Political Memes

I've brought it up on other Lemmy comments, but one thing I really want to work on with messaging is "Eat the rich".

Case in point: Elon Musk is evil. He's a toe-sucking narcissist who can't stand that South Africa ended apartheid. He's a loser that can't beat the first Path of Exile boss. He's...make up your own insult, and I'll likely echo it. But what I can't stand is commenters saying that anyone and everyone possessing as much money as him is equally evil. Basically the equivalent of so many school "Zero tolerance" policies.

Musk is evil for his actions, not just for personality. Yes, a large number of rich people are also evil - there's logic behind that venn intersection. But capitalism is our system, even if we decide we want to start changing it. Past the big names of horrible people that have lobbied the system for their own interests, many rich people are just...quiet outside of their main successful ventures. One very ready playbook of the far right is to point out how many Democrats - even honest ones that have made excellent changes - are evil simply for having net worth in the millions. As long as "Eat the rich" is a popular slogan, it tends to work, and convince donors that progressives are out to hunt them down with axes.

My take on a better message would be: We all want a better world. Have you ever wandered the streets of venice, wishing you could have that nice communal feel back in America - unburdened by homeless people, dirty streets, or traffic? This is our goal. House the homeless. Clean the streets, and encourage recycling. Put people on public transit. Progressives will tax you more to make that work, but will make a better world for it; one where people don't need to hire private security to protect from betrayed employees, or shelter in an SUV to go two blocks. If you're a businessman, vote Republican. If you're an honest businessman, vote Democrat.

The message could use some work, but perhaps you get the idea.

You've hit the nail on the head, and I sit and have this and other similar conversations with my brother, and they always boil down to change. And it's a devil you know kind of argument, but the devil we know (establishment politics) has whittled away at the middle class consistently since it's explosion in the 1950s. And it's more than just policy, but down more to things like interpretation of the constitution and separation of powers.

And so we are in for a wild ride, and the smart thing for Democrats to do would be to put up their own candidate who stands to be the antithesis of Trump, and not this amalgamation of populist ideals, but a platform for change across the board. I like AOC for that, but we won't get that. We will get another establishment Democrat who tries to run on the same policies they just lost on, or whose platform is blanket undoing of Trump policy. The Democrats need to not be an anti-Trump party and instead be an actual progressive party.

Yep, 45% of eligible voters stayed home, and exit polling showed a radically different picture of the average american than even most of the people here on leftist sites like Lemmy want to acknowledge.

The average American is tuned out, they don't care about politics because it's too complex, too stupid, too controversial and too easy to feel like you're being lied to. So as a result we had millions and millions of people who voted on grocery prices and egg prices as their primary concern, and said Trump seemed like a "better shot" because the prices seemed bad under Biden and Harris just seemed like more Biden.

They didn't care about criminal investigations, about character or morality, they didn't care about Ukraine and they sure as shit didn't care about Palestine. (Maybe some did, but not in a meaningful way that connected votes to outcomes.) The average american works 6 days a week, spends their one day off taking care of their family and home, and catches a few hours of social media before bed. They read a few memes on facebook and that informs their politics.

Guys, out there in lemmyland, you need to listen to this next part and internalize it. Roll it around under your tongue until you get it: many voters said they would have voted for Bernie Sanders if he ran, but saw Trump as a close contender.

Our nation's political acumen has been surgically removed. This was by design. The bulk of this country doesn't hold onto strong political values. They shift and bend with whatever happens, and don't give a shred of a shit about hypocrisy and consistency.

We do not win this nation with smart, progressive candidates who have educations and experience. We win with characters and celebrity and face-value, direct, dumb messaging. The median voter doesn't care about outcomes unless it impacts them immediately and noticeably. People may want to be good and do right deep inside their hearts, but at the polls people look at their wallets first, and connect that with the last meme they saw.

We need to be smarter in the background and dumber on stage.