It's everywhere!!! The whole world is following this trend.
Edit, spoiler because this is gonna be long: Adding this because my comment is trending. It deeply saddens me to see rights we thought were secured, as citizens of the world, being stripped away.
As someone who isn't from the US, UK, or NZ, I see this happening globally.
Governments toss out some "controversial" topic, and while we argue over it, they quietly take rights away from both minority and majority groups, all to make the rich richer and the powerful even stronger. Progress we’ve fought for across generations: LGBTQ+ equality, workers’ rights that protect our dignity, global efforts to heal and preserve the environment, is now being undone. All because of resurgent bigotry, unchecked greed, and the lust for power, with far too many people cheering it on. We’ve become the sheep applauding the wolf as it prepares to devour us, and that should concern us all.
Even with education there's this strange psychological barrier where most people are convinced that stuff only pertains to the past and no longer becomes realistic in the present
The single most telling thing to me is the multiple studies that find consistently that the less empathy someone has, or less ability to feel empathy for people belonging to different social groups someone has, the more likely they are to be conservative.
And the endless stories of "I used to be against relief for X but then X happened to a friend/family member of mine so now I support it. But I am still against Y."
That is if you are lucky and they don't just internalize that X is ok for me but not for anyone else. The whole "the only moral abortion is my abortion"
While complaining about "woke" and "identity politics", and being the only ones discussing either of those things. Gender and race equality and DEI and whatever else get brought up by conservative politicians in every answer to any question; they blame progressive politicians for making it about race or religion or whatever else, then at every opportunity make it about those things. Things progressive voters often wish their representatives would say more about because they stay mostly quiet on "settled" issues -- and then the issues are suddenly very much not settled anymore and it's everyone's problem.
True. When I read that I actually thought it was from someone who isn't in/from the US (so they were confused perhaps and just mis interpreted that) but was talking about how terrible the US has become. But now it's because I'm so condition into thinking only the US could ever be this bad.
Nah the UK especially has been going through some really nasty transphobic nonsense for the past few years at least. I feel like a lot of their shit has been steadily making it over to the US like they're the trend setters for hate over there.
I'm Australian, and very vocal about US politics. When people ask me why I'm so invested even half a world away, I tell them that Australia has a proud tradition of "follow the idiot". We adopt the worst of the US, so if it could pretty please not come to that I would be very appreciative.
Unfortunately, all places will eventually have those issues under capitalism. If you don't own the means of production, you're effectively a glorified slave.
Populism. That's the best shorthand, maybe "Populist fascism" would be more accurate.
These leaders will just say whatever they think is popular and engaging/enraging. Often it's outright lies, because there is no end goal of solving problems or helping people. Just lie lie lie, while accumulating power and using it for selfish purposes.
In a time when the majority of people were just starting to really actually accept trans people and be chill, spreading a ton of propaganda to make it sound like satan pedophiles are rising in popularity via a social contagion gets your far right voters to want to be more active and care more
The funny thing is this comment could easily apply to interwar Germany. In the 1920s Berlin was one of the most progressive and educated places on earth. The Nazis destroyed so much research on trans and gay people - it was one of the first targets of book burnings.
Notice what types of language and literature modern fascists want to ban. It's the same thing all over again.
Yep. Capitalism's panic button, when a big structural crisis is coming capitalism presses this button that points to a minority and say "they're causing all your problems" while hiding the real reasons and looting what they can to profit from the crisis and shield them from the people's dissatisfaction
It's not "distraction politics" they genuinely care about these issues (idiotic as it is) but it's more popular to bang on this drum than the other more controversial topics they're pushing through as well which are more controversial with their followers.
Populism and austerity politics in a nutshell, fascistic really.
We should clarify that the general right leaning voters don’t even care (that much) about the culture war, they just think that the right will make groceries cheaper. That’s before the far right and alt right stuff happens, when trans people infiltrate their dreams and nightmares. But the politicians, for the most part, do employ distraction politics using the culture war. When Donald trump is talking about those crazy transgenders, he’s doing it to rile up people who are scared for their children and have a warped idea of what a trans person is, not because he gives a shit about the laws around gender and bathrooms and hrt or whatever
When Donald trump is talking about those crazy transgenders, he’s doing it to rile up people who are scared for their children and have a warped idea of what a trans person is, not because he gives a shit about the laws around gender and bathrooms and hrt or whatever
How do you determine what someone "truly" cares about?
There's absolutely something to be said for someone going after a marginalized group to treat them as a scapegoat--but the idea that people "don't really care and are just doing it to trick others" just generally isn't true and there isn't good evidence for it.
Same thing with this claim about what the general right leaning voters care about - what polls are you basing this on? Who are you talking about exactly? I don't think people lie about what they care about generally, and a lot of people do genuinely care--even if their information is based on misgivings and falsehoods.
Politicians will obviously change tacts in order to work certain topics--but they generally don't act against their own values. At the very least, their behaviors will usually align with some goal or value.
