politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
He typed with tears streaming down his puffy cheeks.
I mean, come on. Can you honestly say I’m wrong?
Tomorrow, you're all going to wake up and do the exact same thing. Check the headlines. React leftily. Complain into the void for a minute. Then log into social media and start dodging, blocking every right-wing group pumping out daily content. Nonstop memes, anti-COVID hot takes, “lefty tears” nonsense, trans jokes, Joe Rogan clips, cancel culture rants, just a constant churn of engagement bait, and it works.
You'll bounce between platforms, curating a safe feed. Facebook’s a mess, Reddit’s fucked, Lemmy’s a small last stand. You read this week’s posts of the moment while barely remembering the four that got quietly dropped last month. You gasp at what the right is getting away with again.
But do nothing. No counter-content. No message discipline. You won't organize, and you won’t create. Meanwhile, the right is expanding their media machine building, posting, podcasting, meme-ing, shaping narratives for millions.
Then it’s off to work, where your coworkers are proudly sharing the same memes you tried to scrub from your timeline this morning. And when it’s all said and done? You’ll go to bed, wake up, and do it again the next day.
You guys can get snippy and down vote or come at me to try to win some dumb online argument. None of it changes that this will continue until you all get lucky again and the Republicans lose because they fuck something up. You'll win from no effort from any of you on the left. It'll be from the right being assholes and going too far.
Tbh, you aren't wrong. I still keep getting anti-COVID memes and stuff from the lockdowns that's kept alive by the out-of-touch rightwing clowns in my extended family. They keep all that stuff alive even though it's been 4 years now and nobody remembers what it felt like.
I have a guy that still hangs banners on the highways overpass. I see at least 5 stickers on bumpers every time I leave the house. It's crazy.
And when you bring this stuff up to people on the left, they're more interested in winning online arguments then addressing these issues and admitting we have a problem of being way behind the times.
The left really does encompass this academic mentality of losers sitting away in towers pouring over books thinking they're the smartest and the best while everyone else is outside getting shit done. I'm just so tired of people on the left telling me how dumb the people on the right are, while the people on the right are winning in almost every arena. I'm so fucking tired of seeing thousands show up to protests while nobody is actually making content online or standing on bridges of whatever the fucking equivalent on our side would be. We're all so ineffective.
Well. Go start it then. I'm over here challenging coworkers to actually talk about their beliefs and having confrontations when someone posts hateful stuff. Got someone to remove their anti-gay cover photo a few days ago and think about their messaging. I only have time for interpersonal groundwork, and as much as I'd love to throw it all away and rally behind Greta or someone more nationally active, I have a wife to put before everything else.
I was there with you until I realized how gross this approach is. You can't force people to anything, especially assholes. There's a better approach that is proven to work. You need to shape the culture around people and they'll figure it out.
You shape culture by searching for content and resharing it. Find podcasts like The Majority Report and subscribe. Download GIMP and make your own memes calling out the absurdity and hypocrisy on the right. Make T-shirts. Stickers. Anything. There are endless ways to push back. But trying to win hearts and minds one conversation at a time? That’s not how influence works anymore.
Think about it: protesting today feels like performance art from a past era. We're supposedly "raising awareness" by standing in public, holding cardboard, chanting slogans, then packing up and going home. That’s it?
The internet is right there. Think how things would be if every person at a protest could instead be creating content from their couch. Not just commenting under a post on r/politic, actually running a meme page on Facebook, Reddit, or Lemmy. Posting weekly. Clipping moments from creators like Sam Seder, AOC, or Jon Stewart people who already deliver killer sound bites and pushing those moments out into the algorithm. They’re not making that content for us to passively watch. We should spread it and amplify it.
It’s wild that the left still treats raising awareness like it’s 1965. Holding signs on a street corner while ignoring the very platforms where public opinion is actually shaped every day, every hour. The right is flooding the zone with money, bots, influencers. And we're burning gas to go chant in a park for eight hours and call it a strategy. If we all think they're using bots to spread their views online, we should be drowningtheir efforts. It costs them money to counter our messages so wouldn't a winning strategy be to make them spend more?? Every message they push out should be buried by ours. Like in the Untouchables, the Chicago Way.
We could counter them for free if even a fraction of us got serious about creating and sharing content. From home. With your family in the next room before dinner.
I saw this right after I posted this comment. Like this stuff is awesome. We need more of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aI8fOsX3T4
Also a clip like this from within the last 24 hrs. Great stuff like this is created everyday. But at least in my mind is not getting the spread it should given how many people want things to change.
https://youtu.be/BcAoWnr8gn0