What the hell is wrong with republicans? Don’t pay your taxes and you should be killed. Rape a 12 year old and you get to be a daddy. This is messed up.
Abort a baby and you should be killed. Enter the “wrong” bathroom (their choice), you should be killed.
But it’s always the same statement, actually: “Leftists should be killed”
bUt tHeY jUSt hAVe dIFfErEnT oPIniOnS
bOtH sIdEs ArE tHe SaMe!!!
I am European. I seriously can’t understand why USA conservatives (referring strictly to republicans in this case) are so extremely regressive to the point of hurting themself.
I feel like much of their talk is influencing bad ideas here too.
It begs the question - were they always thinking this stuff and now feel entitled to say it out loud? Or are they being coaxed by propaganda generated by some of our nations enemies in order to break apart our country? Is this all one big state-sponsored psy-ops attack by a foreign country?
I don’t know. But it sure as hell scares the hell out of me.
It’s both.
Yeah, I agree with kobra. It’s a mix. The Alt Right Playbook video series gives some interesting thoughts on the matter. Conservatives and further right tend to be hyper hierarchical and tend to demand respect for the chain of authority, even to their own detriment (as long as it hurts someone else more). Rejecting an authority figure is a bigger deal on the right than the left due to the whole “control how people think” angle.
So it hasn’t gone far enough to alienate the ones that are still on board. Some refuse to hear the negative and just bury their head in the sand. Some are convinced by emotionally charged rhetoric that “the other side is even worse.” And some already agreed with them secretly. For most, it’s probably a mix of these various techniques for contorting to fit the shape demanded of them by their authority figures–some being more bigoted than others after all. For the pro-hierarchical people, their place in the hierarchy is a piece of their self-identity and it’s really hard to fight that instinct.
It’s propaganda meant to put the stooges for the ultra wealthy in power so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it elsewhere in the world. They have NO policies other than “cut expenditures for the wealthy” (taxes, regulations, etc) so they have to use propaganda outlets to foment a culture war that they can then “fight for you” to get your vote.
I do have hard feelings for those that succumb to the propaganda as they have to want some of these hateful things, but I REALLY LOATHE the propagandists. There is no word in the English language that properly conveys just how much hatred I have for them, people like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. I don’t like to wish death on anyone, but god would the world be a better place without them and people like them.
Religion
Seasoned the conspiracy thinking associated with their particular brand.
When you think there’s a conspiracy of scientists to hide the real age of the earth, it’s not a far drive to “vaccines are weapons of the antichrist” and “Satan runs the Democratic party” and “climate change is a lie to take your way of life from you.”
Notably these conspiracy theories are pushed by parties who benefit from their spread. Furthermore, any evidence against the conspiracy is twisted into proof that the conspirators are even more clever than previously thought.
I am European. I seriously can’t understand why USA conservatives (referring strictly to republicans in this case) are so extremely regressive to the point of hurting themself.
Because Trump ushered in an era where the only “strong” Republican is one willing to hurt “Others”. One who never apologizes when they’re wrong, but instead doubles down. One who is willing to step on whoever it takes to get to the top, especially if the people being stepped on are “them”.
The entire party is all Trump all the time, and the only way to survive in today’s GOP is to either (a) Be Trump, or (b) be willing to openly ratchet up the cruelty. And while I disagree with people like Liz Cheney on just about every policy issue in existence, she at least tried to bring the GOP back to what it was before Trump, and look what happened to her and others who tried to do the same thing.
These Republicans are so regressive to the point of self-sabotage because the MAGA base is still large enough to dictate their political careers and they’ll accept nothing less. MAGA may only be a portion of the GOP voting base, but that portion is large enough where it’s nearly impossible for a Republican to win without them.
It’s not all that different from some far-right political parties in European countries. Vox in Spain, for example, has nostalgia for the Franco regime and would just love to nullify people’s divorces. I mean, talk about extremely regressive. How about Italy’s extreme right-wing party? They successfully nullified some adoptions. Those are two examples I know from Europe, but I think there are other European countries with extremist political parties that are gaining traction.
I live in Italy, I know about the goblins we have in power right now unfortunately.
Because they think it makes them look “tough” in front of other like-minded idiots. Thats the thing they care most about. Not compassion, or equality, or anything like actual fairness…just trying to look “tough”.
