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    1859 months ago

    It’s a common mistake among conservatives that they believe everyone is as self-centered and greedy as they are

    I’ve not become more conservative as I age because I’d kill myself before becoming that awful to people around me

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      Not knocking your worthy efforts, but the vast majority of people don’t turn conservative because of ideological reasons, they do it because they want to keep what they acquired over their lives.

      The people don’t become conservative any more because everyone younger than 40 pretty has pretty much gotten the economic middle finger across the board, so people turn radical instead. If I have nothing to lose I don’t feel protective of the status quo.

      But the greedy fucks in charge around the world are so removed from the reality of life they cannot see past their bank account, and would rather concede to fascism to keep things going for a bit longer, than making the needed changes. For the lost generations and the planet itself.

      • Ragdoll X
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        9 months ago

        Well it’s worth noting that teenage boys have started leaning a bit more to the right, likely in large part because of Andrew Tate and others in the manosphere, plus right-wing think-tanks like PragerU targeting schools and kids.

        Though it’s not like the gap between conservative and liberal boys is that big, plus it’s not uncommon to hear from men on the left say that they had a phase of watching Ben Shapiro debate compilations only to grow out of it, so it’s not like this is the end of the world.

        Still, it’s also true that Millennials and Gen X are getting fucked by boomers when it comes to money: Millennials only hold 3% of total US wealth, and that’s a shockingly small sliver of what baby boomers had at their age

        I guess we can only hope that the latter is a stronger motivating factor than reactionary propaganda and efforts to curtail education that are coming from the right.

        • @DarthBueller
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          159 months ago

          PragerU is like barely removed from Nazi propaganda. It’s so fucking insidiously and evilly incorrect I can’t believe YouTube allows it at all. Fucking YouTube

          • tmyakal
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            149 months ago

            That’s because you’re reading the chart wrong. It’s showing the change in wealth for those age brackets across time.

            People that were 40 in 1990 had a bigger share of the wealth than people who are 40 in 2020.

      • @[email protected]
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        349 months ago

        What exactly are older people afraid of losing? It’s not like even the farthest left politicians are in favor of doing anything more radical than raising taxes on people who are wealthier than the vast majority of boomers.

        • @Kage520
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          349 months ago

          I don’t think they are afraid of losing anything specific. It’s ingrained at this point.

          “If you made straight A’s and someone else made straight F’s, how would you feel if you both ended up with C’s? That’s fair right? No? Welcome to the Republican Party. Isn’t everyone who doesn’t agree with this an idiot? I’m glad we aren’t idiots.”

          I grew up homeschooled and the Christian curriculum my parents used had similar feeling brainwashing tactics. “Scientists searched their whole lives to disprove the Bible, then ended up Christians instead!” Making you feel smart for not wasting your life like the other guy, you are already in the “good” group.

          • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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            239 months ago

            I’ve grown up in the same educational situation, and this is exactly what I’ve experienced. Their attempted indoctrination turned me into a liberal, antichristian agnostic. But with mental health issues, because emotional abuse is better than “letting your kid go to hell”…

            • @[email protected]
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              159 months ago

              Well Jesus was a peace loving socialist hippy, who would have been seen as a woke liberal by any US Christian conservative. They would have crucified him and not seen the irony.

              • phillaholic
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                9 months ago

                They were also warned about the antichrist, and then elected the embodiment of the warning almost identically.

                • @[email protected]
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                  19 months ago

                  It’s a popular theory that the antichrist thing was an attack on Nero, who was persecuting Christians at the time Revelations was written.

                  But then that means Trump is nearly identical to the Bible’s description of Nero.

      • LinkOpensChest.wav
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        -169 months ago

        Being protective of your good fortune at the expense of others is itself part of an ideology, so I don’t see why you felt the need to contradict and condescend. A person who’s not a piece of shit would have no business being a conservative, no matter how privileged they are.

        Now go argue with someone else because I’m getting big reddit energy from you, and it’s making me anxious.

          • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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            29 months ago

            I get their point - the “greedy [expletive]” part was insulting and unnecessary. But I do think they are overreacting quite a bit…

          • LinkOpensChest.wav
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            -159 months ago

            Next time, either be considerate and don’t lead with a debatelord’s tone, or don’t comment at all if you can’t resist being an argumentative prick

            • @[email protected]
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              69 months ago

              How about I express myself as I see fit, and you compose yourself for the next time someone writes in a way that makes you feel “anxious” yet at the same time unable to control the urge to lecture them.

