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"Chat, be normal." πŸ—£ (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/leftymemes@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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Republicans trying to explain how Musk didnt do a Nazi salute = Democrats trying to explain how Platner didnt know it was a Nazi insignia
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[–] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

There is an interview where he renounces the beliefs he held in that quote.

That's a good start, but nowhere near enough for someone whose actions were so monstrous.

My issue is it feels most people shitting on him have no intention of ever forgiving him no matter what, and care more about ignoring what change he has made in order to paint him in a worse light.

I actually responded to a comment about forgiveness in anarchist spaces a few hours back. Platner fits the discussion like a glove. Unfortunately, Anarchist Nexus doesn't let you view comment links without a login, so I'll just quote myself:

I don't get why some people excommunicate them for their past actions.

There are definitely a few people on Lemmy who have lost relatives or been personally fucked over by the AmeriKKKan military. I can 1000% understand why these people are not necessarily ready to forgive veterans, even ones who try to right their wrongs.

Fact of the matter is: they are not owed forgiveness, no matter how hard they try, how much work they put in, how much they sacrifice. It's that simple. Some people are just not gonna forgive you for your service. For the veterans in the chat, part of your journey has to be to learn to understand and live with this reality, and to work around it as best as you are able.

And just in general: you are never ever ever owed forgiveness, no matter what. Full stop.

Unlike what I said in the quoted comment about the veteran who got beaten up at Delaney Hall, in this case I am not willing to forgive Platner ... yet. I am personally leaving open the future possibility of my personal forgiveness ... but again, I must push back on the notion that anyone owes him, nor anyone else (myself included!), forgiveness for anything. Continuing,

But that's my privileged AmeriKKKan-ass opinion, coming from someone who's never been personally hurt by veterans, someone who has nothing to even forgive him for. I.e., my view rightly has no bearing on the opinions and analyses of people who have been brutalized by veterans. So if someone else is not ready to forgive this guy, that's something we just gotta respect.

As I said previously, Platner has a long way to go before I'm ready to forgive him. And it is completely understandable if some of his victims never forgive him at all, even if it is not politically expedient for people living in AmeriKKKa who care about electoral victories.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    Thats fair, and yeah you are right that he is not owed forgiveness. I apologize, I was wrong when I said otherwise. Frankly idk why I said anything to the effect he was owed it, that is my bad.

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  • [–] -1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Because unless proven otherwise giving people the ability to grow and change is a good moral thing to do.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    I don't disagree with that, but I also do not feel it is antithetical to also believing that people are entitled to forgiveness by everyone.

    People should be able to move past their mistakes and able to grow, but that doesnt mean everyone needs to forgive them. The families whose loved ones were killed by Platner do not need to forgive him, and neither do people who wish to stand in solidarity with those families. But that also doesnt mean we have to hold Platner's past over his head while ignoring what he has done to grow into a different person.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    I didnt mean to imply one is entitled to forgiveness, though I doubt many of the people pearl clutching were actually impacted by his actions, particularly when it's a bunch of hawkish Democrats who would gladly send the military to kill more innocents without a second thought but love trying to find ways to have moral outrage over Platner's past.

    There is some real problematic shit, but he's saying the right progressive things, which is why the establishment is trying to fling as much shit at him as possible.

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