Political Memes

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 4 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Josh Johnson is worth your time, probably. He’s a good comic, and thoughtful. The man discusses present politics in his way. I like comedy in my despair laden news. I miss the Colbert monologues for this reason.

Josh though, pretty amazing. He hasn’t made it to the results yet, but that should drop in YT this week.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

If you liked getting news from Colbert, you might also like John Oliver. I think he's still making videos?

I'll look into Josh Johnson though, thanks!

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 2 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

Oliver, ofc. Wonder if Oliver regrets becoming a US Citizen?

I think we’ve all seen his Church episode (praise be). His attempted, perfectly legal bribe, of Clarance Thomas. In his case, I think he’s hiding real journalism behind satire.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago

In his case, I think he’s hiding real journalism behind satire.

I didn't know that was a question

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago* (5 children)

The tankies are pissed, this makes their agitation process harder

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 6 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Yeah, they've been coming out in force. There was a delay thankfully, so we got to enjoy a couple days of peace and relief after the election. But after that they've just been swarming.

I'm thinking I might take a lemmy detox soon, until the gremlins crawl back into their holes (we'll see them again next electoral season, of course).

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I feel you completely. I've changed my thought process a bit though. If a user makes any doomer comment, I call them out and then block them. It's already started to help. These users are significant in numbers but I still think they're in the minority.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, I do think there's value in calling them out so that others can see and hopefully more people will learn how to spot them and see them for what they are.

But it always seems to lead to a shit show of them recycling the same old stale fallacies and personal attacks. Maybe I'm getting better at parrying them more effectively, but it still burns me out after a while. And sometimes they say things that really get under my skin.

I'm concerned that if I simply block them and don't read their response, then they'll craft it to make me look like an idiot/asshole to anyone who doesn't understand the context of the situation. So I parry and riposte until I'm confident that anyone reading knows who the troll is

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

I always thought pretty much this exact same way. I just cannot do it anymore though. I gotta block them, and even though I agree that it can lead to a lack of challenges to their doomspreading, it may be better for us as a community if we just block liberally. The mods often side with them and I really have no time to tear them down point by point anyhow. 2020 honestly broke me on even trying to do that. People like that will ignore everything they cannot deny and come back with a personal attack, as you said. If enough people block these users, maybe their campaigns will start to feel futile and they'll either stop or dial it down.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

If enough people block these users, maybe their campaigns will start to feel futile and they'll either stop or dial it down.

I don't know, as long as this platform is still growing, that just means new users will have to wade through a swamp before they find their way to stable ground.

Maybe it's like purgatory, except the circles of hell are constantly reaching their tendrils in to snatch down anyone they can get ahold of. Sarlacc must feed.

It reminds me of these, in which the demons obviously represent tankies [edit: (and, more broadly, also maga and any other style of authoritarian/reactionary extremism)]:

Buy hey, maybe enough people are catching on that you and I are no longer needed. Let someone else swat the tankies away for a while...

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[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social -4 points 3 days ago (10 children)

Or remember what it was like when Obama won his first term.....

Tons of irrational exuberance. One major healthcare bill passed, followed by 8 years of just another status quo president.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 11 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Just because it turned out to be a disappointment doesn't mean the exuberance was irrational. And that certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't feel optimistic right now. In fact that very thing was discussed in the article I got this screenshot from.

Here are some more:

There are ways to engage with this rationally and productively, in a grounded and balanced way. And there are ways not to.

And honestly, I'm getting tired of all this bitterness and doomerism that seems to be coming out in force after the recent successes in the election. I already had enough of my own bitterness and cynicism over the past two years. Can you let me feel hopeful for once?

Maybe it's just amplified on this community. I don't usually post here; is it always like this?

But assuming you're being genuine and you actually do care and that you're just feeling hopeless, that's valid. But consider that spreading your hopelessness and despair like this can function as a sort of psychological contagion, and if you dampen enough people's spirits then you can really start to extinguish the excitement and momentum that we're building towards possibly doing something different this time.

So like... if you don't want to be a part of the problem then be a part of the solution, or at least sit this one out on the sidelines. Because a favorable wind is rising, and we don't need you rending holes in our sails at this key moment in time.

If you want to contribute to making sure we don't repeat the mistakes of the past, then maybe you could help advocate for choosing different congressional leadership.

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online -4 points 3 days ago (7 children)

I think it would be easier not to feel the cold rain if Day 1 wasn’t a 24hr wall of “Jeffries House Soeaker!!!” “Schumer says” spam clogging the attempted hope scroll. Didn’t we just vote against that, what is even happening, I thought progress won, but…

And here we are.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 3 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Wait have you missed the whole conversation around "No Schumer, No Jeffries" and "Choose someone else!"?

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 1 point 3 days ago (5 children)

It’s mainly a niche Reddit and Lemmy convo. Schumer is breaking through such that my sense of the news pulse right now is that replacement may be allowed. But not Jeffries. That appears to be a wall.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago (4 children)

I'll take the victories we can achieve and I'll set my sights forward to the day we can achieve the rest.

Ousting Schumer as SML in itself would be huge. And Jeffries' seat is up for reelection every two years.

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Yeah, but we don’t have much time. 2 yrs to build and then it’s 2028.

