this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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Memes
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The problem with this meme is that the vast majority of Europeans have no idea these things are connected.
It also puts the blame way too much on the individual, which ironically is a very liberal way to look at capitalism and imperialism.
What blame? This is a meme not an analysis, it's meant to challenge the viewer to no longer think in terms of "what can I get out of electoralism" and instead focus on the death and carnage that the false choice is meant to distract from but instead what keeps western societies running.
No liberal or conservative would ever gather that from this meme. Calling liberals and conservatives monsters for a dynamic they're not even aware of is hardly challenging their views, it's guilt tripping them.
Well it's not addressed at liberals or conservatives but people who identify as leftists but still believe in the electoralist/reformist path. Only a few people on lemmy identify as liberal and even fewer as conservative.
Failing that, it's just a meme. I don't see any harm in posting it even if it doesn't have the intended effect.
edit: you know the kind of people already fed up with the fakeness of it, seemingly having to support the palestinian genocide for instance no matter how they choose, but can't quite put their finger on what's wrong with the system.
It's not clear at all from the meme that electoral leftists are the target audience, because the meme literally calls out liberals and conservatives, but the intended message is correct enough I guess.
Guilt and shame are effective ways is getting people to challenge their views
Not really. It does tend to send the undesirable behavior into secret behavior.
Even then this meme strawmans both liberals and conservatives. If the goal is to make them confused and defensive then excellent job.
tbf i think it perfectly encapsulates conservative/fascist rhetoric.
liberal thinking is indeed a bit more complex.
Cool, we agree. The meme is intended to create an emotional reaction, a negative emotional reaction, associated with these labels.
Okay well, how educational
Yes, memes, the preferred format of educators everywhere for everything, being perverted into some form of emotional communication without depth. Oh, the huge manatees!
I'm just saying this meme doesn't do what OP says it does. I never said memes are a substitute for education or theory.
While I think there's a real question about how much of it is willful ignorance vs. propaganda working as intended, you're largely correct. The reality that most U.S. citizens have maybe a high school understanding of their country's foreign policy is the biggest hole in the "imperial proletariat as labor aristocratics" theory.