              Who are you to tell me how I should express myself?

              • LinkOpensChest.wav
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                -69 months ago

                When you treat people like shit and throw pointed words at them, I’m going to call you out for it. I don’t owe you an apology.

                But fair enough, I’ll block you. I had my fill of you neckbeards during my miserable tenure on reddit, and I never want to speak to you again.

                • @[email protected]
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                  79 months ago

                  Whom did I treat like shit in your opinion? I have not addressed anyone except nameless politicians.

                  Maybe spend less time arguing with people you say you don’t want to argue with and more on improving your reading comprehension

            • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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              49 months ago

              I understand that the last paragraph of their comment was unnecessary and inflammatory, but this (insults etc) is not the way to point that out…

        • @[email protected]
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          89 months ago

          The only big reddit energy was this comment and the subsequent doubling down. The comment above was an even handed rebuttal, this response is tone policing and name calling.

          You may disagree with his rebuttal but this is not how you respond to adversity.

          • @[email protected]
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            49 months ago

            I don’t understand why they even went so off the rails. I just gave an addition to their statement which I prefaced with positive affirmation, to make sure the following text isn’t misinterpreted as ridiculing them in their effort.

            Granted I l maybe shouldn’t have cursed as much, but I didn’t even insult anyone specifically, not even republicans as some other people suggest. Just the political leadership that is complicit in suppressing the needed change to save our ecosystem and remedy the ridiculous inequality mankind has to endure.

            Apparently that’s enough to make them block me and then continue to rant about me in random comments.

            Guess im done with this conversation, it turned weirdly toxic for no fault of mine.

          • LinkOpensChest.wav
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            -49 months ago

            Wow, what a hot take. I’m so thankful you stepped in to defend the debatelord. What a great use of your time!

            Just a tip: If you have nothing constructive to add to a conversation, keep it to yourself. Have fun on my blocklist.

          • LinkOpensChest.wav
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            -159 months ago

            And I think you ought to keep your thoughts to yourself, if you have nothing worth contributing besides haughty arrogance and presumption.

            Besides, I did read their whole comment. That’s what I responded to.

              • LinkOpensChest.wav
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                -59 months ago

                That’s EXACTLY MY POINT. If someone agrees with you, then why lead with something as pretentious and haughty as “Not to knock your worthy efforst, but…”

                Why talk down to someone like that and adopt the tone of a pretentious debatelord when you ultimately agree with the other person?

                I encountered people like that all over reddit, so I recognize them – the type of people who think any conversation is a debate that you must “win.” It’s precisely because he does agree with me that I’m so miffed.

                • @[email protected]
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                  89 months ago

                  They weren’t being pretentious or haughty. They amended one of your statements because it was a little inaccurate, then agreed that your wider point is correct. Because, yes, “wanting to hold on to what you have earned” is indeed an ideologically driven position

            • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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              9 months ago

              Let’s please keep this civil. I respectfully disagree, but I have no problem with you voicing your opinion. The issue is your assumption that the person who disagrees with you is a horrible individual, simply because they have a different opinion. I don’t even care who’s right at this point - we can debate an issue without insulting each other. And even if you’re enraged by it, hiding that fact and calmly countering their opinion with logic is far more effective at winning over an audience…

              Edit: Before any accusation of unfair treatment is made, I’d like to clarify that I disapprove of the original comment’s rhetoric as well - there was no good reason to insult conservatives (“greedy [expletive]”) like they did.

              • LinkOpensChest.wav
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                -89 months ago

                What the fuck are you even talking about? Conservatives should be systemically and socially deplatformed and disenfranchised.

                My issue with the person I was speaking to was the haughty arrogance they led with, presuming to argue with me about… what? Nothing they said contradicted what I was saying; yet, they come at me like a debatelord?

                And now you have the arrogance to lecture me on the correct take ™? Literally cis white male energy. stfu

                • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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                  69 months ago

                  There wasn’t any “haughty arrogance,” they were just adding on to what you said with their view, and (from my understanding) were attempting to be polite by clarifying how your point still stands. Not everything is an argument…

    • @average_internet_enjoyer
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      179 months ago

      To what extent do you think education has played a role in allowing kids to critically analyse these types of people. Because in my history classes, we learned about ways people influenced others in nefarious ways and I’m wondering if kids see the same common pattern and know when to avoid.

