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They call themself “conservative”.
What they should be called is “regressive”.
I feel like people with the “kindness is weak! Dog eat dog” attitude have this distorted vision of human nature where if you removed all of the societal constraints, people would just start opportunistically killing each other. Empathy is the reason we didn’t go extinct at the peak of the afro/eurasian bottleneck when we numbered less than 2,000 individuals. Sure, we find neolithic mass graves with skulls piled upon skulls. Cracked limbs, gnawed bones, maimed hands, you name it. All kinds of cruelty.
But if human nature is entirely self-serving, why do we find evidence of aincent surgeries? Of healed femur marrow, removed parasites, and makeshift stints? Why do we see marked burial sites made for individuals who aren’t necessarily even related? Wouldn’t it serve you better to let your competitors die? Empathy was * literally* a prerequisite for the emergence of civilization. It was “let’s stick together, and make a better future for everyone” not “hey, let’s fly this guy to Mars so he doesn’t die”
But you know what. I’m sure the hebephilic misanthrope will do a wonderful job improving the human condition with AI generated child pornography, and over priced cars.
Empathy is the reason we didn’t go extinct at the peak of the afro/eurasian bottleneck when we numbered less than 2,000 individuals.
True, but it’ll the current manosphere chud-driven narrative around this it’s also worth mentioning that empathy is not itself an emotion. It may result in an emotional response, but empathy itself is an cognitive process through which one person considers the perspective and emotions of another. Consciously turning off your empathy literally just makes you dumber and less rational.
You see this all the time with prominent Republicans who suddenly become pro-gay rights as soon as their own kids come out. Bruh, gay people didn’t suddenly start deserving rights just because your kid happens to be gay, so you were either being irrational before or you’re being irrational now. The cognitive process by which you could have avoided irrationality was by engaging in empathy - consider the perspectives and feelings of others, consider how and why they come about, and incorporate that into your thinking.
I have read that domestication of horses was an inflection point for the economics and violence in the bronze age societies. A horse makes raiding distant villages a possibility as a horse can outrun humans. These tribal raids turn into organised warfare to the extent that steppe cultures had one of the first cities to be built with fortifications. And all of this happened only the last 5000 years ago.
The history of violence isn’t as old as it’s claimed to be and it is definitely not innate but something we discovered on the way. I am also not trying to argue that all humans aren’t violent but maybe the steppe people are. You find various examples of guest-host relationships in steppe cultures. Even the word guest and host etymologically traces its roots to Proto Indo European, the language of steppe nomads!
I fully believe that empathy and compassion are evolutionary traits.
It’s present in numerous species. It’s a very useful survival trait.
They are. Humans are social creatures, the survival of our species depended on the success of group work. A single human can’t survive on their own, and so you need to be a part of a collective that’s organized by a social hierarchy that divides people up into small roles achievable by individuals. In the primitive days of our species, all the tasks were dangerous and difficult, and so we evolved empathy as a way to minimize losses and ensure maximum cooperation. If our ancestors didn’t have empathy or compassion, we would’ve died out a long time ago because nobody would’ve stepped in take care of the injured, elderly, young children, or women during child labor.
And that for one to become a billionair, one must be completely lacking empathy and compassion.
I would agree (not an evolutionary biologist). Game theory at the end of the day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Same
Aferican painted dogs prop up the weak in their pack and are one of the most successful hunters on the planet.
People are slamming this cartoon, but it is highlighting the past foreign policy stance of displaying Soft Power, which is a positive long-term objective to help rehabilitate America’s image as militaristic.
But these dumb MAGA Apes think that’s for pussies, and it’s more fun to beat others into submission, undoing decades of any positive forward progress.
One of the reasons that the rest of the world hates us is because while we claim that we aren’t all really as bad as MAGA, it rings hollow because we didn’t do anything to avoid the MAGA threat a second time. Imagine what we would have thought if they had let Hitler escape punishment, and then regain power a few years later? Right now, that’s what we look like to the rest of the world, and rightfully so.
If we ever want to restore any respect to this country, we will have to deal with MAGA decisively before this can be over. The rest of the world, and our own country, needs that.
You’re like the only person in the comments who understand something this basic. Props to you
That is a concept I struggle with, although I totally agree with you. But how do eliminate MAGA without resorting to fascism yourself? To be clear, MAGA needs to be eliminated. Just don’t know how.
MAGA thrives because there’s nothing in place to hold them accountable.
