Asklemmy

the entire history of past socialism

"You're too much into politics"

Said by people who are unwilling to admit they're on the wrong side. Or in a more extreme setting (like say, South Africa during apartheid), they'd most likely report you to authorities or outright even kill you.

That coconuts falling on people's heads kills more people than shark attacks. It's was literally an experiment to see how far a lie could spread, and now it's used by many as an actual fact.

"Once all the boomers are dead everything will be better!" Yeah, corporations will still rule your life, inflation will still outstrip income, you won't be able to afford a house, and your politicians will represent whichever special interest pays them the most. Also you won't ever be able to vote in progressive candidates because every year there's going to be some vile ghoul like Donald Trump, but somehow worse, and the Democrats just need you to close ranks and vote in whatever corporate liberal whose turn it is to sit in the Big House this time so a literal fascist doesn't get his finger on the button and attempts to dismantle what little democracy our republic has over night.

Grandma and grandpa being six feet under doesn't change these things. And, guess what...you probably won't change them either because you're too lazy and apathetic to do anything other than shitpost on the internet about how badly your life sucks.

Iran has convinced a large portion of their population that the holocaust never happened.

People, no matter the inteligence or schooling, are more likely to believe what they hear more often. (If 10 people you know swear that eating mint will keep you from going bald it might just be true)

This makes sense and is normal, at least until the modern world.

Now add social media and an algorithm that its only purpose is to increase clicks/likes/interactions. Suddenly everything everyone is talking about is whatever you clicked on last time. A positive feedback loop occurs. The more videos you look at on the same topic, the more those get served, the more you view them, the more you believe them.

Experiment : Try creating a brand new Google account and watching 3 videos on YouTube on a single topic. Refresh YouTube page, or check back tomorrow.

Switching to electric cars will save the planet. Not when they increase tire pollutants at higher rates and still rely on fossil fuels and fracking to charge their batteries.

Also for the US specifically that we can't afford universal healthcare.

"we are free"

I have not seen this mentioned before, but the Teslas people buy in the US isn't helping the environment. You just are saving on fuel!

America might be flawed but it’s still overall a force for good in the world.

Biden might suck but we should still vote for Democrats on the state or local levels and participate in the [nonexistent] primary to put pressure on Democrats because they are clearly better than Republicans and progressives would never lie to us (cough bernie cough fetterman cough AOC).

Communism is impossible because it goes against human nature.

China is capitalist.

Organizing for revolution in the USA is hopeless.

It’s impossible to scientifically understand human societies, even though humans are part of nature and nature can be scientifically understood.

We can solve all our problems with technology alone. There’s no need to change anything else.

Things will be better in the future even if I don’t actually do anything to make them better. (This one has been an issue for me. “The future” for a Marxist like myself isn’t terribly different from religious visions of paradise.)

The US military is there to protect their country's "Freedom"

Ukraine is winning and Russia is collapsing.

I came into the comment section hoping for interesting things, but knowing it would be almost all political. Why do I keep doing this to myself, I know better.

USA Civil War: It was only the Southern states that were racist.

USA Civil War: The Confederacy was "only fighting for its way of life". With the hope that most USA'ians will assume that "its way of life" was anything but slavery.

Literally anything regarding China, especially Xinjiang if you talk to anyone from

I was talking to a mate about Palestine and he immediately went for the "bUt TiAnAm3n SqU@r3 k1LLeD oVeR tEn Th0uSaNd" and the "Ch1n@ cEnOcIde iN UygHuRs Th0" with the swiftness of a 737 flying into the 2nd tower. They will disregard who originally makes these claims and are 100% unfazed by say, World Uyghur Congress being totally in support of the genocide in Gaza, the response being either dismissal or "you're too much into politics and also ableism".

So many things I could type here... I'll just keep it silly:

Some people think drinking peroxide will give their body "extra oxygen".

News ownership has consolidated over the last 40 years from around 40 companies in the 1980s to 6 today. This is that "liberal news media" conservatives keep yammering on about. The one that's owned by 6 corporations.

There's a TVTropes page for things like this, of course.

That global poverty has declined because of the spread of liberal economies

"This war is different, this war is nessasary" "This is the most important election of our time" "Invasive surveillance is done for your protection" "We only censor misinformation"

That the 2020 election was stolen via widespread voting fraud.