Reminds me of the ones who cheerfully discuss details of savage beatings they received as children. Might be real, imagined or embellished but it sets them up to label people they dislike as “soft” if no other insult is readily available.
Divide and conquer mentality. They have no real policies other than to cut and deregulate. In order to achieve these goals, they need to be in power. No one in their right mind would vote for people who want to do these things, so they misrepresent their ideological alignment by creating strawmen out of minorities, immigrants, and unborn fetuses in order to drum up emotional support amongst reactionary idiots (hardcore religious nutjobs) and racists. Then they double down on the rhetoric by calling Democrats pedophiles, and you basically have a guaranteed voting bloc.
The genuinely treat the constitution as a religious document akin to the Bible. The writer have thought of everything and made room for everything. Btw slaves were totally cool cause they were loved by their owners. This is what I gather from hearing my family speak
Hey, don’t worry, european conservatives in the east are already like that, and in the west they will become like this over the next 5-10 years. It’s inevitable, conservatism is a regressive ideology and they just can’t do anything but move further to the right.
Well, until everything explodes into war or rebellion.
Because they found out that if there is a large unhappy with their life, it’s a lot easier to sell them a lie that promises a “solution” to their every problem. Same thing is happening in Europe, just a bit delayed.
Don’t pay your taxes and you should be killed.
Only if you’re a democrat. If you’re a republican then not paying your taxes is patriotic and supportive of ‘small government’.
Well Trump said way back that not paying taxes made him a smart businessman. So he essentially acknowledged not paying taxes, but there was no real investigation into that and Republicans and supporters agreed he was smart for not paying taxes.
Can we not inflate his bullshit on this new site though? Like… This is just him saying whatever random stuff to stay in people’s minds. There’s no meaning behind it and there’s no action either. It’s just actual clogging up of more important politics and news.
Unfortunately, the guy is the leading contender for the Republican nomination for President. It’s important that people (especially independent voters) know about this crap before they consider voting for him.
No, that isn’t really true. He needs to be isolated like the mental plague that he is. He is memetic poison. “Let people decide” basically lets them get infected.
Anybody who doesn’t have a pretty good idea exactly who he is and what he stands for after all this time is probably never going to.
That is why we have a down vote option which I highly recommend using for items such as this. The community controls what it wants to see.
It isn’t exactly a matter of wanting or not wanting to see it. You know the addage “any news is good news?” By posting content that keeps a person and their commentary in the forefront of people’s minds, that person gains an audience. That audience will contain people who can be swayed by the snake oil, but who would otherwise be reasonable. Or in short, posting their content facilitates radicalization.
That said, while content from harmful influential people needs to be approached with caution, I don’t see this as promoting Trump’s action/behaviors. To me it reads more like a “not the onion” headline. I’d be disappointed if anyone felt that the death penalty was warranted for late tax filing, but I suppose it’s possible.
Does Lemmy have a way to filter keywords? It would be helpful for people to be able to blacklist keywords so a user could choose to avoid seeing, for example, news about Trump or content with sensitive topics.
We need that slashdot system of vote + mark “insightful”, “flamebait”, “funny”, etc etc. add more categories as necessary so posts can be scored on multiple axes.
Sounds good to me, as long as there’s a way for instances/users to disable those filters. Since they’re more in-depth/granular, I suspect engagement with them would be lower, so there’s a higher risk of a smaller minority using it to dictate the conversation. But I’d definitely be interested in seeing that in action. It could be really helpful for giving people tools to shape their feed.
Do you really think if a Lemmy instance or vanity fair banned anything about Trump it’d make him less influential? Maybe if there was a media wide blackout, but so long as Fox News exists and asshole oligarchs can buy all sorts of giant megaphones to push their messages, I think the rest of us only have a choice in whether we offer dissenting opinions or stay silent
I generally agree with you. I don’t know that it matters so much whether articles are posted, it matters more that people continue to speak against the ideology and don’t allow fascists to take the stage. Seeing others’ support a cause lends it credence. Seeing that a cause exists lends some, but not as much as active support would. Seeing people voice disapproval helps to take away that credibility.
That said, the principle generally makes sense that spreading an ideology’s message helps that ideology spread. The impact of posting an article on Lemmy is likely to be small, but non-zero. It’s a matter of providing access to a fresh audience. Fox’s viewers are thoroughly saturated with hateful rhetoric already, so there aren’t many left to radicalize who can be reached by that message. Exposing a fresh audience to the content expands its reach and potentially radicalizes new people. Plus, exposure to new hateful messages can deepen the entrenchment of those who are already caught in the web.
