#mainstreaming fascism

[thoughtlessarse]

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou drew sharp rebukes including from some of his allies on Tuesday after saying there was a growing feeling that immigrants were "flooding" France. While the leftist opposition accused Bayrou of spreading far-right ideas and centrist allies also criticised him, immigration hardliners in the government and outside praised his suggestion. "Foreign contributions are a positive for a people, so long as they remain proportionate," Bayrou told the LCI news channel late Monday. "But as soon as you get the feeling of flooding, of no longer recognising your own country, its lifestyle and its culture, rejection appears." He said such a feeling was not yet widespread, but it was growing and "some cities and regions" were already experiencing it. Immigration hardliners Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin defended Bayrou, with Darmanin saying it was "progress" to recognise that "a certain proportion of foreigners on French soil cannot be exceeded".

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[mysharona1987]

[guavagyal]

it's annoying to talk to Americans about politics bc they reference pop culture/mainstream media too much in replacement for actual political theory. like they always reference Handmaid's Tale, 1984, Idiocracy, Muggles from Harry Potter, superhero movies when some authoritarian shit goes down.

I think it's a cope from learning about how genocidal American history & American foreign policy is. or it could be that leftist theory was hard to obtain in the US bc of capitalist propaganda & it's crazy expensive at times.

[boymanmaletheshequel]

Scary fucking times we live in which Andrew Tate proposes running for PM of Britain (or britan as he spelt it) and people actually consider it. What an actual world. We’ve got trump, Netanyahu, meloni, and more running this planet, sure! Why not the rapist Incel gollum too? Let’s make it a goddamn jail block party! This is the new normal, fascism is the new normal and it will be for the foreseeable future. Everybody stay strong, this next era of world history is going to be devastating, our lives will never be the same, and it WILL get worse. but hopelessness is exactly what they want. Don’t let them get to you.

[s0fter-sin]

the tiktok ban is obviously horrific and an infringement on american rights but it is so fucking funny seeing these politicians freaking out about potential chinese propaganda when tumblr had an actual russian spy ring that all the users knew about and nobody gave a shit

[nando161mando]

capitalist media

[izziessogay]

for the past week I've been going through the arcane tag for finding discussions about the finale, not even people who agree with me, but honestly just people talking about the implications of what happened. so many struggles were highlighted in the show, racism, classism, oppression, genocide, sibling relations, parentification, childhood trauma, abusive/manipulative parenting, grief, propaganda, corruption, drug crises, dangers of untested chemicals/medication/technology and on a more positive note, family, sisterhood, found family, revolution, hope, togetherness, unification, friendship, unconditional help, persistence and so on. all these things fell flat in the finale, and I was convinced I'd find more upset about it, because I thought most fans cared at least about one of those things. instead everybody talks about the characters bonking (I know that's how fandom is, I just didn't expect it to be the only thing we talk about), maybe it's because y'all don't get laid enough, but I these characters are going through hell and back, fucking won't be the only thing that's on their mind.

I'm disappointed by the fandom a bit, because it felt like we were watching a show with a strong message, but y'all were just watching a show with cool visuals and sexy people to match up at the end and that's why none of you minded the ending

[o-the-mts]

Just like Hitler before him, Trump is benefiting from the fact that journalism is an incremental, daily business. Every day, reporters have to find something new to write or broadcast. Trump keeps saying dangerous and crazy things, but that’s not new. He’s said it all before. His impeachments and the January 6 insurrection happened years ago. True, he has been indicted four times and now faces up to four criminal trials, but that’s already been reported. What’s new today? For political reporters covering the campaign, that means usually treating Trump’s authoritarian promises as “B-matter.” That’s an old newspaper phrase that refers to the background information that reporters gather about a story’s subject. B-matter is usually exiled to the bottom of an article — if not cut entirely to save space or time. But the horrifying truth is that when Trump’s dictatorial ambitions are left on the cutting room floor as B-matter, America is in trouble.

