PatrickStar comments on I am not judging Democrat politicians nor am I saying these are actually salutes in the same way people say Musk gave a salute, but whatever it is, why all of a sudden is this such a repeated gesture?

[–] PatrickStar@sh.itjust.works [S] 0 points 5 months ago (10 children)

I know that. I'm not saying that isn't true. But what sparked this spontaneous idea among Democratic candidates of "I'm going to do this thing which is clearly not a salute but which the Republicans are going to call one"?

It was far less common before to even be in the position where your opponents say "now that's something I can spin into smear". It would be like me hearing that my opponent got in trouble for giving a middle finger in a video starring politicians and being like "that's the finger I'm going to use to push up my glasses from now on".

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Like… really? The article doesn’t appear to have the video, but here is the still they use:

For reference, here is a still of musk:

Those aren’t even remotely similar, and people arguing they are, are doing so in bad faith.

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[–] Jedikkeneus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I think what he's asking is "why move arms at all?"

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 point 5 months ago (3 children)

T pose to assert dominance? Bold, but could work!

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[–] PatrickStar@sh.itjust.works [S] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

No, what I mean is why do a gesture that isn't a salute but which people who are reaching for things to complain about... are going to complain about? I'm not saying the gesture is actually similar.

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

But he’s like obviously waving, so you’re saying don’t wave at people anymore? I mean… I guess.

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[–] PatrickStar@sh.itjust.works [S] 1 point 5 months ago*

Just wave like someone on the street.

If not, there are a hundred variations that would look fine.

Whether or not it's an actual Nazi salute, it doesn't have to look like you inviting a reverse hunchback to give you a high-five.

Like you said, sometimes people wave in ways where people are going to reach for things to frame as the same thing Elon Musk did. I'm aware it's not the same thing. But if it's not a Nazi salute, but you know it's going to be seen as one by the opposition even if it's completely understood by your party to not be one, you're just poking the bear. Especially when nobody did it so frequently before the person who actually did it got outed for doing it.

By the way, that analogy I gave earlier about the middle finger actually happened. You could look this up. In Soviet Russia, it was common for people to push their glasses up with their middle finger when they were being recorded because they knew flipping the bird directly was a criminal offense. And there were instances where they did go to gulags. For pushing their glasses up while on camera.

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