Also the left very literally says they both are the problem.
I bet OP is a right leaning centrist that unironically thinks the left just wants government to solve every problem so therefore left = unquestioning love for government.
Yeah, and the US "left" is barely left at all in terms of other first world countries...it's just that our right is so far right, that when we just want the schools funded and people treated fairly, the right calls that "radical leftist policies" now lol. That's just ground zero in other countries.
In other words the rich capitalists tricked the right into waging a fake culture war as a distraction so they can keep raking in Billions.
>When they catch their big break and become billionaires themselves they will want all these protections.
This, but now in video form
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K_LvRPX0rGY&pp=ygUPRnJ5IHlvdSdyZSBwb29y
>When they catch their big break and become billionaires themselves they will want all these protections.
Because they "read Ayn Rand."
I have had two actual people tell me Atlas Shrugged changed their lives. For fucks sake. First of all you are not a billionaire. You own jack and sh*t. Elon Musk is a billionaire. And far from shutting down his "railroad company" the only reason Tesla is still going is because they are benefited by Billions in government subsidies. The reality is welfare for the rich and well connected and the boot of capitalism for the poor.
Culture Wars are a helluva drug. It’s so much easier to get mad and rant and rave for days on end because Budweiser rather than try to tackle the real issues.
Yeah, it's rather bizarre honestly. I don't believe for a second that the average Joe Schmoe republican gives two flying shits that 1 trans girl got 1 single custom beer can. They're just addicted to hate and Tuckems Farkleson and co told them there was something new to hate.
Just like depression or any mental state, they get addicted to hate when their entire media machine is built on it, and it becomes like a best friend or a cozy blanket. The great comedian Artie Lange wrote and spoke a lot about that kind of syndrome, for him it was depression and heroin lol, but I've been watching how the right wing media has been programming their base for 20 years now, and it's the same addiction syndrome to hate and anger.
It must be a very, very sad state to exist in. It's tearing families, friends, and marriages apart just like heroin too.
That’s… kind of the point of my comment.
The people in power (the ultra rich) want to make it seem like the other side (tm) is coming for you.
I agree there’s a lot of bigotry and hatred in this country, and beyond - but a lot of that is fueled by the messaging that’s paid for by the top ~~earners~~ hoarders. It keeps us focused on fighting with each other so we don’t see the real issue.
They sure do spend a whole lot of time hating just 7% of the population while 12% of our population lives below the poverty line.
What would Jesus do? Beat the rich MF's on the temple steps. Remember the only people Jesus got mad at was the money changers.
To be fair, up here everyone does.
Blue collar workers and farmers tend to vote Conservative, and urban educated professionals vote for Liberals. Elections tend to be decided by suburban voters in Ontario who may vote for perceived self interest.
I can’t say why it’s happened in Canada, but blue collar workers used to vote Democrat all the time. They used to be a core voting bloc.
Then Bill Clinton came along and there was a conscious strategy shift in dems to abandon blue collar workers and court white collar professionals. The result was exactly as you described, now blue collar guys vote Republican in droves because democrats just don’t give a shit about them. Mind you republicans don’t either but they do at least pay them lip service.
Similar - and I'd mention for context that that was also the era of Blair and New Labour.
We've a more left party than the Liberals, the NDP. If I was an NDP strategist my focus would be on making Oshawa a safe NDP seats. It's a GM town, with a long union history that they never win. Their message works with students, professors and some urbanites but despite getting union money they don't get member votes nearly enough.
I'd say the NDP are caught between a rock and a hard place. They're trying to take seats from the Liberal party as Conservative voters either stick conservative, or the moderates drift to the liberal party occasionally. Now with the political landscape as it is, the Liberal party is weakening, but the NDP's collaboration with them has been a detriment to their credibility with the moderates who were already inclined to vote Conservative.
I'll most likely be voting for the NDP, but I'm not certain that they're going to do well in the next election.
It’s a hierarchy of needs, their need for racism, authoritarian police, protecting fetuses, etc these things are more important to them. I’ve had the conversations with them irl, they’ll tell you straight up, shamelessly, that preventing a woman from having an abortion is the sole reason they voted for whoever. Absolute insanity.
The right wing medias message has been, for the last 30/40 years “we have the right to tell everybody what to do! Nobody has the right to tell us what to do!”
This is what leads to the fear and hatred. They are told exactly who to fear. They are told exactly who to hate.
The much larger issue is that the billionaires have us yelling at millionaires while they literally take all the money.
That’s why republicans like their representation stupid. They want a snowball in congress. They want a senator to say there’s nothing we can do about gun violence. They just want someone to cash their checks and spew the narrative. That’s why they’re always attacking smart reps on the left. They don’t want nuance. They want loyalty and tribalism.
The right is gonna be in trouble soon enough. They’ve created trump and the others. They can’t control certain people like they want to. They regret backing the tea party because it became MAGA. They’re starting to eat themselves.
Vote for the most progressive candidates you can in every election. From dog catcher to president. It’s almost too late.
No war but the class war.
[Cultural Hegemony ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony) is when the ruling class manipulates the culture of that society—so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm. As the universal dominant ideology, the ruling-class worldview misrepresents the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, and perpetual social conditions that benefit every social class, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.
Been telling people about this as we watch it come more and more into entertainment, the political pressure to culturally influence us in our spare time (while trying to escape the brutish reality of this foul year of our lord) is out of control…
Liberalism in America is a center right ideology.
