so the rich can have big toys
It should say “so the rich can control literally every aspect of your life”
I mean, society is just a toy to them.
Plus, horde wealth like dragons just for the sake of feeding their addiction to more. I suspect going from having a billion dollars to having 100 million dollars would have a negligible impact on their quality of life or their toys. It’s just a few less zeroes on their bank account or stock portfolio, but those zeroes are so goddamn important to them.
More than dragons. The richest dragon that you can run into in D&D or Pathfinder will be a Chaotic Evil Red Ancient Wyrm. If you got to them before they start eating their hoard, they will have at most 3-5 million gold pieces. Let’s go for the high end of that. That’s 500,000 oz of gold. That comes out to $1,041,345,000. So even the absolute greediest personification of greed, rarely, if ever, manages to break a billion dollars of wealth, and that takes them 10,000 years to amass.
These assholes are literally greedier than dragons.
No one is taking their big toy, we are just saying having 100 of that big toy probably isn’t necessary.
Im saying take their big toys. Rich people should not exist. If people want big toys, bring the whole world up to the standard of having them.
Imo they can have all the toys they want, just let the rest of us have housing, food, and water. That doesn’t sound like too much to ask, and yet here we are.
I eye roll when I see the undecided voters for this election. If you’re saying you’re still undecided on Trump, you’re full of shit
Undecided just means ashamed of how they are going to vote.
Aren’t centrist voters mainly going to vote for Biden? Aren’t leftist voters the ones threatening not to vote Biden because he is too far too the right from their perspective?
Anyone who won’t vote Biden cause he’s too far right is a god damn idiot. If you’re leftist, why would you want Trump to win? If you want to save Palestine why would you help Biden lose to Trump, who will surely help Netanyahu stomp and toss Palestine into the waste bin of history.
Hey, as a non-USA person, out of sincere curiosity… He was already your prez. There was no doomsday, your country did not dissappear into ashes, “all your rights” were not stripped away. Didn’t get to war with anyone, which, for your country, is definitely a first. Sure, he is a loud mofo, and talks a lot of shit.
Why does everyone on lemmy/reddit make it sound like he will bring the end days and all that stuff continuosly?
Hey, also non-USA person.
If you’re genuinely not aware of the empowerment of nationalist and racist views around the entire world simply due to Trump’s rhetoric from the platform of POTUS then you’re either living under a rock or intentionally disingenuous.
Sure, the USA didn’t literally start wars or commit any new genocides during his presidency, but that was never the point. If one promise was kept by Trump it was that attention would turn inward to the US’s own affairs, and boy did they ever. A stacked supreme court, an enraged nationalist voter base that refuses to accept defeat, the systematic erosion of personal rights one state at a time targeting the most vulnerable populations.
If you think any of those things would’ve happened under any other president, or that they don’t have any spillover effects to other countries, then I have a really neat suspension bridge in California I’d like to sell you.
The groundwork is laid, and accepting the follow-up just because round one wasn’t the literal end of the world is short-sighted to the point of absurdity.
Blaming the rise of nationalist and conservative views (which, unlike racism, are not inherently bad) in the entire world on Trump is a bit reductionist, especially taking into account they are usually reactionist movements. For example, in Spain, the Vox party (a right wing party) was founded in 2010 just when Podemos (a left wing party)
Still, precisely because he was so absolutely loud and a bit of a madman, I’m not really sure how much of it is propaganda from either the left, the right, or whomever.
So what rights did he erode, for example? I guess those laws are public, but from what I had heard he took power from the fed goverment and gave it to each state, which was supposed to be kind of the thing of the USA (in our country, the right wanta to do pretty much the opposite though, curiosly enough)
Obvious sea lion is obvious. Roe v Wade
Whats a sea lion, in this context? I know an animal, but in this context. Wasnt roe v wade about giving each state the right to choose their abortion laws?
A million people died from COVID because he encouraged anti vax conspiracies. He pulled the USA out of the Iran Nuclear deal. His Supreme Court picks rolled back abortion rights. His cabinet was full of grifters who sabotaged public services like the post office or the dept of education.
He did lots. I’d like him to never do anything again.
A million people died from COVID because he encouraged anti vax conspiracies.
Trump was actually very pro-vaccine. That was his solution to COVID. Remember Operation Warp Speed? His followers were anti-vaxxers. What caused all of the deaths was Trump downplaying the danger, discouraging preventative measures like mask-wearing, promoting fake cures like hydroxychloroquine, and just generally being anti-science.
Didn’t hear one point tell people to look drinkbbleach as a potential solution to COVID?
Do you happen to have a source of a single time Trump directly told people to get the vaccine?
