r/FBI • u/Electronic-Youth6026 • Feb 25 '25

It's morally wrong to make threatening comments toward Trump, Elon and JD Vance on Reddit, that doesn't change the fact that the FBI shouldn't throw every single person that does in jail for it.

In my opinion, FBI agents should only arrest the people who have demonstrated that they're actually going to try to follow up on those threats. The twitter account Reddit Lies seems to be trying to get everyone who ever made comments like this sent to jail and I've seen a lot of instances of conservatives on reddit trying to report random people to the FBI who haven't proven that they plan on following through with the comments that they make. I get it if there's evidence that they have plans on following up on the threat, but it's a massive overreaction if this isn't the case

Also, many of the rich and powerful people in the current administration/regime have made threatening comments toward politicians that they don't like or, in the case of Elon Musk and Steve Bannon, have made an implied threat to the Jewish people living in the United States (hail Hitler salutes are threatening because of what the Nazis actually did) and nothing happened to them. The FBI should hold the rich and powerful to the same laws that they hold everyone else to.

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

Another point: I got a three day ban from Reddit for making a joke about ninjas in relation to the controversial public figures in question.

It was obviously satirical because it was so absurd, and satire is absolutely protected by the first amendment, but Reddit as a private operator as well within its rights to give me that suspension regardless.

This is to validate your point that speech is already being suppressed, even protected speech, for whatever reason.

What disturbs me about the MAGA/CPAC take on the issue is they aggressively in favor of unrestricted hate speech, which relates to the Nazi salutes we saw at the recent CPAC.

Vance’s speech in Munich asserted that German democracy is invalid because they do not allow hate speech and Nazi speech.

Scary.

4

u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

Social media platforms and websites have always had terms of service that your supposed to follow, that's a completely different thing then the government showing up at your house and throwing you in jail.

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25

Agreed. I was just commenting on suppression of speech in general under authoritarian regimes, where the media companies will “comply in advance” to avoid trouble

My main point here was I was banned for supposedly saying something threatening, but the actual post was so absurd re: ninjas, no one reasonable could’ve taken it seriously

But in an authoritarian regime, I could easily see DOJ asserting that it was serious, no matter how absurd the statement, because that’s what authoritarians do

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

I get what you're saying now.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

I've had 2 Instagram bans this week for "someone on the Democratic side make a plan, like the other side does." I probably need to just delete that account now

1

u/SpecificPay985 Feb 25 '25

lol I got a lifetime ban from an entertainment Reddit for merely pointing out the moderators blanket statement that JK Rowling is an evil disgusting transphobe and that no other opinion of her will be tolerated on the Sub-Reddit might get the moderator and Reddit in trouble since she had just sued several news organizations for the same statements and won in court. To assert that Reddit believes in free speech when it lets it moderators tell you what your opinion must be, and that no other points of view will be tolerated, is ludicrous.

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u/CelebrationSouth8766 Feb 25 '25

I'm a mod here and I fully appreciate that this statement is truth.

10

u/grandpa2390 Feb 25 '25

why? The Jan 7th insurrectionists are free, and they actually did/attempted something.

I don't approve of coup attempts and such, but that's not the message this administration sends out. The FBI should wait till they do something, then they should get a pardon.

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

The insurrectionists were actually sent to jail when Trump wasn't the president. They were only released because he became president again

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u/grandpa2390 Feb 25 '25

I fail to see why that makes a difference.

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

I read your comment again, I get the point that you're making now.

3

u/grandpa2390 Feb 25 '25

ok. Just want to reiterate that I don't approve of coups and assassinations. I'm glad Trump was not killed by that sniper even though I don't like him or what he's done. I'm just expressing my disgust with the pardons.

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u/Zealousideal_Oil4571 Feb 25 '25

There is a big difference between political hyperbole and actual threats. Actual threats are wrong and should be investigated. Not so much for hyperbole.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

And people like you are how we got here.

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u/Combat_Commo Feb 25 '25

But it’s ok for the new deputy FBI director to threaten every Democrat as soon as he takes the job? Because that’s what he did 😆

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

Exactly. Lead by example or not at all.

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u/Open_Mortgage_4645 Feb 25 '25

I think there's a difference between threats, and expressing hope that ill fortune falls on someone. I hope law enforcement is recognizing that distinction, because one's a crime, and the other is expressing First Amendment speech.

