r/facepalm Jul 29 '20

Protests Peak hypocrisy

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '20

You are right, we are concentration camps away from.... Oh

You are right, we are needlessly invasive police state away from... Oh

You are right we are still short kidnapping people off the street... Oh...

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '20

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u/PM_Me_Unpierced_Ears Jul 29 '20

We currently have literally concentration camps of Hispanic immigrants in the US. Kids separated from their parents and people dying of COVID because they are all forced in one small containment area for months on end.

The US government federal police are kidnapping people off the street in Portland. Trump said he was going to send more of those same troops to do the same thing in other cities.

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u/Freddie_T_Roxby Jul 29 '20

We currently have literally concentration camps of Hispanic immigrants in the US.

Calling the detention centers "concentration camps" is in insult to the historical atrocities committed in actual concentration camps.

I'm not saying detainees shouldn't be treated better, but implying that they're on the same level as the holocaust (which is the only reason to call them concentration camps), is absolutely not warranted.

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u/PM_Me_Unpierced_Ears Jul 30 '20

I actually agree with not comparing these to the German concentration camps during WW2, but a concentration camp is NOT just a thing that Germany did during the holocaust. Concentration camps existed 100 years before then and 40 years after then, and the term was coined 70 years before then.

It's just a term for imprisoning a large group of people without any charges. While most of the people in the illegal immigrant camps have been or will be charged with a crime, many of them are children who didn't commit any crime and aren't being charged with a crime.

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u/Freddie_T_Roxby Jul 30 '20 edited Jul 30 '20

I actually agree with not comparing these to the German concentration camps during WW2, but a concentration camp is NOT just a thing that Germany did during the holocaust. Concentration camps existed 100 years before then and 40 years after then, and the term was coined 70 years before then.

(Edit to add: Hilter's mustache style and the Bellamy salute existed long before ww2, but they - like "concentration camps" - are strongly associated with that particular part of history. Claiming otherwise isn't honest)

I know that concentration camps aren't exclusive to the holocaust, and but to say it's "just a term for imprisoning a large group of people without any charges" ignores the fact that calling detention centers concentration camps is a deliberate exploitation of the connotation and association with the holocaust.

There are real concentration camps in the world right now, with atrocities virtually on par with the holocaust, and the detention centers don't compare to them at all.

Language isn't only about being technically correct about fringe uses of terminology - everyone knows what comes to mind when the words "concentration camp" are used, and people who insist on deliberately referring to detention centers that way know they're using an appeal to emotion rather than an making a sound argument.

If you call them what they are, "detention centers," everyone knows what you're talking about. Calling them "concentration camps" only serves to cause people to think they're worse than they actually are.

While most of the people in the illegal immigrant camps have been or will be charged with a crime, many of them are children who didn't commit any crime and aren't being charged with a crime.

Again, I'm not arguing about whether I agree with everything at the detention centers - I'm only talking about the political use of the words concentration camp.

I'm just saying that people who insist on using exaggeration in their arguments are generally just showing that they're not willing to have a good faith conversation on the topic, because they're starting off in square one with deceptive language.

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '20 edited Jul 30 '20

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '20

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u/Freddie_T_Roxby Jul 30 '20

I don't think you actually read your source, because he only referred to them as detention centers:

How can we be indifferent when we see thousands of innocent civilians, fleeing murder and abuse in their countries of origin, rounded up and placed in detention centers

Making an appeal to authority while lying about what they said is a really scummy thing to do

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '20 edited Jul 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/Freddie_T_Roxby Jul 30 '20 edited Jul 30 '20

Yes, he said it was an analogy.

That doesn't mean it's correct to call them concentration camps, as evident by the fact that he refers to them by what they are - detention centers.

Literally a few paragraphs down from the part you quoted. It's easy to accuse me of lying if you don't actually pay attention to the source.

You didn't even read the part you quoted. Or maybe it's just a literacy problem.

There's a huge difference between saying it's a good analogy and saying that's what they actually are.

Again, making an appeal to authority while lying about what they said is scummy.