Once upon a time, or so the story goes, a reporter asked Gandhi what he thought of Western civilization.
“I think it would be a good idea,” Gandhi is said to have replied.
This story kept popping into my head as I worked my way through the seemingly unending torrent of horrendous Tweets that comprise the #FightForWesternCivilization hashtag on Twitter. I discovered the hashtag last night while looking at the reactions of assorted Internet-famous Nazis and their fellow travellers to the horrific attack in Nice yesterday. (You can see the results of this investigation in my previous post here.)
Even a quick glance at the #FightForWesternCivilization hashtag reveals that these would-be defenders of Western Civilization have a very strange notion of what civilization consists of, with some taking inspiration not just from Donald Trump, their lord and master, but from such historical figures as Adolph Hitler and Augusto Pinochet. The hashtag is lousy with raging Islamophobes and white supremacists, full of violent fantasies of retribution against the Muslim “invaders.”
Never mind that we don’t even know if the apparent killer in Nice was even motivated by radical Islam; neighbors told a French television station that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was less into religion than he was into women and salsa dancing. Local mosques say he never stepped through their doors.
But his name is Mohamed, so to those posting in the #FightForWesternCivilization hashtag he is not only a radical Islamist but the representative of all of the world’s Muslims.
As many of these self-declared civilization-defenders see it, Muslims are “savages” who need to be expelled from Europe and the US.
#FightForWesternCivilization Deport them. Burn their mosques to the ground. Let them live in the sand and filth best suited to savages.
— Ed Draper (@eddraper) July 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/KAISERHRE/status/753835250497695746
https://twitter.com/DogDuffy/status/753771842427432960
#FightForWesternCivilization means one thing: Expel Islam from the West.
— StoneFree2Rant is a Semi-fascist(Same on Gettr) (@StoneFree2Rant) July 15, 2016
You're either with the #FightForWesternCivilization and Trump, or your with the savages. pic.twitter.com/Uyx7j4zhe4
— Memelord 🐸🇺🇸 (@AltRightMemes) July 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/Toni_Price/status/753846254254206976
One Twitter Nazi suggested that expelling “kebab” would only be the beginning of a broader ethnic cleansing.
https://twitter.com/Fash__McQueen/status/753822780550852608
https://twitter.com/Fash__McQueen/status/753802113440894976
Others directed their animus at “the Jews.”
https://twitter.com/Linkshaender1/status/753773361025646592
https://twitter.com/TakeBack_USA/status/753810908661452800
https://twitter.com/WJudengas/status/753854146894176256
Regardless of their opinions about Jews, most of those using the hashtag seem to see”western civilization” as synonymous with “white culture.” Some tried to wake the “white man” to the alleged existential threat of Islam.
https://twitter.com/FashNova/status/753929139774644225
Others suggested that the honor and purity of white women were in danger:
https://twitter.com/apurposefulwife/status/753762421618020352
David Duke — yes, that David Duke — weighed in with this photo of an angelic-looking young white mother with baby.
https://twitter.com/DrDavidDuke/status/753929201267257344
This Tweeter Nazi-signaled by quoting the famous fascist “14 words.”
https://twitter.com/Slugulysses/status/753896510622867457
And let us not forget hot white chicks, who could easily turn into hot white mothers:
https://twitter.com/SergioSarzedo/status/753838010232221696
Others gave big thumbs-up to white people in general:
https://twitter.com/SkinheadNeoNazi/status/753811844939157504
https://twitter.com/SergioSarzedo/status/753835149456924673
https://twitter.com/Hungry_Goriya/status/753809489485103104
Some warned ominously of the alleged dangers of “diversity.”
https://twitter.com/TruthVictorious/status/753795754657853440
https://twitter.com/lama_escondida/status/753879119704752128
https://twitter.com/ExoAmericanus/status/753742235305385985
Others talked excitedly about taking up arms and/or fists against Muslims and various alleged Islamophiles.
https://twitter.com/FUFeelinz/status/753782284243898368
https://twitter.com/FUFeelinz/status/753784772292476928
https://twitter.com/justbrowsing22/status/753846219152044032
#FightForWesternCivilization we are in a war even if the politicians try to convince us to accept Muslims. Get a gun and learn to shoot.
— Infidel Investor (@Free_True_North) July 15, 2016
And if you can’t be with the gun you love, just grab a sharp pencil and aim for the eye:
https://twitter.com/GoPandora/status/753790008453111808
One Trump fan suggested that if the Donald failed to win the election in November they would be willing to help him shoot his way into the White House:
https://twitter.com/Jupiter_Giant/status/753839715170684928
Some looked back fondly on the original crusades:
https://twitter.com/AntichampReview/status/753862140474175488
https://twitter.com/Sighter/status/753812772425650176
While others call for a new one:
https://twitter.com/GAlighieri3/status/753815172771254274
#FightForWesternCivilization stop islam 2016. Start the crusades
— BuildThatWall (@wall_that) July 15, 2016
https://twitter.com/ramsesr93/status/753792799510790144
https://twitter.com/Bernietorbustty/status/753919971445571584
Naturally, there were more than a few clucking about cucks:
https://twitter.com/Erik_The_Fem/status/753742424158208000
https://twitter.com/Western_Triumph/status/753798148355723264
https://twitter.com/FantasyNugs/status/753808747747696640
https://twitter.com/ChrisCharabaruk/status/753733055018328064
Brainwashed beta male cucks saying #FightForWesternCivilization is racist are why we are in this spot in the first place.
