this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 53 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Hey guys,

Remember when we found out Russia and China were manipulating us into fighting between left and right, and now they’re dividing the left into 2 camps that are supposed to hate each other?

Yeah.

Yeah.

[–] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 25 points 3 days ago (2 children)

.ml leading the charge on this.

I see a lot of other really suspicious shit around Lemmy. I have a suspicion it's trying to be used like r/the_donald was.

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago

Yup. There's stuff that pings my radar as well.

However, the technical barrier to actually getting on Lemmy forces a minimum level of intelligence. I. E. the pool of useful idiots is way smaller than reddit. Most tankie wank gets called out.

Doesn't mean that we're not being used for training data. I'm also still percolating on what can be done by just posting slanted articles and stifling disent.

Lemmy is better but still totally susceptible to manipulation.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 16 points 3 days ago

Lol. Yeah im sure that it's China and Russians who are causing leftist to not trust liberals. The last 300 years of human history in which liberals gleefully murdered leftists has nothing to do with it.

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The left has always been infighting. The two great memes of the left are walls of text and hating other leftists.

But liberals are not leftists. And we’ve disliked you for decades and globally.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

KGB handbook: play up the loudest voices on both sides of every social issue, make every tiny issue seem so overblown and saturated with lies and nonsense that average people stay out of it and stop trusting anyone involved.

This leaves people with no activism or outside opinion they can trust so they go along with whatever state media reports because what else is there.

This has worked wonders in other countries, it is working wonders in America. It is going to work in your country next, reader. What are you going to do about it?

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm not saying that this isn't happening, but at the same time it also seems to get heavily implied in threads like these that the solution is for leftists to just get onboard with two-party neoliberalist capitalism just for this next one election, just this once, we promise.

Calling on the Democratic Party to adopt left-wing policies keeps getting branded "divisive", but calling on Leftists to adopt the center-right is treated like an attempt at unification.

The people calling for party unity don't want any of the political aspects of a united Left, they just want to carry on the same policies they had before but with more people being scared into holding their noses and voting for them.

[–] TheFonz@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's just that lefties don't seem to want to or know how to build power. It feels very performative. If they actually cared about any of the issues they are so vocal about, I don't know, maybe they would do the groundwork to build a political framework. That's why I applaud people like Zohran or AOC. They are there, doing the work day in and out. But online lefties are just pouting and crying about liberals non stop

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Zohran

Thanks for picking an example that so beautifully supports my case. Literally the one time a guy comes up with some mildly left-of-center policies that might actually stand some chance of getting implemented, Establishment Democrats turned on him so strongly that the guy they actually wanted felt emboldened enough to run against him as an independent.

[–] TheFonz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes. I didn't think establishment democrats would just roll over without a fight. But they are boomers on their last ticket out. If we don't at least try, then what's the point? Is the sum total of all our efforts then intended to be online memes? That's why I look up to Mamdani because he's not punching the entire democratic apparatus. He's punching the hardline centrist boomers that are holding the party back. After all, Zohran is running from within the democratic primary, and not as an independent. I have a lot of respect for him and will always support him. He's doing the work to change the party and move it in the right direction. So is AOC. On the other hand, online lefties sum total action amounts to....memes? I don't know. You tell me. What exactly are y'all doing?

[–] frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You get it; I think there is an issue of conflating what the lazy, safe seat Democrats in office that are borderline Republicans want and what the Democratic voters want. Mamdani is closer to what liberal/left Democratic voters want for our party. A big issue is the politicians in power of our party are mostly corporate types that are not necessarily trying to rock the boat too much.

It’s a nuanced and multifaceted issue which mainly comes from Citizens United. Plus, it’s an issue of the First Past the Post voting system in much of the country making it harder for more progressive candidates to come out ahead.

I think there’s also a bit of a misconception that we can’t incorporate things like Universal Healthcare, Universal Basic Income, Universal Basic Services, or other progressive/leftist policies under our current economic system.

That’s not to say that we can’t change things down the line, but we can regulate capitalism and create income floors so no one is going without food, medicine, shelter, or support.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club -1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah I’m done arguing with Russian trolls tonight. Good luck in your future endeavors.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The hilarious thing about this is that I'm not even the only person in this thread that you've accused of being a Russian troll.

