I posted this meme to the Lemmy Shitpost community. I reckoned that it might generate a bit of debate, and would probably end up locked, but the entire post got deleted, and moreover, I’m now forbidden from sharing political posts to the community. Political posts are not against the rules of the community.

I have reason to believe that the post was deleted not because it was controversial, but because the moderator (Decoy321) disagreed with the political slant of the meme. The reason I find this suspicious is because other controversial posts, such as one about veganism remains up, and Decoy321 seemed to enjoy the fact it was controversial:

  • HalfSalesman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    11 hours ago

    I think the meme you posted and the beliefs it indicates are intensely stupid. However, I disagree with its removal and the heavy handedness of the threat of a ban here.

    • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
      32·
      11 hours ago

      The differences between the democratic party and the republican party are primarily aesthetic and procedural - being more concerned about whether the rules were followed than about whether innocent people are dying.

      The democrats go to war, but they have better excuses for liberals to justify the imperialism to themselves. The biggest difference between Trump and Harris is that Trump is too stupid to do what Bush did, and Kamala isn’t.

      There are a couple of more progressive candidates here and there, but even the most progressive democrat politician is usually still way more moderate than the median democratic voter.

      The meme I posted was indeed a shitpost, but it was intended to act as a springboard to discuss these real issues, not as a defeatist perspective, but to focus on what we should do to solve it. Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending like the ruling class haven’t totally fucking us all over and covering up child abuse everywhere isn’t sufficient. The Democrats are up to their eyes in lobbyist money and corruption.

      Protest and elect. Emphasis on protest.

      1. Get as involved as you can with activist efforts locally.
      2. Organize, network, focus on building solidarity.
      3. Vote at primaries for the most progressive candidate.
      4. Don’t punch down
      5. Don’t punch left.
      • HalfSalesman@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        10 hours ago

        The differences between the democratic party and the republican party are primarily aesthetic and procedural - being more concerned about whether the rules were followed than about whether innocent people are dying.

        This is simply an oversimplification to the degree of being simply not true. Are there democrats who are “pro-death but within the rules”? Absolutely. Are they the entire party? No. Some democratic politicians aren’t really “pro” anything, they just go with the flow and some are authentically progressive and against endlessly bombing the middle east. Right now we’re at a tipping point where there are enough progressives to spook the inauthentic “middle” democrat who doesn’t care either way, they just want to get re-elected. All it took was sacrificing a bunch of people domestically (and abroad actually, starving Africans… and probably extra Palestinians) to the blood smeared altar of fascism by letting Trump win again. Congrats to the “anti-genocide” side I guess.

        There are a couple of more progressive candidates here and there, but even the most progressive democrat politician is usually still way more moderate than the median democratic voter.

        This is conjecture and fundamentally not knowable. Even progressives will control their language to avoid the full ire of the DNC leadership. Just like there are republicans who are legitimately just Nazi’s, christian death cultists, or pro-rape or whatever but pretend to be “good ol boys” (though barely bother to do that now) there are progressives who probably secretly want socialism.

        I’ve met plenty of people who describe themselves as “Dem Voters” and people who don’t vote at all. To describe the average or median of them as “more progressive” than the most progressive democrat legitimately is an insane thing to believe. Do you live in an urban center in a major blue city or something? (If so I’m jealous) Because that is light years from what I see.

        Protest and elect. Emphasis on protest.

        I appreciate that you still have hope and are trying. I mean, I’m still going to do the bare minimum and vote (including primaries) but my days of activism, donating, and volunteering are fucking over now. I’m way too bitter and cynical.

        Get as involved as you can with activist efforts locally. Organize, network, focus on building solidarity.

        I used to do that. I live in a red state and dude the average person here in is a dire state ideologically. Its like trying to help people who if they knew what I am and what I actually believed would consider me a pariah and probably find me to be a disgusting nihilistic anti-theist communist sexual degenerate.