      Just a thought 🤷

      • LinkOpensChest.wav
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        179 months ago

        Oh, I definitely think it’s played an important role. There’s a reason the right wing regularly attacks education. Seems to be a global thing, too – not just the US.

        Also just a thought, though!

        • @average_internet_enjoyer
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          49 months ago

          Good question, anyone that has an education will tell you it’s changed their life and I believe that too. Even though sometimes it’s boring, the advantage is just too good for future children. Just suspicious that right wing wants to reverse progress.

          • LinkOpensChest.wav
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            49 months ago

            It’s become unfortunately popular in some circles to view education as strictly a state’s propaganda tool, but in spite of its flaws, I’ve been pretty impressed by how effective it can be in the hands of skilled and passionate groups of individual educators.

            That’s not to say there aren’t bad teachers (and don’t even get me started on administrators and legislators), but I do attribute a lot to what it has accomplished, for example, in my remote state, and that’s in spite of being regularly attacked by christofascists. When I think about it, I’m not sure I’d have much of a healthy perspective on things if not for some influential teachers. I’m a huge fan of public education, and I think we need to speak up for it whenever we can. It’s tragic what’s happened to it these past few years in my state and others.

    • @Mudface
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      -489 months ago

      I’m conservative, I’m not American though.

      I wish there was a place we could talk about the issues we disagree on without assuming the other is PURE EVIL OMG HITLER HITLER NAZI!

      Or DIRTY PEDO COMMIE HATES WESTERN CIVILIZATION AND WANTS US TO ALL BE GULAGED LITERALLY STALIN STALIN STALIN!

      • DessertStorms
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        539 months ago

        “I just wish there was a place I could talk about maintaining the structures that oppress billions but keep me feeling comfortable and superior without those who are negatively impacted telling me I’m a piece of shit”

        • @Mudface
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          -379 months ago

          Damn, man

          It must be miserable being you

          • @[email protected]
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            319 months ago

            Why not actually respond to what they said? Conservatism is inherently about conserving power in the elite. It seems a bit immature to respond to an (admittedly snide and sarcastic) challenge to your beliefs with a personal insult. All they did was accurately break down what your comment represents.

            • @Mudface
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              -189 months ago

              I’m having a dozen conversations and 80% of the time when I click on the response in my inbox to go back to the context it takes me to another post all together.

              I don’t even know what our conversation has been up to this point.

              What did they say? And then how did I respond? I wish you could see my inbox with all of the personal attacks I’ve received not only today, but over the last two months over different accounts lol

              So if someone is being an idiot to me, I don’t have a problem being an idiot back. If you’re respectful, I’ll have a respectful conversation with you.

              • @[email protected]
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                9 months ago

                That entire comment was just a dodge. Do your due diligence and click “show context” (it is the bare minimum effort), and stop avoiding the subject. Or just don’t respond if you don’t want to discuss.

                If you want to know what they were talking about - I already summed it up in the comment you’re responding to. Precisely so you couldn’t excuse dodging the point a second time. And yet, here you are, doing exactly that.

                Do you deny that conservatism is about conserving the power in the established elite? And if so - how?

                • @Mudface
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                  -119 months ago

                  https://lemmy.one/comment/2873366

                  Lol this is the kind of thing that shows up in my inbox over and over and over again

                  I just told you, I click on the reply and it takes me to some random part of the thread. When replies start getting nested and there’s a lot of comments I can’t find the posts. And I don’t really care that much to spend the time searching, when my inbox keeps filling up with messages like the one I linked.

                  Conservation of tradition is what conservatives usually aim to do. Nothing about established elite, but values, institutions, traditions, etc. that’s the context of ‘conserve’ in the name.

                  Of course there’s a lot more to it than that.

      • @Sanctus
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        349 months ago

        Its because for us in America there is nothing to argue for on conservatism that is appealing. Our democrats are center-right. What do we have to discuss between extremists and centrists of the same side? What companies should be bailed out first? Which lobbyist donate the fattest cheques? Its abysmal. So no, you won’t find any citizens who want to discuss with conservatives same as you won’t find many willing to discuss with the Taliban.

        • @Mudface
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          -339 months ago

          Honestly, it sounds like you’re the extreme one if you think the majority of everyone else is either centrist or extremist themselves.

