• Zink@programming.dev
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      19 hours ago

      It’s pretty wild. There were a few years in the early 2000s where I listened to a lot of talk radio on my commute. I had not yet stumbled upon things like streams/downloads of the Howard Stern show, or the world of podcasts. So I got to hear a bunch of the scary republican talking points back then.

      That was about a decade before the dictator projection discussed in the meme, and what sticks out in my memory that is super relevant today?

      “Activist judges!”

      “Legislating from the bench!”

      • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        It occured to me, having never listened to rightwing media, that it may not always be projection, but the narrative they’ve been convinced of by their media. Propaganda has worked it’s magic.over decades to convince conservatives to believe a story that supports their leadership in doing what they always wanted. Like the pizza after shit, right wing media convinced them the democrats were evil, doing horrible shit. They’ve deeply and effectively demonized the left to the point of conservatives being willing to do violent and barbaric things to the left. They would believe the left has already been doing everything they now support doing.

        • Zink@programming.dev
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          8 hours ago

          it may not always be projection, but the narrative they’ve been convinced of by their media

          You are absolutely correct for the vast majority of ordinary conservatives, in my experience anyway.

          They don’t care about finding the best cause or even about being correct. They need to feel outraged and persecuted, so once that’s fed to them they latch on.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    If it isn’t crystal clear now, I don’t know what crystal or clear is.

    Conservatives are fascists. Fascists are liars. They are not to be trusted.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      To a degree. It’s also getting the base comfortable with the idea that these policies are normal. “Hey, look, the Dems already tried to take over Texas with the military. Its a good thing we had Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton to protect us. Now its our turn to do it to California and New York.”

      It also raises the stakes in every election cycle. The 2015 Jade Helm conspiracy made “Vote Red No Matter Who” this overriding priority for Texas conservatives. Compared to 2008/2012, when conservatives tried to paint Obama as weak and effeminate and easily manipulated, the “Obama/Hillary are trying to take over Texas!!!” panic coverage got far more apathetic Republicans off their asses and into voting booths.

      The physical embodiment of Limousine Liberalism suddenly became the standard bearer for the Old South from with the Republicans’ own party, literally months after Cruz, Rubio, and Bush had exhausted themselves trying to smear him into the pavement.

      • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net
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        11 hours ago

        I think that was also why Qanon got so much play in the right-wing media ecosystem - getting conservatives comfortable with authoritarian big government conservatism.

        Trump is going to declare martial law and have liberals killed or sent to camps? Qanon influencers have been telling conservatives that was the plan since 2017. And about 25% of the United States either believed it or thought “yeah, it’s crazy, but wouldn’t it be cool if it was real?”

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        1 day ago

        The main problem with MAGAs is that they haven’t had the most basic education, leaving them virtuosically ignorant.

        Most kids understand the saying “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” by the time they are 10 years old. Their parents have taught them that just because someone else did a bad thing, does not give you permission to do the same bad thing, or another bad thing - “Al Capone killed people, why can’t I?”

        But the MAGAs are so ignorant, and so poorly raised by their Sociopathic parents, that they’ve NEVER learned that basic life lesson. Obama was going to do it (but was too scared of Republicans to try it), so it’s perfectly okay for MAGA to do it.

        No, if it was wrong for Obama, it’s wrong for you, too.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          The main problem with MAGAs is that they haven’t had the most basic education

          I wish it were that simple. You’ll find MAGA in the highest ranks of academia at the most elite universities. You’ll find them in corporate leadership at the largest companies. You’ll find them in engineering departments, doctor’s offices, and all over the banking sector.

          But the MAGAs are so ignorant, and so poorly raised by their Sociopathic parents, that they’ve NEVER learned that basic life lesson.

          It isn’t that they never learned, it’s that the lesson was revealed to be a lie. You can, in fact, get away with one wrong by committing a second… and a third and a tenth. In fact, you can profit handsomely on committing wrongs, so long as they’re aimed at defenseless people.

          No, if it was wrong for Obama, it’s wrong for you, too.

          The crime they believe Obama committed was becoming president

          • Log in | Sign up@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Some Republicans are clever, sure, but there’s a strong and well documented correlation between poverty of education and voting Republican.

  • Humana@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I do! My religious mother said it was certain because her church Facebook group said there was an upcoming blood moon and quoted some ambiguous bible verses. She wanted me to go buy a dozen cheap tents at K-mart’s store closing sale. I refused and she bore witness to me that it was the end of days.

    I reminded her about the “prophesies” she spouted to me on inauguration day and she rolled her eyes and asked why I was holding onto the past.

    • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      As a former PM Supervisor at Kmart, I think I just got mildly triggered by the K-Mart’s store closing part. That liquidation process was hands down the most monumentally stressful and hellish period of my life. Fuck that company and everyone who turned up to plunder it.

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        i was talking to regional manager about it the weekend before last and he mentioned that kmart has relatively good pay and benefits and that, that what was ultimate brought them down.

        was this true in your experience?

        • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
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          21 hours ago

          Are you talking Australian Kmart or North American? In North America it was minimum wage for the vast majority of workers and zero benefits. I only made $11 USD (my store went under in 2016) as a supervisor with keys to the store and the safe, so it was a pretty shit arrangement. But it was a good stepping stone that got me into managing within the grocery industry, where I’m making significantly more for much more palatable work.

        • alekwithak@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 day ago

          Damn employees expecting to be fairly compensated for their labor. Don’t they know they’re literally stealing from the executive’s bonuses?

          • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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            44 minutes ago

            that’s why i asked; working in retail myself taught me that upper management was detached from reality and i suspect that was the case here was well.

            • alekwithak@lemmy.worldOP
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              28 minutes ago

              Vulture capitalism. These VCs come in and take out a huge loan to buy these established companies, then the company becomes responsible for paying the loan, and the company also pays the VC “management fees” then when the company is a hollow husk of what it used to be they start selling off assets and closing stores. Kmart, Sears, Toys R’ Us, Circuit City, Party City, Payless, etc etc etc. This is how Thiel made his Billions and what Vance did before pretending to be a politician. Lately they’ve been going after the funeral home industry and veterinary clinics.

        • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          LOL that’s rich, yeah you know who else has relatively good pay and benefits - a whole slew of companies, retail or otherwise.

          • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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            44 minutes ago

            literally rich; he was talking about his vacation home (as in more than one home) and it made me wonder if he was detached from the reality of the ordinary kmart workers.

  • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    They were building camps on land stolen from the states with the backing of large corporations…