Upvoted for a thoughtful reply, and I think your point about “providing access to a fresh audience” is a good one in theory, but I don’t know if this article is really spreading the ideology’s message. It’s reminding us that one prominent proponent of that ideology is still out there and saying stuff, but the framing of it is pretty explicitly “hey, look how hypocritical the fascist tax cheat presidential candidate is being again”.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I would’ve written it because anybody who would be convinced by this should already know all this stuff, but I think this author was at least trying to do the right thing here, and I don’t think this is anywhere near as harmful as, for example, bending over backwards to make Trump seem like a normal politician and rephrasing his quotes so they sound less insane like I’ve seen a lot of outlets that desperately want to be considered politically neutral do.
Dude, you posted it. If you recommend downvoting the post, delete it.
He is recommending if you dont like the post downvote it. Also if you dont like it… dont open it.
do you even realize why people don’t want to spread this kind of content?
I understand I just think your argument is weak for it. You are telling someone to self censor news they post and you could just as easily self censor news you read.
If it’s such a trigger topic for you that you lash out on someone posting news about it then maybe you need to self evaluate and make better choices about what news you take in.
You are telling someone to self censor news they post and you could just as easily self censor news you read.
the problem isn’t the news i as an individual am reading. you do not understand the problem.
I understand, I just dont think it is the “problem” you seem to think it is.
I can open it and let you know I don’t like it. I’m doing it right now.
Cool, I mean as long as you are not implying OP should delete his post because you dont like it then I wont tell you that you could also just not to open it.
This isn’t reddit where they inflated the upvotes. You all control if something gets pushed through to the lemmy servers homepage or not.
reddit doesn’t inflate the upvotes lol. they, for years, deflated the votes to make smaller communities appear bigger compared to the main subs.
Reddit created popular to boost posts for sure.
That’s not the same as inflating scores, and that’s what the feature is designed to do, make smaller communities more visible. The didn’t remove hot or rising to make it either. This is a wild conspiracy you’ve manufactured here, considering they explained why they made these changes when they made them.
Cool story bro. You think you can hide behind the concept of “I’m just giving the people what they want”, but you can’t. You can post this trash. But unlike reddit, you can also get called out and shamed in the comments and there are no power mods here to protect you (yet).
I don’t want this to be reddit. You are behaving like a redditor and attracting people I don’t want here. So now you get hear about it.
I’m acting like the moderator of this community who is trying to grow the community with content people want to discuss and share.
and a very handy “block” button too!
I’m not a trump supporter but I’m also not a sensationalism supporter. He made an analogy in his post, “he gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence.” Now we accept that the sentence given by the judge was not a traffic ticket, but we insist that the death sentence part was meant literally? Now honestly, I hate Trump as much as anyone but honest, accurate, and irrefutable criticisms are going to get us farther than stretches of sensational word-twisting.
The problem here is there’s a sub-group of Trump supporters who will read this and think “yeah, someone should just take out Hunter Biden, that will send a real message”. And there’s a sub-group of that group that will possibly try to do it.
Trump is well aware, and possibly proud of, the fact that statements from him can lead to real world violence.
He was trying to get the metal detectors removed from the Jan 6 rally because “they’re not here to hurt me”. This indicates he knew people would try to come armed and that they intended to hurt someone, just not him.
Trump is well aware, and possibly proud of, the fact that statements from him can lead to real world violence.
There’s no “possibly”. He is proud of it, and he’s attempted to directly call for violence on multiple occasions since 1/6. Fortunately, it only actually worked the one time. But it did permanently force everybody to take his calls to violence seriously since he only needs one well-armed MAGA moron to do some serious damage, and his base has proven that there are plenty of people out there waiting for that call.
He speaks far too colloquially and off-the-cuff for a President for my liking. A complete buffoon who can’t speak unless it’s in hyperbole.
He speaks far too colloquially and off-the-cuff for a President for my liking.
This is actually one of the traits I wish more members of our government had. We don’t need or want big, fancy political doublespeak. Just tell us like it is like we’re regular people.
The problem isn’t that Trump speaks colloquially or off-the-cuff. The problem is that he’s …
A complete buffoon who can’t speak unless it’s in hyperbole.
