this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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Political Memes

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 hours ago (4 children)

I just want people to have food, shelter and healthcare at an affordable price.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 minutes ago

Ugh George Soros poisoned Progressivism!

By "affordable" I'm assuming you mean free. Always wanting a handout, of course.

I just want untaxed inheritance, corporate welfare on top of more tax breaks for me and all my friends, unregulated surveillance and data collection of the plebs so I can continue to make even more money (untaxed obvs), exclusive and elite private universities, and a justice system where I can live free of consequence and purchase a judge at a reasonable price because I believe in being fiscally conservative.

Food, shelter, and healthcare are things I've just never had to think about really. Although, I would also prefer that if too many people are worrying about those things in my immediate vicinity, they be shuffled around or forcibly moved to a different vicinity.

That way I don't have to start thinking too much. It's really unfair when that happens, because it starts to make me feel all kinds of uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is not something I'm used to feeling, and since I don't like to think about things, I never stop and think about why somebody else being uncomfortable would also make me feel so uncomfortable.

Logically, the solution is to just put those people somewhere not visible to me, and then complain about what society is "turning into these days" when they slip through the privilege perimeter.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 hours ago

Some call this “Leftist extremism”. =/

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

Every single one

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago

Seems reasonable.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Somewhat yeah, but I think there are a few others, just mostly not people who are that vocal about it

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 hours ago (8 children)

Anti-Conservative

There is no such thing as liberalism — or progressivism, etc.

There is only conservatism. No other political philosophy actually exists; by the political analogue of Gresham’s Law, conservatism has driven every other idea out of circulation.

There might be, and should be, anti-conservatism; but it does not yet exist. What would it be? In order to answer that question, it is necessary and sufficient to characterize conservatism. Fortunately, this can be done very concisely.

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:

There must be in-groups whom the law protectes but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

There is nothing more or else to it, and there never has been, in any place or time.

For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.

As the core proposition of conservatism is indefensible if stated baldly, it has always been surrounded by an elaborate backwash of pseudophilosophy, amounting over time to millions of pages. All such is axiomatically dishonest and undeserving of serious scrutiny. Today, the accelerating de-education of humanity has reached a point where the market for pseudophilosophy is vanishing; it is, as The Kids Say These Days, tl;dr . All that is left is the core proposition itself — backed up, no longer by misdirection and sophistry, but by violence.

So this tells us what anti-conservatism must be: the proposition that the law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone, and cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.

Then the appearance arises that the task is to map “liberalism”, or “progressivism”, or “socialism”, or whatever-the-fuck-kind-of-stupid-noise-ism, onto the core proposition of anti-conservatism.

No, it a’n’t. The task is to throw all those things on the exact same burn pile as the collected works of all the apologists for conservatism, and start fresh. The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get:

The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.

Also, those who insist on political purity tests reveal themselves to be temporarily-inconvenienced-dictators-in-waiting.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

While I am totally in the "bind all and protect all" camp and really against the "in group protect, out group rules" and I think conservatism is often in practice "protect me and rule others", I am not sure if I agree with it being called conservatism.

I think fundamentally the hierarchy in right wing politics imply an in/out group. But just like conservatism is a form of right wing political views, so you could argue that the hierarchical political views are a Form of "in group protect, out group bind".

Whatever you want to call it, is part of conservatism, I believe. But I don't like to call it conservatism, so it feels like we are defining two related but different things with the same name, which will be confusing and could be used by e.g. "progressive" capitalists to claim that they aren't conservative and therefore not "in group protect, out group bind".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

I am not sure if I agree with it being called conservatism.

Yes, Wilhoit, if I'm understanding his treatise correctly, addressed this point:

For millenia, conservatism had no name, because no other model of polity had ever been proposed. “The king can do no wrong.” In practice, this immunity was always extended to the king’s friends, however fungible a group they might have been. Today, we still have the king’s friends even where there is no king (dictator, etc.). Another way to look at this is that the king is a faction, rather than an individual.

The corollary label could be "Anti-Establishment". Perhaps, "Anti-Authoritarian".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know what the best term is, but I fairly certain conservatism is probably one of the worst. I think tribalism and anti-tribalism would be a better starting point while that was a meaning already too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I think tribalism and anti-tribalism would be a better starting point while that was a meaning already too.

On this, I agree.

However, I propose that the "Anti-Conservative" label, with all of its flaws, has more utility in presenting its economic and political implications within the admittedly linguistically absurd political discourse in my country (U.S.A.).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I think, there, we have a disagreement. To me, it would sound like you reject the republicans specifically in a us political discussion, a position that I wouldn't be interested exploring, because of how strong the tribalism in us politics is. I would just assume that you are supporting the democrats. While with the understanding of the conversation, I would assume you aren't supportive of any of the us political party and vote for the least bad option.

In other words, I wouldn't want to explore your political position if you use that term as I would assume I understood. Consequently I would misunderstand your position. And I think others would do the same.

If someone would identify as a conservative, they wouldn't take you seriously anymore, as they would understand it that you reject them, even tho in practice they would agree with you on a lot of stuff and you aren't necessarily rejecting them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 minutes ago

😅 My apologies, I've been re-reading this reply many times and I'm not following your argument against the utility of using the "Anti-Conservative" label for myself if someone asks what is my political position (within the United States)?

Is your thesis that "Anti-conservative" is not specific enough?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Also, those who insist on political purity tests reveal themselves to be temporarily-inconvenienced-dictators-in-waiting.

I hope this isn't about leftists refusing to support biden/kamala in the US.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

You didn’t have to support them. You just had to use your brain and choose the lesser of two evils. Like which one of these people is more likely to illegally deport me for exercising my first amendment rights? I think you’ll find the answer to that question soon.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Or maybe support someone who isn't one of the two evils

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 minutes ago

Our (U.S.A.) best option for that in recent history was Bernie Sanders in the 2016 election.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 hours ago

Here you are protecting conservatives that have a vested interest in the genocide of palestinians.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 hours ago

The kind that got chucked off reddit for being mean to Trump, Musk and Netanyahu.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Have you tried like not being one

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 minutes ago

I used to be a neoliberal.

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