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this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2025
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Lefty Memes
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An international (English speaking) socialist Lemmy community free of the "ML" influence of instances like lemmy.ml and lemmygrad. This is a place for undogmatic shitposting and memes from a progressive, anti-capitalist and truly anti-imperialist perspective, regardless of specific ideology.
Agitprop (I.E. everything that would be more fitting on a poster than a meme) goes here.
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That refers to funny image macros and means that generally videos and screenshots are not allowed. Exceptions include explicitly humorous and short videos, as well as (social media) screenshots depicting a funny situation, joke, or joke picture relating to socialist movements, theory, societal issues, or political opponents. Examples would be the classic case of humorous Tumblr or Twitter posts/threads. (and no, agitprop text does not count as a meme. Please post agitprop here)
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0.5.1 Style tip about abbreviations and short forms
When writing stuff like "lol" and "iirc", it's a good idea to try and replace those with their all caps counterpart
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- etc.
Why? Because otherwise (AFAIK), screen readers will try to read them out as actually words instead of spelling them
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You can do all those things and also vote. So vote. Sure, votes won't make the system better, but you can make it harder for the fascists to get away with shit while you organize. Vote.
Voting is for them to let us have one of the two kinds of mercy they're willing to take. I'll vote if I'm feeling kind that day
Voting is fine as long as you are aware that it does nothing to materially prevent fascism. It can't hurt anything to write something on a piece of paper. But the problem isnt really people like you. Its liberals who believe that voting is the be all end all of their political responsibility.
Electoral democracy is ultimately a misdirection. Capitalists are the actual sources of political power in western democracies. They unfortunately have a vested interest in the state getting more fascist and actually have the power to effect that change. So long as everyone looks down at the ballot box and then goes home to do nothing of material difference for the next 4 years, fascists will only continue to gain ground until they can do away with the misdirection of electoralism entirely.
Voting cannot be the only thing you do. Or you are effectively doing nothing. Which you seem to understand, but liberals do not. They actually want all other forms of political action banned. Because liberals ultimately protect capitalists, who are the real sources of political power. Leftist political action is a threat to capitalists. Thusly, liberals condemn it and recommend voting instead.
What I'm saying is that not voting is foolish, not that voting is the only thing that should be done. In fact I'm saying that other things should be done. We clearly agree, I just think it is harmful to spread anti voting rhetoric because while it can't fix things it is still a meaningful thing that can be done with immediate consequences for many.
We do agree. I only said anything in the first place because I didn't really see this post as advocating an anti-voting position. I would see anti-voting agitation as more along the lines of "Do not vote. Voting itself is harmful." As opposed to "voting doesn't work" or "voting is ineffective" which I see as more along the lines of criticism of electoral democracy and agitation for collective action.
He did in an earlier post posted shortly before this one, and the title seems to reinforce this. The image itself doesn't.
title:" you can't make the system better by voting"
image: "you can't vote fascism away"
seems pretty consistent, voting is not going to make the US less fascist
One post implied voting blue was voting for fascism, implying you shouldn't for the dems in the US. My point is that this is shortsighted and harmful. People should vote for the dems unless a third party is a viable alternative, they should also build up third parties to make them viable options, and they should also join political orgs and unionize, and do direct action.
Ofc more than voting is needed, but the republicans are causing more harm than the dems would have by miles and contributing to more voter apathy is not the answer.
The Democrats and Republicans do differ on the timescales for the social murder they promote, as well as the out-groups they view as acceptable to target.
I can agree that Republicans are causing more harm in the moment. However rather than blaming commenters online for rising voter apathy I blame that on the Democrats for their warmongering, suppression of internal opposition, genocidal 'foreign policy', and their utter subservience to capital when it comes to improving things domestically.
Please. Yes ofc the dems are to blame. They suck. And ofc they will lead to fascism down the line. Let's just not make things worse than they have to in the moment.
There is no such thing as preventing fascism. It's a fight every generation has to win, no matter what government they live under. It's always about delay so we can fight it again tomorrow.
But delay can’t be all that it is, there also has to be something to fight for and some conceivable path to success. Especially, if your delay tactic demands also demands disowning any other tactics used by others.
So are we at the part where things need to be on-fire?
I do adore the flames, they speak to me.
That was in like 2004. Not sure what red line you think you’re waiting for.
Splendid! Let the flames cleanse all!
"We can't just vote "
??
It says what you said already.
Have you seen crypts other posts and comments? He is not in favor of voting. Also see the title
This. That was a message directly to OP. One he will fail to hear.
Phrased like that it sounds super sinister 👀
or maybe just dramatic?
Sorry, I haven't but believe you. ✌️
That may be true but this art has been posted before when 50501 was taking off. The original artist probably had more emphasis on the just, as in you have to do more than simply voting. This is probably what the other commentor was trying to convey.