• jrs100000@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The thing AOC, Bernie and Trump do have in common is that they are all populists. That they would also have accepted AOC or Bernie means that they dont necessarily want a demagogue, but its also not a deal breaker for them.

    We need to stop with the brainwashing talk. A few people on the fringe were clearly mentally ill, but the rest of them had agency and they made a choice.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Trump ain’t no fucking populist, he tried to dismantle democracy, ignore every human right, and said out loud he plans to do it all again.

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Trump is a pseudopopulists, he fools people into thinking he is fighting for them while fighting for himself.

      • jrs100000@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Everyone thinks their populist is the real deal and the others are frauds, but at the day populism is not about good policy, it’s about making a show of putting up a fight. There have been many populists in political history and only a very small percentage have been materially helpful to their constituents.

    • LovingHippieCat@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I get what you’re saying. And agree somewhat. But I think you don’t have to be mentally ill or an idiot or whatever to be brainwashed. But being brainwashed is 100% what a lot of people on the right are and refusing to use that term might make sense in some regard, but it also doesn’t properly address how we could go about fixing things. While I don’t fully know how to fix this, treating it like brainwashing is the only way we can address it, as long as we also approach these people with patience and compassion and try to show them why what they spout is brainwashed.

      It’s a cult ya know? And cults are brainwashed. And calling people mentally ill or idiots for falling for it will definitely just make them double down. But it’s still brainwashing.

      • jrs100000@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        If half the population is actually susceptible to brainwashing over Facebook then democracy itself is unworkable. These people clearly have preferences and are making choices, including the choice to know very little about what they vote for. Im afraid that patience and compassion will only encourage this behavior.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          If half the population is actually susceptible to brainwashing over Facebook then democracy itself is unworkable.

          It’s a bit like how the divine right of kings couldn’t survive the invention of the printing press

      • XNX@slrpnk.net
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        2 days ago

        We’re all brainwashed in the US though. We’re all in the USA cult here while our taxes bomb and starve millions of people. We still vote for blue even when they continue the embargo on Cuba and we bomb the poorest countries in the world.

    • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
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      18 hours ago

      American voters have zero agency. We only exist to pay taxes and legitimize the state, which is not obligated to provide us with actual options to vote for.