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Comment by Bancakes | Hacker News Reader

No I live in Europe. And if I didn’t I wouldn’t worry about it until there’s armed men in uniforms and red armbands walking the streets. I’ve found the best coping mechanism to the overabundance and inflation of information due to the internet, is to simply live within your horizon. I see no musk/trump, I fear no musk/trump. Have a great day, hope your cortisol levels are good.

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Time to worry then. Although to be fair, not all armbands are red. Some fascists prefer brown and black.

USA - https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/cincinnati-ohio-nazi-f...

Germany - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/12/24/g...

France - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/05/12/neo-fasc...

Poland - https://www.reuters.com/default/far-right-independence-day-m...

Italy - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67922431

If you now tell me, a, but I live in <insert more specific European country>, you'll know just as well as I do that the fascists are on the rise in every European country.

When they start marching down the streets it will already be far too late. And if you think we're safe just because we live across the pond, well... remember that there is no European army, and that so far our leaders have been extremely passive in the face of obvious political interferences, in e.g. Germany.

This is a common type of argument that my friends and colleagues have offered me. Perhaps it doesn't make sense to help with wildfire relief because my house didn't burn down. Perhaps it doesn't make sense to have concerns about systemd because I use BSD. Perhaps it is a waste of resources to ensure HIV positive people have access to medicine because I don't have HIV.

How much time do you really spend worrying about all of the things you could be worrying about? Maybe you really do worry about SystemD, after all you thought to mention it, but couldn't that time and emotional energy be spent on climate change or malaria instead? Your resources are finite and the list of things you could be worrying about include many which could easily swallow all of your time and energy. You must be prioritizing some while neglecting others, using some manner of selection function biased towards local and personal matters. Which is fine, and completely natural. I cleaned my house yesterday, time I could have spent advocating the cause of mosquito nets.

I’m sure my democratically elected representatives will have a conversation with your democratically elected representatives about these issues.

> I wouldn’t worry about it until there’s armed men in uniforms and red armbands walking the streets.

Wild that someone can write that entire sentence, put a period at the end, and not notice, "whoa, that actually makes zero sense at all, does it?"

And as others mention: time to worry!

"Local residents confronted and drove off neo-Nazi demonstrators waving large swastika-emblazoned flags along a highway overpass on Friday between Lincoln Heights and Evendale, Ohio, home to a historically Black community that has endured a long history of racism... As they approached the neo-Nazis, the demonstrators, which Talbert said were carrying guns, called them the N-word."

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/cincinnati-ohio-nazi-flags...

This seems to fit your criteria of "armed men in uniforms and red armbands walking the streets". Time to be worried or no?

I agree, don’t look up!

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