• HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been accused of being an “enlightened centrist” when I criticize both Trump and Biden.

    Except I’m criticizing them from way over on the far-left.

    • Cait@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Thats the thing I dont get about americans, you have a far right and center right party and some people there seriosly think thats thats normal??

      • HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        It’s like that astrophysics phenomenon where the spectrum shifts to one side. I guess redshift in this case since their more far right party is the red one.

      • Toribor@corndog.social
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        1 year ago

        The American Right: “We should subjugate and oppress anyone who isn’t a straight white christian.”

        The American Left: “That seems a little aggressive, how about a compromise where we just oppress them a little bit?”

        Actual Leftists: “What in the actual fuck…?”

  • Hillary_Clinton@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    hello fellow liberals, i too would like to partake in leftist activities such as voting for senator bernard sanders (i-vt)

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You ain’t done nothing if you ain’t been called a red

    If you’ve marched or agitated then you’re bound to hear it said

    So you might as well ignore it, or love the word instead

    Cause you ain’t been doing nothing if you ain’t been called a red

    source

    • TwiddleTwaddle@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      In this context “liberal” is being used as a synonym for communist, because that’s how American right wingers use it, but to a a leftist (socialist, communist, anarchist - the target audience for this meme) liberals, or more accurately neo-liberals, are center right capitalists. So while a right winger might throw all of these as insults at someone left of fascist, a leftist would only take offense to being called a liberal.

      • TwiddleTwaddle@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        Liberals are certainly pro-capitalist, but a modern leftist wouldnt refer to a fascist or conservative as a liberal. The term is pretty much used to describe people who claim to be left leaning while still advocating for incremental (rather than radical) change, such as the modern American democratic party. It is used as a derogatory because liberals generally speaking don’t have any intention of dismantling the corporate capitalist oligarchy, or implementing true socialist policies.

        Even if some self-identified liberals do desire these changes - to a leftist their methods are seen as ineffectual by design, therefore further contributing to the longevity of the broken capitalist system.

        • diskmaster23@lemmy.oneOP
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          1 year ago

          Well said. The whole mainstream media is this way. It’s all economically right, and it goes on a spectrum socially. So, when you look at diagrams like this, it gives you a false sense that there are ideas to consider from centrists to communists. Because from this diagram, CNN is a socialist/communist media platform, but that isn’t true at all.

        • lugal@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          I’m a European leftist and I would say that conservatives and liberals have a big overlap. In Germany, the conservative party likes to work with the liberal party best and the social Democrats with the Green party. None of these is really left from my perspective and all of them call themselves Center and are more or less liberal, but the green and obviously the liberals more than the others.

    • Alisu@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      Maybe they meant libertarian. Right wing people against government intervention on people’s lives, just in favor of little to no regulation on anything. Or liberal left, as opposed to radical left (which usually means Marxist), or maybe centrists, which usually are more liberal. In general it means being more in favor of a less powerful government.

  • MrMobius
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    1 year ago

    Now I’m trying to think what would be the equivalent of the “liberal” insult in my country… We hear a lot of you’re the “extreme left”, just as bad as the extreme right. You’re “outside of the republican/democratic frame”. As in you’re too radical too be part of the “polite democratic society”.

    • TwiddleTwaddle@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      The “liberal” insult coming from a right winger would be used in a similar way to what you describe there, but to a leftist “liberal” is also an insult in a very different sense. Leftists basically use liberal as a derogatory for people that aren’t far enough to the left. There’s a lot of nuance to it in the way that the term is used now, but that’s kind of the gist of it.

      • MrMobius
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        1 year ago

        We call those not far enough to the left “social democrats”. And they’re proud of it generally, since the term implies they’re part of the polite/non radical democracy. So they argue those farther to the left are anti-democratic.

  • Ulrich_the_Old@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    So what do you call a guy who delivers a trophy to a convicted child rapist, like Harrison Ford did?