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   Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:11:01 JST Rich Felker

   They have a long, long history of being useful fools serving right-wing agendas and I don't trust them.

   • Embed this notice
     Soatok Dreamseeker (soatok@furry.engineer)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:11:55 JST Soatok Dreamseeker

     in reply to

     @dalias I think the term of art is "useful idiot"

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     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:12:49 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Soatok Dreamseeker

     @soatok Yes but I'm trying to avoid ableist/eugenicist language and "idiot" is associated with that shit.

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     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:14:03 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Soatok Dreamseeker

     @soatok And I feel like "useful fools" is more accurate anyway. It's not about being useful by virtue of some innate lack of "intelligence" but by virtue of having been fooled by someone.

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     Aris Adamantiadis :verified:💲Paid (aris@infosec.exchange)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:14:42 JST Aris Adamantiadis :verified:💲Paid

     in reply to

     • Soatok Dreamseeker

     @soatok @dalias I don't think they're idiots, I think they know exactly what they're doing and why they're aligning with the interests of the oil businesses and/or Russian government.

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     Soatok Dreamseeker (soatok@furry.engineer)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:14:42 JST Soatok Dreamseeker

     in reply to

     • Aris Adamantiadis :verified:💲Paid

     @aris @dalias It's not a lack of intelligence, that's just what the polsci term is :\

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     Soatok Dreamseeker (soatok@furry.engineer)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:17:08 JST Soatok Dreamseeker

     in reply to

     @dalias Sure, feel free to make a complaint at everyone who writes about propaganda

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     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:18:26 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Soatok Dreamseeker

     @soatok I mean I could, but I'm happy with just using a term I find better and hoping it sticks in common usage. Same way we've gone about replacing a lot of language.

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     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:19:47 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • Soatok Dreamseeker
     • Aris Adamantiadis :verified:💲Paid

     @aris @soatok There are probably complicated relationships here I don't understand, and I don't want to make up attribution or intent I can't support.

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     JWcph, Radicalized By Decency (jwcph@helvede.net)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:21:10 JST JWcph, Radicalized By Decency

     in reply to

     @dalias It's sad as a former GP'er & still supporter (on balance I still think they do more good than harm) to have to agree with this - but we often discussed it while I was there & I still talk about it with the friends I made at the time; the tendency to take up purist positions that poison our own well & helps our adversaries...

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     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Feb-2026 23:22:20 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     • JWcph, Radicalized By Decency

     @jwcph Yeah, it's complicated. I've known folks in GP over the years too and I don't think they mean bad, but rather often they end up taking positions that somehow help bad people.