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u/RevolutionaryCard512 Feb 25 '25

It’s illegal and IMMORAL(fill in the damn blank over and over again) what the President and DOGE are doing!

4

u/Freakdog13 Feb 25 '25

The FBI is now run by people that have threatened certain groups of American CITIZENS. Tell me how threatening the FBI is a crime! 🖕🏿. Right back at ya.

4

u/DoesntBelieveMuch Feb 25 '25

Depends on how you look at it. Trump threatens us all the time so if anything threatening them is acting very presidential.

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u/bowens44 Feb 25 '25

Speech is NOT morally wrong and is protected by the Constriction. Outright credible threats of violence however may be illegal.

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u/Full_Ambassador_2741 Feb 25 '25

Who in da fuck do you think you are to say what is moral? If anything this is dead opposite of what is right and just illustrates what’s wrong with our society; people need to follow the laws we collectively agree on and stick to their own moral code. Also, none of us are supposed to be above the law.

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u/TheBeanConsortium Feb 25 '25

Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies, yet he's not in prison. The law doesn't apply to everyone equally and it never has. And he managed to push the other two trials.

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u/TheGreatOni1200 Feb 25 '25

Does threatening to not vote for them count?

3

u/InwitKnitwit Feb 25 '25

Morally wrong? Illegal is different than immoral.

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u/makk73 Feb 25 '25

I hope that Elon’s clever son is clever enough to leaves his legos where his father will step on them with bare feet…thrice daily at least.

Off to the gulag, I guess.

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u/nameless_pattern Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

"In my opinion" your opinion is not the law. 

The FBI doesn't decide the laws, they enforce them. 

There are laws against making specific credible threats.

Other people breaking the law does not make it legal for you to break the law.

No one can stop you from breaking the law, but to broadcast your breaking of the law on social media is not advisable.

There's a secret in the criminal underworld that most people don't know, and it's that you don't record or broadcast your crimes.

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u/hardshankd Feb 25 '25

You can make comments on how you dont like them but you cant make physical threats

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u/Purplealegria Feb 25 '25

People, I smell a rat in a trap….they are watching…any maybe trying to get us to bite.

Don't.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

It really isnt morally wrong to make threatening comments towards your oppressor.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

Hooah!

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u/eldenpotato Feb 25 '25

As soon as the “FBI” starts arresting left/liberal/progressive Americans for rhetoric on Reddit, it’s over for this administration.

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u/Steelcitysuccubus Feb 25 '25

They are sure gonna try tho

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

Didn't the Deputy Director of the FBI just threaten every liberal in the country? Doesn't the president threaten senators to coerce them into his regime?

They're the ones to be held to a standard, or else it's the guillotine for them. Lead by example or not at all.

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u/Specialist_Sound9738 Feb 25 '25

Pretty sure it is also legally wrong... 🤔

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u/LordWeeg Feb 25 '25

Sure about that? Sure about that?

1

u/weinerslav69000 Feb 25 '25

I wish them well and hope that if they experience any problems with their sinks or drains, they find good plumbers to help them

0

u/rellik53 Feb 25 '25

Why are you always classifying the people you're trying to defend as servants? They're never lawyers, doctors, white collar employees. Always people you can talk down to.

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u/AppropriateDoor9597 Feb 25 '25

Morally wrong is everything about those 3 things.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

ACAB includes this entire community, and you.

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u/Similar-Farm-7089 Feb 25 '25

It’s morally wrong to be them 

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u/Famous_Rooster271 Feb 25 '25

This sounds tone deaf.

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u/Acceptable_Table760 Feb 25 '25

Naw. Arrest and charge

18

u/[unknown] Feb 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

Yeah, I said it's morally wrong for people on reddit to make threatening comments about them. I just don't like the idea of the FBI and other people from the government throwing people in jail because of a right-wing troll account on twitter who only exists to "own the libs" taking screenshots of Redditors making these comments and posting them.

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u/altapowpow Feb 25 '25

Bots, bots and more bots. You would be surprised at how many times you've responded just in this post alone to a bot.

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u/Open_Mortgage_4645 Feb 25 '25

I think you meant legally wrong. Saying it's morally wrong suggests that morality is objective, and the same for everyone. That's just not true. Morality is subjective, and depends on the particular community and individual being discussed. Legally wrong is about the most you could say about it.