Not a trump supporter by any stretch of the imagination, but a simple Google search is all it takes
He wants to end what little democracy the US has. He was unwilling to peacefully transfer power to Biden, and his followers tried to stage a coup. His plan to turn the US into a dictatorship is public; it’s called Project 2025.
Hmm seems that’s from some think tank called heritage something, right? Not Trump really. In any case, project 2025 would sound good if it did not say “conservatives” everywhere. Like, a list of all the issues facing the country, a DB of experts, training for administrators, etc. The fact that they put conservatives every 4 words does make it sound a bit cultist.
It’s not that hard to look this stuff up. It’s reported pretty much all the time and is on here quite a lot. He’s basically a fascist or he would be if he could spell the word.
Also if the USA is going to insist on having an elderly old fart as president I would like them to have at least some of their brain cells firing and it would be desirable if they actually had more than four IQ points to begin with.
Yeah, but where do I look it up, without ending in left or right propaganda? Like, it is almost impossible here in my country to get a news report without some politics from one side or the other sprinkled in, I can’t imagine how much of an issue that may be in the USA!
I think the children in cages was pretty bad. Then it got worse.
Hahaha this is quite nice
He only had 4 years, and at the end caused an insurrection. Life got a lot tougher here after him, because he gave the green light for all the nasties to worm out of the woodwork. He increased tensions so badly, a second civil war is no longer ludicrous. That’s not even counting how much worse it got for women BEFORE Roe v Wade was overturned. We haven’t yet finished reaping what he sowed.
I’m not sure the US could survive another 4 years.
Wow, the downvote brigade is out in force!
Hi. It’s me. The down vote army. I down vote useless comments and false information.
The leftist position looks more like the centrist pov to me.
Only because our nation’s Overton window is skewed so hard right that the general populace thinks common centrist concepts from other countries are radical left.
I mean just look at how most of the country thinks of Universal Healthcare which is the default in most developed countries and not even considered that particularly progressive.
Is: The rich should be lined up, stripped naked, and guillotined. Closer?
Most of us don’t feel that way and would be happy with just reasonable market and industry regulation.
Me personally? Yeah eat the rich.
I don’t think most people seriously have an issue with people making large sums of money. The problem is when they make so much money they essentially control the world and can commit all the crimes they want.
I have no problem with success. I have a problem with success at the expense of others.
Some millionaires are problematic, some aren’t.
All billionaires are guilty.
Your idea of leftism is screwed then
I just need a place to rant…
I hold a few “enlightened centrist” types in high regard, and the opinions I always hear from them are “Yeah, Trump is a lunatic (butsoisbiden™), but the rest of the Republican party is fine.” While Trump is openly planning to replace the entire RNC chair with virtually zero pushback.
What the fuck am I missing here?
The example in the meme is rage-baity, but it’s not wrong when these people are being willingly ignorant at best.
If anyone thinks Trump doesn’t pull some shit in office, and either him or his replacement (due to age/health, not conspiracy) don’t try to hold on to power by even less democratic means than we already have… You’re not paying attention. The dude has told us this is what he’s going to do.
Yeah, the governments got problems… But handing the keys to a man that has proven time and time again that he has no regard for the will of the people… Shit’s bad, but I -promise you- it isn’t that bad.
As far as the trials being political… Yeah, they are. But the crimes were real. And how can we demand our politicians be bound by the law, but protest the first time one actually gets prosecuted?
This is high profile, and millions are watching. Set the precedent. And -we- have to create a culture of holding them accountable after this.
Genuinely asking though… What am I missing?
People who say the rest of the Republicans are fine are also just wilfully ignorant or intentionally misleading. They’re the ones who voted Trump in to begin with and he wasn’t ever hiding who he truly was so they don’t have the excuse that they didn’t see this coming.
It’s almost like they’re looking in the mirror saying “I, the rest of Republicans, am fine” like they want to sleep at night after sentencing people unlike them to death
I agree. I watched a Hillary debate for the first time the other night… The signs were there, ffs.
There is a third option, which is a right wing strategy im seeing more and more:
They cherry pick.
Basically when someone says the rest of the republicans are fine, they might mean there are a couple that are normal in isolation.
This tactic works the other way too. When they criticize the left, it’s the small, loud minority that are much easier to debate (with a cherry picked audience).
I have never, ever, heard a right wing person criticize or attack things like worker rights, consumer rights, or desiring equality. They know they can’t. They only pick battles they can win and extrapolate from that.
That projecting and strawmanning have carried their party since forever.
A lot of the lowest-rung, easiest targets for ridicule are those who are very loudly, uncritically on one side of an argument or another. People who are of middling intelligence correctly identify this as an opportunity for themselves to demonstrate that they are very clever and superior by taking the piss out of the silliest of the left and the right. This leads to Enlightened Centrism™.