These people only understand violence and intimidation. Things like institutional power and limits mean nothing to them. This is why they ignore the courts, the constitution, the law, international organizations, national agencies, and so on. To them, democracy, rule of law, checks and balances aren’t principles to live by and uphold, to them they’re obstacles to absolute power. That’s why they seethe when an institution works as intended and cheer when they get a corrupt one to manipulate.
If we had true accountability, they would never see the light of day. Opposition in a democracy is a chain that goes from the bottom, and all the links need to work together as one. It goes something like this:
- It starts with the people. The people need to believe in democracy in order to act, because democracy doesn’t work when people aren’t actively involved in government.
- When the people are involved, they need to create groups that organize resistance movements. These movements need to be very principled, have specific demands, and have specific targets/goals in order to mobilize people.
- Once the people are mobilized, they carry out strikes, protests, demonstrations, and other acts of civil disobedience in order to apply pressure on the media and other NGOs as well as local and state politicians to act on their behalf.
- The local and state politicians on board will then apply pressure on their national representatives, and the ones that don’t will be voted out and replaced. Same for goes for media and other orgs, if they’re not on board then they will be boycotted.
- Likewise, the national representatives on board will apply pressure on their colleagues to act, and the ones who don’t need to be replaced.
- Once you have a majority of the national representatives feeling genuine fear of losing their jobs or otherwise from the public, then they will start acting accordingly in order to save their own asses. They will turn to the law, the courts, institutions, and checks balances to do their jobs.
During every step, it is absolutely crucial that standards are clearly defined and upheld. If the people see bad actors in their midst, they need to call them out. If one of their own commits a crime, then they need to be condemned and kicked out. If a local, state, or national politician is defying the people, they need to be voted out. If they broke the law then they need to face consequences. If they defy the law, then the people needs to send those specific individuals a message that they are not untouchable. That’s how democracy is supposed to work. Each generations has to actively work to defend it and ensure that the next generation does the same.
So when the next time a MAGA like group forms and tries to take power, they’re shutdown at every avenue. They’re rejected by the people, the opposition, the states, the courts, the media, non profits, celebrities, and even their own party. Anyone who endorses such groups needs to ostracized and the leaders of the next MAGA like group need to be jailed if they attempt to undermine democracy or the law.
This what needs to happen now, but unfortunately the people just don’t care. Society’s apathy is what sleep walked us into fascism, and we need to wake up if we want to get rid of it.
Tolerance is a social contract. Those who would not grant it to others are not protected by it.
We don’t have to tolerate the intolerant.
They are a proven, unapologetic, and ongoing National Security Threat, who have openly, demonstrably engaged in treason, sedition, insurrection, terrorism, extortion, espionage, corruption, pedophilia, murder, and more. We have all seen numerous examples of every one of those crimes.
All politicians take an oath to protect America from national security threats, foreign or domestic, and MAGA definitely falls under the category of domestic threat. Why shouldn’t an organization like that be prohibited from existing, recruiting, and promoting?
I don’t disagree. But I am talking about the millions of mouth breathers that lap up everything that guy spills. The voters. Do we just round ‘em up?
Reconstruction is going to be painful.
No, but we can deal with their leaders, and prohibit MAGA as a National Security Threat,.for starters.
By beating them to a pulp Mussolini style
Take my upvote, you are right on the money.
It’s crazy how in the 80s and 90s the US was literally the peak of the world, and now it’s struggling to stop a senile pedophile as president from going rogue.
And an ok car
A nice reliant automobile?
A succulent Chinese meal?
I don’t think they make those any more
If you have a million dollars
I said ok, not reasonable
Ah yes the empathy of soldiers that had a part in murdering my family and the empathy of brutalizing Africa then using food aid to destroy their local agriculture to ensure they never become food secure.
USians are so disconnected from the whole world they think this is a wholesome comic
There will always be people like you who will always find something to complain about. This comic is clearly not meant to appease you. I doubt anything remotely positive about America will. This comic is meant to remind Americans that country’s strength comes from it’s soft power, and empathy driven soft power is not a weakness like idiots like Rogan and Musk seem to think. Americans need to reject this mentality and strive for greater empathy in their society, not less.
Ok sure whatever. I don’t care who this comic is for and I disagree with that person you described. I hate America and I definitely don’t want them to have any power.
Those white-power exceptionalism fruitcakes basically want back both isolationism and fascist, racist homogeneity where they want to wake up one day they see only white people and would give only to other white people.
And fuck you Musk.
