• IninewCrow@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “Governments don’t want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.”
    ― George Carlin

    • Jaysyn@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      He was really wrong about voting though. If it didn’t matter, the fascist GOP wouldn’t be fighting so hard to prevent people from voting.

      • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        He wasn’t wrong. During this time the parties although different and Republicans being shitter, were much closer together. They were both pro corporate with differences on social issues.

        Today… The Republicans have gone full batshit trying to overthrow democracy. I guarantee you, if George was alive he’d be saying VOTE and vote for Democrats until we’ve gotten rid of the dangerous fascists.

        • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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          1 year ago

          Many parts of the system were designed to disenfranchise various groups. One of the most effective of those parts is the message that your vote doesn’t matter.

          Refuse to be disenfranchised. GO VOTE.

          • whereisk@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            And that they’re all the same.

            They’re not.

            Voting is like taking public transportation, it’s not going to take you to your exact destination but you get on the bus that gets you closer.

            Not getting on the bus because it doesn’t go exactly where you want to, or you don’t like the bus driver is allowing others to take you in the exact opposite direction.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    They got wise to that and called in the police and military to help them.

      • Cabrio@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” over the bodies of tyrants

        • Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev
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          1 year ago

          But thats the thing. Those who sit at the shade, will grow spoiled, fat and greedy and will enslave others to plant more trees from which they themselves will benefit from. “Hard times create great men. Great men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men creat hard times.”.

  • trainsaresexy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I love this sentiment but I hope we can keep lemmy a nice place.

    Like I’m sure we all agree that a good billionaire lynching would be awesome, but I also don’t want to crow on about it day after day. Escalate or bust.

      • Move to lemm.ee@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Not just build up, but actual conflict.

        Revolutionaries aren’t spontaneous creations. It takes decades of conflict between the population and the state to harden the people into what eventually becomes the revolutionary army.

        Almost everybody here with their soft bodies and their soft minds is not capable of taking part in 6-48 months of revolutionary civil war tomorrow. You have to look at the conflicts of France over the last 10 years between its population and the state to understand what prolonged build up of radicals and radical forces looks like. Decades of a population actively doing battle with its state over various national things before ever reaching the point of “fuck it we ball”.

        • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It feels that at this point, the ruling class has gotten so good at giving us just enough to keep us from outright revolution. It’s little bonuses here and there, it’s providing just enough to keep us afloat long enough to get through the next election, it’s information manipulation to have us arguing with each other rather than focusing our anger on them.

          It’s going to be extremely difficult to break that control.

          • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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            1 year ago

            Don’t forget the endless money spent on propaganda, convincing people that companies are good and everyone fighting for workers’ rights are evil, painting the latter as greedy and corrupt assholes with subversive intents

    • Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz
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      1 year ago

      I’m sure we all agree that a good billionaire lynching would be awesome

      Now that’s a bold assumption

    • Krakatoa@lemmy.film
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      1 year ago

      I just got a subscription to the jelly of the month club. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

  • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I feel like it’s the working class who forgot.

    The rich are well aware, which is why they put so much energy into making us think that isn’t an option.

  • Signtist@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They’re not the only ones who forgot. It’s crazy how many people I know who shun the idea of any form of action beyond general protest in the face of corruption. I always ask them how they think change is going to happen when we have protest after protest and nothing to show for them, but they never have an answer. Things are going to get a lot worse before people realize we need to fight for our rights, and being angry on the internet - or even in person with a sign - is no longer enough to make a change.

    • MajinBlayze@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      When violence is used to maintain the status quo, announcing up front that you’re unwilling to use violence in response tells those in power that they need not listen to you.

      • DrTautology@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The sad thing is that we don’t even need to use violence. We have the power to bring this country to a halt with nothing more than a well organized revolt.

        • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Just stay home and play board games for a week, don’t spend any money.

          Things would change quick fast and in a hurry if a hundred million people all just took the end of July off.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            That’s not possible for a lot of people unless they’re fine with starving. Additionally, prisoner’s dilemma or some variant of that basically makes it impossible to do something like that, herding cats would be easier. World peace would be achieved if all soldiers refused to fight and yet that will never happen for a whole host of reasons.

            • DragonAce@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That’s not possible for a lot of people unless they’re fine with starving.

              This is why a network of support and organization during a protest is vital. Because you’re going to have a lot of people in this position, so having some sort of place for donations and distribution of food/funds and a team to coordinate so the protests can continue uninterrupted is important. How to organize such a support network is a problem for people other than me who aren’t introverts.

    • YashaB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So what are we supposed to do? Take up arms and start shooting?

      There is no alternative to peaceful protest.

      • Signtist@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        As the original post states, peaceful protests were originally a warning - they were the last opportunity for nonviolent communication before the violence started. Their function relies on that being the next step - one that the organization wants to avoid.

  • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    What gets me is:

    If people have more money to spend, they buy more things.

    The more things they buy, the more money goes into the pockets of corporations and the CEOs.

    It’s literally a win win situation that doesn’t end in the Uber Rich being chased down by hungry angry mobs.

    • Stoneykins@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      It isn’t a fantasy, it’s history. It is how our comfortable world was built, and if you think it is eerie then you should reevaluate how you feel about the benefits it has brought you.

    • islandofcaucasus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It took a lot of blood and violence to get to the point where we all think blood and violence isn’t required in some situations. Millions and millions of people struggle every single day while the rich look for ways to take away their rights. It’s literally human nature to want to fight back against that.

    • eskimofry@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      What do you suggest? Only the state can have monopoly on violence? Only the government which is controlled by rich people can use violence?

    • ZodiacSF1969@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s funny, I think they are all bark and no bite. When push comes to shove we often see their fantasies amount to nothing more than materialistic looting. They will never live out their dreams of lynching billionaires.

    • Stoneykins@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      The tankies have been on lemmy longer than anyone else (and helped develop it I guess?) And they are still around. The normal instances have defederated from them and no one has to interact with them, but they still exist.

      Whether you consider it a pro or a con, there are no advertisers terrified of negative brand association here, and the only way an instance gets shut down is if it gets caught hosting explicitly criminal content.

      Lastly this isn’t a tankie. Tankies are insanely pro-military, obsessed with nationalism (for places like china or russia usually), and one of their favorite pastimes is denying the negative history of their favorite “communists”.

      This is just a dark joke about the history of how workers rights were originally fought for, in america and elsewhere. Look up the coal wars.