this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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Microblog Memes

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[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

We're adults now, we need to vote like adults now just like the political campaign said so!

[–] Beetschnapps@lemmy.world 6 points 10 hours ago

This bit of selfishness is gonna cost us…

[–] night_petal@piefed.social 24 points 16 hours ago

My parents, my grandparents, and my great grandparents all voted for Reagan. Never underestimate just how long people live.

[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 89 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

this little maneuver is gonna cost other people at least 51 years.

FTFY

[–] spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago

I mean, that is pretty much the context of this scene.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 17 points 17 hours ago

My grandparents didn't vote for Reagan. My dad did, and his entire family was very disappointed in him for it.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 19 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (2 children)

this little maneuver is gonna cost us 51 states.

FTFY

The USSR was dismantled and ~~Jelzin~~ Yeltsin was pushed into power in an election that the communists could have won, to maintain the anti-communist momentum.

~~Jelzin~~ Yeltsin directly led to Putin.

Reagan was not directly responsible for denying Russia access to the EU, but he must have laid the foundation for the policy that kept Russia at a distance.

Russia could have become part of the West but was forced to cooperate with China. China could have been kept isolated.

If the US don't crumble under China's economic pressure then it is because the billionaires dismantle it to create their city states.

[–] null@lemmy.org 9 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

So which oligarch are y'all fighting for in the upcoming technofuedalist wars?

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz -1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Is Bernie going to be an option?

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 2 points 14 hours ago
[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 9 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Jelzin

which writing system are you accustomed to exactly?

[–] krisevol@lemmus.org 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Just wait until you see then vote for Clinton and start the great move of jobs overseas to China.

[–] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Something Bob Dole would have never done 🙄

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 1 points 4 hours ago

I love how culturally Bob Dole is boiled down to "is that the fruit guy" and this bit.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Back in 1980, a lot of people didn't want to vote for Carter because he wasn't progressive enough on South Africa.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 49 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (2 children)

Slapping a big ol' "citation needed" on that simultaneously hyperspecific ("Carter's foreign policy toward South Africa", barely a footnote) and weasel-wordy ("a lot of people didn't want to vote") claim. Like, are you talking about Namibian independence? Apartheid? The arms embargo? Turnout was 54.2%, down only 0.9% from 1976.

How many American voters in 1980 not only took foreign policy toward South Africa into account, not only were hesitant or unwilling to vote because of it, but were hesitant or unwilling in the face of Carter's opponent Ronald Reagan?

I'm not saying you're making shit up. I'm saying that "a lot" has to be doing some enormous lifting – to a point where this alleged contingent of voters would've been functionally inconsequential even in a hypothetical 1980 election that Reagan didn't win by a landside.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You've got 1980 and 1984 mixed up.

Reagan was close to Carter and the third party candidate in 1980.

43.9 million for Reagan, 35.5 million for Carter, and 5.7 million for Anderson.

It was an electoral landslide.

In 1984 Reagan had survived an assassination attempt.

That was a massive win in terms of actual votes.

54 million for Reagan and only 37 for Mondale

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 15 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

You've got 1980 and 1984 mixed up.

Reagan received 50.7% of the popular vote; Carter received 41.0%. That's quite substantial, even considering that Anderson's 6.6% likely hurt Carter somewhat more than Reagan in the popular vote. And for the metric that actually matters, Reagan won 90.8% of the vote – a complete blowout.

Respectfully, I tried to be really polite about the claim you never cited and never answered for, but I take offense at being called "mixed up" about electoral history by someone who baselessly posits that "a lot" of Americans in 1980 gave enough of a shit about Carter's foreign policy toward South Africa to make them reluctant to vote for him.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 0 points 21 hours ago

Have a nice day

[–] MerryJaneDoe@piefed.world -5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Liberals generally reacted to Jimmy Carter's stance on South Africa with disappointment and frustration, finding that his administration's practical policies did not match its strong anti-apartheid rhetoric. While praising his human rights-centered approach and his moral opposition to apartheid, many liberal activists, African American leaders, and progressive Democrats criticized his reluctance to implement severe economic sanctions, preferring "constructive engagement" to promote gradual change.

From Google, so probably not 100% accurate, but this seems about right.