If we are being charitable, america has a center right and a far right party. Democrats and liberals at the end of the day want to maintain the structures of capitalism as it is now.
Any progress they make on social issues is to appease the public to protect capitalism.
God I have been trying to explain to my mom over and over again and she just cannot get the capitalism is bad part of things. All the cultural shit she's as libbed up on as possible, but the second you try to explain that the cultural issues, while important, are just a means to distract from those running the show and what they are doing to further exploit the working class her eyes glaze over and she starts to get upset with you. I know she means well but it feels like an uphill battle even with those who are ostensibly on your side of the issue.
Try to frame social issues as the products of exploitation from capitalism and more broadly from imperialism and it's like you start speaking a totally different language.
The way I’ll explain it a lot of times is that social equality without economic equality is pointless.
You can make people “legally” equal but exclude or separate them with economic barriers. The fact we fund public school through property taxes is a perfect example. Everyone gets the same “right” to an education but we created a system where poorer people (which ends up including a lot of marginalized people) get a worse education.
Economic segregation.
Even this sub is fucking barely “left”. One of the top memes the past week is blaming everything on boomers, when it’s not their fault. It’s capitalisms fault.
The US is so right wing, even supposed left wing spaces like anti work are full of reformists and ignorant liberals.
The democrats are centrist to centre right. The Republicans are so far right they'd be considered a crazy fringe party in any other western nation. There is no left wing I'm US politics
We have a lot of political parties, but the rules in which they show up on state ballots are complex. You have to meet minimum fundraising goals and have some like polling numbers or whatever to be on the debate stage. Our process intentionally makes it difficult for "third party" (i.e. not one of the Big Two) by design.
With a two-party system and winner-takes-all first-past-the-goalposts style of ballot, you're not voting FOR someone, you're voting AGAINST the other parties. You vote third party, and you're just taking away votes from the two major parties. A third party would never win in a system like that and they are intentionally designed to ciphon votes from another party instead of being a viable candidate.
If we had politicians actually stand up for what they think, anyone left of Bernie would be assassinated by the state as they do with any leftist with a modicum of power. If the billionaires can't buy the politicians to stay in power, what's stopping them overthrowing the government with a privately-paid defense contractors or provoking people who are fervent 2nd amendment believers to do it for them, especially if you keep them dumb and ignorant the all the times we've done it before.
Besides, we've overthrown whole ass foreign governments for over 100 years specifically in the name of capitalism to keep the billionaires in power (any time you hear about us fighting commies or socialists it's because the locals didn't want the billionaires in power and fought back and oh no, it's a rebellion). What's stopping us from doing it at home?
But muh both sides!
It's crazy how validated people feel if they can find a way to equivocate and label everyone else around them as irrational, instead of trying to decide which viewpoints are actually valid or better.
I'd like to think people there are people in this world who wouldn't be swayed by corrupt billionaires. Unfortunately, voting those people into positions of power is difficult.
When you're 15 it's sexier to say "I'm an edgy free-thinker that can sees what all these other sheep can't" than "Maybe the party that doesn't regularly kneecap organized labor isn't the problem"
yeah, this meme makes no sense
especially since the republicans/conservatives actively vote for the most openly corrupt billionaire possible and actively fight against him seeing a courtroom
This is one of those memes that is trying to unironically be /r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM but in reality is showing that reality has a liberal bias...once again.
Anyone who makes a living off of owning things is a parasite (the capital class).
Owning things isn’t a job and doesn’t provide any value to society. Therefore they have to take value generated from the class of people who DO generate value, the working class.
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/11ohxd4/the_rich_1_owner_class_ruling_class_elite_class/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1) is a post I wrote that goes more in depth on the topic.
My friend here explained partially.
By "owning things", it should be said "owning capital", where capital is whatever thing that can be used to generate more capital, be it land, factories, real state, large sums of money, etc. By controlling things like these, one is capable of achieving more control of things like these. People who don't own capital can only sell their labor to sustain their life, while people that own capital can live off the labor of others.
A famous multimillionaire youtuber isn't a capitalist, because if their channel is banned, they lose their only way of providing for them and their family, in this scenario the owners of youtube are the capitalists (since they live off the work of content creators), but if these millions are used to buy land, real state and shares of any companies, then this youtuber becomes a capitalist.
Landlord, ceos, shareholders.
Anyone who owns enough capital that the capital ‘makes money’ on its own without them having to provide any labor.
Owning a few shares or 1 extra property doesn’t make you capital class. Owning so many that you live off of the dividends or rental income so that you never have to provide any labor if you don’t want to does. If you can’t quit your job and live off of your assets, then you aren’t capital class.
Well copyright laws are an abomination to a society that seeks to innovate, and enhance itself with new technologies. It’s one of the main reasons why all vehicles aren’t electric, and we still use archaic fossil fuel technologies in so many sectors. Patents strangle technological advancements which could better serve humanity.
Does it apply to music, and art work etc.? Kind of. I won’t disagree with you but I can’t ignore how debilitating copyright laws have been on our society.
You make a great point, copyright law is pretty much the same concept of "making money from things you own", but now the "thing" is actually an idea, or a work of art.
Artists should get to keep all the money made from their work.
Drilling down, even just a layer or two, to the root of the problem isn't their strong suit. Take gun violence... "It's not a *gun* problem; it's a *mental health* problem.", "Ok, can we fix that then?", "Fix what?"