It doesn't even make sense on its own terms, like why would the Russians be trying to promote the case that the Democratic Party should make more concessions to the Left? Is "Russian troll" just what you call anyone who disagrees with your theories on political strategising?

The big irony is that I don't think you even realize just how perfectly you proved my original point. "Leftists should toe the Liberal Line" = Not Troll, "Liberals should accommodate Left-wing policies" = Troll, apparently

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

What're you talking about, the whole system is working fine. The far right isn't riding to popularity throughout Europe, and clearly hasn't taken hold in the US.

Listen, if you can't do everything I like, then you're a fascist. And I mean everything. I'd pluck an example out of the air, but there's no point, because someone else will. And yeah, it's probably a good example, but I'm willing to bet the farm on it.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world -1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The post is a jab about American folks who conflate the terms. I wasn't expecting people to take this as seriously as others have!

Although now that you mentioned it, I kinda sense that there could be something going on sometimes, especially on comments looking down on the working class supporting the Republicans, while refusing to acknowledge that they used to vote Democrats. Plenty of people worth their salt would tell anyone that it is because the working class felt abandoned after the outsourcing of jobs without offering alternatives. Unfortunately, a lot on the left, but more so on liberals, don't see this and keep calling the working class as dumb hicks. There are definitely folks who are too far gone and support fascists, but to caricaturise everyone in the demographic while a more plausible explanation is available seems tone deaf. It made me think that there could be an intentional wedge to create in-fighting for such deliberate nosing down.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Where are you from that somehow this isn't affecting you. I just saw top posts on Lemmy about how Germany and France joined the UK in having far right parties reach the top of the polls. Please don't let me demean whatever country you're from if it's not those, but a world where Germany, France, the UK, join the already gone US in far right ideology is no bueno (to use a language that might suffer in the future). But go ahead and take your jabs, because time is running out.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Why do you think housing crisis and wealth inequality is happening across the world? Why did the working class is turning to the right when they used to vote liberal? These issues doesn't just stop in the US as you pointed out. It is almost as if valuing private property and individualism is not the Achilles heel of liberals. And precisely private property and individualism is what liberalism was founded on.

I am going to be blunt. The difference between non-US liberals and US liberals is that the former know exactly who they are and what they want-- they are NIMBYs who don't want their property value to go down, and homeless families and children and tenants paying half their monthly salary in rent be damned. Meanwhile, US liberals shy away from admitting they are NIMBYs, but instead caricaturise the working class as racist hicks, rather than recognising they are mostly decent folks who just want roof over their heads and not living paycheck to paycheck. There are plenty of news of neighbourhoods in liberal California and New York blocking affordable housing.

A lot of people commenting here and seemingly annoyed that liberal and left are different because of said issues, is precisely what this post is about. Knowing they are different is a start.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The left and liberals are one and the same in America.

Now I’m sure you’re going to go on some stupid fucking diatribe about how “aCkShuAllY they AREN’T”.

That’s just Russian fucking propaganda. You’re trying to bisect the left to create infighting in order to prop up fascist interests.

Begone, troll.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

The left and liberals are one and the same in America.

Just ask the opinion on economic issues and there is stark difference.

That’s just Russian fucking propaganda.

Is it really Russian propaganda? Or American oligarch propaganda to conflate the two terms?

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I read comments from a lot of Europeans (and maybe those in Oceania, I'll be honest, I don't think much about that region because I'm from America) who seem to think they're immune from what happened in the US over the last decade plus, but it's clearly spreading, and yet it's this onslaught of shit talking, Americans are dumb, there is only one liberalism, if you're not with us you're against us.

Well, they divided the left, people lost interest, and now what was unarguably the strongest nation in the world has gone awry, but let's go ahead and wax poetic about this unrealistic perfect world that people want. The right, as much as I disagree with them, is pretty grounded in reality, and they use that to their advantage, and the left lives in Idealand, and that's a vague concept. And it's a great place, but it's not possible when you shit on people who don't match your exact idea.

I'm farting into the wind here, I've got a less than zero confidence many of these accounts exist solely to create strife, the same way they did on Reddit. This isn't a leftist Utopia, it's a fucking blender.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

However you define liberal, there is the big question mark. Why did the working class used to vote liberal and Democrats but now turned to the right?