The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump

[hole34]

“may the forth be with you”

for country all about remembrance we should really get rid of May 4th being Star Wars day and make it a fucking government holiday to remember the Kent State Massacre of May 4th 1970

fucking remember My Lai, fucking remember Kent State, fucking remember Philadelphia 1985

cowardice nationalism. have some real pride and remember the massacres of your citizens. you either care about the people or you’re a FUCKING FASCIST

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

Back in like 2015 on an older account when people were in greater denial about the prevalence of fascists I made a post speculating about the possibility of setting up a kind of honeypot blog for fascists to draw them in to be blocked and reported, not really as a serious consideration but more a comment about how surprisingly easy they are to find

at least a dozen fascists responded to that post saying that fascists are far too clever to be taken in by that kind of thing, they're far too good at discerning legitimate allies from fakers

I then blocked and reported those dozen guys

The point is, it's amazing how easy it is to get fascists to emerge out of the walls simply by saying the word

[seilon]

i know im not alone on this but i also know this statement is like waving a stick at a hornets nest. my overall memories and nostalgia related to hetalia are generally not bad and i think it may have saved a depression-riddled middle school aged me from being lured towards way darker and more mentally damaging content or online groups

[indizombie]

In other democracies, the media tends to rally around organs and journalists who are under attack. Here we are seeing the opposite: Coverage by the mainstream media and influential television media, is marked by an attack on the victim of the raid. In the absence of solidarity, even on such a fundamental principle, the space to speak up reduces further and the urge to keep quiet intensifies.

‘Freedom and the Big Freeze’, Aakar Patel

[ultraericthered]

They were in the bag for Trump in 2016, in the bag for Biden in 2020, and now back in the bag for Trump in 2024. The NYT and their ilk have no firm principles aside from seeking what stories would sell best and which people and events can rake in more profits for them.

Two things — check that, three things — appear to have gone off the rails at the paper we used to call the Gray Lady. First, whoever is in charge of the paper’s polls is not doing their job. Second, whoever is choosing what to emphasize in Times coverage of the campaign for the presidency is showing bias. Third, the Times is obsessed with Joe Biden’s age at the same time they’re leaving evidence of Donald Trump’s mental and verbal stumbles completely out of the news. Let’s start right there. At a rally on Saturday night in Virginia, Trump confused Barack Obama, who left office seven years ago, with President Biden for the third time over the last six months. “Putin has so little respect for Obama that he’s starting to throw around the nuclear word,” Trump said, as his crowd of rabid supporters suddenly fell silent. “You heard that. Nuclear. He’s starting to talk nuclear weapons today.” You won’t find that verbal stumble and the crowd’s stunned reaction in the Times coverage of the campaign over the weekend. You’ll have to read other publications — for example, Salon or maybe the Guardian — if you want to learn how often Trump is losing his way mid-sentence at rallies and just mumbling incoherently.

The article also explores a recent Times poll favoring Trump that is so insanely, obviously inaccurate that it reads like parody.

The NYT is definitely in the bag for Trump, same as 2016.

[nando161mando]

Didn’t you hear guys? It’s our fault the economy isn’t doing well.

[2mo3cm-man]

[gynoidgearhead]

[Image caption for addition: tags by an unknown user reading: "#I'll never shut up about how the last season ate a 20 episode cut because it was either that or cut the wedding #And the crewniverse stuck to their guns #Of course it was rushed. they were literally punished for being queer #This is why we keep saying 'you couldn't even handle steven universe' because not only was it actually good #but it did REAL WORLD good and FOUGHT for real world human rights #but because the fiction wasn't hayes code enough y'all lit the crewniverse on fire for it. #Abysmal priorities. Pathetic. #problemnyatic thoughts #steven universe". End caption.]

the steven universe hate is insane bc people are (or at least were) more upset that fictional war criminals got fictional hugs than they recognize that it singlehandedly advanced queer rep in children's media by lightyears and then straight up ate heavy retaliation for the nerve.

It does have real flaws that are worth discussing, but it also put their male protagonist in dresses and skirts and played it straight and even empowering, they aired a lesbian wedding on television, it was a genuinely queer, genuinely diverse piece of media through and through. It did a lot of real good for the real world.

But also the fictional characters caused fictional harm to other fictional characters, and didn't get an onscreen firing squad sentence. So, you know, it's basically ontologically evil in real life.