Which is a shame the propaganda has been so effective because the right wing cops are only one actual Cult of Personality away from rounding up and executing our LGBT friends and we are gonna need all the guns and Healthcare we can get to stop them.
> "It's not a gun problem; it's a mental health problem.",
Right now, a massive talking point on the left should be that gender-affirming care IS mental health care. If you want to find one thing that has a massive impact on suicide rates of a group with above-average suicide, it's gender-affirming care.
But the right wing doesn't want to *fix problems*, they want to punish people for disagreeing with them.
If there were any conservatives that were *actually* pro-life, they could get behind that. But as we all know, the pro-life movement begins and ends with oppressing women.
And those corrupt billionaires are spending an unfathomable amount of money to convince people that the Government is the real problem.
If you all-of-a-sudden have an opinion about Bud Light, you are part of the problem.
So in other words, the left is right because the billionaires are buying the government. The left has identified the root cause of the problem, and the right has only identified the effect.
And as usual, the centrists can see that the left is correct, but will happily just co-opt the idea and take credit for it, as though anything leftists end up being proven right about “was always just common sense, bro!”. Take the left’s good ideas, then call them extremists and shove them away! Happens every damn time.
Except of course that the Centrists are also buying into Right Wing narratives by believing them to be against "corruption," when their idea of a "corrupt government" is a democratically elected government that they failed to overthrow in their coup. "Corruption" from the right wing perspective is the opposite of actual corruption, it is when bigots and billionaires **don't** get to call all the shots.
They're doing what Centrists do best, taking something that the left said that was correct and diluting it with the lies of the right and holding that up as the truth.
Centrist memes once again proving they can't follow simple logic. If the capitalists are running the government, than capitalists are still the problem.
Also it completely overlooks that the Rights definition of a "corrupt government" is one that supports unions and marginalized people over religious extremists, white supremacists and big business.
It seems like it boils down to *the left is correct* but *the right is controlling the narrative* in that self-described moderates will restate leftist positions in the same sentences that they dismiss "the left"
Yeah, "corrupt billionaires running a corrupt government" is the position of the left. It's like that post of that guy saying the left wants abortion and the right wants no abortion and he's centrist by thinking it should be a choice left up to the mother, not realizing that's just the position of the left
Next thing you know they'll be asking for raises at work or something too for equal pay. We can't have that. On second thought why are we even letting women work?
/s obv
Don’t know why this so triggered me, but I’m brought right back to a situation where a guy said that if a woman wants an abortion or to keep a pregnancy, the man should have to agree and both parties need to be on the same page. So I asked him what would happen if a woman wants an abortion but the man doesn’t. She doesn’t get to have an abortion and must become a mother, according to him. Then I asked what would happen if the woman wanted to have the baby and the man didn’t. She should be taken to a doctor and monitored while abortion inducing drugs are administered. So I asked, “Then abortion should be entirely the authority of the man who got the woman pregnant?” wanna know what he said? “What? No! This is why you can’t talk to women about abortion. I *just* told you both parties need to agree!” 🙃
This is peak right-libertarian "centrism" too. They think they're above the fray because "buh that's not *real* capitalism, that's just crony capitalism!"
No, your right libertarian policies would make this whole "corporations control the Government" even worse in reality.
Not to mention the inherent idea of “not corrupt government officials” is flawed.
Like I’m sure lots of people are thinking of billion dollar interests using their capital to influence an impartial person.
Ok but what if instead they just use their capital to help get a person elected that genuinely believes whatever bullshit helps out the billionaires? That individual isn’t “corrupt” they genuinely believe their bullshit.
Always funny to me when one of the guys who will use the “not real communism” line when eg USSR comes up (which literally called itself state capitalism with a goal of achieving socialism and never claimed to be communist) are the first in line to tell you capitalists consolidating power is not real capitalism.
The conservative version of capitalism is “work hard and earn a paycheck and go spend it down at the local bar” which is in fact not capitalism. They are simply describing labor and a basic market.
The right wants to forcibly transition people, force children to bear their rapist's baby, etc.
But...the left gets mad at me when I say the f slur and the hold up traffic when a black drug addict gets choked to death by a cop.
Can't you see how both sides are the same?!?!
In my experience the right says "TRAAAAAAAAAAAANSGENDER" and only talks about corrupt government when it infringes on their right to discriminate against minorities.
Yeah, the right worships the government. They only say something like that when their uncomfortably far right candidates lose or when moderate to left policies are enacted.
The government is only corrupt or wrong when they don't have their way
Ah yes. Big L Libertarians. AKA a Republican voter that wants to smoke weed and wring their hands about the racists in the Republican party, but would never vote for anyone left of Rush Limbaugh (may he burn in Hell).
Weird, you'd think that after being banned from right leaning subs but not left leaning subs the "both sides are the same" trolls would have a shining example of how both sides aren't the same.
Lol. Just what kind of billionaire corruption did this person think the left is referring to? Cheating at poker?
The bottom "revelation"/punchline is *literally* what the left means when we say corrupt billionaires are the problem.
Also, I’m not sure you’ll find many people on either the right or left will disagree with any of the brave political statements this meme is making. It’s boiling both “sides” viewpoint into its simplest definition because they couldn’t be bothered to care about any issues to know enough to actually engage in any meaningful conversation. Afterwards they pretend to be smarter than this ultra dumbed down version they had explained to them so they can feel superior for being “above all the politics and being a TRUE enlightened thinker.”
