this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
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Showerthoughts

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Most people just want a good life. If we stopped seeing each other as the enemies the world could be better.

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[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

nah.

I can't have empathy for fuckheads that want to kill and imprison people based on their sexual preferences or their identity.

I refuse to subject myself to the torture of "working together" with people with fascist ideologies.

I cannot, and will not, coexist with Nazis.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 2 points 45 minutes ago* (last edited 43 minutes ago)

I think op meant more along the lines of normal, everyday people, not radical extremists who hate everyone that isn't like them.

and by normal, I mean non hate driven people. I believe everyone is weird in some way, there is no "normal".

the way I described it to my son is everyone has the same right to be happy as he does, you don't get to dictate that to anyone. we love you for your weirdness and expect the same for anyone else.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 hours ago

This is something we all need to remember

Have empathy and realize that people can have there own views. They aren't dumb because they disagree with you

[–] radicalautonomy@lemmy.world 11 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (2 children)

I don't see MAGA people as the enemy because they want to pay less in taxes. I see them as the enemy because they don't think my kids should exist in society and are actively passing legislation to make it so.

Delete this shit take.

[–] kshade@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

It may be more directed at them than you.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Something will be directed at them if they don't knock this shit off.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 hours ago

Username checks out

[–] demesisx@infosec.pub 10 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

It’s by design. Divide and conquer has been the playbook since they (anti-labor think tanks like the Progressive Policy Institute and others that seek to keep labor infighting) started studying group psychology.

FPTP contributes more than its share to the tribalism and poor infighting we see in the US and the UK.

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Cant tell if you are pro FPTP or against FPTP 🤔

[–] demesisx@infosec.pub 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Yea you mentioned divide and conquer then put images of the parliament with and without FPTP. Its easily misinterpreted to say that proportional representation is somehow "divide and conquer".

[–] demesisx@infosec.pub 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Huh? I showed how a simple change to US and UK election laws can topple the two party system overnight.

Literally, if there are only two private parties run by private organizations of rich people, they merely have to divide us and conquer us. We are being puppeteered by a bunch of corporations that use identity politics to keep the poor fighting amongst themselves and people SLURP THAT SHIT UP BECAUSE THE TWO PARTY SYSTEM CODIFIES IT INTO EVERY DECISION.

Feudalism with a few more steps.

Interesting point, though and I can see what you mean.

Truly, if my comment were to make a sense, I’d have to say they have “combined” and conquered.

[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Most people seem to want others not to have a good life, ignoring or disregarding the effects that might have on themselves.

Many if not most would sacrifice their own wellbeing if that guarantees that "the right people" will also suffer. They see the world as a zero sum game, and can't conceive the possibility of having a good life if others aren't having a bad one.

Most people suck, often to the point of being monstrous by any decent definition.

[–] TheSambassador@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

most

Source?

I'm pushing back on this viewpoint wherever I'm seeing it. Humans are certainly flawed in a lot of ways, especially in how easy it can be to mislead us, but this cynical worldview that most people are actively wanting others to hurt is not based in reality. Honestly it sounds like me when I was in the depths of depression.

I think we have a major problem with how we share and consume news. Stories are shared as screen-capped headlines that emphasize the Bad thing that happened, and even if you find the original article, it's stuffed with ads that make you not want to bother. Random one-off bad/stupid things that one person did somewhere far away are reported as world news without statistics and context.

The result? Increasing cynicism. The good, uplifting stories rarely come through. People begin to base their worldview and how they interact with other people on this "fact" that most people suck. This culminates in them becoming the thing that they think everyone is - they go through life scared of or angry at other people by default.

It isn't an inevitability. Maybe I'm wrong, but believing in people is a much better existence, even when they occasionally let me down.

[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Source?

I mean... [ gestures broadly at everything ]

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah checks out for Lemmy

[–] kshade@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Problem is that people are fairly easily told that their less-than-optimal situation is the fault of those people, regardless of it being true or not.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)
  • maga republicans stalling legislation to protect americans
  • maga republicans forcing legislation to take away human rights given to 80% of the world
  • maga republicans publicly releasing a book on who they hate and how they will make them criminals to be imprisoned or killed
  • maga republicans lying about how that book, "totally isn't our thing"
  • maga republicans coming out after winning the election saying, "oh yeah, that book is totally our thing"

I mean, I could go on, but I don't think I need to for my point.

People aren't telling me how horrible they are. THEY are telling me how terrible they are.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 20 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

The major difference is money. We should be banding together against the rich, but instead we distract ourselves with what we look like, what we sound like, where we come from, what team (sports, town, city, state, country, ...) we support, which sex we have, and a bunch of other things that divide us.

[–] Katrisia@lemm.ee 1 points 31 minutes ago

Aliens are here to unite us (/s).

