this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
908 points (99.7% liked)

Progressive Politics

2920 readers
1286 users here now

Welcome to Progressive Politics! A place for news updates and political discussion from a left perspective. Conservatives and centrists are welcome just try and keep it civil :)

(Sidebar still a work in progress post recommendations if you have them such as reading lists)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Words matter.

You aren't writing an academic paper. Always use simple direct language.

  • Help the poor
  • Healthcare for everyone
  • Good treatment at work.

Don't use complex words.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Madagaskar_sky@lemmy.world 1 points 20 minutes ago

Anyone can be poor, but only they are on welfare.

Publishers note: They usually refers to African Americans, but can be used for any suspicious minorities.

[–] Snowclone@lemmy.world 6 points 1 hour ago

Don't use the buzzwords Republicans have spent decades poisoning.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Psychological damage is present.

[–] Mamdani_Da_Savior@lemmy.world 13 points 8 hours ago

As someone that works with the general public.

People are fucking dumb. Like not I'm not even kidding, there's a skill gap to even get to a site like this...and not everyone has the ability to do it...I'm not even kidding. People are just stupid.

[–] NoMadLadNZ@lemmy.nz 12 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Yep. Never use a ten dollar word when a 50 cent one does the job better. The left wing needs to dump it's highbrow (and cringe celebrity endorsements) and use the language of the common people in simple terms that cannot be demonised (or would sound insane to try).

Also, this is a prime example of how demonising words, especially buzzwords, is the strategy they use to make it lose all rationality with the public... the notion of being "woke" originally a good thing, welfare a good thing, etc...

[–] MisterD@lemmy.ca 1 points 24 minutes ago

Sadly, more than 50% of Americans a grade school vocabulary. Imagine trying to convince a kid in grade 6 that helping the poor is not bad.

[–] Sheldan@lemmy.world 1 points 31 minutes ago

They managed to make DEI a divisive word, I presume because they always used the abbreviation, because how else can you poison these words.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago

Doesn't work, they take the cheap words too. "Fake news" was originally used for right-wing propaganda. The only solution is education so that future generations are more aware of and resistant to dog whistles and doublespeak.

[–] pjwestin@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago

Just want to point out that this negative association is based on racist dog whistles like the, "welfare queen," which were propagated by right-wingers to convince low-income whites to hate the programs designed to help them.

[–] SuperCub@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I get the critical comments here, but I think there's a basic association of the word "welfare" with the CURRENT system of assistance which leaves too many people out. Democrats have made the current apparati too hard to qualify for with their means-testing. If they were sincere in working for the masses, they would push more universal programs, but at least on the national level, they are bought out by the same corporations as the Republicans.

[–] S0ck@lemmy.world 2 points 44 minutes ago

Democrats have made the current apparati too hard to qualify for with their means-testing.

I kind of doubt that democrats are the ones who MADE it too hard, but they definitely are the ones that preserve it's difficulty.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

The issue is entirely a media problem. Can you tell yet?

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Did the study define the kinds of assistance at all or was it simply the choice of terms?

“Welfare” is defined and had a lot of baggage with it. Opinion about welfare can be wildly different individually and demographically.

“Assistance” isn’t defined, people can place their own restrictions on what that hypothetical assistance is, who gets it based on their own prejudices, needs, and ideology.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Nah, see, you're falling into the trap. "Welfare" has baggage only because conservatives have attached baggage to it via their relentless propaganda campaigns. In practice, welfare is literally just assistance. In practice, the two words are synonymous. The fact that you perceive a difference in them is evidence that the conservative propaganda is working.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Kind of you to assume it was my baggage I was describing, and that I don’t understand the subject at hand.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 hour ago

Pleasure's all mine, partner

[–] idiotdoomspiral@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Godamnnnnn we are fucking monkey smooth brain fucks

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 12 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

UBI is pretty naive unless there are checks in place to prevent landlords and consumer goods from increasing costs by the same amount.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 3 points 8 hours ago
  1. Does UBI increase inflation?