        And they’d be right on at least two counts.

        Don’t punch down Don’t punch left.

        I don’t know that I believe that the concept of “left” is coherent anymore. Is punching a progressive liberal OK since they’re technically to my right? Doing so seems counter intuitive to electoral victory at all. Tankies are frequently described as to my “left” but tbh I think this makes no sense given who they tend to side with and I’d much rather punch them…

        As for punching down, you’ll have to pry the r-slur from my cold dead hands. I’m not even sorry because I’m not talking about people with special needs when I use the word. I’m talking about MAGA’s, libertarian’s, religious people, and ruroids when I use that word.

        • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
          1·
          49 minutes ago

          blames anti-genocidal voters for Trump’s victory instead of pro-genocidal politicians

          “you’ll have to pry the r-slur from my cold dead hands”

          Scratch a liberal, and a fascist bleeds

      • _‌_反いじめ戦隊@ani.socialEnglish
        32·
        11 hours ago

        I will mention in advance, I am completely dissolutioned 🇺🇲civs will do squat. They’ve proven it to me by not storming a deathcamp and demolishing it, and more recently, letting an antiwar vet get his arm broken, instead of chanting with him. Exactly like sheep too stunned to act, just watching an old man get amputated, and letting the Senator continue on.

  • Wilco@lemmy.zip
    51·
    20 hours ago

    Lemmy world is fucking weird. They spam the word “zionist” too much.

    • VitoRobles@lemmy.todayEnglish
      52·
      19 hours ago

      Honestly it feels like Zionist and tankie are the new “Nazi” name calling (like calling a random commenter a Nazi, on the old internet before actual Nazis like Elon Musk came out of the white supremacy closet).

      Kinda wish we had a filter or word block because it’s exhausting watching the name calling just flinging around

      • Wilco@lemmy.zip
        31·
        16 hours ago

        It is, isn’t it? They throw it around if anyone dares to question their position. It is weird to have this odd Rift in the world, and even in US politics, with people like Schumer basically swearing allegiance to another nation when most people dont really know or care about what is happening.

  • Universal Monk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    184·
    7 hours ago

    PTB!

    Bruh, I criticized the two-party system, and admitted I voted third party (Socialist Party) in the 2024 presidential election. Lemmy is STILL pissed off about it and says I’m a Trumper–all because I didn’t vote Democrat. More and more people are starting to realize a 2-party system sucks, but damn, Lemmy ain’t their yet.

    You marked for life now, dawg! Good luck! LMAO

    (Oh and fuck you Lemmy, I’m gonna vote third party in the next election too. :) )

    • calmblue75@lemmy.mlEnglish
      82·
      2 days ago

      I am not able to comprehend people criticizing voting for third party. What is the meaning of vote if you cannot select a candidate of your choice?

      • Universal Monk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        71·
        1 day ago

        Exactly my thoughts! It’s finally becoming more common to think like this on Lemmy now, but holy hell… in 2024 many Lemmy’s legit wanted to crucify people who thought like this. And they still follow me around and regularly ask that I be banned from the entire fediverse!

        I’m not going anywhere tho. :) And I’m so proud of how mad they got, I put their comments and posts in my profile banner:

    • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
      102·
      2 days ago

      Yeah I’ve been fending off those freaks like they’re extras running at me one at a time in a kung-fu movie with bad takes. I’m not even American, I wasn’t eligible to vote in the 2024 election, but because I criticized Joe Biden/Kamala Harris, that must mean I just fuckin LOVE Trump.

  • Godric@lemmy.world
    281·
    2 days ago

    This meme below got removed a few days ago. I think if you post anything controversial that rustles enough jimmies to make people rage-cry report you, they just remove the post rather than deal with angry nerds.

    Or they just really hate trains, the jerks!

    Edit: Same mod

  • Telorand@reddthat.com
    321·
    2 days ago

    I’ll be honest. Even as an anarcho-communist, I don’t care for these kinds of political reductions.