[–] babybus@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 hours ago

Yeah, but also people have very different ideas of what good life is, and what stops them from having it.

[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 34 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

Idk one side wants to enslave, murder, and rape. The other does not.

Let's just be friends as they take away my rights and everyone I love rights away, we shouldn't be enemies as they hunt down and murder someone for "existing"

Maybe we shouldn't be friends with the enemy and fight against the regime?

This is one of the was Nazis came into power, by manipulating the mass thinking "oh we should all be friends" and now look what happened.

-a trans non-binary disabled person

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

There aren't only two sides to every issue. Thinking like that is limiting.

[–] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Regardless of how many sides there are, it is an undeniable fact that plenty of people (in the USA in particular, apparently, a majority of the voters) choose to be in (a) side(s) that want(s) to enslave, murder, and rape.

And many others choose to be in (a) side(s) that enable(s) the previous one(s).

No civilised society should accept any of those sides, or those that choose them.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 3 points 7 hours ago

It seems that way because of the two party system brought upon by how votes are counted and winners chosen (winner takes all). If you watch jubilee, you'll see just how fragmented both parties are (good example of pro and anti trump republicans). Forcing people to choose between one or the other has led to the USA becoming very black and white.

[–] yetiftw@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago

solidarity means solidarity. other working class people are not your enemy (re: 1984). the all or nothing mindset accomplishes nothing besides closing your mind off to the plights and perspectives of others.

-also trans and disabled

[–] Free_Opinions@feddit.uk 5 points 16 hours ago (5 children)

Idk one side wants to enslave, murder, and rape. The other does not.

Seeing people hold this kind of views is fucking depressing.

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[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 18 points 17 hours ago

I only see people as an enemy if they've declared themselves as such. I'm not gonna make the first move, life is too short to make enemies with everyone I meet. That said, if you've got a swastika tattooed on your forehead then I'm gonna take that as a declaration that you're my enemy.

[–] Jonnyprophet@lemmy.world 40 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Amen.

What the people who want to control us don't want us to realize is that you have a lot more in common with the Chinese/Russian/Ukrainian/Mexican/Indian working class... Factory worker/programmer/hard-working house wife... Then you do with your own political leaders and billionaires. People with servants who don't ever worry about bills. (Biden, Trump, Harris, Vance, Elon, Gates, Bezos, etc)... Don't look at the foreigners as different and the enemy... Look at the Rich and the Politicians (who want us to blame the foreigners)

[–] SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 18 hours ago

No war but class war.

[–] z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 9 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

I have been struggling with this lately. I am staunchly anti violence and anti war, and yet, I am conflicted on how far I truly would be willing to go to cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world.

These things are abhorrent to me, and I wonder how much of my humanity I'd be willing to sacrifice in exchange for even one of these to no longer being in existence amongst the ranks of humanity.

How much good does pacifism give to the world in promoting the better angels of our nature? How much harm does it do when those same principles allow the worst among us to march down our roads and drag away our loved ones in the night?

Two scenes from media I consume have lately continually resurfaced in my mind. One is this scene from Vinland Saga, where the main character's father confronts him when he finds his sword. The father is about to go off to war, and somberly asks his son who he wants to kill with his father's sword. This culminates with the father, who again, is about to go off to war, emphatically declaring to his son that he has no enemies, that there is no such thing as enemies.

The other is this scene from Star Wars Andor, in which a high level spy of a burgeoning Rebellion is asked by a compatriot (who wishes to quit fighting the Empire due to possibly being found out), asks what he sacrifices for the fight against the Empire. The monologue he delivers is chilling, acknowledging he sacrifices all things that make him human, he becomes like his enemy in order to defeat them. When he reflects on the question, and asks, "So what do I sacrifice? Everything!"

That...is what I believe I will have to give up in order for there to be a sunrise for the people I love tomorrow. I'll have to give up my humanity, everything. And I am afraid. I am selfish. I don't want to. But I don't know any other way.

The feelings that scene stir up in me resonate because that is how I feel when I think on the fascist cancer that has once again metastasized in America. Having no enemies... if only. Truly. Having enemies robs me of my humanity, because in fighting them I must bury my humanity. And I know that once I do that, there's no going back. There will be no redemption.

The thing I am struggling with is... am I the one who makes them my enemies? Or are they? And if the only thing we can agree on is that we are enemies...then what choice do we have when they come for me and those I claim as my kin?

[–] itsAsin@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

i just wanted to say that what you wrote here is beautiful and it helps me clarify my thoughts. ♥️

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world

One of these is not like the others.

[–] Objection@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago

Which one??

[–] z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 hours ago

Fair enough. To be clear, I am saying I would not like any of these aspects of humankind, not that they are necessarily in any way equivalent. Nor am I trying to necessarily relate them to each other. On their own, I dislike them.

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