          How can you reconcile that?

          • @CustosliberaOP
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            159 months ago

            If I understand what you’ve wrote you said;

            You’re an extremist if you think the majority of other people are extremists.

            Could you please elaborate on that?

            • @Mudface
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              -159 months ago

              If you want to do this, we can.

              But can we start with an agreed on definition of the term ‘extremist’?

              My point is that, if you think 300 million other people in your country are extremists, and there are any 350-ish million people in your country - mayyyyybe the 300 aren’t the extremists and maybe you are.

              If that’s how you see the world

              • Em Adespoton
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                79 months ago

                That doesn’t make sense. Looking at the US, there appears to be around 18% on the extreme right, 60 percent on the moderate right, 20% on the moderate left to center, and 2% on the extreme left.

                But the media reporting on them appear to be weighted extreme right and left.

                Populist politics and media have resulted in many countries around the world becoming less tolerant of opposing views, which has driven many discussions (and more people) to ideological extremes.

                But you can have 50% extreme left and 50% extreme right in a country easily. Just means nobody’s willing to compromise on anything.

                • @Mudface
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                  09 months ago

                  I’d like to see what the definition of ‘extreme left’ and ‘extreme right’ is to pair with those numbers. Is it something the ADL or NAACP came up with?

      • @[email protected]
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        109 months ago

        Conervative: “please don’t call me a nazi hear me out first”

        Normal people: “ok”

        Conservative: “sieg heil, gas the jews”

        Normal people: “you’re a nazi”

        Conservative: “see you won’t even listen”

        • @Mudface
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          19 months ago

          Right cause this fucking happens

          • @[email protected]
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            29 months ago

            It does. I shortened it a bit. The conservatives usually use many words, and they might try not to sound racist, but when pressed, they more or less admit they want certain groups of persons not to exist, women to have fewer rights, and so on. Back to barbarian times and war crimes basically.

      • @DarthBueller
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        69 months ago

        The issue is that you rely on fear to gain support. You can’t just say, “I’m opposed to illegal immigration, we need to police our borders better.” Many people are interested in regulated borders. But then many on your side make it clear hate is their motivator, playing the xenophobic line and saying shit like “because these sand n*$&ers are murderers, terrorists and rapists.” And those who aren’t saying shit like that are silent.

        I’m not interested in importing deeply conservative religious people to this country that are going to threaten the societal shift toward a secular society, especially at the specific time the SCOTUS is giving religions special privileges. But by no means do I need to cultivate hate in my heart or others, unless I’m a fuck.

        • @Mudface
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          -19 months ago

          Where the fuck are you hearing that? Every conversation I have with my conservative friends revolves around how much immigration is reasonably doable and what number is too much strain on the system.

          There’s never a racist undertone to the conversation. Immigrants can come from Africa, or Mexico, or Poland. No one I know gives a shit about who they are, just what the policy around it is

          • phillaholic
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            29 months ago

            What’s the proposal? Building a wall is a joke. It doesn’t work; ignores the need for migrant workers for things like farming that don’t have viable alternatives; And ultimately is a big grift by Republican donors to get bloated contacts to build it but never really complete it in anything meaningful way.

          • @[email protected]
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            19 months ago

            What methodology is use in determining numbers surrounding how much immigration is doable? Is there economic metrics involved in doing this? Which ones do you use?

      • Zagorath
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        69 months ago

        What’s your definition of conservative, and what is it about conservatism that appeals to you?

        • @Mudface
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          39 months ago

          All of the political tests I’ve ever taken have named me a ‘classic liberal’. There are so many subdivision of political leanings that it gets pretty confusing.

          I call myself a conservative because I believe in the family unit being the backbone of our society. The most important thing in the world. I believe in small government, I believe in free market capitalism, I think taxes should be minimal and government should be responsible with balancing the budget.

          Im not overly religious, but I think religion has a lot of good lessons to teach. I think the Bible creates fences around issues and asks us to do our best not to cross them, but those fences are far enough away from the real issue that we need to avoid to mean it’s not a huge deal if we step over the odd one here or there. I don’t take the Bible 100% literally.

          As for social topics, I’m much more liberal than where I am with governing. This is why I voted for Justin Trudeau back in like, 2015.