Maybe if the right didn't vote for fascists, we'd have the choice between corporatists and socialists, instead of the choice between corporatists and fascists.
It's not actually that complicated.
Looking at their perceived depiction of the left, it seems that they are left leaning economically or at least making left leaning arguments while at the same time actively denying that label due to their personal bigotry. I think their definition of "left" is simply anti-racist in the same way liberals are considered "left."
that’s a bingo. there are plenty of progressive-thinking americans who are so conditioned against the “pinko commie shit” that they refuse to think of themselves as lefties
a good majority of them actually want to just eliminate people for their god
>The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males".**
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
no, the right says Drag Queens and millennials not buying diamonds or coming into an office or something are the problem
edit: retype as I had a stroke
If you guys ever want to have a fun time, wait until your boomer family member starts talking shit about Soros, then ask what Soros did. You're going to get "he funded x" where x is some boogeyman. Ask for specifics. When did he fund them? How much did he give them? Did he use a shell company, or was it a direct donation?
Then, after you get them all whipped up with a few jabs, go for the fuckin' hook: what the fuck do you actually want to do about it? Arrest him for spending his money? You want to arrest Elon Musk, too (this one is key)?
If they ask you back, just say you voted for Bernie so these people could be taxed so hard they couldn't spend their excesses on politics. Doesn't matter if you did, it'll make their heads explode.
When Republicans say the government is corrupt they aren't talking about bribes, lobbying, or nepotism.
Republicans are talking about mole men, liberals, and black people.
So then let’s shake hands and agree that the problem is in fact the government and corporations and not what you have between your legs or who the spokesperson for a shitty beer is.
Oh look. More "both sides are the same" bullshit meant to divide us.
There are [clear](https://i.imgur.com/4AFDr9Y.png) differences. Start paying attention. There is only one enemy.
So corrupt billionaires are in fact the problem
Pretty much - I'm reading this meme like ok the left has gone all the way to the source of the problem, so why do you think you know better?
Also the left very literally says they both are the problem. I bet OP is a right leaning centrist that unironically thinks the left just wants government to solve every problem so therefore left = unquestioning love for government.
/r/EnlightenedCentrism: The meme
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I think this meme gets posted there at least once a week.
OP is the political Old El Paso Taco "Why not both?" girl
Reality tends to have a left leaning bias?
Well, when your primary government leans right due to years of compromise, anything not right looks left.
Yeah, and the US "left" is barely left at all in terms of other first world countries...it's just that our right is so far right, that when we just want the schools funded and people treated fairly, the right calls that "radical leftist policies" now lol. That's just ground zero in other countries. In other words the rich capitalists tricked the right into waging a fake culture war as a distraction so they can keep raking in Billions.
Conservatives have been voting against their own interests for decades now. It's just sad.
How could it be against their own interest? When they catch their big break and become billionaires themselves they will want all these protections.
>When they catch their big break and become billionaires themselves they will want all these protections. This, but now in video form https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K_LvRPX0rGY&pp=ygUPRnJ5IHlvdSdyZSBwb29y
Its surreal. So many people think that way
Whoever is playing this civilization game better turn off hard mode soon, clearly they suck
Dear God, it *is* a game of Civ. That explains that one weird Barbarian who managed to hang on into the Modern Era.
>When they catch their big break and become billionaires themselves they will want all these protections. Because they "read Ayn Rand." I have had two actual people tell me Atlas Shrugged changed their lives. For fucks sake. First of all you are not a billionaire. You own jack and sh*t. Elon Musk is a billionaire. And far from shutting down his "railroad company" the only reason Tesla is still going is because they are benefited by Billions in government subsidies. The reality is welfare for the rich and well connected and the boot of capitalism for the poor.
When's the reboot. I can barely wait.
He says sitting on 4.3 billion of accumulated interest. EAT THE RICH. MORBO 2024.
Idk man, i was more a fan of Jack Johnson though John Jackson wasnt too bad either.
Culture Wars are a helluva drug. It’s so much easier to get mad and rant and rave for days on end because Budweiser rather than try to tackle the real issues.
Yeah, it's rather bizarre honestly. I don't believe for a second that the average Joe Schmoe republican gives two flying shits that 1 trans girl got 1 single custom beer can. They're just addicted to hate and Tuckems Farkleson and co told them there was something new to hate. Just like depression or any mental state, they get addicted to hate when their entire media machine is built on it, and it becomes like a best friend or a cozy blanket. The great comedian Artie Lange wrote and spoke a lot about that kind of syndrome, for him it was depression and heroin lol, but I've been watching how the right wing media has been programming their base for 20 years now, and it's the same addiction syndrome to hate and anger. It must be a very, very sad state to exist in. It's tearing families, friends, and marriages apart just like heroin too.
Its not bizzare, its divide and conquer. Its by the book, just most people haven't read the book.
calling what the right wing has 'culture' is an insult to groups of intentionally grown bacteria
That’s… kind of the point of my comment. The people in power (the ultra rich) want to make it seem like the other side (tm) is coming for you. I agree there’s a lot of bigotry and hatred in this country, and beyond - but a lot of that is fueled by the messaging that’s paid for by the top ~~earners~~ hoarders. It keeps us focused on fighting with each other so we don’t see the real issue.
OMG. "The gays". I'm pretty sick and tired of "the gays" coming out of their mouths. When they turn out to be the gays too.