The thing is that there was never point in American history where any of these things were true. These dingleberries are talking about a time that didn’t exist.
The strip stops working when it shows Joe Rogan with a surprised face instead of mindlessly agreeing with whatever corporate grifter he has in front of him at any given moment.
Joe Rogan always has a surprised face. He’s just totally clueless all the time. That’s why he’s so gullible.
Oh my god I’ve never seen this. So good.
lol those are some pretty bizarre examples of empathy. Whoever drew this is living in la-la land. delulu
I’m aware that the role of the US on the international stage is often not that of the good guys, but I’m not sure how you could argue that USAID and taking care of injured veterans are not examples of empathy.
Keep in mind that there are voters in the US who think that we should take care of our veterans, but somehow agree with Musk when he says empathy is bad. I think it’s important to show those people some examples of empathy that they would support.
The left in the US is broadly so “america bad” that they’ve thrown away their only shred of actual political capital, nationalism, which can well be expressed through desire to actually make America less bad and have a country worth having pride in.
I know we’re pretty far from a country that anyone with half a brain can feel pride in, but our bigger problem is that the bulk of the population has less than half a brain so we need to work within their worldviews.
As long as the left can’t stop lecturing and shaming, we’re going to keep losing ground to people who know how to validate and appease liberal sensibilities.
edit: cry harder, you threw away the flag and America’s actual political capital: the midwit working class liberal masses, they look at you burning the flag that keeps them comfortable, then look at the right-wing nutfucks praying to the flag that keeps them comfortable and says “Hmn, I think I know who has my back.” You have legitimate reasons to hate America, but as Americans we have the responsibility to figure out how to push the country towards a better future. We haven’t done that in a remotely intelligent way. Again, look at what the current state of things are. We are fighting for a country nobody believes we even want. What power is there in that? You kids need to understand power on a much more practical and realistic level.
imagine looking at all the shit your country has done (way before trump too) and blaming the left for it
you can’t make this shit up
some people really can’t figure it out until the facists come for them, it seems
they prefer to call everyone else reactionary for reacting to a fascist state, US politics really brainwashed them
If you take that kind of persecution complex away from this conversation instead of realizing that we need to rethink our approach and work on finding actual political power, you do deserve all the blame.
well maybe I have a persecution complex because my country was literally mentioned by your orange ass after Venezuela’s invasion
but thanks for blaming me a mexican living next to the new nazis I guess it is pretty spot on for a US citizen to assume what everyone else needs to do
Get the chip off your shoulder when talking to adults, I hope the country I live in but don’t represent manages to get its shit together and they don’t do the bad things they want to do to you. You need to understand who your friends and enemies are here. I won’t see a reply, take a walk and blow off some steam.
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These are decent examples. USAID was one of the greatest things in the world. It provided relief for millions of people and saved countless lives. It was one of the primer aspects of American soft power due to the positive affects it had. The US was also helping Ukraine defend freedoms, it’s people, and it’s sovereignty from a genocidal invasion from it’s fascist neighbor which polls showed, skyrocketed America’s image across the globe until Trump took over. Likewise, the VA, while not a great institution by any means, is still an example of the country giving help to the people that fought for it. The point isn’t to wash over the flaws, but demonstrate America strength comes from empathy, it’s not a weakness.
They’ll ramp up their cringy “good guy USA, remember when we were amazing examples of empathy and world aid?” material.
Their current events have made their image even worse, but their entire culture is based around this illusion of being a shield for the world, so they’ll ramp up cringe production to try and save it.
They’ll ramp up their cringy “good guy USA, remember when we were amazing examples of empathy and world aid?” material.
Who is the “they” here who are doing this? The author of the cartoon who is making a blatant anti-Rogan, anti-Musk message? I feel we’ve crossed some wires if we think getting median-voting, semi-patriotic liberals to reject authoritarian propaganda is more harmful than good.
Edit: the difference between people like MAGA and people who want a better world and equality and empathy, is that MAGA rejects nuance and smarter, less comfortable perspectives of the world, including the capacity to shift perspectives to people you don’t relate with. What are YOU guys avoiding looking at in your daily rage-fueled scrolling? What nuance and perspective are you denying because it makes you uncomfortable? We can be the adults in the room and understand a thing without subscribing to a thing.
This comic is pure unapologetic propaganda and paints your military as smiling aid giving friends.
Fuck off.
