Hey, we’ve got social media and all that now. The memes and all the valuable info from whoever will surely take care of it.

I’m afraid there is no business model that can finance quality journalism. We are currently seeing the consequences of this.

You don’t seem to understand: What I’m saying is simply that those who still support this regime do so because they expect to gain something from it. Most of them don’t support it because they still believe the fairy tales.

In the U.S. in particular, there are many who have been left behind by society. They see Trump as a chance to make something of themselves - and indeed, his administration offers them that opportunity.

Yeah, sure, that’s how propaganda always works. If Fox were to report anything based on facts, it would be clear to everyone that conservatives represent only the interests of the super-rich - which, of course, couldn’t be more at odds with the interests of ordinary people.

What I’m trying to say is that this regime is acting so brazenly that it’s almost impossible to overlook the fact that there’s no tribal belonging here - rather, the idiots who, for a long, long time, felt a sense of belonging for some eccentric reason, are now confronted with a reality in which even they can see that they’ve been used as pawns, that the tribe to which they felt they belonged has no other purpose than to enable the loyalty of expendable foot soldiers who stand up for their masters even though they’re being exploited.

Here’s my point: Anyone who is still on board now can only assume that they will benefit in a fascist-authoritarian state. ICE creates incentives for this as well, because a job there offers people with no education whatsoever a salary they wouldn’t get anywhere else.

So, I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the supporters of this regime. I don’t think they still believe the lies, but rather that they are fully aware of what they’re participating in and that they think they will benefit from it.

I’m not saying propaganda doesn’t work. Just that it’s very easy to see through because the lies are so far removed from reality. This reality simply can’t be hidden anymore: social benefits have been slashed, the cost of living is higher than ever, as are gas prices - something that’s particularly noticeable in the U.S. - and so on. Even if you bury your head in the sand and get your information exclusively from channels that are completely brought in line, you’ll find it hard to overlook that this regime does nothing but enrich itself.

Nevertheless, you are of course right: the only question is whether the propaganda is still sufficient to maintain the quasi-religious status that the MAGA cult ascribes to its leader.

In short: What the U.S. regime is doing seems to me to indicate that they no longer see any need to go to great lengths to conceal their sinister machinations. That, in turn, seems to me to strongly suggest that they will soon rule by sheer force. With ICE, this regime already has the means to do so, for this obvious secret police has a budget equivalent to the military spending of a medium-sized country; it has a budget that exceeds the combined budgets of all U.S. federal agencies (CIA, FBI, etc.). In my judgment, there can be only one reason for this: the establishment of an autocracy modeled after kleptocracies like today’s Russia.

But hey, that’s just my opinion, and I’m from Europe - Germany, to be precise -which is why I can’t help but notice many parallels with our own dark history.

This refers to all political dissidents - it does not matter whether they are organizations, political movements, or individuals. What they have in common is that they draw attention to the regime’s crimes and advocate for consequences or even criminal prosecution.

This is enough for autocratic regimes to declare them enemies of the state, allowing them to persecute them completely arbitrarily, since they view the state solely as a tool for carrying out their own crimes. Anyone who stands in the way is an enemy and will be mercilessly persecuted.

As a rule, it is always minorities, intellectuals, journalists, civil rights movements, unions, and such that are targeted first - precisely those whom the regime must silence to prevent the population from rising up.

This is already happening in the U.S., and ICE is the secret police carrying out the “purge” outside the bounds of the rule of law.

The next steps are historically very well documented: for various dictatorships that have emerged throughout history.

The most obvious example is today’s Russia, but the rise of the Third Reich is also a good example of what is happening in the U.S.

The mechanisms have hardly changed: gaining control of the media, infiltrating the legal system, establishing a heavily armed secret police force that spreads terror, eliminating political opponents, and violently suppressing the people, so that resistance means persecution or death.

I certainly wouldn’t let that influence me, since I’m fully aware of what FOX News is all about.

But yes, I see what you mean. Still, I can’t understand how anyone can still believe this crude propaganda, given what’s happening in the U.S. every single day. Anyone who claims to know nothing about it either simply doesn’t want to know or is profiting from it themselves.

In my opinion, this level of absurdity and criminality cannot even be concealed by the massive propaganda machine at the regime’s disposal - Fox News actually plays a rather minor role in this compared to all the mainstream U.S. social media platforms.

That’s just sad. In almost any other democratic country, a government would be forced out of office for any one of these crimes - and those responsible would almost certainly all face criminal charges as well.

What about the blatant corruption, the open disregard for the law, the inhumane treatment of people, their disastrous policies across all sectors, the fact that this regime not only protects pedophiles but obviously has numerous ones in its own ranks, or any of the countless other crimes committed by these monsters?

Ah, yes, that’s right.

canyon.mid is also a real classic, even if it’s not quite as funky.

He hides the pain for all of us.

Well, I guess you can’t expect someone like this moron to know the tale “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

So he just keeps crying…

Yes, in principle, but unfortunately there are many politicians who do not act in the interests of the people. This is evident simply from the fact that the richest of the rich are getting richer and richer, even though this is by no means in the interests of a country’s citizens.

While there are neo-capitalist approaches such as “trickle-down economics” even after decades of pursuing them, what they postulate has never come to pass - instead, exactly what was to be expected has occurred: tax revenues are plummeting, resulting in a lack of funds for investments in socially vital sectors and infrastructure, and the standard of living for citizens is steadily declining.

The result is that a kind of new monarchy of billionaires has emerged, who use their enormous influence through corruption and lobbying so ruthlessly that today there is hardly a capitalist-democratic state left that still serves the interests of its citizens.

Yes, I agree, especially since selfishness, ruthlessness, and greed are traits that promise profits - and (short-term) profits are the only, or at least the primary, measure by which most managers’ performance is judged (Shareholder Value, Quarterly revenue figures, and such). It is therefore quite likely that current managers also exhibit these traits and thus fill positions with people who are similar to them. It appears to be a systemic vicious cycle that allows for hardly any exceptions.

You don’t really need experts to properly assess this “government,” since it consists solely of talk show hosts, podcasters, wrestling promoters, conspiracy theorists, MMA fighters, and so on - none of these clowns is even remotely qualified for their position, and it’s no surprise that the only two things they’re “experts” in are hate and corruption.

/c/showerthoughts also has a “no politics” rule, which means that many topics are off-limits - and since this rule is worded very vaguely, the admins decide at their own discretion which topics are allowed.

Noice!

Because they are all the same kind of people, and age doesn’t really matter in itself - most of the people at the top are just white and old men because the system was set up by those very people.

And that is precisely the problem: this system of endless greed propels ruthless psychopaths to the top. It is sold as a performance-based society, even though performance has absolutely nothing to do with it - if that were the case, the problem wouldn’t exist in the first place.

In my view, an attack on any health infrastructure - of course - constitutes a war crime, a crime against humanity.

I consider this type of warfare despicable and contrary to international law (which is what the US’s illegal war of aggression against Iran is, anyway - not any better than the illegal war of aggression that Russia is waging against the people of Ukraine).

Of course, Iran is ruled by a barbaric, fundamentalist regime - but that does not give equally fundamentalist criminals, namely the horrendous US regime, the right to trample on international law like they do.

We will likely never find common ground on this issue, because I consider this war itself to be a crime, and all the more so given how barbarically it is being waged.

Edit: Btw - what you’re presenting here as a clever “strategy” pretty much fits the definition of genocide, since it involves wiping a people off the face of the earth using precisely those kinds of methods. Maybe look up the term or ask the US allies in Israel - they know a thing or two about the subject.