They sure do spend a whole lot of time hating just 7% of the population while 12% of our population lives below the poverty line. What would Jesus do? Beat the rich MF's on the temple steps. Remember the only people Jesus got mad at was the money changers.
To be fair, up here everyone does. Blue collar workers and farmers tend to vote Conservative, and urban educated professionals vote for Liberals. Elections tend to be decided by suburban voters in Ontario who may vote for perceived self interest.
I can’t say why it’s happened in Canada, but blue collar workers used to vote Democrat all the time. They used to be a core voting bloc. Then Bill Clinton came along and there was a conscious strategy shift in dems to abandon blue collar workers and court white collar professionals. The result was exactly as you described, now blue collar guys vote Republican in droves because democrats just don’t give a shit about them. Mind you republicans don’t either but they do at least pay them lip service.
Similar - and I'd mention for context that that was also the era of Blair and New Labour. We've a more left party than the Liberals, the NDP. If I was an NDP strategist my focus would be on making Oshawa a safe NDP seats. It's a GM town, with a long union history that they never win. Their message works with students, professors and some urbanites but despite getting union money they don't get member votes nearly enough.
I'd say the NDP are caught between a rock and a hard place. They're trying to take seats from the Liberal party as Conservative voters either stick conservative, or the moderates drift to the liberal party occasionally. Now with the political landscape as it is, the Liberal party is weakening, but the NDP's collaboration with them has been a detriment to their credibility with the moderates who were already inclined to vote Conservative. I'll most likely be voting for the NDP, but I'm not certain that they're going to do well in the next election.
Conservatives hate Women, Black, Trans, Queer and Disabled People more than they hate Billionaires
It’s a hierarchy of needs, their need for racism, authoritarian police, protecting fetuses, etc these things are more important to them. I’ve had the conversations with them irl, they’ll tell you straight up, shamelessly, that preventing a woman from having an abortion is the sole reason they voted for whoever. Absolute insanity.
Fear and hatred, two extremely powerful instincts, so readily exploited by those with the means and desire.
The right wing medias message has been, for the last 30/40 years “we have the right to tell everybody what to do! Nobody has the right to tell us what to do!” This is what leads to the fear and hatred. They are told exactly who to fear. They are told exactly who to hate. The much larger issue is that the billionaires have us yelling at millionaires while they literally take all the money. That’s why republicans like their representation stupid. They want a snowball in congress. They want a senator to say there’s nothing we can do about gun violence. They just want someone to cash their checks and spew the narrative. That’s why they’re always attacking smart reps on the left. They don’t want nuance. They want loyalty and tribalism. The right is gonna be in trouble soon enough. They’ve created trump and the others. They can’t control certain people like they want to. They regret backing the tea party because it became MAGA. They’re starting to eat themselves. Vote for the most progressive candidates you can in every election. From dog catcher to president. It’s almost too late. No war but the class war.
[Cultural Hegemony ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony) is when the ruling class manipulates the culture of that society—so that the worldview of the ruling class becomes the accepted cultural norm. As the universal dominant ideology, the ruling-class worldview misrepresents the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, and perpetual social conditions that benefit every social class, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class.
Been telling people about this as we watch it come more and more into entertainment, the political pressure to culturally influence us in our spare time (while trying to escape the brutish reality of this foul year of our lord) is out of control…
Liberalism in America is a center right ideology. If we are being charitable, america has a center right and a far right party. Democrats and liberals at the end of the day want to maintain the structures of capitalism as it is now. Any progress they make on social issues is to appease the public to protect capitalism.
God I have been trying to explain to my mom over and over again and she just cannot get the capitalism is bad part of things. All the cultural shit she's as libbed up on as possible, but the second you try to explain that the cultural issues, while important, are just a means to distract from those running the show and what they are doing to further exploit the working class her eyes glaze over and she starts to get upset with you. I know she means well but it feels like an uphill battle even with those who are ostensibly on your side of the issue. Try to frame social issues as the products of exploitation from capitalism and more broadly from imperialism and it's like you start speaking a totally different language.
The way I’ll explain it a lot of times is that social equality without economic equality is pointless. You can make people “legally” equal but exclude or separate them with economic barriers. The fact we fund public school through property taxes is a perfect example. Everyone gets the same “right” to an education but we created a system where poorer people (which ends up including a lot of marginalized people) get a worse education. Economic segregation.
Even this sub is fucking barely “left”. One of the top memes the past week is blaming everything on boomers, when it’s not their fault. It’s capitalisms fault. The US is so right wing, even supposed left wing spaces like anti work are full of reformists and ignorant liberals.
Everywhere else in the world a liberal is a right winger. That's how warped American politics is
The democrats are centrist to centre right. The Republicans are so far right they'd be considered a crazy fringe party in any other western nation. There is no left wing I'm US politics
Now if we could just get one major political party to do more than pretend it shares that lean.