The impact of UBI on inflation depends on various factors, including the funding mechanism, the level of the UBI payment, and broader macroeconomic conditions. Some studies suggest that modest UBI programs are unlikely to significantly impact inflation.

-- https://ubiadvocates.org/universal-basic-income-faq-all-about-ubi/

[–] plyth@feddit.org 16 points 17 hours ago (5 children)

Assistance implies that it is temporary, that it is help to help themselves.

Welfare implies that it is continuous.

If you have to continually support a part of the population then you have a systemic problem. The correct solution would be to change the system. People who support the continuation of the current system either profit from it or don't see an advantage in a change.

[–] renzev@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago

Assistance implies that it is temporary,

Not it does not. Ever heard of "aim assist"? "Assisted living"? "assistive touch" (the iOS feature)? I don't see how any of these are temporary.

But yeah the correct solution is indeed to change the system. There will always be naysayers who argue that "no one system can suit everybody" so I guess we'll need a system of systems.

[–] Pendorilan@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Do parapelegics require "temporary support"? There are some people who need continual support and they're always going to exist in any society. Disabled people. And they aren't a "systemic problem".

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

If you have to continually support a part of the population then you have a systemic problem.

To a point, maybe, but populations are always going to have disabled persons or people with chronic illnesses that require continual assistance to live a dignified life. Be careful not to write those people off with sweeping generalizations like this.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 0 points 8 hours ago

You are right.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Also, "assistance" is something that is given out of the kindness of your (or the government's) heart and that the recipient should feel gratitude (and/or have to grovel) for. "Welfare" is seen as something the recipient is entitled to as a right. FWIW I support a UBI that is adequate for food and shelter and the necessities of life - as an entitlement for everybody.

[–] renzev@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (3 children)

Hey, a UBI supporter! Just curious, how can UBI be implemented in a way that doesn't result in hyperinflation? If a society was to ration out food/shelter/necessities directly, I understand how that would work. But if it's done through the intermediary of money, what would prevent the economy from entering an arms race where the producers raise prices to adapt to the new purchasing power of the population, and the government raises the UBI to keep up with the rising prices?

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Existing studies show little or no affect on inflation.

https://ubiadvocates.org/universal-basic-income-faq-all-about-ubi/ (#11)

So, "just handing out money" is a way to implement UBI without hyperinflation.

[–] renzev@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

hmm interesting. Will take a look.

Just curious, how can UBI be implemented in a way that doesn’t result in hyperinflation?

I don't know - and we're never going to find out, in the United States at least. I may support UBI but that doesn't mean it's not the biggest pipe dream in the history of pipe dreams.

[–] plyth@feddit.org 2 points 10 hours ago

A buyers market. Let competition drive down prices, or cooperation from people with UBI who don't need the profits.

That's for basic goods. It's good that other prices rise so that people are motivated to work.

[–] Henson@feddit.dk 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

But it doesn't have to be the same group in the population. Probably a portion is the same but the larger picture is all those you help up again so they can help support the community/country/state, and the price is helping the group that otherwise make the community unsafe so they in large can ... act decently to others and live a life without violence

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 19 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

One of the main reasons why USAID was the first part of the government targeted was because of things like this.

If you frame their work as "Assistance to disasters" or other variations, plus the context of it being under 1% of the Federal budget, Americans were find with it. If you call it "giving taxpayer money to foreigners" then it's wildly unpopular.

Which is to say that the lesson is that most people are idiots and have no idea what's going on in the world. Framing a narrative can get the same individual to simultaneously support and hate literally the same thing. It can get people to support policies and actions that directly harm them.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Which is to say that the lesson is that most people are idiots and have no idea what's going on in the world.

Not that the information channels that inform them blast high-octane corporate-friendly propaganda since childhood, leaving no attention for any other perspectives?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Stern@lemmy.world 19 points 19 hours ago

IIRC "ACA" and "Obamacare" had similar divides. Propaganda is a helluva drug.

[–] FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Could you share the source for the graph please?

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Its listed, UChicago NORC. I can only find raw data from NORC from 1973 to 2014 when I search though.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›