    However, given that it’s a shitposting community, seems like lost-nuance is kind of part and parcel to the spirit of the community (which is why I don’t go there). I’d call this PTB.

  • NotSteve_@piefed.caEnglish
    1614·
    2 days ago

    Nah I reported your post too. Stop spamming US internal political shit in the shitpost community. Keep that to a US politics community

    • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
      232·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for sharing and being honest and I totally get it, but don’t you think that should be a rule that’s fairly and equally enforced, not just applied to posts that the mods personally disagree with?

      • NotSteve_@piefed.caEnglish
        212·
        2 days ago

        Yeah fair point, it definitely should be applied equally and its not right if its only subject to mods’ opinions. I really wish the community would ban political posts entirelyi need some reprieve from the doom

        • Wren@lemmy.todayEnglish
          10·
          2 days ago

          The problem with banning politics is determining what’s considered political. Not long ago divorce, adoption, abortion, nazis, and women wearing pants were hot topics. Now it’s immigration, abortion and nazis again, and queer folks wearing skirts.

          I’d rather endure some of that doom and gloom through a shipost than the rapid onslaught of panic-inducing headlines.

          • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
            21·
            2 days ago

            Old-school internet forums usually did that. Not sure about all the nuance and specifics to meme groups… Just saying it’s not a generally impossible thing, or a new idea.

            • Wren@lemmy.todayEnglish
              8·
              2 days ago

              Not saying it hasn’t been done, I’m saying it’s hard to do well. I’ve seen “women’s issues” and “pronouns” included under “politics,” in old-school and new forums, which is why I’m hesitant to agree with no-politics rules.

              • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
                2·
                2 days ago

                Sure. I’d consider them politics as well. Those are all topics with a very high chance someone comes along with some (weird) opinion and makes the discussion derail. And then everyone stops discussing the scifi computer game or Linux, and homes in on the controversial topic with a lot of feelings involved.

                I think the big cultural achievement is: Forum members have all agreed to live a certain culture. They do it together and there’s some group cohesion and a pre-made agreement to all pull in the same direction. So what I’ve seen a lot of work isn’t done by the mods, but people all identify with the rules and the next random person will step in and state “it’s getting political again”, and then everybody else is cautious not to add to the drama.

                I think we lost that with social media. And there’s also less group cohesion here. So we end up handling it out of band, mods have to delete posts. Plus we regularly have to peck out the rules again and again… I mean it’s not as bad as my words make it out to be. And this isn’t entirely down to design and hierarchy. But also group dynamics changed, there’s more regular people online than some 15 years ago instead of nerds amongst themselves. And I think politics became way more polarized.

                Ultimately, it’s all part of our lives. There’s obviously demand to discuss politics, pronouns, the crazy setup US Americans call a political system… And I think they’re all valid topics. We just have to figure out a way to make it work. Which isn’t easy. But I think the Fediverse is up to something. Our basic idea allows us to customize the experience, steer clear of some things or dive down… I think we just have to strike some balance and put in some more work because politics is such an all-consuming topic. And we’re a bit of a diverse crowd here. Which is a good thing. But also makes certain things more difficult.

                • Wren@lemmy.todayEnglish
                  4·
                  1 day ago

                  The person who comes along with their disruptive opinions should be moderated, not people who simply exist. Being a woman or having chosen pronouns isn’t dramatic.

                  If someone is uncomfortable with a topic they can simply disengage and start their own thread on their chosen subject.

                  It’s either accept that no one agrees on what’s considered political, or have firm rules about subjects that can and can’t be discussed.

  • reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net
    153·
    2 days ago

    Something something it’s more dignified to be killed by blue, just don’t post in .world, help grow other servers

    • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOPEnglish
      124·
      2 days ago

      Someone has to get dirty rolling around in the trenches with the hogs, gotta burst their bubble occasionally. But yep, you’re right.