This works phenomenally well until they meet someone who has genuine convictions based on their own individual morals and rationale and not how they can differentiate themselves from others.
This is my own slightly bitter, slightly drunken, leftist rant. My own bitter POV is that Enlightened Centrism is a shortcut to smug emotional and intellectual superiority for those who can’t come up with their own convictions.
It also reinforces privilege, so it’s a double feedback loop
What the fuck am I missing here?
I keep coming back to ‘inability to entertain the hypothetical’.
It seems that many people can not conceive of something that they have not personally experienced. They can not entertain the hypothetical situation of Trump taking over the party simply because it has not happened yet. They can not conceive of a dictatorship simply because it has not happened yet. It’s mind boggling to me that people can’t entertain the hypothetical, but it’s what I keep coming back to.
I think to be conservative a person can’t have sympathy or empathy. Can’t picture themselves in the situations of others. They are the center of the universe. Everyone else is just not as good or as smart as they are because they think different thoughts
God rewards his followers ie if you’re poor you are not godly. Nevermind the riches are in heaven and that being rewarded on earth is Not The Point, or that Jesus preached compassion. That’s their belief system so yeah, a lot of the religious right apply that to helping the people in our community who need help the most- must have done something to deserve it. “I don’t have to bother having sympathy because I am a smart good Christian so this would never be something to happen to me”
Just more evidence that a good chunk of humanity is neither rational nor observant.
Natural selection has been put on hold by how completely we have dominated our environment and the foolish and ignorant aren’t being weeded out any more.
Was there ever a time where both sides were basically like that Futurama bit about the 2 cent titanium tax? Cuz ever since I’ve been able to vote, it’s been a pretty clear difference.
I think in 2000 the joke was that Bush and Gore were the same, maybe someone can comment.
RATM Testify https://youtu.be/Q3dvbM6Pias
Which was some white left bullshit even back then, anyone who says they genuinely believe Gore would have been exactly the same as Bush is either lying or young enough to get away with not knowing what they’re talking about.
The left let’s throw more money at the problem.
The right let’s take money away from people and then try and bully people out of being the problem.
I just want to say that I watched John Oliver today talk about those messaging scams that start with, “Hey Elaine, it’s Mary. Are we still on for golf?”
And I then found out that Americans have lost around 3 billion dollars to that scam.
My first thought was, “those people shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”
I have something to tell you. Everyone is susceptible to scams. We’re social creatures, my dude. It’s part of the arrangement. Trust, the ability to trust, that’s the built-in weakness to that.
I gotta be honest, I’m surprised by the response. I’m talking about this one scam in particular. It’s so dumb to me. Maybe because I’m older; fuck texting just call me generation, or what. People been scamming people forever. It’s not new. So to me, it’s got to be less about trust and more about desperation.
Also, thinking that you can’t be scammed makes you more of a mark, not less.
And he said “that’s just in the US” because it does happen everywhere. You know? Western Europe where half the population votes for autocrats too?
WHY IS THIS OKAY TO YOU
What? I don’t understand your question.
I’m pointing out that your comment is invalid bc you don’t have the context. It’s a problem everywhere but you’re picking on one place.
I mistakenly replied to you instead of the other. Don’t drink and post.
But either way, fine, anyone anywhere.
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What’s funny is that not adhering to leftist dogma is considered “enlightened centrist” now. So much that being a liberal is viewed negatively on a lot of places here on Lemmy.
Are we talking classical liberal or magahat speech liberal?
What leftist dogma do liberals reject?
The only time I think I ever equate the left and the right is that both sides have gotten increasingly tribalist, which this meme ironically proves.
I guess the other time I equate the left and right is in that both sides are very reluctant to hold their politicians accountable for fear of losing to the other side (which is also a result of that tribalism) - even though the left is more willing to say Biden isn’t great, they’re still giving the DNC a free pass because Trump is worse, and rather than recognising that this election is really Biden’s to lose (he just needs to actually tone down on the things that his voter base doesn’t like), they’re blaming the conscientious objectors who choose to vote their conscience for not being a part of their tribe.
The enlightened centrist meme is a similar issue, where acknowledging any of this qualifies you as being outside of either tribe and therefore also a liability in this game. If it helps, I’m not American and can’t vote in your election anyway, so chill out a bit - I’m not losing your election for you (whichever side you’re on).
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You basically just said, “No we don’t hate the poor! We just believe in the just world fallacy (A philosophy which inherently contempts the poor)!”
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Nah, toleration is a treaty, you break it, you’re no longer protected by it, conservatism in America literally is incapable of existing without violating the treaty.
But this view of the world is objectively incorrect at basically any scale observable, so why engage with it?
