this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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Lefty Memes
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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
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That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme)
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Right, and the heroic Soviets also fought to combat the evil that were the Nazis, because they were natural enemies, no other reason no... /s (just in case it wasn't obvious.)
Being a facist doesn't stop you from fighting other fascists, especially when those other fascists are fucking with your shit. The only difference until now was that the two parties managed to deadlock each other needing the support of an uncaring populace to gain total power. Once one ultimately wins, this whole "pillar of democracy" thing is over. Having literally only 2 parties for centuries is a bad omen for democracy.
While this resonates with trump, could you tell me how this fits to other American presidents? What traits US poses to call it "fascist"?
Before I get to your question...that's a really weird definition. I mean it excludes most stereotypical fascist regimes, like nazi Germany for example. A communist revolution wasn't really on their list of fears or even concerns. In Weimar Germany they even shared voters. Most communist party voters became nazi voters once they became a thing, they run on the same platform. It's in the bloody name, Nazi = National Socialism. This definition seems to deliberately only target America, the US is the only one that goes fucking ape-shit when socialism let alone communist is at all mentioned.
Anyways, to your question. We weren't really talking about presidents specifically, tho most of them fit the bill. Both democrats and republicans say the fucking "you're with me or against me" shit, like really??? The US generally has a rich history of violently shutting down competing powers, be it domestic or abroad (a 2 party system IS NOT natural for a democracy!). American imperialist wars are pretty much build on forcefully spreading American culture at any cost (especially if it involves killing anybody claiming to be socialist or not christian). From a young age US citizens are indoctrinated, the shit where they swear loyalty to the flag every morning is creepy as fuck, also the flash everywhere. Like christ, just look at how Americans treat foreigners. Didn't even mention the police yet...
Nope, predominantly an American quote in the 21st century. And while it doesn't necessarily make you a fascists, it does check the extreme tribalism flag. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_are_either_with_us,_or_against_us
Correct, and modern democracies tried their best to change course. Some more successfully than others. If you want successful examples look at Finland, those guys played a significant role in many peace treaties, including the famous European peace. And here's the kicker, FOR NOTHING IN RETURN. Or rather no immediate monetary or political gain.
YES, quite literally and unironically YES! Like come on? "Communism with Chinese Characteristics"? We're just a couple word plays away from "National Socialism". The Chinese government is actively conducting ethnic cleansing and jailing anybody who isn't Chinese enough. Come on!
At this point I'm starting to feel you're a troll, but hey, it's fun, so let's keep going xD I was more referring to America's foreign policy here.
Again, mainly meant foreign policy. However Burnie doesn't get off free either. The democrats didn't even give him a chance to be a presidential candidate despite being the crowd favorite. The guy's getting silenced.
Not every country, again, look at Finland, Estonia or the Netherlands. Great examples of an education system that respect the people's freedoms. And while most other European countries have something fucked up, non are anywhere near "KNEEL FOR THE FLAG!" level.
Weird esthetics? Maybe because the esthetic invokes the other counties that did this which most were under either fascism or communism. Like sure, it doesn't necessarily make you fascists, but role-playing as one every morning is still fucking suspicious.
Look in a mirror. The US treats everyone else like a terrorist before they even step foot into the country. And yes, half the people that didn't go to America yet still think it's amazing. America is really good at advertising. If America doesn't want foreigners to dream about it, maybe it could stop advertising it self as the only valid way of life.
Kinda, there are some bad apples in other counties too, like France for example. But the US still stands proud and tall for having one of the worst. Literally no other county arrest more people per capita than American. Not even your favorite China. Also having snipers at every protest? Fucking really? Direct military hand downs?
You say my "accusations", but most of what I said are statements you didn't even negate, just said that some of em don't necessarily make the US fascist and the rest you renamed to "imperialism", which IS NOT BETTER! The only difference is that imperialism doesn't need to include nationalism, it's an umbrella term, under which fascism falls under!