Seethe harder, the US military does have extremely positive moments. There’s absolutely nothing negative about the US helping Ukraine defend itself from it’s evil genocidal neighbor. There’s nothing wrong with the US freeing Europe from the Nazis and then later from the Soviets. There’s nothing wrong with the US Navy ensuring freedom of global trade and navigation. That’s not propaganda, that’s reality. Does that mean everything the US military has done is positive? Of course not, there’s a lot of cruelty in there too. However, pretending that the US military has no positive achievements shows that you’re the one who’s drowned in pure unapologetic propaganda. This comic serves to highlight the positive examples to disprove the notion spread by Musk and Rogan that empathy is a weakness, it’s a strength.
The results of people like Musk and Rogan influencing people to let a fascist dictatorship take control of that same military is going to be a lot fucking worse for you.
Get fucking smarter.
Are you slow? Do you think I’m defending Musk and Rogan?
I’m saying your military - and your country - is a piece of shit force of evil in this world, and has always been, regardless of your idiot in chief. Any comic painting it as smiling empathetic friends is propaganda.
I can’t be any more clear than this.
And I’m saying view it through the lens of the average American liberal who wants their military to be this image, this is what they think it is, this is what they want it to be, and forces like Musk and Rogan are trying to influence them away from this.
You are in your rights to hate the US military, many of us with any shred of understanding about the world do, but this comic is a window into American minds at large, and needs to be understood as a piece representing the average American starting to turn on the current narrative that would see you, and your country, wherever you are, harmed far worse than anything we’ve done before.
No. And that’s exactly the problem.
You think fostering this narrative over your military is safer/better than the alternative, but it is under this malicious narrative that you’re happily delivering aid that you’ve invaded and sabotaged a lot of countries, all with thunderous applause from your own populace.
but this comic is a window into American minds at large, and needs to be understood as a piece representing the average American starting to turn on the current narrative that would see you, and your country, wherever you are, harmed far worse than anything we’ve done before.
BOTH of these narratives harm my country and many others. Both of them. Do not attempt to take a moral high ground because your version of your military is got sunshine and rainbows. It’s the same fucking deal regardless of the democrat or republican in power, one party is just much more open about it than the other.
There are multiple victims of war pictured here and the comic doesn’t seem to notice or care why that is. It celebrates it even, as empathy, which is such a crushing example of how warped perspectives can become.
Yah this is the general perception of Liberal America, and really the liberal populations of many countries who are just raised on propaganda and don’t really think systemically. IE: the bulk of all people.
This comic SHOULD be a window into how the average, median voter thinks and feels about the country, if we understood and accepted this common perception instead of cringing at it we could make a lot better progress in actually getting people to recognize the problems with the military and the state, but for most people this is patriotism and they don’t think “america bad” every time they see a soldier missing a limb.
A comic like this does more net good than all the lecturing and guilting people for being involved in a corrupt system, and I still don’t know who the “They” are.
How is it a net good if the average person is just going to see it and reinforce their views?
Because the punchline, not the content before it. It’s telling the average American with an ambivalent at worst view of the US international presence and military (and there are a LOT of military families in the US, we need to understand this to move politics) will see a cartoon like this and it will plant an idea in their head that we can’t trust the shit the Joe Rogan promotes and that Elon Musk is just bad. This is what we want, this about the most we can fucking hope for in the US, the average American has no clue what’s going on.
I beg people to actually read the 2024 exit polling, I promise you, no matter how bad you think the situation is, it’s worse.
Right but maybe if we want to shit on Elon Musk and Joe Rogan we can do so by showing actual examples of empathy rather than glorifying something evil and unempathetic.
Probably in this context: the ruling class.
The lack of class awareness here in the comic being why the use of cultural hegemony is lost.
America throughout it’s history was indeed an amazing example of both cruelty and empathy. America had slavery, but it also fought it’s bloodiest war to free them. It had segregation, but it also had the most iconic civil rights movement in modern history. It invaded many countries, but it also liberated many countries. It had used it’s military power for bad, but it also used it to bring about the global order of free trade and globalism which ushered in the most prosperous time in human history. It had anti-intellectual movements, but it also put people on the moon.
Remembering the positive moments in American history is not “cringe”, that’s such a idiotic line of logic. It’s a reminder that the country should strive to be more positive, more empathetic, more understanding. That’s how societies evolve, and America should rightfully go down the path of bettering itself.
Your attempt at patriotism could be refuted so fast it goes beyond cringe, its like when a child tells you they’re going to meet Santa when they grow up… You just don’t want to shatter their little world view.
