All posts need to have the same title: me_irl it is allowed to use an emoji instead of the underscore _
I remember long ago when AOC first became talked about by conservatives. Fox News had popped up bullet points on the screen of some of the things she'd been talking about in her message to people, and then quickly removed them when they realized that without a label, even hard core Republicans might be okay with them.
They did the same thing when portraying Mamdani:
Don't threaten me with a good time
And chose such a great photo of him as well, to go along with it, hahaha.
I've never seen a photo of this dude that didn't look great though, tbh. He's photogenic as fuck
Wait, Fox News framed them as bad things? Jfc I suppose it IS Fox News. Their viewers are stupid as fuck.
You know we're fucked when Make the world a little less worse for some people is enough to send 1/3 of this country into a shitfit.
That's how they do it. They convince everyone that LGBTQIA+ people and immigrants are the reason everything sucks, so we need to sacrifice everything in order to deal with them. Then when someone says "I want a bunch of good things that everyone wants, and also protection for LGBTQIA+ and abolishment of ICE!" they see those last 2 things and immediately throw out everything else that they would love to have, because that's the sacrifice they've been conditioned to make.
Yeah, people are complaining how it is getting harder and harder, but the moment you start proposing solution the media uses that label (or even calls it communism) and everyone starts hating it.
It is kind of interesting, they can make anything look bad. For example right now you see conservative Americans use "liberal" as an insult.
Liberalism is the alternative to communism and fascism, is the foundation of the United States and that to them is an insult.
A lot of the conversation about public policy has degraded to "Listen to this bitch, she sounds so fucking dumb, who talks like that? A dumb bitch, that's who" and "Shut up, you're poor and you just want everyone else to be poor".
FOX took a minute to evolve from its William F. Buckley / Milton Friedman style highly academic bullshit to its modern WWE-style punching a nerd in the dick on TV and calling them gay incarnation. As a result, the reactionary social media has largely displaced them among under-60 conservative ahem "thought-leaders".
Maybe the solution is to just... stop saying its name?
If the ideas are extremely popular, but the terminology is extremely unpopular, the solution seems obvious. Cut it out with the scary Marxist words and express the ideas in less vilified language.
That's been my approach with face to face conversations with some of my more right leaning (idiot) coworkers. Never, ever use the word "socialism". It'll scare em off. Describe its components and it's amazing how much of of it they're just on board with cuz it makes sense.
And that's usually where I leave it... hopefully the seed takes root and they realize on their own later that all these awesome sounding things wrapped up into one package is socialism, but if it comes from me they'll reject it immediately.
Coworker: No way. That'd be socialism.
Me: Socialism isn't a bad thing. Do you like having a fire department and roads? Those are collective funding of collectively beneficial services through government programs. Socialism.
Coworker: That's different.
Me: No, it's not. How is it different?
Coworker: That's... Socialism is... Um... Yeah, well...
The best things in our country are Socialist - public schools, parks, playgrounds, libraries, museums, roads, bridges, etc.
Getting rid of any Socialist influences means a society where the ONLY priority is making money for some rich guy. Want to have a picnic at the park? Go make money. Want your kid to go to school? They have to make money. You can't afford it anyway.
The only people who can enjoy leisure time are rich people, because leisure is expensive, and only rich people can afford it.
But wasn't it better when everyone worked 7 days a week and your children died in the mines?
The best things in our country are Socialist - public schools, parks, playgrounds, libraries, museums, roads, bridges, etc.
But you're trying to explain this to people who believe the best things in our country are strip clubs, Disneyland amusement parks, Caribbean Cruises, luxury SUVs, and gold toilets.
Sure but where do they drive those SUVs? How do they get to strip clubs and Disney land?
Airports
Yes, they all have an airport in their backyard that leaves from their house and lands within Disneyland, removing any need to drive, sorry I forgot that.
Socialism is simultaneously any public spending and also explicitly when nobody owns anything, depending on what they want to argue.
So, Socialism has never worked, but also, a fraction of the safety nets that Europe has is Socialism.
So let's come up with a different name for it? Worked for the GOP with "election integrity" (aka "voter intimidation").
Shareism? Fairism? Equalism? Commonsenseism?
So let’s come up with a different name for it?
National Socialism has been very popular of late. Maybe we try that.
Americanism? Force them to say they're anti-american? On the other hand, they say they're anti-anti-fascism, so maybe that won't work.
But I think there is something to the idea of taking progressive ideas and wrapping them in a thin layer of american exceptionalism to get certain kinds of people on board. Don't say "recycle to save the earth". Say "only in AMERICA can we turn trash into COOL SHIT. FUCK YEAH! AMERI-CYCLE YOUR SHIT"
Anarchists: First time?
Everyone knows what Anarchy is. It's when you run around in a big circle waving your arms and shouting "This is Anarchy!"
Also, "we're abolishing hierarchies" is a very popular idea among people at the bottom of a hierarchy and very unpopular among people working their way up the ladder. That's why younger people (especially high schoolers / college-aged types) and service-sector workers are quick to adopt it while the elderly and the professional class tend to revile it.
Well, people enjoy others having less rights so they have more.
"What do you mean I can't have slaves farm cotton for me?!" - Yes it's that simple, you just have to make one cynical joke.
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Anytime I talk to a capitalist, they agree then think and say sounds like socialism. Then say socialism would be nice and can't explain why they think capitalism is better.
Most likely they are not capitalist. Unless of course you hang with millionaires they are consumers. AKA the dumb money or suckers.
Revised my comment, but yes some are just agreeing.
The media trains people to respond to words like when I tell my dog to "sit" or "beg"