I won't use the term "far-left", but there is and has always been an outspoken, powerful minority among progressives that makes a LOT of noise about not compromising. At all. On any issue. The right suffers this phenomenon, too, but right-leaning voters don't seem to split their votes quite as noticeably as the left.

It was easy to lose faith in Carter, though, because his presidency was plagued at every turn. The energy crisis was frustrating to many Americans, as was the insane inflation. Carter had a tiger by the tail from Day One in office, and he never got it under control.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 13 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

So you just asked Gemini, provided no actual, auditable source, and apparently expect anyone here to take that as anything but a joke.

If you're too lazy to find a source, then why are you even participating? If I wanted an LLM to crank out a hallucination for me, I could do that on my own.

[–] MerryJaneDoe@piefed.world 0 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Um, no. I expected that one of two things would happen:

  1. A knowledge expert would come by and offer more detail and/or correction

  2. Nobody would care

Apparently, I should have prepared myself to be publicly shamed for trying to add to the conversation. Perhaps you missed the part where I said "...but this seems about right", and then offered my own analysis. My personal thoughts about the presidential administration that I fucking lived through, of articles I read in real time from a newspaper that was dropped at my door every fucking morning. You want me to source the Kansas City Star from 1976 -1980? Or my civics class in high school? Ted Brokaw? Dan Rather?

To you, Carter is ancient history. To me, he is a vivid living memory. I was a student during his administration; I remember his policies. His picture was hung in more than one classroom.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Setting aside how embarrassing this whole LLM thing is:

You want me to source the Kansas City Star from 1976 -1980?

That's 100% possible these days. I can't find jack shit to support the original statement after about 20 minutes of reading, and I don't know how you propose there's going to be anything but circumstantial evidence at best, but I guess it's better than copy–pasted bullshit from an LLM followed by "that sounds right in my anecdotal opinion".

Specifically, The Kansas City Star from 1976 to 1980 – the only thing you've cited that actually approximates a traceable source but that you apparently thought (practicably) wasn't – seems to have zero evidence that Carter's foreign policy on South Africa was even remotely controversial enough (let alone specifically not progressive enough) to have any meaningful impact on votes.

Articles on the subject are sparse – mainly the Associated Press who report South Africa's situation and sometimes (usually minimally) cover Carter's involvement. The opinions that do exist are basically neutral on Carter's involvement (and even if they weren't, we loop back to circumstantial evidence). Even looking specifically around the time of the election returns nothing. Having looked through several dozen articles across those four years, this is all routine coverage of international geopolitics. It's not even close.

Maybe you're misremembering. Maybe you thought I'd have to go spelunking through microfilm in a Kansas City library to call you on this. I'm assuming the former. Either way, I appreciate something tangible regardless of intent, even if it's wrong.

[–] MerryJaneDoe@piefed.world 2 points 12 hours ago

Yeah...I forgot what the original statement was. But I just spent the last hour in an internet rabbit hole, reading about Carter's administration. Was fun, love ya, thanks for coming to the show.

I'll try to do better next time.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I want to make that part of My worldview but first I need a source

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social -2 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

You do know that there are human beings alive today who were of voting age when Carter was President?

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Do you think you could find our man an article about someone discussing Carter not being progressive enough at the time on south africa in some form of print media?

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

You mean, do a Google search?

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, please, do search for the correct terms to find an article to argue your point, it very much helps your argument. If there was an link to an article in your first post, this thread would have been very different.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 0 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

You realize that I have no idea what sources other people find credible, or what the level of evidence would be needed.

For example, if I were to cite an article where Hunter Thompson bemoaned the lack of political sophistication of the voters, that might satisfy some people but not others.

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

You clearly aren't getting it and I checked the rest of your messages, so I'm rescinding my benefit of the doubt. Last comment.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 0 points 2 hours ago

So, it's okay for you to demand clarification but I can't?

Sorry to have wasted your time.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I don't have access to them, I'm in Australia. I need a source.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

https://www.loc.gov/item/2023270647/

The Village Voice was a local New York City newspaper that covered politics and the arts.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 4 hours ago

That's not a source, that's a newspaper. Newspapers publish articles, which are sources. Cite an article.