• Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    12 hours ago

    There’s no god damn horse shoe it’s just people don’t understand politics. You can be left wing and you can right wing and still be on authoritative dictator, freedom of expression is separated from social and economic policys.

    It’s like saying you can’t be a dictator if you’re religious, it’s an insane comment, and yet somehow people think that it works for political philosophy.

    • Pudutr0n@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      it’s almost like you’re saying both ends of the spectrum can converge on the hows despite diverging on the whys, like they distance from each other in one regard but become closer in another… like the opposite ends of some kind of curved bar, you know?

  • nickiwest@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    I’m so confused by the way he ends so many messages with, “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

    Is his brain so thoroughly fried that he can only regurgitate bits of corpo-speak regardless of whether they are applicable?

    My headcanon is that someone sent him a letter with that closing 45 years ago and he thought, “That’s a classy way to close a letter,” so now he always uses it when he wants to feel official.

    I also tend to read it as conveying the sentiment, “Please pay attention to me because I fear I will die if you stop paying attention to me.”

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      12 hours ago

      The way he always signs his tweets, or whatever truth social calls them, that gets me. We know it’s you you idiot, it’s on your account

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      One thing we know Trump is legitimately good at is manipulating rubes.

      “Thank you for your attention to this matter" is actually quite subtle; it’s got “you” and “your attention” in the same sentence, making it feel like he could be talking to you personally rather than as a group (compare e.g. Biden’s common “May God bless you all”).

      “Hey, Trump thanked me for my attention, there’s a guy who respects and values my time and opinions, and the fact that he says it in every one of his messages only means that he really does care what I think.”

      • glitch1985@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        People at my work sometimes end emails with this phrase. I treat it as a dog whistle and stop respecting them.

        • Sidhean@piefed.social
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          10 hours ago

          I end some correspondance as such. I think its really funny. Sorry if this causes any confusion. I am not a big fan of the current US president.

          THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

          • glitch1985@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            Lol big difference between doing it to copy him vs being facetious. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

            • Sidhean@piefed.social
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              10 hours ago

              It hurts my head that they were being unironic. I guess people really are like that, though :(

        • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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          12 hours ago

          Next time I need to send one of those emails that you have to rewrite 6 times in order to not get fired, I’m going to end it with that.

  • HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    There is no horseshoe.

    It’s much better depicted as a 2D plane, a la Political Compass.

    Tankies and Fascists have similarities because they’re both hyper-authoritarian, not because being more fascist somehow brings you closer to tankies than your previous close political associations.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    North Korea has the files, and are blackmailing Trump with it.

    Hackers: You can hack hackers to do the funniest shit in the world, if the Lazarus Group happen to have some unredacted Epstein Files on a computer connected to the net.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        12 hours ago

        How would we know? But estimates indicate that all the files currently released account for probably less than 1% of what they’re actually is. Of course not all of that will be relevant, quite a lot of it will either be duplications of information we already have or the pool cleaning schedule. But there will be some non-zero proportion that is criminally relevant.

      • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        yeah, I’m sure they only released the incriminating half, the rest is probably nothing

        /s

    • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      North Korea has the nukes, and any US surface ships within missile range have been sitting ducks for years. Trump is just the only one who can pass off a retreat as a victory.

    • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      There’s a relationship between hacking and North Korea, but its not in the direction you’re proposing.

  • spacegoat@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Most people who try to describe their enemy “the left” have about as much brain matter as JFK

  • godsammitdam@lemmy.zip
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    Almost like the throughline is authoritarianism. They like it when they have control but they don’t like it when who they don’t like has control.

    Honestly, it feels like those with lower iq and less ability to inform themselves are the ones that love authoritarianism. They can’t form a coherent ideology and devolve into just trying to control everyone to their underdeveloped beliefs.

    That’s where the whole bullshit idea of horseshoe theory comes from. It’s people leaving out the authoritarian axis because it’s beneficial to divide actual leftists and make us seem crazy.

    • cmhe@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I more and more think that there is just one dimension starting by authoritarian and ending with social.

      Faschistst, Tankies, free market libertarians, autocrats and feudalists, are just authoritarians in with different origins. Their team should be in power, their team should be supported by everyone, while they profit from it.

      While social people want nobody to suffer, everyone to be in power and have self a determination, etc.

      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        True free market libertarians are anti authoritarian. US free market libertarians are always happy to have tax cuts, subsidies, tariffs, regulatory oversight etc. So long as it benefits them.

        • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip
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          2 days ago

          There no such thing as a free market. It’s a constant tug of war between corporate consolidation and government/public power preventing monopoly and abuse. Removing the public power just leaves corporations unchecked and able to control the market itself.

        • cmhe@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I don’t think ‘true free market libertarians’ exist. They only want free market because it benefits them at the specific time or circumstances they want it.

          • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            They do exist. But not in the real business world.

            There are economists that argue (with academic justification) that fewer frictions increase growth. But they usually ignore topics like human rights, environmental impacts, inequality etc.

    • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      why do you oppose lifting sanctions on north korea - which is a nation that is one of the biggest victim of US imperialism?

      Liberals are just imperialists.

      • godsammitdam@lemmy.zip
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        9 hours ago

        Comply with international law and open up and I’d probably be for lifting them.

        Just like I’m for removing sanctions on Cuba.

        Just like I’m for imposing sanctions on Israel.

        Just like I’m for imposing sanctions on my own imperialist country that’s bombing and invading the rest of the world.

        And let’s point out too that it’s not the US alone who has sanctions on NK like we do on Cuba. The UN Security Council consistently votes against the Cuba sanctions. They don’t on NK sanctions. Russia and China are part of that council too with veto power, but it’s unanimois. So 🤷‍♂️

        What I would be for, actually, is a better way to affect beneficial change and avoid harming civilians. Sanctions themselves disproportionately affect normal civilians through food and medical shortages, etc, while the political elite can avoid them.

        We’re agreed though, liberals, especially neoliberal capitalists, are imperialists. And we’re feeling that imperial boomerang come back around to us finally.

        • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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          1 day ago

          Ok you are alright in this regard

          I however disagree heavily with your assertion on “authoritarianism”, because I am a marxist leninist.

          Every anti “authoritarian” tendency of socialism (moreso sceintific socialism i.e. marxism) is reactionary and idealist in itself.

          • Forester@pawb.social
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            12 hours ago

            So because of your political ideologies you are just going to hand wave aside authoritarianism, neat. What a load of trash.

            • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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              12 hours ago

              We need the a Dictatorship of Proletariat to resist imperialism from outside and counter revolution from inside. In liberal terms that would be called authoritarianism, it could be ugly but its the reality and path we need to take.

    • Forester@pawb.social
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      2 days ago

      Why did you use the stethoscope instead of the actual left right auth liberty axes?

        • Forester@pawb.social
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          Nazism adopted aspects of socialism, its just the Reich decided only certain groups were allowed to participate, while certain other groups were heavily persecuted stolen from, and murdered by the state. So on the Left Right scale yes they are slightly to the left of absolute right because of the social programs and redistribution of stolen wealth and land and the fact that while private ownership remained mostly intact private business was still guided and controlled by the state to facilitate the wartime economy. I’m not calling them socialists, just fascists that stole a few ideas from the socialists and implemented them in ways that would strengthen and benefit the german state, and pacify the remaining approved groups of approved peoples. It seems your conflating left right (communism - capitalism) with Authority and Liberty.

          https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/life-in-nazi-occupied-europe/economic-policy/

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_People's_Welfare

          Though TBF If I had made this graphic myself i’d probably have expanded the Nazism area to overlap with the Fascism square

  • weps@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I heard a conservative say the Iran situation is because Trump used to be a democrat and there’s still some democrat in him.

    A 100% republican would have fixed Iran in 2 weeks.

    • HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      … look, whatever it takes to get them to want him gone.

      I don’t care if it’s because they think he’s a secret space penguin as long as they vote to impeach and remove.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Nah you see a real republican would have bombed them into submission and sent in the seals to finish the job /s

      Fr the only chance of winning would have been by perfectly following the rules of war, showing restraint, and working to arm dissidents and build a resistance capable of running a successful rebellion and governing well. Followed by us helping the new government build itself up. We learned nothing in Vietnam, we learned nothing in Iraq, and by fuck we managed to learn nothing in Afghanistan. We also managed to completely unlearn everything we learned in France, Germany, and Japan.

      But had we learned all this we wouldn’t have gone in alone, we’d’ve asked for the UN to call for troops to protect the protesters and worked with the international community to protect human rights.

      • Gaslov@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Depending on the Republican, would be a good chance for a reckless invasion that gets a lot of Americans killed.

      • No no, a REAL Republican would have personally walked into Iran naked, without a security detail, and carrying an American flag and an AR14 while proclaiming the Strait of Hormuz theirs. There’s still time if Trump or any tech CEO wants to show off their masculinity.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    What Smoke and Mirrors! What bombast! Now release the trump-epstein mp4s and remove the degenerate-in-chief!

    • BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I have a great Modlog, probably the best Modlog in the fediverse. People look at my Modlog and ask: How do you do it sir? That’s a beautiful Modlog you have there. My ballroom is gonna be beautiful too.

    • 4am@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      At least they don’t make hidden blocklists to shadownban dissenting opinions. They just dunk on you publicly.

      • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        ML stands for Marxist-Leninist, but in practice it stands for kissing the ass of the dictators in China, Russia and North Korea.

