They've never successfully dunked on Republicans before so they don't know how to handle it
They're over using it, for sure, but it's gonna sting and land for a long time. It's super strange that it's fucking weird that hurts maga chuds the most, but whatever. CHUD was too niche cause it referenced a movie not enough people watched, fascist had a cool edge for maga chuds that they liked (nevermind the actual literal self-identified fascists not just their dumbass fellow travellers), same with "dangerous" or "theat to democracy" - no one fucking likes modern neolib bourgeois democracy and dangerous is edgy and cool.
But weird? It took off cause it's true and they don't have an answer cause they are fucking weird and they haven't had to come to terms with the fact that what they believe is weird and there's no secret silent majority that agrees with them. It is weird to obsess over trans people and abortions. And they wanna be considered normal
I'm kind of reminded of how a few years back a groyper showed up to a maga rally with fashoid meme signs and he got his ass kicked and thrown out. Your average 4chan /pol/ poster doesn't care about being called "weird" but an upstanding boater kulak who owns a dealership and donates to Trump's PAC does.
"But the memes are good!!" he shouted, gesturing to his hand drawn pepes
Fuck I got it wrong, the real quote is "But what about the memes!!"
https://metro.co.uk/2017/06/12/alt-right-guy-shouts-but-what-about-the-memes-as-hes-kicked-out-of-rally-6703668/
These are the people telling you that your progressive views are hurting your chances to get girls.
It isn't strange at all. Fascism is all about having "proper" vibes. Weird is a category that they associate with their enemies, the so-called "removed", and very specifically deviates from the "proper" majority. Being associated with weird cuts right to their own self-image (sense of superiority, social ranking, "tradition", etc), and their typical attacks against other weirdos falls flat when they are themselves seen as the weirdo.
It also betrays this round of Fascism's critical weakness, they don't organize. Organizing has a wonderful property requiring one to modulate their politics to their audience and slowly bringing them to your way of thinking. Since this had to be done at scale it also meant organizing your message for consistency and distribution. This current crop was raised in very hermetically sealed online environments, most of which were kept secret from other people. They have no experience toning down their rhetoric for general consumption. Because none of their messaging or memes are modulated, they come off as incredibly disjointed.
If the general public truly learns about 4chan, and it's adjacent porn boards, "weird pervert" might become the one-two punch that annihilates this group's aesthetics.
Organizing has a wonderful property requiring one to modulate their politics to their audience and slowly bringing them to your way of thinking... They have no experience toning down their rhetoric for general consumption.
We would do well to apply this criticism to ourselves. People don't change deeply-held political opinions at the drop of a hat; it takes time and effort. Lacking the patience for that, or arguing that we shouldn't have to put in that effort, is fundamentally our problem.
And if the shit you say online would come off as bizarre or off-putting to even a lot of sympathetic people in the real world, how useful is that rhetoric, really?
this. I've gotten much better results when I check my 'debate bro' at the door.
Just between us, you may want to lay off this "grind up the bourgeoisie" stuff. It's a bit off-putting, even to fellow communists.
There’s also the simple fact that online right wing spheres appeal to and provide a sense of belonging and superiority to people who were ostracized in high school. A LOT of right wing hatred is just misanthropy born out of social rejection.
EXACTLY. It's their entire schtick. "We are normal. We are proper. We are the defenders of virtuous civilization." This is their outward creed. Pointing out that they are obsessed with people's genitals and things that slaps them in the face. It makes them outsiders. There in inferiority associated with being weird. There is a sense of ostracism associated with it.
And as others have pointed out is also is such a common word that everyone in America can associate it with an icky feeling about someone. Everyone has used the word. Everyone has experienced weirdos in their lives. It is an instant association.
The TL;DR to all of this is that politically "bullying works", as in ridiculing fascists and other rightoids is the best strategy. Do not engage with them, Sartre tells us that they do not have a responsibility to use words seriously so engage them on their own terms.
best way to handle fascists has always been with a bullet to the head. second best way has always been mockery and derision.
CHUD was too niche cause it referenced a movie not enough people watched
Ive seen a "we're too fascist for /pol/" 4chan spinoff board reclaim chud lol
If it's the one I'm thinking of, they probably use chud because it's a mix of reddit fash and 4chan fash who are all way too online to use real words (and they'd call this post coal and brim)
Folks, folks, it's true. I am a creep. I am a wierdo! I like to sit under a glass table while a woman, especially a beautiful woman, sits over the table and then goes to the bathroom on it. It's not normal, but then again, who wants to be normal. Joe Biden does, I'll tell you that. Handsome people, beautiful people, like Hannibal Lecter, are weird guys.My only note is that Trump would probably talk about Liberace being a weirdo.
beautiful man that Liberace, beautiful, handsome man. Born in Wisconsin of all places, if you can believe it, West Allis! There's a reason West rhymes with Best folks
this would unironically work as a comeback but he's lost his edge so he won't do it
I find it interesting that of all the things he has been called, that weird is the one that sticks.
The overton window has been pushed so far right in the USA that being called a fascist isn't even an insult it's just a state of being.
"Fascist" has just been overused. If everyone on all sides is calling everyone else a fascist at the drop of a hat, it carries no meaning.
Yeah it doesn't help that the right has been making a push to call leftists "fascists" to muddy the term, Trump does it all the time.
See also all the "red fash" propaganda that long predates Trump. You can see the same watering-down with the overuse of "genocide," too.
I think it's a light enough attack that completely normal people are more comfortable calling somebody weird and moving on than they are trying to have a discussion (waste of time anyway), and the right have been getting exceptionally weird in the last decade and people may be tired of being respectful. I think the ground might have actually shifted.
I've been offline for ~48hrs and it looks like I've completely lost the plot.
The dems realized that they can call R's "weird" and the R's have been screaming "no u" for a few days now
Have they run it into the ground? I think calling them "weird" might have lost some impact but I think it has pretty successfully ostracized this iteration of the right. They haven't been able to mount a successful counterattack, and they've mostly just been going "no you're weird" which is just sad. It's the only thing the Democrats have done in years that's actually pierced their armor and I think even if literally calling them weird has gotten old, the stigma will remain.
and they've mostly just been going "no you're weird"
Not just this but like, doubling down by saying "no you're weird" and posting a bunch of pictures that weird to have saved on your phone.