          I believe drugs should be legal, sex work should be legal, I think we should have less laws in general. I respect the idea of the police, but I realize a lot of them are just losers from highschool who got picked on and now they have a gun and a badge.

          I had a long soul searching introspective moment on abortion when my wife became pregnant with our first child and we were talking to the doctor about testing for Down’s syndrome.

          I realized that for me, I am against it. But I’m not so quick to say it should be banned. I do think there should be common sense restrictions though.

          Does that all make sense?

          • Zagorath
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            79 months ago

            Yeah that makes sense. I think as an inevitable result of writing a brief online comment, you’ve expressed a quite vague and shallow perspective here, so if you don’t mind I’d like to dig into it a little bit. In particular, I’m curious about what you mean when you say you “believe in small government” and “free market capitalism”.

            What sort of things do you think government should not be doing? Should people not be entitled to live a healthy life without being bankrupted? (I.e., should government not fund healthcare?) Are workers not entitled to fair treatment for their labour? (industrial relations laws and workplace health & safety.) Is public safety and order not important? (Fire departments, police, maybe the defence forces.) How do you feel when governments give subsidies to some businesses, like agriculture, mining, “bailing out the banks”, or private education?

            You’ll note that some of these are things that conservative governments are associated with doing more of, while others are things conservative governments do less of. It’s why I’ve always found the conservative parties’ claims to be “small government” rather misleading. More of a marketing approach they use that doesn’t actually represent what they stand for, and thus not particularly useful in good faith political discourse.

          • @[email protected]
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            9 months ago

            families and free market capitalism are exclusive of each other.

            Free market capitalism wants both parents and any children working as young as possible and as old as possible, as much as possible.

            Free market capitalism does not - practically - support childcare (and childcare - bringing in someone else to care for your children - is the opposite of being a family), it does not support time off, it does not support vacations, it doesn’t support education, it doesn’t support public transportation (important when you have small kids), it doesn’t support free Healthcare for childbirth, pre- and post-natal care, it doesn’t support retirement so grandparents can help.

            It also supports strict immigration and very much looks down on people immigrating with their families or brining their families over — leading to such terms as “anchor baby”

            I’m a millennial immigrant to the USA. We can’t have kids because my wife’s job is location based and tied to student loan forgiveness and retirement divestment, so her family are thousands of miles in one direction, my family are thousands of miles in another direction. If we have a baby she loses her job, as theres no maternity or paternity leave, can’t get her student loans forgiven, can’t ever retire, I get 2 weeks off a year + public holidays and I often work 8am to 6 or 7pm - I would literally never see my child.

            Captialism is directly responsible for the destruction of (this, but in my opinion all) families.

            • @Mudface
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              09 months ago

              How would you describe conservatism?

              • @[email protected]
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                9 months ago

                Conservatism as an ideology believes in the existence of a “natural hierarchy”, where society is ordered into people with power and people without power, and the ones with power deserve that power because that’s the natural hierarchy. Conservatives have the primary objective to enforce that imaginary hierarchy. Basically they’re the remains of Pro-Feudalists from the early days of Capitalism.

                This coincides well with modern day capitalism, which also wants to enforce a “natural hierarchy” - just in its case it’s capital vs. labor instead of powerful vs. powerless people.

                If you want my opinion, I’d put you in the “right wing liberal” drawer. Which, in american dimensions (because the US does not have a political left wing), would be the democratic party. If you were an actual conservative, you would use abortion as an opportunity to enforce the “women < men” power dynamic for example, because that’s one of the imaginary “natural hierarchies” conservatives believe in.

      • @[email protected]
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        59 months ago

        If you can’t find a reasonable discussion about a question anywhere, then maybe the question you’re asking isn’t reasonable.

        • @Mudface
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          -149 months ago

          Unfortunately, I don’t think it exists anywhere

              • @Wakmrow
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                19 months ago

                There’s nothing to debate with conservatives. If you were a reasonable person looking for good faith discussion you wouldn’t be a conservative. So no one will engage with you because its a waste of time at best.

                You have the entirety of human history at your fingertips and you’re too lazy to seek out information. No one wants to babysit you through Wikipedia.

                It is also my experience dealing with conservatives that any time you people get DESTROYED you people get really angry, like threateningly angry.

                I’ll give you a concrete example: the other poster whinging about immigration. Do you know the history of immigration laws? Do you know the causes of immigration? What are the effects of immigration? What are the impacts to communities? Do you understand current and historical colonialism? Or did newscorp tell you immigrants are scary (especially the brown ones)?