You know who else is poking his head up in the mainstream flows? Buttigieg. He’d already started pre-campaigning for a 2028 Presidency, then hid like the rest of them. He’s the most attractive establishment Dem the DNC has. (That’s not an endorsement, just my read of the situation.) My money is on him as their main for 2028.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm aware. I feel the urgency. But that's precisely why I don't have time to waste despairing over the battles that can't be won quite yet. Gotta focus on the things we can do.

Honestly Buttigieg seemed okay until he shut down that railroad workers' strike. He would be better than another maga admin though.

And even if we end up with an establishment dem in 2029, they can at least do some cleanup and restoration/demagafication. And if that's enough to keep people's hopes up, there's always 2032 and 2036. As long as we stop backsliding, I'm okay with small steps forward.

We obviously need aggressive climate action now. And healthcare reform. There are plenty of other priorities too, but these two I think we may be able to accomplish even using a less-than-ideal standard-bearer.

I'm just trying to stay hopeful, because sometimes it feels like hope is all I have left.

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 2 points 2 days ago (1 child)

I don’t think climate action will have the appeal we all want. But you can do it under “affordable energy” and “lower electric bills” and win. Hard focus “cheaper electricity” and you have a win. Science talk makes so many people glaze over, sadly. I see it weekly, at work. Even when they try to listen, because their lives literally depend on it, they often lose the narrative.

But everyone understands “lower monthly electric bill”.

Your timeline doesn’t work though. We can’t afford our lives right fucking now. We need the fix TODAY, not 4 years from now.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 2 days ago*

You're so right about that. And it's really sad and disappointing, but it's true.

You tell the people "we need to convert the grid to renewables or else we're going to cause a mass extinction event which will likely result in the widespread destruction of human society, and almost certainly will cause enormous amounts of avoidable suffering" and they don't care because I guess it seems too abstract and far off (it's not that far off) or because the scale is too massive or too unprecedented for them to comprehend. Or because they've been brainwashed to believe it's a hoax. Or conditioned to think it's a lost cause and have already given up hope.

But if you tell them "We need to convert the grid to renewables because they're cheaper than fossil fuels" then suddenly people support it.

And if that's the messaging that works, it's what we need to run with.

And yeah I know shit is expensive and people are suffering. Ideally we'll get a progressive trifecta in 2028 and solve everything in one go. If I could promise you that, I would, but I obviously can't.

Even if we get an establishment dem in 2028 though, as long as it's not a Blue Dog or a Third Way then I think there's a good chance they'll push for climate action and renewable energy.

That's not the only thing that needs reform of course but I have a fucking headache so I'm not gonna list all the shit that we needed to be doing six fucking years ago if we wanted to save the world.

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 8 points 3 days ago

The weird part was Obama was essentially a moderate conservative. And yet, his blackness triggered them so hard, that didn’t work for them.

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[–] cattywampas@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (8 children)

No way dude. January 2nd is gonna be like Christmas eve.

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[+] Zephorah@discuss.online -9 points 3 days ago* (7 children)

Except Jeffries is a done deal no matter what we want, and Schumer will probably be in as well. So stop your hope scrolling.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 5 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Can you also tell me what the weather will be like on my birthday next year, and tomorrow's winning lotto numbers?

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online -1 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Fair. People are never 100%, on anything, except death. Even so, the odds of rolling a seven with two six-sided dice remain the highest odds.

Medicine would not exist without rolling the dice on the highest odds.

We kinda do this on the daily, as humans.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago (4 children)

the odds of rolling a seven with two six-sided dice remain the highest odds.

Even so, expecting to roll a seven every time would be bad math

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 0 points 3 days ago (3 children)

And placing all your money on snake eyes would also be bad math.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 3 days ago (2 children)

Snake eyes? That's a ⅙^2^ chance. ¹/36 to be precise. 2.7%.

Starting next session, there will be over 100 progressives in Congress. That's nearly one out of three Dems. ⅓.

You just need to roll a five or a six. That's all. Just one five or one six.

Maybe don't bet the deed to your house on it. But it's worth any little smidgeon of faith you can work up. Especially in a game where mere belief could be enough to influence the result.

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 2 points 2 days ago (1 child)

I agree. The progressive presence is larger than it’s been since the 80s crawl of siphoning money/power from us to corpos.

I have hope that they’re scrappy.

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[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz [S] 1 point 2 days ago

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (6 children)

You're not helping and I suspect you know that.

Everyone needs to block people who have nothing helpful to say while trying to make us feel like idiots for having hope. It seems obvious to me that there's a reason they're doing this and it certainly isn't well intentioned.

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[–] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social -1 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Or, I'm pushing 70 years old and have had my hopes crushed so many times, that I feel the need to warn people about what is not going to happen.

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[–] InternetUsersAreTheWorst@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You're actively trying to leave a feeling of despair and hopelessness for the next generation. You say it like it's a public service too.

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[–] zoltanshields@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago (1 child)

70 should be old enough to know cynicism isn't wisdom. It's one thing to encourage people to always temper optimism with caution, it's another to spend one's life indistinguishable from an edgy adolescent.

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[–] InternetUsersAreTheWorst@lemmy.world 1 point 3 days ago

Exactly.

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[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

Most of my issue with your comment though is that it doesn’t really offer solutions or courses of action. It’s just doomsaying for its own sake.

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[–] mefisdo_dot_info@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago*

If you're 70 you have experienced the Sovietunion falling apart, relatively peacefully. Biggest miracle in recent history. All it took was a somewhat reasonable leader (Gorbachev) coming after a series of senile nightmares. Eerily similar to another country today. There's always hope.