• ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      57·
      23 days ago

      People keep asking why the race is so close. Decades of brainwashing from the right wing infosphere and a lack of push back from out institutions that are supposed to be bastions of democracy are two primary culprits.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
        19·
        23 days ago

        Realizing how all these worms turn to appease an incoming and fascist government is mind boggling to me. Never thought it would have happened here.

        • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
          25·
          23 days ago

          That’s the thing about fascism. It can happen anywhere because people aren’t inherently predisposed to any ideology. With enough brainwashing and propaganda over enough time anyone who doesn’t already know better can become a fascist.

          This didn’t happen overnight, fascism takes time to take root. In the US, neoliberalism has been pushing socialism out and letting fascism in for over forty years since Regan took office.

          • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
            7·
            23 days ago

            We definitely let communism and socialism turn into the new Nazism without much fuss. Most of the modern world is socialist to some extent but none of the George Orwellness the right would claim is a feature of socialism.

            • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
              10·
              23 days ago

              Exactly, socialism is an inclusive institution like majority rule democracy. We are headed to an Orwellian dystopia by prioritizing the freedoms of markets and corporations over people. Rather than state propaganda we got propaganda from billionaires. The effect was the same as 1984.

              The difference being, despite how flawed it is, we still live in a democracy for now. So we need to vote in record numbers for Kamala and Walz. The Republican strategy is to contest the election in every state, county, and polling place so we need to out vote the Republicans everywhere we can.

        • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
          3·
          23 days ago

          If by ‘these worms’ you mean corporate interests such as all the bought out, dying remnants of traditional media…

          … Why would you not expect this?

          In basically every historical example of a growing fascist movement, big money sides with them.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
        11·
        22 days ago

        lack of push back from out institutions that are supposed to be bastions of democracy

        Yes, but have you considered there’s so much more money to be made on HORSE RACE?

        Why do you hate capitalism bro? Shouldn’t billionaires have the right to burn entire countries down if it makes them a few dollars richer?

      • Orbituary@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        22 days ago

        The thing is, truth and facts exist whether we believe them or not. The sun is a star and we rotate around it on a sphere.Yet there are people who still believe in a pre-Copernican, geocentric universe.

        Facts don’t matter when someone tells you something in line with what you want to hear or believe. Trump does that for his base. Nothing we say about it will change or undo the damage done.

        Best we can hope for is superior numbers to the degree that the inevitable court battle after the election cannot refute.

        • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
          31·
          23 days ago

          In the short term, between now and the election, sure. Studies have shown people reject new information that contradicts an established belief. In the long term, it’s possible to get people out of cults and fascist movements. But that takes a level of time and effort we no longer have.

          Best we can hope for is superior numbers to the degree that the inevitable court battle after the election cannot refute.

          Yes, this is the solution. We outnumber the fascists. We need to show it at the polls and vote for the Harris-Walz ticket.

            • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
              3·
              22 days ago

              I mean, I addressed the second and third sections. The statements in the first section are tautological truisms. So I’m not sure what you mean.

              I largely agree with your points, just not that there is no hope for these people on a long enough timescale. This was both preventable and is fixable. We just have to give ourselves the time to fix it.

              I’m choosing to believe in people. It’s the most useful outlook I can have.

              • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
                2·
                21 days ago

                One thing that changes cultish dynamics is when someone suddenly finds themselves as part of the “out” group.

                Repealing roe v wade did this for a LOT of people who didn’t realize it until after the fact; in theory, they were happy to go along with “abortion is wrong.” But then they saw how it being illegal played out in their state, where the government didn’t just want to ban in-state abortions, but get citizens to betray anyone who, with need, went out of state for one.

                And then people started dying because doctors were afraid they’d be accused of performing an abortion. And IVF got caught up in it because of sperm and egg banks.

                And suddenly, anyone affected by any of those things (a LOT of people) were on the outside, and the targets of ostracism and veiled threats. So they started to become aware of why, even if they don’t believe in abortions, making them illegal is even worse.

                That’s the sort of thing that pushes people out of a cult.

                • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
                  2·
                  21 days ago

                  Considering the number of accelerationists on lemmy, it’s important to point out a distinction. What’s improved this situation is the new knowledge that was gained not the fact that something bad happened to these people. These people could have learned this without having to experience it. And if they had experienced this but not understood the context behind that experience, they would have learned nothing.

                  If Republicans succeed in their christo-fascist dictatorship this election, a lot of us are going to learn a lot of lessons. But we won’t necessarily be able to act on those lessons. And a lot of people will be dead or continue to be in information silos. So if we manage four more years of democracy we need to use that time to educate people. That’s the only way this gets better.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    22 days ago

    “Did __________ pull punches to appease Trump?”

    The blank can be filled in with the following:

    • The LA Times
    • Every other media outlet for the past 10 years
    • The entire Republican Party
    • Politicians in general
    • Our entire legal system

    Trump’s rise to power solely rests on the fact that everybody continues to play Trump’s games by Trump’s rules and wondering why they keep losing. -

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
      4·
      22 days ago

      Yep, any of us plebeians would be in jail for life if we pulled the shit he has. He’s a traitorous tyrannical shit stain on this country.

  • Stern@lemmy.world
    4·
    23 days ago

    It’s shitty… but I get it. We already know the kind of petty craven asshole he is, hedging your bets in case he wins so he doesn’t shit all over you is a good play in theory. In practice he’ll still do it if you so much as hinted his shit didn’t smell like fresh strawberries, so why not go in guns blazing?