                • @[email protected]
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                  09 months ago

                  “You are a waste of time at best” “You’re too lazy to seek out information”

                  Read the comment you replied to. It’s a single sentence. I cannot state it any simpler.

                  No I do not know the entire history of immigration legislation, even pertaining to the US. Yes I know causes of immigration, but likely not all of them. Yes I know what I don’t know, which is why I don’t debate about immigration. I know it is entirely too difficult for people seeking to immigrate OR seek asylum in the US to become citizens, and I’d go as far to say it’s impossible for most. Yes we need to fix our southern border, because we are actively treating immigrants like trash and not humans seeking a better life. Open borders, for the most part, are good borders. And no I did not read the other poster’s comments.

                  Not get the fuck off your high horse.

              • @[email protected]
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                79 months ago

                because you are looking for a platform that will be more open to conservative users. I keep hearing conservatives complain they have nowhere to go, but there is a platform specifically for them, and I don’t know why they won’t use it

                • @Mudface
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                  -19 months ago

                  Why do we need to be in different places online according to our political leaning?

      • @[email protected]
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        -39 months ago

        You have a reasonable take. I’m sorry you’re going to get assaulted with messages. Lemmy’s a bit of a hive mind so just know you’re not unreasonable for wanting a space where discussion can be had without bad faith. Also a conservative by the way. I’m really much more moderate, but no one here would classify me as that since the scope is shifted

        • @DarthBueller
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          39 months ago

          Right - the US overton window is dramatically shifted to the right, and the discourse on here does not accept that as a given but rather as a subject of critical analysis.

  • @pyromaster55
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    1219 months ago

    I see boomers posting “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” on FB all the time, and they genuinely, unironically think they were here >strong men create good times< instead of where they really were, here >good times create weak men<, and so now we are absolutely here >weak men create hard times< thanks to them.

    They’re just so close to seeing the point.

    • faceless
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      549 months ago

      I thought it was weak men make me hard

    • @Mudface
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      9 months ago

      The actual baby boomers were the weak men created by the good times.

      The strong men created by hard times were their parents who fought in wwi and wwii

      My generation (millennial/gen x) is also weak.

      My children’s generation, unfortunately, might be the ones who grow to be strong, if we don’t turn around this disaster

    • @[email protected]
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      I know you’re probably just joking on theme, but I still feel it’s important to say that this “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times” shit is quite literally conservative mythology. It’s a line of reasoning made to justify the “necessity” of strongmen leaders (just one example) and, more often than not, starts a rabbit hole straight to fascism.

      All that said though, yeah, I agree, fuck those guys thinking they’re so fuckin bad, when really they’re just losers holding us back

  • @[email protected]
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    509 months ago

    Historically, people have become more conservative, not as they age, but as they become more financially secure, own their own home, and want to keep more of the fruits of their labour.

    That’s increasingly not happening, and we’re not happy about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      449 months ago

      and want to keep more of the fruits of their labour

      Most conservatives want to keep the fruits of other peoples labor.

      • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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        189 months ago

        Exactly. If you went to school for 16 years to become a neurosurgeon, I have no problem with your $500k salary. But a $1mil+ salary because you started a fast food chain where the employees make minimum wage? That’s slavery.

    • @[email protected]
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      159 months ago

      “Fruits of their labor”

      Well, fruits of exploitation of the global south that made your labor worth so much more than theirs.

  • @Heavybell
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    499 months ago

    Boomers assuming people become conservative as a function of time as opposed to a function of “getting theirs”. I have no evidence but it seems to be you’re less likely to become conservative without having amassed some wealth to conserve…

  • @samus12345
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    489 months ago

    People become more conservative as they gain wealth, not age.

    • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ
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      149 months ago

      I gained wealth and only realized how bullshit and unfair it all is 🤷‍♀️

      • @samus12345
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        159 months ago

        Yeah, I should clarify that you have to gain wealth and also be an asshole.

    • @Manifish_Destiny
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      59 months ago

      I tripled my income this year, I’m more of a socialist than ever.

      I want my taxes to go to something useful, instead of some dipshit’s 34th bailout.

  • Alien Nathan Edward
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    389 months ago

    “You need to have a sense of ownership and responsibility for your community.”

    “So you’re actually going to let me invest in the community and own things?”

