Lemmy has a strong tendency to criticize the US, and a lot of the critiques of certain issue with the US are valid. However, I started getting really tired of opening comment sections in innocuous and non-political posts only to see that someone somehow found a way to criticize the US in it. At first, I started thinking that maybe some Lemmy users are really unhappy and find criticizing a something stronger helped them feel better as if standing up to injustice was a passion of theirs. But, we don’t see them do that with other targets, just the US. The more I notice and think about it, I’m starting be suspicious that some of those users and comments aren’t authentic, but made to create divisiveness in the West and reject the US entirely. In other words, they may be Russian, Chinese, et al. agents working to feed a stream of propaganda in order to further cause chaos and lack of unity in the West as we have seen them do before.

Anyone else think about this?

This is what I’m thinking the game plan is:

  1. Criticize something obviously unjust that the US has done. Ignore that all other major powers have also committed atrocities.
  2. Link and liken it to other US matters & behaviors
  3. Paint the US entirely as evil so that nothing the US can do is just
  4. Attack anyone that supports anything out of the US (we are between here and #3 above)
  5. Create a black-and-white model of geopolitics: US vs everyone else. EU and Russia on the same team lol
  6. West fragments as US and EU relationship dwindle from pseudo-populist movements (e.g. MAGA)
  7. Pick specific countries in the EU to start alienating and repeat the cycle
  8. ???
  9. Profit in special economic zones
  • JoeKrogan@lemmy.world
    2·
    4 hours ago

    A corporate owned platform is not going to expose you to viewpoints that are against its interests. Lemmy is more inline with the actual state of the world as you are talking to other humans.

    Sure at times we many not like what we hear but that is ok. We all need to hear other viewpoints, it is how we grow. Its not a personal attack and if you think about it being critical of a government is good, people should want their government held accountable and working for the people.

    It is also not about red vs blue or any of the other bullshit labels . None of that matters, you are more like the average Russian than your leaders. Most people just want to get on with their lives with as little bullshit as possible. As for loyalty to the nation, I like Einstein’s answer here.

    Viereck: “Do you look upon yourself as a German or as a Jew?”

    Einstein: “It is quite possible, to be both. I look upon myself as a man. Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”

    I am from Europe and I am highly critical of the US as they are a bully, They are not some moral do-gooders that the movies paint them as. They have military bases all over the place and have meddled with so many countries. They are an empire.

    “The U.S. has engaged in nearly 400 military interventions between 1776 and 2023”

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_interventions_by_the_United_States

    As for the platform aspect, do you think Twitter or facebook and the rest have been a net positive for humanity ?

    Sure there have been positives but there have been massive negatives such as

    • the undermining of Democratic elections, brexit and trumps campaigns.
    • things like xkeyscore where these companies in some cases collaborated with the NSA or if not the greed facilitated the collection of data.
    • the algorithms that promote hate because it drives engagement, thus further driving a wedge in the fabric of society.
    • we have seen governments pressure these companies to hand over data and they then arrest, torture or kill the users.
    • things promoting US Interests are pushed such as the Arab spring but things against it such as occupy wall street or criticism of Israeli genocide is silenced or shadow banned.
    • suicides from bullying

    For the record I am critical of my own government too where it makes sense but they do not invade other countries.