This aimed at Liberal America, they eat this kind of thing up and we have to stop cringing every time someone says “America not that bad” and lecturing people. They have a vision for what they want America to be, and for them dismembered veterans getting basic medical care is more good than bad. I won’t try to make it make sense because it requires dumbing down. Which is something we also have to learn to do.
Nationalism moves nations, it’s pure political capital, it’s why Trump won and is now ruining our world, because he has the support of fucking armed nationalists.
You don’t have to understand or like the theme, but if it moves median, tuned-out people against people like Rogan and Musk, on their own level, it will only help. They sure as shit don’t care about social issues, most people don’t, and the sooner we understand that, the sooner we can start actually shaping a world that respects social issues.
Empathy is the best thing that anyone would ever have. Seriously!
Bizarre post
It’s not. Americans need to be understand what makes their country great and what doesn’t. Empathy is one of the things that makes the country great, it’s not a weakness.
gross as fuck, even
Lol shut up, considering the instance you’re from, you probably think that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is justified or that it’s NATO’s fault
Empathy is society’s absolutely strongest trait. Failing it is a weakness
Ah yes, the overflowing empathy of the military.
This comic is show individual solders who can be pretty diverse. I know a few combat vets who ended up being good people.
A comic doesn’t show individuals, it shows a vision of the world. If I draw 1000 nice soldiers, it’s not a 1000 individuals, I’m pushing the vibe that soldiers are nice.
But the nice ones are the exception, so if you specifically show nice ones (is it possi le to be nice while killing people?), it is a choice to represent reality as such.
Things like that convey a message, and let’s face it, I doubt that the author of this comic is anti-military.
It is possible to be nice and kill people. Killing people stopped the nazis and freed slaves. Violence is not inherently good or bad its just a tool.
The US military finished killing Nazis in 1945. So that’s a good 80 years they’ve spent killing for evil.
You can say that murder is bad. You can also say that it is necessary.
Allowing murder to be good is allowing opinions to shift reality, and this is how people supporting Trump can think that murder is generally wrong, but murdering trans or black people or leftists is acceptable. Once you start making exceptions based on opinions, everything unfolds.
The last hope for America is drawing in the average liberal voter who is tuned out and doesn’t care about social issues or whatever things our military has done or not done in the past.
I would love people to spend a little time reading the exit polling from 2024, where they asked people why they voted the way they did. Most answers were completely nonsensical, they were Obama voters, Bernie supporters, voting for Trump because they had no idea what he represented and just wanted to 'try something new" and if you’re screaming right now “we already had a Trump term, what’s wrong with them?” you’re just not a median voter who has 2 hours of free time on Sunday night after the game to browse Tiktok or Facebook for memes and get all their political knowledge there, and barely paid attention to politics before the price of eggs hit a dollar a piece.
If you try to tell these people “America bad” and explain all the ills of the military, they will reject you because they’re not involved, they’re consuming propaganda all day all the time anyway, and they don’t know who to blame their struggle on. The desperate need for Liberal america to preserve stability and comfort is the only remaining check or balance in the US, and if that waivers, if that class of overworked and uninvolved people start actually getting involved, it will push the whole boat back on course. We NEED cartoons like this because it appeals to the people the left has broadly hated for decades and it’s cost us dearly… people who have a vision, even if delusional, for a better America.
Right, and this is Lemmy. I am not sure this is exactly the facebook browsing demographic.
people who have a vision, even if delusional, for a better America.
Knowing the perspective of american liberals is perfectly fine and normal, but that’s not a call to cater to delusion. Delusional visions are not helping.
Delusional visions are not helping.
I disagree, our species largely lives in a state of some kind of delusion or willful ignorance, even you and me.
Learning to understand and use people’s desire to be deluded can move mountains. I mean, the bad guys are doing it and have literally won everything, while we’ve lost everything. Tell me again there’s no lesson to learn here.
I wouldn’t use the word ‘delusion’ then. Delusions are predicated on defying incontrovertible proof of falsehood.
They are a defense mechanism. The desire to be deluded is a fear response. Knowing you’re dealing with fear is one thing, but I think this has to be treated more like addiction intervention than some kind of puppet mastery.
or the USAss
Hitler believes that compassion was weakness and a crime against nature. Sound familiar?
Cheesy AI-looking comic glazing the US empire, what could go wrong?
Nothing is funnier than seeing ML losers crying at the sight of a meme trying to positively remind Americans that empathy is a strength, not a weakness.
