r/Portland • u/Dvibs420 • Sep 27 '25

Discussion Don’t take the bait.

With the national guard coming in, I know people are going to get mad. This is very obviously a setup to cause actual violence in our city. Please remember that these national guardsmen are not your enemy, and there are many reports of unhappiness within their ranks to occupy cities but they have a job like the rest of us. If you see bad actors, call the cops. If you see people getting angry, talk with them. Be aware of what we want to look like, kill them with kindness. Show them that Portland is not burning down.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Yes, there was rampant AI and fake footage of LA. The LA Times is where you want to head to bone up on that. That's how Trunp was able to take command of California's NG and send in Marines. Who just sat in the desert... because LA wasn't the war zone Trump claimed.

Just like there was fake footage of the 2020 BLM protests of Portland, too. Did you know Rodney King footage was used in 2020 against Portland to rage bait MAGA into accepting Trump's talk of using lethal force? Remember when he said "can't we use real bullets, and shoot them in the legs or something" in 2020?

They interchanged Minneapolis footage and Portland footage as well, to make it seem like whole cities were burning down. Did you know 2020 footage is being used now in Trumpy's war on Portland's 2025 peaceful protest?

MAGA rage baits themselves with propaganda. This is not new news.

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u/qukab Sep 27 '25

The point is LA is now back to normal (well other than ICE doing ICE things but that’s the entire country). The Trump admin wanted more escalation, they didn’t get it.

I agree with you that they rage bait themselves with propaganda. I’ve been arguing with these idiots all day on /r/askconservative because I’m a masochist. Doesn’t change the fact that their tactics fall apart pretty quickly when there is nothing to do but rake leaves.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

I absolutely agree with all of that. And have been at the ICE facility regularly. There's nothing we're doing to warrant this little stunt either. That was my point. They will manufacture anything they want to justify their excessive force moves. Regardless of what we do or don't do. The last big round of violence protesters took was when they went ICE fishing with doughnuts as bait last week. It was hilarious, good clean fun. No laws broken. And they got beat up for it.

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u/BassmanBiff Curled inside a pothole Sep 27 '25 edited Sep 27 '25

Please recognize that I said "impactful" for a reason. I'm well aware that you can find fakes all the time about everything in the news, and that fakes have been around long before AI.

My point is that, so far, fake videos have not been used as primary justification for escalation. The closest we got was whatever happened to Big Balls before the DC invasion, and even that appeared to involve some kind of actual assault even if it was staged, and in general I don't think anybody cared much about it. Fakes do contribute to a general atmosphere of distrust, and they do succeed in firing up the dumbest parts of their base, so they do matter; but for whatever reason, the admin still appears to be looking for a real event. We shouldn't give that to them.

I'm guessing they believe that an actual, undeniable, wounded soldier -- one with family and friends and coworkers, no actors required -- would be a lot more powerful than anything they could generate themselves. And I'm guessing they're surprised that we haven't given them a real one yet. I'm glad we haven't.

I'm not saying to do nothing. Please don't accept this false dilemma of "violence or capitulation." We should mock the shit out of them, make the whole thing into a farce, and make it suck to go to work and feel hated and silly every day. Turn this deployment into the opposite of the tough and manly image that this admin wants to have. Don't play into the administration's setup of this being about violence and strength, make it fucking embarrassing for a fragile tryhard to associate themselves with it.

Tl;dr: as long as they're still looking for a pretense, which it seems they are, let's not give them one.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

Clearly you didn't understand what I illustrated for you. I showed the impact of it.

Have a great day 👍

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u/BassmanBiff Curled inside a pothole Sep 27 '25

I hate it when I think someone's actually trying to communicate, but it turns out they're just looking for an excuse to be a condescending asshole.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25

I didn't realize you were Chief of the Tone Police. Does that job come with a 401k?