Reply to Turns out the Falls Church school board guy from the Koch thinktank, Ilya Shapiro, really is toxic

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]^^^ The other thing I'd note is that growing up in an authoritarian regime with bad nationality policy should have made Shapiro LESS likely to support authoritarians and bad nationality policy.

Unfortunately, it did not. [/quote]

Very well said pp in your post above this one. But how old is this guy? All this focus on his USSR history, but how old was he when the USSR disintegrated? 10 at most, living in Moscow (a huge privilege in USSR days in itself).[/quote]

I'm the PP who posted about Soviet nationality policy and there are two threads of discussion around his background, both of which would be kind of interesting if folks on DCUM were a little more nuanced:

1) Are Gen X and Boomer generation Soviet immigrants reflexively conservative? Even reactionary at times? [/Quote]

In my experience, as above. Quite a lot of them are. But not all.

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2) Should Mr. Shapiro get a "pass" on racist comments because he was a member of a persecuted minority before his family emigrated from the USSR?

[/Quote]

Nope. No one should. On the other hand, an apology and acknowledgement of his bias would work wonders. Unfortunately, he likes playing the victim, as do all Federalist betas, so that will not happen.

I'm sorry I called him a beta, as an example of an apology. That was wrong of me. I have some preconceived notions about short little men who squander their intelligence catering to despots and organized crime. And not because they are short. Oops! There I go again.

[Quote]
On number 1, I'd say yes, sometimes. This is a hard conversation, but I think the reflexive conservatism of many Soviet emigres (particularly those 50+ right now) stems from genuine trauma but also from frustration about "starting over" in this country and having to work their way up under people who they think are inferior to them, including POC. 
[/Quote]

I commend you for taking this argument seriously. I agree there are some serious points in it, although I initiated it from a place of exasperation and disgust with the traitors who keep trying to tear apart our nation under the mistaken opinion that they are masters of the universe.

In my heart I do think it's that simple for a lot of Cato and Federalist types. A burning desire (and fwiw a very masculine one) to prove their own worth at the expense of those they consider lesser. Regarding immigrants, racism is nothing knew, either in the giving or the receiving. Our country has been built on it as much as it has been built on unity and democracy.

Certainly it's not a condition limited to Russian Jewish emigres. But with Cato and the Federalist there does seem to be that odd Putin we love despots thing going. What is that?

My theory? A bunch of boys wanting to play Godfather. That simple. Sad really, that such a pathetic conceit can cause so much harm.

[Quote]

On number 2, no. Mr. Shapiro has accessed this country's finest educational institutions, and been given opportunity after opportunity to succeed, including 0poverlooking some past bigoted statements. I am not doubting that his family faced antisemitism in the USSR, and that he may have faced it in North America as well, but that does not give him a "get out of jail free" pass when it comes to public racism. He should own the consequences of his words. [/quote]

Again, would that he would, but he gets sooo much traction from playing victim, as someone else pointed out.

That's why you can't take people like him seriously. They want to be serious, but they're not. They're just tin soldiers. [/quote]

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