• eldavi
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    15 hours ago

    i stayed at one during xmas while visiting family and they’ve convinced me that we’re fucked due to all the strongly pro-trump conversations i overheard and had with 3 of them.

    if the people most negatively impacted by the american system unequivocally support someone who nakedly wants increase their suffering; i don’t think that there’s anything we can do about it.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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      15 hours ago

      The problem is that the left has been systematically dismantled in the west. Most people can’t even define what communism is, all they know is that it’s bad and scary. That’s what been drilled into their heads their whole lives. Meanwhile, the right has a big and vibrant platform where they often discuss real issues that people experience. And this is precisely what hooks people in.

      They’ve already come to realize that libs are gaslighting them, and that the system isn’t working on their interest because they see their standard of living collapsing while mainstream media keeps telling them they’re living in the best economy ever. So, when right wingers come out and point out that the economy sucks and that regular working class people are being screwed over, that resonates with the lived experience people have.

      On top of all that, the right leans into the common tropes people have been indoctrinated into. They’ll talk about immigrants stealing jobs, or the government stifling innovation, etc. These slogans build directly on the capitalist propaganda people have already been indoctrinated into. This makes the ideology very accessible to people falling out of the mainstream.

      On the other hand, moving left requires restructuring your whole world view and rejecting everything you’ve been taught your whole life. Some people are able to make the intellectual leap required, but most are not.

      I think that the left needs right now more than anything is to focus on packaging the ideas in a way that’s easily digestible to people who are falling out of the political mainstream. The pitch has to be at least as appealing as whatever the right is peddling.

      • eldavi
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        14 hours ago

        They’ve already come to realize that libs are gaslighting them … that resonates with the lived experience people have.

        i suspect that’s these are the biggest reasons why i’m amenable to leftist platforms and i hate knowing that i too would be trumpers like most of my family is, if i were as white passing as they are; straight; and neuro-typical.

        I think that the left needs right now more than anything is to focus on packaging the ideas in a way that’s easily digestible to people who are falling out of the political mainstream. The pitch has to be at least as appealing as whatever the right is peddling.

        american capitalists can afford the best marketing talent that this world has to offer and it’s affects are evident here; it would take another class-like-traitor to break ranks to help a leftist organization and; even then; their efforts would eventual antiquate or be rendering ineffective by further competition.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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          14 hours ago

          It’s a rigged game for sure, you get effectively unlimited money going into stuff like prageru to produce sleek and enticing content that reels people in. All we can do though is try to educate people the best we can. I don’t think the situation is hopeless, it’s important to talk to people you know personally and to explain things patiently. It all adds up in the end.

          Ultimately, the right doesn’t actually have real solutions to offer, and eventually people will start becoming disillusioned with what they’re peddling the same way they’re becoming disillusioned with the liberal narrative now.

          • eldavi
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            12 hours ago

            my oldest nephew reached teenage-hood this year and he espoused the same slop his parent believe despite my influence and that makes me very pessimistic about my country’s social trajectory.

            it’s clear to me that trump’s version of american conservationism is more malleable than previous iterations of conservatism as evidenced my nephew’s unequivocally indigenous origin and equally unequivocal hispanic full name; but still believing that he’s as much part of the upcoming fascist fold as someone like levi fuentes is.

            like the results of 16th catholics attempts at destroying the indigenous beliefs and practices of my and my nephew’s ancestors; we’ll be left with an form an american zeitgeist that is permanently marred by this brand of conservatism, leading to (at least) hundreds of years recycling the inherent fascism while ineffectively trying to turn the tide; never reaching its previous state like has been happening with the few & sporadic attempts of mexico’s zeitgeist and its few still identifiable (and increasingly shrinking) remaining indigenous populations over the centuries.

            i don’t doubt that this a generations long struggle; but like the abolitionists and suffragettes we’re going to have to endure hunts for “unamerican-sodomites” (like me) or “commie-witches” (like my mother and sister). like it is in mexico right now, we’re going to keep trying and failing to reconcile with the social out-groups like the mexicans have been trying with mexico’s indigenous populations until they cease to be distinguishable from mainstream mexicans.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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              13 hours ago

              I think you’re very much on point here. I fully expect that things will keep getting worse before there’s a chance for them to start getting better. From what I’ve read it does look like Mexico is starting to turn towards socialism finally, so that’s encouraging at least.

              • eldavi
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                12 hours ago

                … From what I’ve read it does look like Mexico is starting to turn towards socialism finally, so that’s encouraging at least.

                this is not the first time that the mexicans have tried to shake off my brethren mexican-american babysitters so i’m mostly pessimistic; but there’s a smart part of me that is hopeful due to amlo & sheinbaum’s use of the nuclear option through mexico’s constitution and the impressive stamina of the zapatistas in chiapas.

                i’m also hopeful because sheinbaum and marcos are almost at the opposite ends of the political spectrum in mexico; but are working towards the same goal through their own diametrically opposed means simply because they share a common enemy.

                • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmygrad.mlOP
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                  9 hours ago

                  I think there’s a lot of potential right now because the US is in a far weaker state today than it’s been in decades. On top of that, the rise of China and BRICS provides economic alternatives to countries like Mexico that didn’t exist before. The main weapon the US has wielded over the world has been economic. Now that there is an alternative system of trade emerging, it’s becoming easier for countries to start charting an independent course. I expect we’ll see this trend accelerate in the coming years.