I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but:

The term "86" is not, and never has been, a call for violence. The expression is nearly 100 years old (look it up), and is used to mean "fire", "dismiss", or "stop".

Nobody had even suggested that it implied violence until May of this year, when James Comey—not exactly a fire-breathing advocate for violence—posted #eightysix47, meaning, essentially, "fire the president".

In response, the right-wing thought police invented de novo a new implication for the term, suggesting Comey's post was some kind of code for using violence.

It was not.

The attempt on the part of the ruling party to suppress the language of resistance is a real and present threat to our ability to legitimately, and peacefully, express our opposition to #fascism and Christian #nationalism.

#freespeech #Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #hashtagbanned

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Banning the use of particular words on the basis that somebody asserts imply violence leads us down a dark path. If we ban “86”, we’ll eventually end up banning other words that could conceivably be used to mean violence, like: “remove”, “get rid of”, “discard”. Will I get banned if I post #remove47? Not today, perhaps. But tomorrow. . . ?

If we are left with no words, the only way to resist is with violence. Perhaps it’s a bit on-the-nose to quote 1948 to illustrate my point, but here goes:

In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it”

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Again: suppression is a favorite tool of #fascists.

Don’t be manipulated into accepting the fascists’ premise. They’re well aware that their plans won’t be interrupted through civil violence (so much for the wrong-from-the-start idea that the Second Amendment will prepare us to resist tyranny). They’re not afraid of our guns: they’re afraid of our words.

The burden of proof must always be on those who object to speech, not those who engage in it. If somebody asserts that my use of #eightysix47 is a call to violence, endeavoring to suppress my speech, it’s up to them to show that to be true, and it’s not up to me to demonstrate that it’s not.

I abhor violence. Twenty-four years ago today, I got an up close and personal view of violence, as the towers I’d been in countless times collapsed only a few blocks from where I was standing. Nobody—NOBODY—gets to lecture me about the threat that #violence represents to our society.

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I’m a writer, a strong believer in the power of words and other forms of non-violent #resistance. Words are my only weapons. When we pre-comply with the directives of fascists, we hand over our weapons to them. When they’re gone, all that’s left to us are actual weapons—the kind that go “bang” or “boom—and we know where that goes.

If you’re a moderator, or in some other way have control over what others wish to publish, you are a potential instrument for those who would tell us what words may or may not be used. Be careful not to act on the word of somebody who bans books when deciding whom to ban on your forum.

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