Moreover, if you zoom in, even conservatives appreciate charity within their own community as a positive trait, and see selfishness or callous indifference within their community as a negative trait. If you can have empathy for a starving child who attends your church, but not for one who attends a different church, all that means is that you have a very narrow view of where your community ends.
Most reasonable people see this as the former case - selfishness and callous indifference, leading them to conclude that the boundaries being drawn around the conservative community are, in fact, based on prejudice, and not any kind of internally consistently morality.
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We can’t because they won’t let us. The rich people they worship tell them not to listen. If the left does something to better their life, their overlords take credit or tell them why it’s actually bad. If the right does something that makes their lives more miserable, they explain that it would have worked if not for those liberals or minorities or whatever.
Nearly all my extended family was rural south conservatives. They’re selfish people.
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If everyone is a result of their circumstances as the left claims (and as much of the research claims) then be the change of those circumstances you wish to see. Expose these people to the thinking and information you believe to be so transformative and true
And all you’ve done is demonstrate that you don’t understand what the left is fighting for. We are (probably the only ones) fighting to change the circumstances. Those benefiting from those circumstances, aka the capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal, ableist, cis-heteronormative status quo, even if very mildly, being uncomfortable is a tiny price they’re just going to have to pay, because prioritising the their personal comfort over change is how we got here in the first place.
Several of my family members are very right wing, and they’ve pretty much all made it clear that they think anyone who doesn’t work exactly as hard or harder than they do deserves to be put out in the streets.
I love everyone in my family but it’s pretty difficult to rationalize that way of thinking. This is why we don’t discuss politics at family gatherings lol
Whaaaaaa bigots are bigots because marginalised people weren’t nice enough to them!!11 🤢
(hint: blaming systemic problems on individuals is never the answer, especially when the individuals you blame are the only ones calling out said system. Bigots are bigots because it benefits those in power for society to be as divided as it is, and as long as that is the case, no amount of coddling will fix the problem, it only makes a handful of bigots a little more comfortable, while the rest continue as they were)
I think a big part of this issue is conflating of terms. We see it all the time. There’s a big difference between conservative citizens and conservative politicians. People don’t differentiate which one they’re talking about, leaving the reader to assume the wrong one, and therefore the op must not know what they’re taking about.
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Centrists say the left bit and ask how they are going to do it?
Modern leftists suggest we eat them and when the centrists suggest that might be a little over the top they are villified.
Yep, because leftists never suggest just taxing them more, it’s always people very seriously and literally saying to eat the rich.
Wait, there are other ways to improve society without resulting to cannibalism?
Why did nobody say so? I’ll see you all tomorrow when we start enforcing this new brilliant idea of just taxing them.
I think actually you’re just listening to the wrong people claiming to be moderate left when in reality they’re insane.
Centralism is the very definition of not having an opinion. It’s running away from the responsibility of having a coherent thought that you have come to on your own. They are as bad as political extremists although somehow even more smug.
Centralism can be more then not having an opinion. You can lean differently depending on the topic
I’m probably just a bit jaded from seeing so much American politics online
Republican President: Fuck the black, brown, red, and yellow people. Bomb them.
Democrat President: Fuck the black, brown, red, and yellow people. Bomb them.
Rational person: this is what we are talking about.
Leftists continuously voting geriatric centrists into office
as if this is the fault of the leftists, lol
Voting them into office sure, but not nominating them.
Here’s the actual problem: no one cares about supporting younger Democrats. They have no base. AOC only won because she has a base of actual supporters in the Bronx.
No, your edgy posts online don’t matter. Who are you actually supporting? Name them. Not presidential candidates, who are you supporting at the state or local level?
The answer is crickets because young people have forgotten how to participate in democracy besides yelling slogans (right or left) and upvoting memes. Literally who do you support that is currently running for office?
The left: wealth is a zero sum game
The right: 🤦♂️no, it’s not
Sorry I don’t understand. Which policies of the right support what you’re suggesting?
The imaginary ones.
Trickle down economics is based on philosophy that wealth is positive sum
My comment is about philosophy, not policy.
The idea that rich people are rich because poor people are poor is a leftist idea. It assumes wealth is a finite thing, which must be taken away from one party to accumulate with another.
Wealth is finite. By definition. There is a scarcity of resources in the world. A few people have most of it. You’ve been on earth before right?
My team: Perfect angels
Your team: Evil monsters
yawn
Democrats: Neo-liberals
Republicans: Fascists
Wake up! Project 2025 Policy
This book is an invitation for you the reader—Mr. Smith, Mrs. Smith, and Ms. Smith—to come to Washington or support those who can. Our goal is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State.
I agree that Republicans are fascists. Everyone does. My problem is with framing the left as perfect angels.
My problem was with framing the left as centrists.