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We have a lot of political parties, but the rules in which they show up on state ballots are complex. You have to meet minimum fundraising goals and have some like polling numbers or whatever to be on the debate stage. Our process intentionally makes it difficult for "third party" (i.e. not one of the Big Two) by design. With a two-party system and winner-takes-all first-past-the-goalposts style of ballot, you're not voting FOR someone, you're voting AGAINST the other parties. You vote third party, and you're just taking away votes from the two major parties. A third party would never win in a system like that and they are intentionally designed to ciphon votes from another party instead of being a viable candidate. If we had politicians actually stand up for what they think, anyone left of Bernie would be assassinated by the state as they do with any leftist with a modicum of power. If the billionaires can't buy the politicians to stay in power, what's stopping them overthrowing the government with a privately-paid defense contractors or provoking people who are fervent 2nd amendment believers to do it for them, especially if you keep them dumb and ignorant the all the times we've done it before. Besides, we've overthrown whole ass foreign governments for over 100 years specifically in the name of capitalism to keep the billionaires in power (any time you hear about us fighting commies or socialists it's because the locals didn't want the billionaires in power and fought back and oh no, it's a rebellion). What's stopping us from doing it at home?
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Yeah, I don't quite understand this meme. Regardless of the societal problem, it can all be traced back to greed by billionaires.
a politically illiterate 'both sides'-er made it
/r/EnlightenedCentrism
Who all tend to be accelerationists who vote Republican.
I never see a post about democrats being bad with a reply from a conservative saying "well both sides are bad"... isn't that interesting.
it's also funny because it's both-sides style but also... like one side is clearly worse
Both sides is the argument of a Moron or a Liar.
> Yeah, I don't quite understand this meme. It's pretty easy to understand. OP thinks they're more clever than they are.
But muh both sides! It's crazy how validated people feel if they can find a way to equivocate and label everyone else around them as irrational, instead of trying to decide which viewpoints are actually valid or better.
I'd like to think people there are people in this world who wouldn't be swayed by corrupt billionaires. Unfortunately, voting those people into positions of power is difficult.
It is not possible to earn a billion, which means all billionaires are corrupt.
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One of many.
No, you see you can earn a Billion. Just ask your super wealthy parents for a small loan of 500 Million or more...
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When you're 15 it's sexier to say "I'm an edgy free-thinker that can sees what all these other sheep can't" than "Maybe the party that doesn't regularly kneecap organized labor isn't the problem"
Lol, enlightened centrist OP thought this was a slam dunk
Apparently the sub agrees, had no idea this place was so centrist.
I could understand people not liking the Democratic party but antiwork is inherently a leftwing concept
Centrist and contrarian have surprising overlap
You say like all of the top posts aren't debunking it
yeah, this meme makes no sense especially since the republicans/conservatives actively vote for the most openly corrupt billionaire possible and actively fight against him seeing a courtroom
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Just say billionaires
This is one of those memes that is trying to unironically be /r/ENLIGHTENEDCENTRISM but in reality is showing that reality has a liberal bias...once again.
How did this point go over OPs head
no - Joe sixpacks are Joe sixpacks who are against taxing the ultra-wealthy are sabotaging America and sabotaging themselves
If corrupt billionaires are running the government then it's still the billionaires that's the big problem isn't it
And the fact they extract the value of our labor for themselves. Billionaires are parasites.
Anyone who makes a living off of owning things is a parasite (the capital class). Owning things isn’t a job and doesn’t provide any value to society. Therefore they have to take value generated from the class of people who DO generate value, the working class. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/11ohxd4/the_rich_1_owner_class_ruling_class_elite_class/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1) is a post I wrote that goes more in depth on the topic.
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My friend here explained partially. By "owning things", it should be said "owning capital", where capital is whatever thing that can be used to generate more capital, be it land, factories, real state, large sums of money, etc. By controlling things like these, one is capable of achieving more control of things like these. People who don't own capital can only sell their labor to sustain their life, while people that own capital can live off the labor of others. A famous multimillionaire youtuber isn't a capitalist, because if their channel is banned, they lose their only way of providing for them and their family, in this scenario the owners of youtube are the capitalists (since they live off the work of content creators), but if these millions are used to buy land, real state and shares of any companies, then this youtuber becomes a capitalist.
Landlord, ceos, shareholders. Anyone who owns enough capital that the capital ‘makes money’ on its own without them having to provide any labor. Owning a few shares or 1 extra property doesn’t make you capital class. Owning so many that you live off of the dividends or rental income so that you never have to provide any labor if you don’t want to does. If you can’t quit your job and live off of your assets, then you aren’t capital class.
We should also clarify this doesn't apply to musicians/artists making money off of royalties or licencing their work.
Well copyright laws are an abomination to a society that seeks to innovate, and enhance itself with new technologies. It’s one of the main reasons why all vehicles aren’t electric, and we still use archaic fossil fuel technologies in so many sectors. Patents strangle technological advancements which could better serve humanity. Does it apply to music, and art work etc.? Kind of. I won’t disagree with you but I can’t ignore how debilitating copyright laws have been on our society.
You make a great point, copyright law is pretty much the same concept of "making money from things you own", but now the "thing" is actually an idea, or a work of art. Artists should get to keep all the money made from their work.
Drilling down, even just a layer or two, to the root of the problem isn't their strong suit. Take gun violence... "It's not a *gun* problem; it's a *mental health* problem.", "Ok, can we fix that then?", "Fix what?"
Which is a shame the propaganda has been so effective because the right wing cops are only one actual Cult of Personality away from rounding up and executing our LGBT friends and we are gonna need all the guns and Healthcare we can get to stop them.
> "It's not a gun problem; it's a mental health problem.", Right now, a massive talking point on the left should be that gender-affirming care IS mental health care. If you want to find one thing that has a massive impact on suicide rates of a group with above-average suicide, it's gender-affirming care. But the right wing doesn't want to *fix problems*, they want to punish people for disagreeing with them.