— Stan Zbornak, Jr (@SouthernDandy55) July 15, 2016
One inventive fellow argued that to win the war for Western civilization, right-minded right-wingers need to take aim not only at Islam but also such wily enemies as Buzzfeed, the long-defunct Soviet Union, Israel, Planned Parenthood and My Little Pony.
We must uncuck the CUCKED. #FightForWesternCivilization pic.twitter.com/7WjnPQ8nLO
— Memelord 🐸🇺🇸 (@AltRightMemes) July 15, 2016
This imagined Western Civilization that these people think they’re fighting for isn’t a place I want to live.
@ Jack
It’s a politically based position held by some Iranian leaders and others, presumably because of a desire to refuse sympathy towards Israel. Apart from the Palestine issue, Muslims have historically tended to treat Jewish peoples far better than Christians have.
Hey! New page means Mike is gone!
@pitshade
Yeah, I’m aware. I was just kidding because Muslims aren’t a monolith. I mean, I know not all white Christians are genocidal because they went on several crusades trying to kill all the Jewish and Muslim people, or killing all the Native Americans, or killing Jewish people during the 1940s, or still wanting to kill people to this day with the KKK and neo-nazis and shit.
I mean, statistically, there’s gotta be SOME white people that don’t want to kill people. Not the best track record so far but I’m pretty sure white Christians have caused more genocide than Muslims and Jewish people.
Oh good. Sheesh, he really didn’t seem to take the hints (and outright refutes) that nobody wanted to listen to his garbage.
Strange that the ones who think everyone else is a hivemind tend to be as close to being one as possible.
Oh, now I see why the spam on the 2nd page was being pushed down: we’re apparently in a nested-response format now instead of posts appearing in the order they were posted in. When did that happen?
A Nazi apologist in the comments? Really? Really?!! Nobody needs that shit.
Problems with chronological order might be due to people being in different time zones and the site not handling the differential properly.
Not saying its the cause on this particular site, but its one possibility to consider as the cause
is nothing acurate?
Next someone will say the swedish chef in the muppets was actually the child of a lithuanian mother and chinese father and was actually speaking kurdish 🙂
@Handsome Jack and the Pretzels
I’m white and I don’t want to kill people. Generally, I mean.
It’s possible that the out-of-order posts were because people were hitting “reply” from the emails? That’s what’s happened with me.
The Swedish Chef is based on pseudo-Swedish gibberish Jim Henson would often say while cooking in real life.
Current time is 1122 hours, 16 July 2016 (UTC +9)
Time stamps appear to be Central Daylight Time.
“Or, to put it another way, it wasn’t gays who started teaching gays to hate themselves.Or, to put it another way, it wasn’t gays who started teaching gays to hate themselves.”
Nope, but it wasnt hetrosexuals either. It was theists
Spam => Not Meat (But still very popular in Korea)
Why do these people insist upon lying to me?
Has Kinsey heard about you?
Edit: And your triangular theory of sexual orientation, I mean. Corner one: gay, corner two: straight, corner three: religious. Groundbreaking stuff.
Theists who were (and are) heterosexuals and who extol about the virtues of being heterosexual over being homosexual, and how it was what their Gods want.
So, yeah, it was the fucking heterosexuals who thought that their sexual orientation was the most devout and holy to their Gods, and everyone else was a blasphemous heathen.
It’s a simple case of “I am X, therefore I am more righteous than thou.”
Also, as a pagan theist: Fuck off with your sweeping generalizations.
@Mike
Heh heh, no.
You can’t just go post wall screeds nazi apologia and ignore everyone who did more research than you on these subjects, and all of a sudden decide that we should all pretend that never happened.
EDIT You can’t even do the pretending right.
@Mike:
Ok, I think you’ve had enough to drink now. You weren’t making any sense when sober but now you’re just rambling like a bat on methanol. Bed time for Gonzo.
For the Nazi apologist.
https://youtu.be/Gj6CIveQGLs?t=2m16s
Here’s the perfect example of mansplaining. He has no freaking clue about this behavior we’ve all seen enough to know this is the most ridiculous possible root cause for, but he just throws it out there like he knows what he’s talking about when Phryne has actually found a likely cause (which she’s pointed out multiple times) that fits the actual pattern better.
@Kupo
Yay a perfect example in our own forum. Also did I miss the part where Gert decides to not be a shitbird, or am I confusing him for someone else?
The comment about muslims actually claimng the entire holocaust was made up was filmed in a couple of documentaries that went undercover into british mosques
its viewed by some as being widespread enough for there to have been a conference specifically to discuss that one topic at Bar-Ilan University, and theres some video interviews floating around the internet with some of the speakers
Rather than just merely doubting such things based on a feeling it takes about 10 seconds to do a search and actually know
Lol at “manspaining”, that is the most pathetic response to someone offering a “possible” reason for something I have ever seen.
I didnt claim it “was” the problem, merely that it “could” be. And gender is irrelevant in the scenario as anyone of any gender or someone gender confused who has seen a site do it for that exact same reason could have posted the exact same thing as a result of that
Sheesh, not meeting your made up word quota for the day or something?
@Mike
B-but other people also deny the holocaust too.
Is that really your argument?
Isn’t it time for him to go now? Like, away… forever…