Give me someone who can speak like Trump but has the intelligence and desire to work for the people like AOC or Bernie Sanders and I wouldn’t be able to throw my money towards their election campaign fast enough.
I fail to see any example of Trump’s speech patterns that are ideal. AOC speaks far more intelligently, and without doublespeak, than Trump ever could.
His off-the-cuff method of talking to people is one of the main things that endears him to so many people. He talks like one would when they’re getting together with co-workers at the bar after work. Even his staunchest critics have never denied his mastery of being able to connect with rank-and-file people at a very deep level. This is what I’m referring to.
AOC speaks far more intelligently, and without doublespeak, than Trump ever could.
Right. Now imagine she had all of that and Trump’s ability to connect with people at the level he can so easily. Imagine if she had Trump’s ability and willingness to push his party as hard as he can to get what he wants, and calling out party members that get in his way. Imagine a President AOC trying to push for national healthcare and calling out people like Manchin who gum up the works and refuse to play ball the way Trump does.
I think you are making the mistake of believing what Trump supporters say. They claim they like his ‘off the cuff’ speaking style but what they really like is all the racism.
Plenty of politicians have a more natural and “common” way of speaking but also make coherent points. Trump is not unique in any way from that angle.
While I get what you’re saying, Trump benefits far too much from not literally saying things, but letting his supporters run wild with what he’s implying.
It’s no different from when he starts a rumor by saying “People have been telling me…” followed by some shit he just made up about an opponent. He gets to claim immunity from being the one that starts the rumor while at the same time putting it out there for his supporters to grab onto.
The question is, do you believe that he wants his supporters to think he literally wants the death penalty for Hunter Biden?
If the answer is yes, then he shouldn’t be defended in any way.
im well past giving this gaping void of humanity the benefit of the doubt.
Of course he deliberately mentioned the death sentence to put associations into the skulls of his radicalised extremist cultist base. Haven’t you been alive for the last 7 years?
deleted by creator
The problem here, I think is, is that Trump does stuff like this all the time. He says things that are absurd, or outlandish and people always say “he’s joking”, “don’t take everything he says literally”, but at what point do you take him literally?
You think for one second if he had won in 2020 he wouldnt be trying to run for reelection again? Or trying to declare himself president for life? He said multiple times his first term shouldnt count because they spied on his campaign or the impeachments. He said the US should try president for life as China had done during his term. Trump also praised Rodrigo Duterte who encouraged murdering drug users/pushers.
We can stick to facts all we want but the one thing we should do, is believe Trump when he says something.
You’re trying to apply logic to an illogical person. That’s where we went wrong in 2016.
Yeah I’m going to block this community if something like this comes up on my feed again.
Don’t let the door hit you where god split you. Bye Kevin.
Trump should be instantly held to the same standards he wants others held to
He should be, but knows he won’t. His base loves him for it.
That wouldnt be the first law he created that bites himself afterwards.
Wouldn’t Trump be first in line if that was the law? That fucker broken more tax laws than anyone. Not to mention being fucking traitor to the country when stole classified documents to sale to the highest bidder. That warrants the death penalty.
That’s ironic
I can’t believe people still get upset over what trump says. The dude was literally created to piss people off and divide us. Just ignore it, you getting upset is exaxtly what they want. I don’t understand how people don’t get that in 2023.
But when Trump doesn’t pay his taxes it’s because hes ‘a smart businessman’.
Someone get his rambling on the books as law, then we can prosecute him under his own laws like we’re doing with the mishandling of classified information.
Ok. At this point he HAS to be doing this shit on purpose.
He says whatever he thinks will own the libs. He doesn’t have any actual platform, it is all about power for him and hurting those who hurt him.
Yep, he’s grasping at straws to stay relevant. If there’s one thing he knows, it’s how to manipulate the media. And right now the only way he can get their attention to post what he says, is if he says something truly outlandish and more “trumpy” than other political commentators from conservative outlets.
Speaking to the fringe is a tactic to win primary support. It’s only occasionally hurt him in a real sense so it’s effectively reinforced.
Damn, there’d be quite a lot less millionaires and billionaires in the world if that was the case, lmao.
i don’t see a problem with that
As a non millionaire who tends to miss deadlines, I object…
Removed by mod
deleted by creator
Well, at least he paid taxes, unlike Trump.
Says the guy famous for dodging taxes?..
Removed by mod
