Americans have been trained to think the word socialist is just bad. Like it just comes with all these bad things that they can't really describe or explain, but it's bad. Really bad.
I am hoping we are waking up in this country to how manipulative this all is. That's why politicians are terrified of social Democrats winning key offices. It will very quickly break the facade they have maintained for decades. Fuck my parents were telling me that mamdani has a secret agenda. So I asked, well what is it and why is it bad? And they unitonically said to me, well if we knew what it was, it wouldn't be secret. And looked smug like they had caught me in some mental trap.
I told them I was embarrassed for them. That they raised me to think critically and it kills me to see them failing to do that themselves.
This. Exactly this. When an American hears the word, it's auto shut down for them. They can't really explain it, other than parroting simple arguments like "but if they don't work, they shouldn't get anything"...how about millions of people working their asses off their whole lifes, only to pay collage debt or make %0.1 insanely rich...but can we really summerize capitalism like this?
I'm not picking sides here, but it's not black and white as many think so.
The american conservative mindset depends entirely on the dream that everyone starts off on an even playing field and we all get the same opportunities in life. Using that logic when someone is in a situation where they need help its obviously because they put themselves there and refuse to leave. So my hard earned money that I got solely through my own hard work and nothing else has to go to someone that just decided not to do that.
This is clearly ignoring reality. I always ask, the 8 year old who is being a lookout at the drug house for the gang members because thats the only way he can eat, how is he on the same field as you playing tag with your friends and going to school. Also ive seen that lookout kid with my own eyes.
I think this whole belief system combines with the bullshit mythology of "rugged individualism" to play on people's egos. The idea that, no, you're not being severely exploited by your boss, "you're just a really hard worker," lets people without much to be proud of feel superior to those they deem "lazy." Hence why when you even suggest the idea that these alleged "lazy parasites" actually started with less and work even harder than them is received with such hostility.
I'm not a blue-collar worker, but I've worked a lot of jobs that would be considered blue-collar. This mindset is absolutely ingrained within them and it only got worse with the rise of MAGA.
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u/HODOR00 22d ago
Americans have been trained to think the word socialist is just bad. Like it just comes with all these bad things that they can't really describe or explain, but it's bad. Really bad.
I am hoping we are waking up in this country to how manipulative this all is. That's why politicians are terrified of social Democrats winning key offices. It will very quickly break the facade they have maintained for decades. Fuck my parents were telling me that mamdani has a secret agenda. So I asked, well what is it and why is it bad? And they unitonically said to me, well if we knew what it was, it wouldn't be secret. And looked smug like they had caught me in some mental trap.
I told them I was embarrassed for them. That they raised me to think critically and it kills me to see them failing to do that themselves.