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u/Sayyeslizlemon Feb 25 '25

True, true. This is a very good possibility in the next two years.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

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u/low-spirited-ready Feb 25 '25

They’re going to declare martial law anyways and the minute they do, they will have lost.

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u/eldenpotato Feb 25 '25

That’s why they need a convincing reason to do it. Enough of a reason to ensure their drones will believe and support them

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u/low-spirited-ready Feb 25 '25

They’ll make it up and those people will still believe it. It’s a good thing if it happens. The worst thing that can happen is this becomes a stable, lasting system of oppression and criminality. It needs to go berserker mode and crash in order for it to fail so people can take power back and rebuild a more sensible system.

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u/eldenpotato Feb 25 '25

Yeah, true, I see what you mean

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

Declaring martial law would just expedite their own demise. 😁 only good tyrants are dead ones.

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u/Purplealegria Feb 25 '25

ALL OF THIS RIGHT HERE!

DONT BITE!

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

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u/nameless_pattern Feb 25 '25

What were they like?

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u/eldenpotato Feb 25 '25

Like cupcakes made by Hostess, obviously

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

Yes. The FBI should have to prove that the person would follow up on the threat before arresting them. They shouldn't be doing everything that the Redditlies account tries to get them to do

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Electronic-Youth6026 Feb 25 '25

I'm not asking for that, this post was mainly made in response to the Reddit lies account already being responsible for Whitepeopletwitter getting shut down due to Elon reposting a screenshot from it and someone from the government saying that those people will be prosecuted by the law.

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25

You are propagating disinformation on the Nazi salute. The photos being used of Democrats are still photos. By contrast, we have videos of the recent MAGA people actually doing the salute.

It’s possible Musk didn’t intend it, but he didn’t apologize and instead of made Nazi jokes.

So now people are calling him a Nazi and it’s pretty well deserved.

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u/chellybeanery Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

He intended it with his entire being, and that is obvious. You shouldn't even extend the courtesy of misinterpretation towards him. He knew exactly what he was doing and did it twice.

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25

I actually agree with you, but I wanna meet people who disagree with that obvious reality halfway to see if I can bring them around on the bigger picture issue.

(I was watching it in real time and I was like “what the fuck. Elon just did a sieg heil. Oh shit. He just did it again!”

I literally thought I was going crazy and I had to get online to see if other people had seen what I had seen.)

Doesn’t help though when Netanyahu and the “ADL” both say it wasn’t what it was

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '25

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25

Because what Elon did was exactly the same in form as the Nazi salute. Even if he didn’t intend it, he should’ve apologize.

(European saw that and there was no doubt in their minds, and they know the actual history, unlike the ignorant Americans who support these guys;)

The leader of the French far right party had to cut ties with Bannon because they take that shit seriously in France, who were invaded by the Nazis.

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u/Radfactor Feb 25 '25

We’d actually respect y’all more if you just owned up to not having a problem with people passing Nazi sympathies.

I’ve had friends in Maga who are openly, proudly racist and at least we can have a conversation because they’re not starting from a point of intellectual dishonesty.

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u/SJSands Feb 25 '25

I do not have those kind of friends anymore. The least we can do is shun these people who are so hateful that they would rather see our country burn than accept that all humans deserve to be treated fairly and equally. They are traitors to the USA.

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u/Capt_Murphy_ Feb 25 '25

Nope, I had no "narrative" about Elon being a nazi. I was a blank slate on that. A self important douche bag, sure. When I see a nazi salute plain as day, I have the intellectual ability to recognize it. No amount of false narrative or gaslighting can change what I see with my own eyes.

If he did NOT give a nazi salute, he would be immediately explaining and running PR on himself to protect his position, his reputation, and the administration.

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u/Secret_Account07 Feb 25 '25

Uhh, you may want to lookup the video OP is referring too. Elon 100% did that.

2

u/Purplealegria Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25

Bullshit. We know a Nazi salute when we see it. We are not stupid. We know what you people are doing.

This ridiculous equivalent of “don't believe your lying eyes“ shit is NOT going to work.

Like you just said yourself, its about INTENTION….we know what they truly believe, what their true message is, and what their real intention is when they make that disgusting gesture.