a very funny joke. i still don't like it or get it, but i've had my fill of arguing with y'all so thanks for the info. i can see why nobody calls this one out. it kinda fucking sucks. i'll just go ahead and block people who post this type of joke and go on my merry way.
Asks a bunch of questions about a joke in askchapo
Gets mad at the people who respond
Adds an extremely mad edit
Includes a sideswipe at "he/hims" for some reason
Folks this person is clearly an expert in alienating rhetoric, so we might want to listen up as regards
Yep. Being like "it's only da evil mens who disagree with me" is soft misgendering of quite a few people.
i genuinely don't get how the joke is supposed to be funny, but i also had a rough day yesterday. i've updated my post again. sorry.
I think they're funny because the artist is having so much fun with exploring symbolism and weaving meaning into something that otherwise looks very silly. It's very apparent that it's not really about millions of people being killed as something funny, or even really about being offensive. Honestly, they're kind of like neat puzzles to figure out.
Who makes these? Where can I find them? Seems to be largely a single person's work?
"From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" and "Free Palestine" are being called genocidal statements. There's no point moderating our speech against the global north. As long as the global north maintains a stranglehold on global media and culture, anything we say that is adverse to their interests will be called genocidal.
If our opponents are wrong and we're right, some people will eventually say "hey there's a real difference here, I'm going to support the folks who are right." That was a real appeal of the left to me and to other leftists I've discussed this with. You can look as deep as you want into leftism and still find that things check out, where looking into other ideologies even a little quickly brings out major contradictions.
It usually takes more effort to do good things, and do them right, than to do bad things.
yesEDIT: Another session struggled, unlimited reeducation on the imperial core
It's a meme. People don't think it for real.
Reference to this image macro: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2499097-i-know-that-took-restraint-thanks-for-not-saying-x-in-front-of-my-parents
"The First World" (or Global North, etc.) isn't an ethnicity, race, or any group of people. And it should be destroyed. This doesn't mean kill everyone in the first world anymore that "Death to America" means kill everyone in America. It's also not a joke; it's a meme phrase but the sentiment is genuine
This doesn't mean kill everyone in the first world anymore that "Death to America" means kill everyone in America.
Genocide does actually mean "kill everyone," though.
Yeah, and we should kill the entire first world, without limits. Death to America, Death to Canada, death to the UK, Death to Germany, death to France, and so on...
Just he/hims saying it? Thats definitely not true.
I do agree that unlimited genocide stuff is baby edgelord stuff and isnt rooted in any marxist thought. I dont take it seriously though and i generally assume the people who are saying it seriously are the whitest people on the planet or theyre from like iraq where youre like "well yeah"
Also in general, like most of our "memes", its not funny. Meme should have a short shelf life
But getting mad and blocking people over it is kind of fragile and reeks always vote blue
i'll admit that i got a little mad, but i don't think blocking is a big deal. i block and unblock on a whim to make my experience on websites more enjoyable.
so far only one person in this thread has earned a block. i'm not trying to block lots of people, but i am going to curate my experience.
Yeah that's really bs. But for example, look at Haiti. When the slaves rose up, they killed pretty much all the whites. It's been called genocide. Doesn't mean it was bad. Saying kill whitey, unlimited genocide on the first world, etc basically translates to "there needs to be a revolution against white people and the inherently racist west" as well as mocking fascists who believe that white genocide is happening and great replacement theory.
The "west" isn't inherently racist, what is this form of pseudo-phrenology? Like as a joke, sure. Pointing out
pursues racist policy due to capitalist and supremacist brainworms? Also sure.
Actually believing that there is some sort of built-in disposition towards racism amongst citizens living in the west? Reactionary drivelActually believing that there is some sort of built-in disposition towards racism amongst citizens living in the west?
Hear me out - bostonians tho.
i think all the commenter meant was that the idea of the 'west' and white identity in general is founded on racism by racists using racist ideologies and its culture is a racist culture whose media and traditions promote and create and perform racism more than many other cultures. its not a 'built in' disposition in terms of biology, but of history and culture, society and propaganda.
Genocide is always bad, this isn't difficult. Also, the Haitians didn't commit a genocide.
And to the extent Haitian revolutionaries killed (for instance) white children just because they were white, it's not hard to say that's bad. No revolutionary or socialist project did everything perfectly right all the time. It's similarly not hard to say you support the project overall even if it did some bad things worth criticism.
The Haitian revolutionaries, even under Dessalines, did not literally kill all the whites on the island. Instead the real reason there were no more whites in Haiti after Dessalines is because Dessalines made everyone legally black, this included some of the Polish immigrants who fought on his side. This is hilarious to me because of how reactionary Poland is today, vs. back then the Polish in Haiti were so based Dessalines made them legally black.
Let’s keep that one under wraps for now. I don’t want every polish chud on the internet to start saying the n-word cause they’re black. Or saying it more, anyway
Revolution=/= genocide, and calling leftist revolution (or any positive social change) genocide is litterally what the "white genocide" narrative is designed to do.