But boy, it's funny you'd mention the Russian shithole, considering the US seems rather proactively aiming towards it. The republicans especially seem to have em as their role model. If things keep changing the way they have been for the last 20 years, I give it tops another 30 years before the only thing that makes America better than Russia will be the running water. Maybe faster if the supreme courts keeps up the pace it demonstrated the last 2 weeks.
First of all, I made references to China and Russia because I wrongly assumed that you are a tankie (I perceive the Lefty Memes community as the nest of them). My apologies.
While choosing East vs West is by no means comfortable, it is actually true. You made examples of countries like Finland, Estonia or the Netherlands. The last one recently has turned far right, but overall countries like that, including Sweden and Norway are cool and as for me, the rest of the world could be like this, I do not expect more from the world and I saw too much to dream about some communist utopia. Anyway, such cute countries alone cannot compete military and thus geopolitically with behemots like Russia or China (though Sweden and Finland seems to have decent means to defend themselves). And history taught us that since the dawn of humanity the winner is the guy with the bigger stick. Even within NATO, the European countries are rather supporters to US. Therefore, at the global stage, this all boils down to the dichotomy East VS West or NATO (mainly US) VS Russia+Iran+North_Korea+China. In the end of the day, there are only us VS them.
This actually scares shit out of me. WTF. I wish they had to live in Russian province for couple of months, that would be a good part of punishment. The US cannot be defended from outside, but only by itself (by republicans, to be precise).
To the rest of the points I generally agree, but... If you pick only the shittiest parts of this country, you end up with such a picture. Again, I feel it is not right to equate the main trait of Nazi Germany (fascism) to US, who helped to liberate half of the Europe from this brown shit. Even in the case of genocidal China, "authoritarian" seems a more proper word. There is no consensus on definition of fascism, so neither you or I can provide more than such judgments. Back to US, even if it fails to realize the "American Dream" to many, it is RELATIVELY bearable hegemon in the history. And in the jungle, there is always one.
Ey, cheers mate, refreshing to get a composed response!
I'd argue there are more sides than just NATO vs China and friends. India often fucks over both sides because both refuse to acknowledge it and its concerns for example. It saddens me that such counties don't give a shit, but I can't really fault them too much considering we do the same to them. And such rhetoric only serves as fuel for them to mock us.
You're definitely right that we also need military might to protect our values, as a European I'm disgusted by our inactivity and reliance on the US. On the subject of cute counties, I'd argue Finland isn't one of em, I'd also add Sweeden just for military reasons while I'm at it. Both have strong militaries with plenty of reserves/mobilization potential, Finland even has nuclear ready bunkers under every major city. So glad we got em in NATO now, hope the rest of Europe catches up soon.
And not gonna lie, as much as I shit on America, it's largely because I'm also sacred. The US is on a slippery slope due to decades of ignorance and if the US goes to shit it's gonna have far and wide consequences around the globe. I hope the Trump situation will act as a wake up call for us in Europe, and we'll get our shit together, not only to be self sufficient, but hopefully emerge as a genuine ally for peace and freedom that reaches beyond diplomacy. If America falls and Europe doesn't get its shit together, that's good bye for Ukraine and then what? That would set a new standard, a world in which might makes right... No even an attempt at rule of law.
No, there are no more sides. India was buying shittons of russian military equipment and stopped to do so since it is even worse shit after the soviet union collapse. India is not a third, autonomous pole in the world geopolitics. Another "two faced" country I can recall is Hungary. I think there is no doubt now that Orban is Putin's cocksucking lapdog.
I think the situation improves a little, I think France underperformed despite Macron's bold words. Now the things may get better. But there is plenty to be done, and much more efforts to be taken, i.e. military spending like during the Cold War.
When I am writing it, Britain and France voted, and the results gave me hope. These are very good news for Europe. I hope that Americans will go vote and choose whoever will be Trump's opponent. I am so pissed by the "both sides bad", "I am not voting" fucking tankie Kremlin trolls.
Baltic countries, Poland, other countries from the post-communist block, more... Especially given the resources taken in Ukraine. Europe would be fucked.
Anyway, I wish for you and myself (also European) that the russian authoritarian scums will be stopped together with their lapdogs.