          • stickly@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Wow what a riposte, really roasted that guy. Totally shut down his critique of AES by totally ignoring it and deflecting back to Amerikkka” –Every ml user in every conversation ever

              • stickly@lemmy.world
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                15 hours ago

                Original post: trump incorrectly claims a country that constantly launches missiles towards neighbors and had the world’s most recent nuclear bomb test is unthreatening and respectful, in part because he likes Kim Jong Un

                Top level comment: wow trump has ml user rhetoric

                Comment you replied to: yes, ml users hold irrational NK views in the same line as trump’s tweet

                You: wHaT aBoUt [USA] SaNcTiOnS??

                Nobody was talking about anything related to sanctions, let alone supporting them. You’ve been trying to drop this non sequiter all over the comment section. In your mind, every geopolitical conversation MUST be directed towards pwning the westoids; any opposition to USA hegemony absolves an actor of defects. That is what makes you a tankie.

                • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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                  14 hours ago

                  Look, I dont even care about the tankie label

                  I know liberals have this ilk of bloodlust, imperialist wars and military aggression. Its not far fetched to think they would support sanctions on DPRK

  • ZMoney@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Can someone point me at one of these “tankies”? I only ever see strawman posts about how stupid they are.

      • ZMoney@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        I mean there’s a random meme and otherwise it’s people arguing about propaganda. I’m waiting for the “Holodomor was based” people to show up.

      • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        Either that or say NK is a dictatorship. When I first got on lemmy I got dogpiled by the hexies because I dared to say NK is a highly propagandized country (even gasp* moreso than the US). Still waiting for even a single one of those guys to move countries to live under the Kim regime, which apparently is the chillest, friendliest place on earth.

        • thanksforreading@lemmy.ml
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          Nowhere on earth is more propagandized than the US. It’s a literal $607B a year industry and it’s infected most of the planet at this stage.

          • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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            1 day ago

            Another wild ml account appears. Go live in NK and report back for me on the level of propaganda.

            • Nonconfrontational@lemmy.ml
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              No, if you don’t see the propaganda level the United States has achieved, you’re blind.

              Remember how every news channel on both sides of the aisle was denying Israel doing a genocide for the past 3 years?

              Ever notice how every single news corp is owned by billionaire capitalists?

            • thanksforreading@lemmy.ml
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              16 hours ago

              I’m not a tankie I just find the content there more interesting than whatever bullshit PR puff pieces get posted elsewhere. Do you want to engage with what I said on a factual basis or is your max level ad hominem? The marketing industry literally evolved out of Freud’s psychoanalysis work as applied to US propaganda in the 2nd world war by his nephew Edward Bernays who then needed something else to apply it to after the war finished. American propaganda is so pervasive it’s fucking depressing. You go to Europe it’s there slapping you in the face. You go to South East Asia and it’s there again. I have never seen any NK propaganda outside what I see on Youtube.

              • tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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                16 hours ago

                Are the NK people free to watch whatever media they want? If not, they’re by definition more controlled by propaganda than the US. I haven’t seen a video ad in years. I watch leftist media. If I’m able to avoid right wing propaganda and the NKs are not, that’s a problem.

                I’m not denying that the US has a massive propaganda problem. But comparing it to a closed state-run internet and media environment is just silly.

                • thanksforreading@lemmy.ml
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                  16 hours ago

                  You’re not seeing this clearly. NK propaganda is so primitive they need to restrict the media people can consume. US propaganda mechanisms are so advanced and sophisticated that they can create the illusion of choice and the majority fall for it. There are so many avenues and strategies. The Koreans can’t compete. North Korea has a GDP of $34B. US marketing industry is nearly 18 times bigger than the whole of the NK economy. Do you understand what that means? They have to use crude methods because they can’t afford sophisticated ones.

        • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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          US is absolutely more propagandized than NK lmao, NK dont even need to propagandize their people against US, they just need to tell the truth about the horrific crimes US commited there. What has NK ever done against US to be this demonized? lol.

              • athatet@lemmy.zip
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                You’re all over this thread putting words into people’s mouths then get upset when someone does it back to you. Lmao.

                • SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml
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                  Look man, when you drop so many bombs on a country that people start living in caves, and your own pilots start complaining that there are no targets left to hit, I don’t think you get to position yourself as the good guy.

                  Is North Korea a place with a troublesome political culture and a cult of personality problem? Yeah, but if you wanna know who’s fault that is, go look in a mirror.

                • Cosmoscos ☭@lemmy.today
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                  why? USA wiped out 12-15% of North korean population btw, they have every single right in the universe to demonize that country.

    • Canaconda@lemmy.ca
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      It’s not a strawman, that’s just how how far out of left field they are.