• MisterD@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Grandpa won’t need to go to Germany for round 3 with the NAZIs. They are right around the corner wearing MAGA hats.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Yep, was thinking he checks the box next to the ® on the ballot. Older,boomer generation, into guns pushes the odds strongly in that direction.

        E: typo

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          9 months ago

          Hey look, ageism! Remember the participants in the flower power/hippy movements would be in their 80s right about now, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say most of them probably didn’t completely flip 180⁰ on their beliefs and become gun toting MAGA voters.

          In other words, not old people fit your description

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        My father died a few months before the 2016 election, but he was a grandpa in his 80s and he practically died a socialist. He would have been one of the loudest anti-Trump voices you had ever heard had he been aware enough through his dementia to be politically active. I was able to tell him that a social democrat was running for president before the dementia got too far gone and I think he was able to take it in. I’m glad he didn’t get to find out that Bernie lost.

  • Vrtrx@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Well, Fascism is on the rise in Germany (and pretty much everywhere else)… Makes me incredibly sad and frustrated to see what’s currently happening

    • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It’s as if people have learned absolutely nothing from the past; not even the Germans. It’s enough to make you cry.

      • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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        9 months ago

        There is a set of grievances and motivations the bigots have that are not being addressed.

        And no one has come up with an effective counter strategy to the fascist manipulation playbook yet.

        • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Yes, that’s the thing. I find it terribly frustrating that the same old playbook still works with all its pamphlet-like explanations, its false accusations and its pretended messiah logic: “It’s the foreigners’ fault that you can’t find job; a strong leader will stand up for you and save us all if you just follow him unconditionally” and so on and so forth. It simply boggles my mind how people can still believe that - in Germany, with its terrible Nazi past, just as much as in America, where an obviously criminal billionaire pretends to care about those left behind and dissatisfied. It’s almost as if people want to be exploited and instrumentalized against their own interests. I don’t get it.

          • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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            9 months ago

            🤔🤔🤔

            Having hung around them before, I think it’s because what tyrants actually promise them is the right to be openly hateful without consequence. See, they believe drivel about how people different from them are the cause of their problems long before fascism shows up; they were always bigots and likely always will be. The fascists simply mirror their thoughts, speech and behaviors openly, making the followers feel safe to express shit they already believed.

            It’s not the fascist leaders that are responsible, it’s the people for thinking the way that they do.

            • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              That’s probably the way it is. Unfortunately, this explanation doesn’t give you much hope in humanity when so many people seem to think this way.

              • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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                9 months ago

                Allow me to pontificate upon the subject…

                If someone is bigoted like that, the only way to solve the problem is to remove either them or the victim from the society. That would require either destroying or exiling one group or for one group to willingly put enough distance between themselves and their enemies such that conflict is impossible and the separation is maintained by default, but it’s the only way for a progressive society to enforce its values.

                Of course, there are ideologues and charlatans who don’t want that to happen so they exploit the weaker and more insecure party – the progressives – by telling them it’s immoral to do anything to resolve the problem, usually under the grounds that it would require force to do it, which is not actually true, and therefore convince progressives to suffer under the thumb of a group who are basically their abusers.

                It’s like an abusive relationship. The only way the abuse stops is if the abuser is killed or the victim runs away for good. Arrest and conviction of an abuser never actually stops abuse; it only exacerbates it as the abuser is much better at manipulating other people than their victims and thus turns third parties against the victims, completely subjugating them. So the victim is left with two options: either kill the abuser and face the wrath of the community, or run away and spend their lives looking over their shoulder knowing their abuser and the third parties will hurt them again at any time, stripped of participation in the community they had a right to.

                And like the abuse victim, the progressives are faced with this choice: either warfare with the conservatives, or be forced to flee and start over… somewhere. Europe and South America maybe. And if the progressives run away and cede that territory, the conservatives will have unfettered control over nuclear weapons, meaning there’s nowhere to hide.

                I don’t think the progressives are capable of winning a civil war once the fascists take power at the end of the year, though. That’s what bothers me. This is going to spiral downward into a bilateral genocide; it’s the logical conclusion of the chain of events that have transpired since the end of the last civil war. People are too afraid to even advocate for war because of decades of ideologues and corporations exploiting nonviolence to propagandize everyone else into submission.

                So tl;dr there doesn’t seem to be any positive outcome possible. I really, REALLY don’t like the way things are turning. Progressives need to nut up and reject the brainwashing they were subjected to all their lives, and start training and preparing for a fight, as in today, but shills and trolls might make it impossible for them to do so. Running away might not work because nukes are things. Then again, warfare might not either because nukes are things. And submission will only lead to slavery and death.

                🤔🤔🤔

                What was that Chinese curse put on people, back in the day? “May you live in interesting times…”

            • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Exactly

              I don’t think any of them really even think Trump will even actually help them, let alone any idea that he cares about them.

              The only thing that matters to them is that Trump has normalized open expressions of hate, racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and misogyny…and wrapped it up in a shrink wrap of jingoism, making it as simple as possible for anyone and everyone to get on board with it.

              That’s bad enough, but he also bundles fascism as well as the graft that follows trump like a shadow with the package.

