Submitted 3 weeks ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to workreform@lemmy.world
https://lemmy.today/pictrs/image/353a387b-49c5-40f0-8d08-dac6a22b2271.jpeg
The most successful political propaganda in our time was convincing millions of people that caring for others and the planet was somehow a threat to America.
the lies began with “all men are created equal,” quickly followed by “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”
the common good has always been a threat to the ruling class
Originally, it was John Locke’s “life, liberty, and property”, which I think still sticks.
And despite this “all men” stuff, we had slaves, only further codifying it under the 13th Amendmen as legal.
We are the property.
To be fair requiring people who have been convicted of a crime by a jury of their peers through a fair and just legal system to do labor isn’t itself a form of slavery. Also worth noting that in some cases prisoners work these jobs to generate income for themselves (usually so they can buy snacks and things from the prison commissary.)
For-profit jails are the exception since such an arrangement encourages false imprisonment but this is more a matter of making sure our legal system operates justly and fairly. Have some places used bogus charges to imprison people to use as labor? Sure, but again we need to make sure that we don’t conflate that with all prisoners doing labor when it’s only some of them. The citizens ensuring that their justice system is working properly and free of corruption is the solution to this.
And we have historical examples of it working to remove corruption. There was a for-profit juvenile detention center that got caught trumping up charges in order to lock up kids which generated more fee’s and money for the jail and they found out the judge who had sentenced the kids was corrupt and working for the company than ran the jail. The individuals who engaged in this were caught, tried and imprisoned and fined millions of dollars for their crimes.
Of course the kids shouldn’t have been scammed like that to begin with. However, I’d remind you that our justice system punishes people who have committed crimes when we can prove it to a jury of our peers. A justice system isn’t designed to prevent crimes, we can try to deter them but thats merely our hope, the actual purpose is to remedy an injustice. While we’d like to not have had kids overly punished for minor crimes (most of the kids had done stuff like getting caught smoking weed and other misdemeanors) whats more important here is that the people who abused our justice system for personal gain were eventually punished for their abuse.
But at the heart of it the majority of prison labor isn’t really slavery. Heck, lots of prisoners enjoy such jobs, not only because it gives them a few bucks but it also gets them out of the monotony of being in prison all day. When done properly it can actually help to rehabilitate some of these prisoners.
They’re stuck in the Zero Sum Game mindset and their Circle of Empathy is smaller - that’s all it is.
They think that if someone on the other side of the planet (who they don’t care about) benefits, they (and their loved ones) stand to lose.
Once you wrap your head around that, 90% of their behavior makes sense.
Well it is true, just America doesn’t mean the citizen of the USA but the American capital. Opposing the bombing of countries is a threat to profits. The successful propaganda is that the USA act in the interests of its citizens
All they had to do was convince idiots that the US and billionaires’ profits were inextricably enmeshed.
And it was 100 percent successful. Americans love the taste of billionaire peen.
Convincing? 😂 , to Mutch Unbelievable Stupid Assholes
I think the biggest propaganda buy in was that neo-liberal politics and policies along with the “free market” were the best for a sustainable world.
Yeah… it fucking sucks. I didn’t even realize how much propaganda I had internalized, since like, birth? Didn’t know “neo-liberal” was even a thing. Looking back, it’s just kinda like, “damn. Most of my beliefs aren’t even of me?”. The cognitive dissonance was loud
But, on the up & up, I now get to build beliefs that are of me, rather than for me… so that’s cool
Yeah, deprogramming takes a while too with the intense level of propaganda. Realizing that the “left” they say in the media and such refers to neo-liberalism and not actual leftist policies or politics. It’s all purposely obsfucated to keep us in that vacuum.
you can’t convince me that this is new. settlers pretty much started the genocide of the people who ‘care for others and the planet’ day one. there has been exploiting and extracting since before america was even an idea. that, in fact, was the entire point from the get-go.
It’s a threat to the version of America that benefits the rich and empowers them to keep on fucking us.
Cutting funding for USIAD will probably kill millions of people.
Already has killed loads, as far as I understand it.
Ummm, have people already forgotten his role in COVID and the literal millions upon millions that died because of it?
He literally relit the Epstein files issue to distract from the millions of people who died because he knew that his voters cared less about him raping children than they did about his decimation of the economy and workforce.
It’s the tradition of punching down on others when they get their turn and the owners went so far they used slavery, but had to walk that back, but still try to pay workers as little as possible and hoard the rest for themselves to live richly and separate from the common masses. They want less for other workers rather than more, it’s sad. Want better for all people, not just self, that’s selfish.
Caring for? Hell. We think they’re a threat if they won’t give us all their natural resources.
Free energy handouts from the sun? Sounds like socialism.
The Winklevoss Twins sounds like a beloved children’s book series. They’re actually big in cryptocurrency.
to be fair it is a threat to america, it would be a completely different country if that happened, and that’s not a bad thing
im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 3 weeks ago
No way. It’s the obsession with Americans weird take on “freedom” and it seems to have been around since forever.
Its freedom as in everyone is free to not have health insurance if the choose not to. Everyone is free to die by gun homicide if they wish to.
Of course, no one is free to choose what to do with their own body, like not have a baby or take hormones - that would just be weird.
And yes, any changes to the status quo would be a threat to the people profiting from it.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I guess you misinterpreted “land of the free”. It’s free companies, not free slaves. You guys are worker-bees with no real freedom other than buying a truck and a gun because…reasons.
No mockery of YOU. Just sarcasm towards a broken system.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I think bees actually have pretty much a socialist society. They take of each other. I think they have it better than Americans.
chewables@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
you see America is so free that it’s free from freedom! checkmate, socialists (also we’re going to keep bombing boats sending humanitarian aid to Cuba because the world can’t see that socialism works <:)
im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 3 weeks ago
Oh heavens no, I’m not American silly.
LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Yeah….i would argue it’s just money and capitalism. ‘Freedom’, small government, deregulation ‘small’ business, tax changes, it’s all just for profits for rich fuckos. Environment? Well that cuts oil and gas profits! Environmental regulations? Not using that awful chemical hurts manufacturing profits! Taxes? We will cut them all! (Yours expire but the business ones are in perpetuity).
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I would add too the concept of “American Exceptionalism”.