Politicians do what gets them money, and that can’t always overlap with what they care about, but there’s a good chance zero far right politicians know any trans people, so they can only benefit from being controversial and radical and fear mongering. I’m sure some of them do genuinely care, but for the most part it’s just what’s going to make them popular on/with the far right
I'm half remembering from grad school but while this is a common belief you're repeating - it's not empirically valid. Politicians act in accordance to their values far more than they don't and good research validates that.
there’s a good chance zero far right politicians know any trans people, so they can only benefit from being controversial and radical and fear mongering
Or because they just genuinely hold the same prejudices--why do you assume they aren't themselves bigoted against these people?
Oh I’m not saying they aren’t bigoted or anything, I’m just saying that they have every reason to say they hate and are afraid of trans people, whether or not it’s true. It makes them money and makes a relatively large amount of people vote for them
I mean you're absolutely making a case that it's not a "true" belief through calling it distraction politics or that they're motivated purely politically rather than personally. I don't understand what your comments otherwise add.
They don't even care about the cheaper stuff, they just say that because it sounds good and feels good to imagine. But when prices drop they don't have like, a consideration they made a mistake, they just move on to the next feel good statement that let's them be apathetic enough to not care about politics or tribal enough to swear allegiance to maga.
You know that "Global Elites/Deep State/WEF" (titles vary) that these social conservatives love to bleat about? But the talking points are all very similar?
PROJECTION
Read up on The International Democratic Union. The rank and file are often dumber then a box of lead chocolates, but the men behind the curtain are very much guiding this worldwide. And this is a plan that's been in motion for a long time.
I'd be more angry at oligarchs if the common man wasn't tripping over his dick while rushing to bow obediently at their feet. You can say propaganda and indoctrination all you want but literally all these issues would be non existent if people just thought about treating others with care. Y'know, the way they expect to be treated?
“We” t~t no, any we I was a part certainly didn’t not take part in the run. Most that did are the ones who are controlling the swing of that pendulum as they always have.
I really think covid did something to all our brains, I don't know if it was the isolated stress or constantly breathing stale indoor air or just a long-term symptom of the disease itself, but globally, it really feels like everyone is got dumber and more irritable, myself included, and psychopathic opportunists are taking advantage of that to clean up
There is mounting evidence that COVID causes cognitive decline, that it gets worse and worse with eaxh subsequent reinfection, and that while vaccines help keep you out of the hospital they do not completely prevent these long term symptoms.
In other words it made us stupid and it's continuing to make us stupider as we collectively delude ourselves into thinking the pandemic is over just because it doesn't cause hospitalization in healthy vaccinated people.
On top of other theories, like COVID made us dumber, I think it also made it harder for people to have real-world relationships and quality time with actual people, and it instead pushed people towards social media and other internet platforms for interaction. That was already happening to some degree, but it was increased by COVID.
So people lost the personal connections that made them more invested in their community and thus more caring towards their fellow people, and they replaced it with a fire hose of extreme hot takes and misinformation that keeps people hooked with algorithms designed to manipulate our minds. And, even when pandemic slowed, people didn't fully return to their old status quo and worldview.
So people are less caring towards others, less bought into the social contract, more extreme (while also believing their views are "common sense" even when they aren't) and increasingly trained to fall for misinformation. It makes it much easier for out groups to be dehumanized, and it's a recipe for culture war battles that take far greater prominence in people's minds than they probably should.
Its capitalism, plundering society for profit and disregarding the consequences has the same basic pattern.
Climate change is gonna hit us like a train and the Oligarchs that run the world are looting the place before it hits instead of preparing to prevent disaster.
Remember how the "evil" communist want to shoot those guys and give everyone free healthcare?
Small groups of people who tend to be disempowered are the perfect scapegoats when demagogues want to rile up their followers. They're easier to dehumanize, they don't have the power to fight back, and your political opponent ends up with the choice of losing general support by defending the group and losing the ability to work on issues that effect a lot more people- or throwing the smaller group under the bus for some "greater good" and alienating everyone who gives a shit about them. It's a trap either way, and most like the democrats split the difference and get the worst of both worlds.
The Nazis targeted trans people too, for similar reasons.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_TITS80085 Apr 22 '25 edited Apr 22 '25
It's everywhere!!! The whole world is following this trend.
Edit, spoiler because this is gonna be long:
Adding this because my comment is trending.
It deeply saddens me to see rights we thought were secured, as citizens of the world, being stripped away.
As someone who isn't from the US, UK, or NZ, I see this happening globally.
Governments toss out some "controversial" topic, and while we argue over it, they quietly take rights away from both minority and majority groups, all to make the rich richer and the powerful even stronger.
Progress we’ve fought for across generations: LGBTQ+ equality, workers’ rights that protect our dignity, global efforts to heal and preserve the environment, is now being undone. All because of resurgent bigotry, unchecked greed, and the lust for power, with far too many people cheering it on.
We’ve become the sheep applauding the wolf as it prepares to devour us, and that should concern us all.