              Basically he’s weaponized the fear of the unknown to built himself a cult. I would venture to guess that less than half of his supporters would have any clear, concrete, positive (that is, as opposed to the negative “he’d undo this” or “he won’t do that”) response when asked what, specifically, they think Trump will do that will help the country as a whole or them specifically.

              And that’s because the thing they want from him they’ve already gotten, and they just want him to keep it up: telling them the most comforting message of all: it’s okay.

              "It’s okay you don’t have a nice house or a good job or can’t afford healthcare or can’t put enough good food on the table. It’s okay your family is all fucked up. It’s okay that costs are going up, the rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer.

              And it’s okay because it’s not your fault. You’re not responsible for this. It’s bigger than you can control or even affect. So you don’t even have to try. I’m not going to make it better (and in fact I’ll do my best to make it much worse), but that’s okay too because I’m not going to ask you to shoulder any of the blame for any of this!

              No, not your fault and I’m not asking you to do anything. Whose fault is it? Why it’s the Democrats and the Mexicans and the Muslims and the women and the liberals and the immigrants and the colleges and the “urban populations” (hint: you can identify them by their skin tone!) and the “woke radical left” and China and Europe and pretty much anyone else that doesn’t look, act, and sound exactly like you. That’s whose fault it is.

              And since it’s not your fault and you can’t do anything about it, I give you permission to hate them for it. And I’ll do and say all the horrible, vile, shit that I want you to think and say. And because I did it first, that means it’s okay to just go ahead and say what you’ve been thinking for years. If we all say it together, it’ll become normal."

              Basically he tells them they’re victims, and that he feels sorry for them, and that they should feel sorry for themselves too, and that because they’re the victims here, they’re allowed to do and say whatever they want and it’s okay.

  • AVincentInSpace@pawb.social
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    9 months ago

    ITT: weirdly a lot of people assuming that Grandpa votes Republican based on nothing besides his age and love of guns

    • Classy@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Dude looks and acts exactly like my great grandfather who served in the navy kn WWII. He was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and hated Republicans until he died in 2017.

      • Knightfox@lemmy.one
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        9 months ago

        … So was my great grandfather, but he was an old school Southern Democrat, he even voted straight ticket. I’d be willing to bet he wouldn’t be fond of modern Democrats.

        People forget that the Democrats of the early 1900s aren’t the same as today. Remember that Republicans are the party of Lincoln, but I wouldn’t be surprised if modern Republicans wanted to bring back slavery.

    • chingadera@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If you were in a casino, and you had to place a bet on it, we know where your bet would be as well.

  • MuhammadJesusGaySex@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    When I was a little kid I asked my grandfather one time what it was like to “fight evil”. His response was something along the lines of “I didn’t fight evil. They were just a bunch of scared kids doing what they were told. Just like me.”

    My grandfather fought in Europe, but Japan was still what kicked off WWII. So, I was super nervous about bringing home the woman that would become my first wife for the first time. Her family was from Okinawa.

    When we got there he sat down at the kitchen table and talked to her for a long time. I was in and out doing stuff for the dinner, but they looked happy enough. Later that day he caught me outside and gave me a hug. He told me that she was a good woman and I’d be crazy if I didn’t marry her.

    I really miss my grandfather. He was mostly a good dude.

    Here’s a picture of him during the battle of the bulge. It’s from a book I have, but this picture was originally published in “Yank” magazine. The original clipping sat over his chair in the living room my entire life.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    Respect, going to the range can be a family experience.

    Not so sure about Germany round 3 though.

    • doingthestuff@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      They’re still pretty authoritarian like always. Only now it’s You must be inclusive! At any cost!

      • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Those cultural Marxist woke moralists won’t even let me smoke crack, hang dong, and squeeze off a few RPGs at the range anymore. What’s the world coming to, man? It’s just clean, harmless fun - it’s not like that kind of thing ever did anyone any harm.

        Thanks Obama.

      • THCDenton@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I doubt they’re nearly as nationalist or expansionist as they were back then. But I know fuckall about Germany.

        • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          A far-right fascist government engaging in a series of genocides and an aggressively expansionist war?

          Might be time for a trip to the optometrist.

  • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    Funny thing, he’ll never expect to be part ofround three, coming from his maga buddies that are shooting right beside him.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      The post is overtly political, saying grandpa here is preparing for Nazis 2, the sequel. Secondly, choosing Lemmy over Reddit is a political choice itself. It’s much more mainstream to just use Reddit, so to go against it is political.

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          It’s licensed under GPL and doesn’t have ads for political reasons, that’s more my point. People who care enough to use Lemmy over Reddit are going to be more opinionated and passionate.

  • EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    half of germany was with the allied forces in WW2, Russia was with the allied forces as well…a lot of people have forgotten that.

    The nazi side of WW2 is now known as the “axis” forces…I don’t know what they called themselves during the war. Italy, Ukraine, the nazi half of germany and a few others.

  • Kühe sind toll@feddit.de
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    9 months ago

    Since most of you guys missed it, that’s something that might be reality in a few years. A fact checking magazine found out that members of the AfD(literal Nazi Party with currently 20-30% of votes depending on the region) and rich people had a meeting where they discussed the misplacing of immigrants and political enemies to Africa. Currently our only hope is to get our lawmakers to finally start the banning process of this party. It is possible, but this pussies are afraid, since it will start an absolute shit show from their supporters.