“What do you mean, I can’t fix this by posting on social media? Stop oppressing me 😢😢😢”
Look at countries that have successfully enacted change when they are angry with their government: Serbia currently, France whenever pensions are threatened, the Maidan Revolution, the Arab Spring (for what that was worth). What do they all have in common? Hint: it isn’t posting from the comfort of your couch.
Well, I see how you reached that conclusion. Unfortunately the US is socioeconomically completely different than any of those places, and our own oligarchs have engineered the system to keep us in our place.
Protesting and organizing is a start instead of the defeatist “it won’t do anything” or “but it annoys people.” Proceeds to do nothing but annoy people online.
Here are some ideas:
- Do a risk assessment for your specific situation and relationships and work to reduce your risk
- Form stronger bonds with people in your community
- Read history and the mechanisms of similar situations
- Work to reduce fascists radicalization where you can (hint: probably not online)
- Stop enabling whiny “there’s nothing we can do” bullshit
See the responses to your post on !yurop@lemm.ee, I can’t be bothered copying them here
Imagine telling Jews in the Holocaust their opinions and thoughts don’t matter because Hitler was elected.
That’s not what’s happening. People weighing in on the political situation, airing their concerns, or trying to highlight issues that aren’t being reported on aren’t the ones being called out here. It’s the “but I’m one of the good ones” comments that have been peppered into every discussion on non-US-centric communities.
Whether you’re one of the good ones or not is immaterial. It’s contributing nothing. It’s just people trying to make the discussion about them.
That’s our way of begging you to take us in if things get bad. Are you willing to or is your progressiveness and ability to take refugees conditional on where they come from?
Our electoral system has been rigged for decades. The only way forward is coordinated mass strikes and if that doesn’t work, violence.
My dude, if things get worse Canadians are not going to be in a position to offer anything. All this trade war shit will annihilate our economy, for a start. And if we get invaded, how can we help? This is like Russians asking Ukrainians for aid.
I mean, realistically, people will figure things out on a local level if and when it happens, but it doesn’t sound like you have thought through the implications of where things could be going.
It’s kinda a weird take? Like if I’m in a discussion about some scary things AfD are doing and a left-of-center German joins the conversation, I’d like to think I’d have the ability to…you know…hear what they have to say about things.
There are a bunch of Americans who asked for this; there are a bunch who stood by and did nothing to stop it; and there are a bunch who tried to stop it, did not, and are devastated.
I guess at the end of the day it’s just a meme.
As an American who lives in the EU I’d say I experience what you hypothetically describe a LOT more than what the comic does.
Like even to the point of it sometimes being a little annoying. People I barley know asking me my opinions on trump, why people can like him, what’s up with the whole egg price thing, etc
Most Europeans I know just want to understand wtf is going on and what things are actually like
Here’s my (admittedly hotheaded) Canadian perspective.
Germans, as a baseline, don’t dominate online culture. Everywhere I look on the internet, I’m reading about Americans. It never stops. I have to constantly filter through American politics, drama, and celebrity news. It feels like we are finally moving away from American-centricity and having discussions about how living at the whims of this superpower is negatively affecting us.
Americans butt in on this and give their takes on it and man… I just don’t care. Their country collectively chose this. My career and ability to provide for my family is seriously at risk because 90 MILLION of them couldn’t be bothered to vote.
For this one, single discussion, just this one time, please, butt out.
After years of being lumped in the same group with every momentarily [in]famous idiot from each of our countries, years of disregard of our regional differences and being plastered with stereotypes from obscure towns a whole country away, it’s time we get to stop caring. The United States of America is threatening us. Not one guy, not one party, not certain states. Why should we give a shit that you live in one state or another? As the saying goes, if you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem. I don’t see many solutions, just a whole lot of distancing yourself from those who represent you by whatever arbitrary distinction you can come up with. America is the problem. We don’t want to hear from you until you’ve solved it.
I guess how many of the do nothing’s are now the ones saying I didn’t vote for this. Umm yes you did.
I’m with Zellensky, the “interesting” thing will turn out to be, whether or not Mr. “no foreign wars” is going to put US boots on the ground in Ukraine to back it’s complete surrender to Russia, and if Europe will start marching troops into Ukraine wearing “were not NATO” tshirts. And while the cartoon is funny, what’s not funny is Canada spends 1.38% of it’s GDP on defense, Europe on average spends ~ 2%, they’ve both enjoyed the post war defensive umbrella that the united states has provided and for the last 70 years, even after war reconstruction, they’ve decided to spend their GDP on yearly 5 week holidays for their workers, and “free” healthcare for their citizens. though a few european states are nuclear armed, in a ground fight, Europe and Canada could not pose a deterrent through production of arms, or standing armies of soldiers, in 10 years if they started yesterday.
Hegseth, Musk and Vance have effectively declared NATO is dead as far as US is concerned. The only interest they have with europe is pilfering and looting your resources.
How ironic that the only country to actually invoke Article 5 and receive NATO assistance under it is the one that’s now ditching NATO.
NATO by and large has been a tool of America to make Europe subservient to it, rather than an equal ally.
People forget that the cold war was all about two countries trying to carve the world up into their own ideologies. America’s was the better option for a while, But Now they’re no option.
Putin is an old man who fantasises about eras bygone, hes a conniving and sneaky person with ultimately very simple and untintelligent goals.
Yeah, as an American I want free healthcare, five weeks vacation and only a few % spending on defense and a lack of nukes outside of power plants.
You wanna know how we do that? By taxing the fucking rich or beheading them if they won’t comply. You don’t get to hundreds of millions of dollars or billions without exploiting and stealing from everyone else. Time to pay up or shut up for good.