    “What? No! Jesus, no. I want you to feel responsible for my stuff and work to preserve a status quo that will never serve you.”

    • @[email protected]
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      269 months ago

      This whole obsession with policing people’s nationality came about because states were trying to clamp down on the massive amounts of working-class agitation that erupted across the world straight after WW1 - but all that history has essentially been scrubbed out from the “official” narratives.

    • Franzia
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      99 months ago

      This. We have to be weary that the owning class will put “leftists” in front of us to “vote for” and then this political energy will go to waste. Or they will draft us, or change the voting age, or get KOSA to pass. Idk. We gotta keep dodging the wrenches and throwing our hammers back at them.

      • @SaakoPaahtaa
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        -69 months ago

        I always find it funny how internet-commies talk about an inevitable revolution and “throwing hammers” when in reality all commies irl are basement dwelling teens with social anxiety. Otherwise you’d be normal

        • Franzia
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          59 months ago

          If normal means being an ignorant lib with no rizz, I’d actually rather be who I am.

  • PP_BOY_
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    9 months ago

    Doesn’t matter if they “become socialist” if they still vote for the same 2 party system. Democrats will never allow America to become actually left-wing

    • pathos
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      219 months ago

      The 2 party system doesn’t change until voting changes. First-past-the-post voting actively encourages 2 dominant parties. Ranked choice voting isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely better than FTTP and it has the most momentum in the US right now.

      • @[email protected]
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        29 months ago

        If you adopted PR and suddenly had more political parties, it seems to me that a lot of the current problems in US politics would go away

        • @[email protected]
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          49 months ago

          That would certainly be better, though very far from perfect. But I doubt they’d allow such a thing to happen anyway.

    • @CustosliberaOP
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      49 months ago

      Agree, but here’s what they don’t want you to know!

      Not every thing posted here has to do with America. The world has other countries don’t you know?

      • PP_BOY_
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        9 months ago

        “Murdoch never saw it coming” and the use of the word “boomers” clearly imply that this meme is in reference to America but sure

        • Deceptichum
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          119 months ago

          Mate?

          Murdochs from Australia and boomers are an entire generation of people in the west. Nothing about this is uniquely American.

          • Zagorath
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            49 months ago

            Murdochs from Australia

            Just want to point out that Rupert Murdoch is arguably one of the least Australian people in the world. You’re not necessarily wrong to say that he’s “from” Australia, since that’s where he originated, but he made an active choice to actually give up his Australian citizenship, which arguably makes him less Australian than someone who lacks Australian citizenship purely by random circumstance. So using him as an example of “American” isn’t by any means wrong.

            You’re right in the overall point you’re trying to make though. Murdoch’s influence has been a scourge on Australia as well as America, and the UK, and beyond. It’s a nitpick, but one I think is worth being aware of.

        • Zagorath
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          79 months ago

          Murdoch has been the scourge of the entire western world, or at the very least the western anglosphere. He might be an American, but his influence is not limited to that country.

          Same with the use of the term “boomers”, and the association with boomers ruining the economy for everyone else. For example here’s an excellent lecture from a surprisingly self-aware boomer Conservative member of the House of Lords in the UK. Despite being both a Conservative and a boomer, he points out the ways in which boomers have destroyed the economic prospects of future generations. This is in the context of the UK, not America (though the same lessons apply in America, Australia, and elsewhere).

  • @EnderMB
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    209 months ago

    In the UK we have something called the “Shy Tory Factor”, where opinion polls almost always favour the left, because people will tell people (including pollsters) that they voted for one party, but then voted in a way they view they will be judged against.

    IIRC it’s also noted in US politics, and IMO it’s highly likely that in certain areas you’ll find many people that will say all the right things in public, but secretly prefer Trump over Biden, regardless of what either party stands for.

    • @AquaTofana
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      59 months ago

      God this is a depressing thought. We have enough people here who ARE already publicly vocal for the likes of our far right. To think that there are posers is kinda as terrifying as it is believable.

  • @InternetCitizen2
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    99 months ago

    Even as a perfectly self centered capitalist I would still pick more socialism. System has not bought my loyalty, so why should I care about it?

  • @RedTie13
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    89 months ago

    Seeing youth orgs like TPUSA and YAF on college and high school campuses means that we might have to start playing at their own game and not just take kids becoming socialist as default.