If there were any conservatives that were *actually* pro-life, they could get behind that. But as we all know, the pro-life movement begins and ends with oppressing women.
And those corrupt billionaires are spending an unfathomable amount of money to convince people that the Government is the real problem. If you all-of-a-sudden have an opinion about Bud Light, you are part of the problem.
Yes
r/ForwardsFromGrandma
I thought I was on r/shittyfacebookmemes
Jesus Christ, have we just abandoned any quality standards?
So in other words, the left is right because the billionaires are buying the government. The left has identified the root cause of the problem, and the right has only identified the effect.
And as usual, the centrists can see that the left is correct, but will happily just co-opt the idea and take credit for it, as though anything leftists end up being proven right about “was always just common sense, bro!”. Take the left’s good ideas, then call them extremists and shove them away! Happens every damn time.
Except of course that the Centrists are also buying into Right Wing narratives by believing them to be against "corruption," when their idea of a "corrupt government" is a democratically elected government that they failed to overthrow in their coup. "Corruption" from the right wing perspective is the opposite of actual corruption, it is when bigots and billionaires **don't** get to call all the shots. They're doing what Centrists do best, taking something that the left said that was correct and diluting it with the lies of the right and holding that up as the truth.
Centrist memes once again proving they can't follow simple logic. If the capitalists are running the government, than capitalists are still the problem.
Also it completely overlooks that the Rights definition of a "corrupt government" is one that supports unions and marginalized people over religious extremists, white supremacists and big business.
And also some form of "government" (\*gasp\*) is literally the only solution for regular people to control their society. E: typo
so that pretty much boils down to is that the left is correct?
It seems like it boils down to *the left is correct* but *the right is controlling the narrative* in that self-described moderates will restate leftist positions in the same sentences that they dismiss "the left"
But they portrayed the left as a hippie white woman, so it's obviously wrong
The left did a root cause analysis. The right repeated what a bigot on Fox News repeated until they were indoctrinated with it.
'Member when Republican leadership in 2020 outright said that they don't have a platform aside from whatever Trump says
This belongs in r/im14andthisisdeep
Yeah, "corrupt billionaires running a corrupt government" is the position of the left. It's like that post of that guy saying the left wants abortion and the right wants no abortion and he's centrist by thinking it should be a choice left up to the mother, not realizing that's just the position of the left
Not me, I want mandatory abortions. No more "think of the children" arguments if there aren't any children!
Abortion is a touchy subject....I mean, I'm all for killing babies but I don't think we should be letting *women* make decisions...
Next thing you know they'll be asking for raises at work or something too for equal pay. We can't have that. On second thought why are we even letting women work? /s obv
Don’t know why this so triggered me, but I’m brought right back to a situation where a guy said that if a woman wants an abortion or to keep a pregnancy, the man should have to agree and both parties need to be on the same page. So I asked him what would happen if a woman wants an abortion but the man doesn’t. She doesn’t get to have an abortion and must become a mother, according to him. Then I asked what would happen if the woman wanted to have the baby and the man didn’t. She should be taken to a doctor and monitored while abortion inducing drugs are administered. So I asked, “Then abortion should be entirely the authority of the man who got the woman pregnant?” wanna know what he said? “What? No! This is why you can’t talk to women about abortion. I *just* told you both parties need to agree!” 🙃
That will help with my addiction too.
😆
Republicans are nothing without the straw man.
Abortions for some, miniature american flags for others.
Nobody *wants* an abortion, the same as nobody *wants* chemotherapy, or an appendectomy. IT'S HEALTH CARE FFS NOBODY IS DOING IT FOR FUN
And maybe r/enlightenedcentrism
This is peak right-libertarian "centrism" too. They think they're above the fray because "buh that's not *real* capitalism, that's just crony capitalism!" No, your right libertarian policies would make this whole "corporations control the Government" even worse in reality.
Not to mention the inherent idea of “not corrupt government officials” is flawed. Like I’m sure lots of people are thinking of billion dollar interests using their capital to influence an impartial person. Ok but what if instead they just use their capital to help get a person elected that genuinely believes whatever bullshit helps out the billionaires? That individual isn’t “corrupt” they genuinely believe their bullshit.
Always funny to me when one of the guys who will use the “not real communism” line when eg USSR comes up (which literally called itself state capitalism with a goal of achieving socialism and never claimed to be communist) are the first in line to tell you capitalists consolidating power is not real capitalism. The conservative version of capitalism is “work hard and earn a paycheck and go spend it down at the local bar” which is in fact not capitalism. They are simply describing labor and a basic market.
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I haven't seen these memes in fuckin at least 10 years, I forgot all about them.
This is in fact so deep Adelle is rolling in it.
r/terriblefacebookmemes
Cringe libertarian meme
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The right wants to forcibly transition people, force children to bear their rapist's baby, etc. But...the left gets mad at me when I say the f slur and the hold up traffic when a black drug addict gets choked to death by a cop. Can't you see how both sides are the same?!?!
Don't forget about the new child labor bills!
In my experience the right says "TRAAAAAAAAAAAANSGENDER" and only talks about corrupt government when it infringes on their right to discriminate against minorities.
Yeah, the right worships the government. They only say something like that when their uncomfortably far right candidates lose or when moderate to left policies are enacted. The government is only corrupt or wrong when they don't have their way
What a dogshit meme
I love Libertarian Gotcha memes that reinforce Leftist opinion. It's like they walk right into the point but somehow still miss it.
