It always fascinates me how the moderate mind has to use foreign events to describe and condemn the very western things happening. When censorship, disinformation, and authoritarianism is on the rise in the United States of America, they cannot be put into historical context with a plethora of domestic examples to choose from, these forms of oppression must be compared to the currently constructed enemy figures, and hence, while appearing on the surface as criticism of the status quo, it's inadvertently reinforced.

“I Never Thought the Middle East Would Come to Minneapolis” is a New York Times article from the 25th of January 2026, discussing something so uniquely, historically American, yet portrayed through the lense of it actually being similar to the imperial enemy. I've recently discussed why ICE should rather be compared to the American „Slave Patrol” than the Gestapo. While I see the purpose of utilizing the declining, but still somewhat held belief in the general populace of the United States of America that Nazis were and maybe are bad, in order to rally people against a fascist movement with too many similarities to it, I'd argue that it's necessary to use people's rightful anger about current day events to educate about our history and our violence. That violence isn't new or foreign, many of our PoC, queer, or feminine peers have experienced it for their whole life.

It didn't just become an issue recently, you just began recognizing that violence recently, the lies became so obvious recently that our propagandization became impossible to deny, and and you've just recently stopped listening to the media perpetrating these lies anyway. Our world, our countries, they didn't change, you did. That's good, but you need to go further than that and unlearn the entire basis on which the western world relies.

Of course there's way more legitimacy to comparing a western fascist force inspired by American segregation, the Nazis and their secret police the Gestapo, to a different western fascist force and their secret police, MAGA and ICE, than to use a comparison from the global south which is simply the result of our imperialist policies. Additionally, many people asked about the necessity and accused me of pedantry after my statements, and again, I can see that argument given we're speaking of two western powers, but generally this is very important. I once said that:

A liberal is someone who opposes every war except the current war and supports all civil rights movements except the one that is going on right now.

— Erik Uden, 29th of November 2023.

I'd update this sentiment by arguing that a liberal is someone who can oppose today's war and support today's civil rights movements, but only by continuing to use the framing, the methods, and still adhering to the morality of our oppressor. That in itself turns my original statement true once again, as none of that can ever be opposition to war nor support for the right cause.

Dancing ICE away, peacefully protesting outside of the internment centers, arguing for better training of ICE officers. When ICE throws someone into an unmarked van, never to hear from them again, liberals will yell “mark the van!” In doing so liberals and their conservative parliamentary arm, which in the United States of America is the Democratic party, serve as a legitimization of the status quo by smothering true opposition. Instead of unlearning all of our propaganda, instead of beginning to question our economic power structures, our so-called rules based world order, our so-called representative democracy, the liberal project reaffirms the entire path that lead up to our violent reality today, and offers miniscule, surface level impractical opposition. A not too uncomfortable option for change, instead of a revolution, that's what a liberal offers.

@DoctorG_1 @ErikUden The covert and open state terrorism in Nazi time was shared by Gestapo, SA, SS, police and others.

Yes, U.S. ICE is a fascist state terrorist organization, you can compare it to any other fascist / authoritarian state terrorist organization – basically they are all the same – details are all different.

✊ Fight them back, all of them (I still hope peaceful is still possible?)

@ErikUden ICE is like isis.

(edit: alt-text typos; unfortunately altbot didn't work) Video source: @dena_mccoy on Tikitok.