Seems fine
I think the odds of someone misinterpreting and actually committing genocide are pretty low.
Yeah guys, it's impossible for anyone to take it the wrong way. Anyway, does someone know of a good thing I can do with a big
with a "whites only" sign over it?
i'm on board with "the only good nazi is a dead nazi", which is fine gallows humor. that's different from using basically a fash position as a joke to seem like a cool nonchalant mass murderer. do you not hear yourself? or do you spend way too much time around fascists? i'm really not understanding why y'all feel the need to defend this joke so hard.
"the only good nazi is a dead nazi"
How is that gallows humor? It's not a joke.
that's true! bad example honestly. its pretty clear that only a few people take issue with this joke like i do, you don't need to make it any more clear. i understand that you love making genocide jokes and that nobody should question you for doing so because its completely laughable that a genocide against the global north would ever happen because reasons, right? thanks i've had plenty.
i understand that you love making genocide jokes and that nobody should question you for doing so because its completely laughable that a genocide against the global north would ever happen because reasons, right?
No, genocide against the global north is funny because of the amount of violence they (we) commit against the global south, especially the extensive mass killings that aren't genocide akshully, we didn't mean to kill those millions of civilians. It's a phrase of the global north that highlights our pain at the extensive atrocities that are committed in our name. It's not a "ha ha funny" joke, it's a "you can laugh or you can cry" joke.
this really makes it seem like you're just stirring up shit in bad faith
- i had a bad day and i wasn't vibing with the responses i got. i recognize that it wasn't the best time to be doing a struggle session so i logged off after i made my first edit and some posts that i realized were pretty emotionally charged.
alright i guess that's fair. god knows i've rageposted too often in my time
Do you condemn the genocide of whites in Haiti or the ethnic cleansing of Germans from Eastern Europe? Just curious.
If we wanted optics obsessed, concern trolling losers to police everything we say, we'd post on reddit.
Oh are we doing that lame-ass dork thing where we take an obvious joke, pretend it's not an obvious joke and then get mad at imaginary people who supposedly allegedly say it seriously
Cool what a productive conversation based on good faith dailogue
i don't even think people are saying it seriously, it just seems like a really gruesome thing to joke about? not my thing anyway. i did get a little mad yesterday, but that wasn't y'all's fault. i could have chosen a better day to participate in starting a struggle session.
No, we must have one everyday, every hour. Unless of course you had intentionally interfered with our normally scheduled session.
Not crazy about it but the global north has been doing genocide on the global south for five centuries. It’s not a meme. It’s reality.
yes a fascist meme you fucks
in case you didn't understand calling for genocide is bad people stuff and it isn't funny
only whitened people call for genocide, stop being whitened. grow a real culture please. that's all we ask. i know it sounds like everything you know would be destroyed, but that's a good thing and you need to do it to yourselves. please.
i know it sounds like everything you know would be destroyed
so white genocide does exist, or?
i know it sounds like everything you know would be destroyed, but that's a good thing and you need to do it to yourselves. please.
if only there were a slightly shorter way of expressing this exact sentence
Dude, I think ik what it is. And now i kinda agree with them.
You can't genocide yourself. The first world has to change themselves.
Equating the radical change we need to a genocide is litterally what fascists are doing with the "white genocide" bullshit.
UGOTFW meme "ironically" uses the SAME false equivalence. In doing so, It ends up just actually reinforcing an idea fascists are trying to spread. I'm willing to give up the joke.
Yeah, I also agree. But I thought it was about the "third world" genociding the "first world"?
I get the sentiment of the joke, and the way that comedy is the vehicle of reversal for the developing-world's vengeance upon the developed-world, but using the word 'genocide' is probably in poor taste both as a joke and as theory. I like and get jokes about people saying we need USSR-style gulags and purges, love a good purge, but someone saying 'unlimited genocide' is funny does feel fashy because that's what fascists do and joke about.
That being said, I'm not above and I can see the value of a dark genocide joke as a throwaway, for example as a sardonic comment about what is happening in Gaza, but for it to become a slogan is a bit weird. Just my opinion. I don't really mind too much either way, I just ignore it. We're not always going to agree on everything.
just fuck off. clearly the majority are against me. i don't need extra piling on thanks + i'm blocking your ass.
only whitened people call for genocide, stop being whitened. grow a real culture please
Cultural genocide is still genocide. /s
does "unlimited genocide on the global north" or other variations really sound like something you should say?
It's pretty much a site-culture thing. No one actually wants to commit genocide on anyone. Honestly it sounds like you're doing some bad faith concern trolling here, so you do you fam...
i have all the [he/him]s on the website telling me that this is actually a very funny joke.
Uh... there are other pronouns saying that. Are you trying to pull an AOC here? LOLOLOLOLOLOL
God im so tired of the "site culture" argument. Just because its something we are currently doing doesnt mean its something we should be.
We have our own contrarian "don't tell me what to do" impulse, and while it's useful at times we have to learn when it's not.
that's because i didn't, i read the gender tags on the replies that were made on my post before i made the edit.