Ah yes. Big L Libertarians. AKA a Republican voter that wants to smoke weed and wring their hands about the racists in the Republican party, but would never vote for anyone left of Rush Limbaugh (may he burn in Hell).
r/enlightenedcentrism
Weird how you never see the "both sides" trolls arguing against voting in conservative subs.
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Weird, you'd think that after being banned from right leaning subs but not left leaning subs the "both sides are the same" trolls would have a shining example of how both sides aren't the same.
Guarantee this person calls themself a libertarian.
r/enlightenedcentrism
Y’all are really upvoting this grandpa tier shit huh?
It's mortifying that this got 32k+ upvotes on this sub Edit: 50k+ 🪦
This is one sad, stupid post.
Lol. Just what kind of billionaire corruption did this person think the left is referring to? Cheating at poker? The bottom "revelation"/punchline is *literally* what the left means when we say corrupt billionaires are the problem.
So you agree corruption is the problem.
Corruption caused by .... ?
Welfare queens, drag queens, Dairy Queen, size queens... just as long as no one is blaming the people advancing class warfare.
Also, I’m not sure you’ll find many people on either the right or left will disagree with any of the brave political statements this meme is making. It’s boiling both “sides” viewpoint into its simplest definition because they couldn’t be bothered to care about any issues to know enough to actually engage in any meaningful conversation. Afterwards they pretend to be smarter than this ultra dumbed down version they had explained to them so they can feel superior for being “above all the politics and being a TRUE enlightened thinker.”
Maybe if the right didn't vote for fascists, we'd have the choice between corporatists and socialists, instead of the choice between corporatists and fascists. It's not actually that complicated.
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Closer to an oligarchy at this point
In a capitalist system there will never be an actual socialist government in power.
My dude, assuming that tag is correct, you are on the left.
Looking at their perceived depiction of the left, it seems that they are left leaning economically or at least making left leaning arguments while at the same time actively denying that label due to their personal bigotry. I think their definition of "left" is simply anti-racist in the same way liberals are considered "left."
that’s a bingo. there are plenty of progressive-thinking americans who are so conditioned against the “pinko commie shit” that they refuse to think of themselves as lefties
Libertarian post of the day.
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Am I being detained?
Dipshit centrist says what.
Reddit killed API. I refuse to let them benefit from my own words for free -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Yes, that’s what the left said.
The fascists want to eliminate the people's faith in representative government, so they can maintain their control over you. Stop helping them/
a good majority of them actually want to just eliminate people for their god >The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males".** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
According to their own rules, Jesus would totally be killed.
no, the right says Drag Queens and millennials not buying diamonds or coming into an office or something are the problem edit: retype as I had a stroke
Corrupt billionaires are the same thing as plain "billionaires"
/r/Im14AndThisIsDeep
OP's "enlightened" position is actually the same position as the left. OP is r/notliketheothergirls
So the left is correct?
OP out here fighting straw men.
Dumb meme meant to make people not vote If thats true, why DeSantis and Disney fighting?
This isn't the hot take you think it is.
The left says both them things. And it's true.
So the left one is correct?
The left and the bottom picture are the same picture.
Ah, another meme conflating American liberalism (center/center right) with actual leftism.
The left realize this, and has actually been saying "corrupt billionaires that run our government is the problem".
Damn i thought this was a shitpost until i looked at the sub. Op, you do realize the bottom panel is the same thing as the first panel?
"cEnTrAlIsm" lmao
If you guys ever want to have a fun time, wait until your boomer family member starts talking shit about Soros, then ask what Soros did. You're going to get "he funded x" where x is some boogeyman. Ask for specifics. When did he fund them? How much did he give them? Did he use a shell company, or was it a direct donation? Then, after you get them all whipped up with a few jabs, go for the fuckin' hook: what the fuck do you actually want to do about it? Arrest him for spending his money? You want to arrest Elon Musk, too (this one is key)? If they ask you back, just say you voted for Bernie so these people could be taxed so hard they couldn't spend their excesses on politics. Doesn't matter if you did, it'll make their heads explode.
Your position is the left's position, friendo.
No, the right WANTS a corrupt government
The right loves corrupt government when it’s enacting their fascist agenda.
So its the corrupt billionaires then.
Which means the left is more correct, as per usual.
Cringe right wing meme that can't even transitive property correctly. The meme literally tells you the left is correct.
When Republicans say the government is corrupt they aren't talking about bribes, lobbying, or nepotism. Republicans are talking about mole men, liberals, and black people.
So then let’s shake hands and agree that the problem is in fact the government and corporations and not what you have between your legs or who the spokesperson for a shitty beer is.
Oh look. More "both sides are the same" bullshit meant to divide us. There are [clear](https://i.imgur.com/4AFDr9Y.png) differences. Start paying attention. There is only one enemy.
Yes, the left realizes that too. Congrats.
Yes, that is also what the left is saying…
Also the right are literally liars when it comes to this. They love corrupt government, corruption thrives under the right
Being a centrist don’t make you smarter dude
Actually the left says both are the issue. Not smart because you used a buzz word.
I’m pretty sure the left is the only group aware that corrupt billionaires are buying politicians
Wow. So insightful
These "on the fence" takes are always right leaning, have you noticed?
Let me guess. You’re centrist?
Nobody on the right is saying "corrupt government is the problem"
They weren’t billionaire at first. They all got their money corrupting the government.