    • @ComicalMayhem
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      9 months ago

      Not sure where you live, but millennials and Gen z generally have more liberal views than conservative ones in the US, as far as I’m aware. Here’s a couple links to Pew Research Center, first is a number of statistics regarding political stances between generations (doesn’t include gen z) and the second is specifically about how Gen Z compares to older generations in political stances.

      https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/03/01/the-generation-gap-in-american-politics/

      https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/01/17/generation-z-looks-a-lot-like-millennials-on-key-social-and-political-issues/

        • @[email protected]
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          19 months ago

          Well then you’re definitely having a different experience than urban Americans and Canadians. I will say the rural folk are keeping right wing, but the cities are full of left leaning young’uns.

    • @[email protected]
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      19 months ago

      That definitely doesn’t match what I’ve seen, in Canada (both Sask and Ontario), nor what polls I’ve seen (eg, on topics like LGBT acceptance).

      Note that the alt right are often the loudest (at least on a per capita basis). I think this can skew perception on how common they are, since they are over represented in online comments and there’s some kinds of online comments that are completely dominated by the right (to the degree where “don’t read the comments” is a meme in leftist circles).

      Location definitely matters, too. Cities are way more accepting than rural or suburban areas. If you’re in a rural or suburban area, you have my sympathy. I grew up in a rural area myself and it was awful. I think many people (myself included) are purposefully fleeing shittier areas. That means progesssives not only migrate from rural to cities, but also from shitty provinces/states to better ones.

      But even within the same cities, I’ve perceived younger people to get better over time. I’m pretty hopeful for gen Z, which seems better than my generation (millenials) were at the same age. I just wish we didn’t have to wait so long for progressives to outnumber regressives.

  • @Agent641
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    69 months ago

    The very young do not always do as they are told

    • @Fried_out_Kombi
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      9 months ago

      If you categorize the factors of production as land (including natural resources), labor (self-explanatory), and capital (money, equipment, tools, education, skills, buildings, facilities, software, etc.), then socialism is a category of economic systems in which land and capital (and sometimes labor) are socially owned.

      What “social ownership” means depends on which flavor of socialism you mean. Market socialists, for instance, want a market economy similar to our own, but where businesses are worker-owned cooperatives as opposed to hierarchical in nature. Similarly, syndicalists want a market economy but with strong industry-wide unions so that labor can bargain for more control of land and capital. Other forms of socialism, however, aim for public ownership, i.e., the government owns the land, capital, and possibly labor, and decides how to allocate resources in a non-market economy.

      Capitalism, in contrast, believes in private ownership of land, labor, and capital, i.e., a private citizen or a corporation can own these things and have property rights over them.

      In the real world, however, things get a lot messier than this simplified categorization works. For example, when the government taxes your income, that is the government exerting some degree of partial public ownership over your labor, something both capitalists and (some) socialists would oppose. Similarly, the government implementing capital gains taxes is a form of partial social ownership over capital. Thus, to claim our current system is fully capitalist is untrue; rather, it has elements of capitalism as well as elements of socialism.

      It’s further complicated when you notice that there’s more than just two possible categories of economic system based on ownership of the factors of production, though. For example, Georgism (an ideology named after economist Henry George) advocates social ownership of land (and natural resources) via taxes, but leaving labor and capital to be privately owned. One can also probably imagine other systems in which, for example, labor is socially owned but not land nor capital. Or capital socially owned but not land nor labor. Or several other combinations. And, of course, you can get nearly infinite possibilities if you start further dividing by method and/or degree of social ownership.

        • @Fried_out_Kombi
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          29 months ago

          This is the second time I’ve had someone on lemmy say my writing style sounds like a chatbot. Not sure if it’s a compliment or not lol.

    • @CustosliberaOP
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      9 months ago

      It’s a fair question and there are many answers.

      There are some common threads that I think many would recognise though.

      I’d say that a socialist is someone who thinks the costs of core elements in society (e.g. housing, education and healthcare) should be shared across everyone in that society.

      The particular variant of socialism I like is one where the majority of workers are organised through cooperative collectives, like unions. With no company ‘owners’.

      My immediate aim and goals though are far more modest, I just want really good universal healthcare access for everyone.

  • @[email protected]
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    39 months ago

    What if they were socialists, would I become a conservative just to spite them? I am honestly not 100% certain. I very well may be just that shallow.