Just something MAGA-people seem to have a hard time with sometimes. Probably not as much when Americans are speaking to themselves, but as a non-American, sometimes it’s challenging to get “those people” to admit that there is indeed anything wrong with the US. As in they won’t accept a single criticism, and will loudly proclaim “America is the greatest country in the world”, while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, which for me pretty explicitly means America isn’t great, if it has to be made to be such again.
Welcome to the paradoxical nature of fascism the greatest and most powerful country on earth is at risk from a secret cabal of highly intelligent, highly organized criminals led by the dementia riddled criminal mastermind Joe Biden crime family who’s actually being being puppeted by AOC and is a mouthpiece for Obama, and who are sending lazy, job stealing, taxpayer benefit robbing Mexicans to bring hard core drugs like marijuana and fentanyl across the wide open red carpeted border so that they can vote for democrats in elections that are also rigged in favor of democrats because that…
So yeah you get the point, fascists don’t make any sense to anyone who stops and thinks for more than a minute. Their logic is non-existent, they parrot whatever talking point they hear on their propaganda network of choice is convenient.
They must all be so miserable all the time
Miserable in a Sysiphean way. Like their existence is absolutely isolating and alone, but they get to be secure in their convictions by cutting ties to people that think differently from them or harassing others long enough they just leave them, further proving them right that everyone else is either duped by the conspiracy of overwhelmingly strong weaklings or is in on the conspiracy.
To be fair any extreme tends to be miserable.
Managing Partner of my company came in today. He sounds just like this every time he talks politic. Every time I say “The Earth works on rather straightforward logic for us, correct?”
“Yes”
“What’s more straight forward? That Trump staged this entire shooting to “play dirty” with the democrats and expose them? Or that some depressed young adult searched for any person of fame near him to suicide by cop?”
It always locks him up for a second saying “No, no, no, you see- shifts position as brain attempts to boot”
Another good brain reboot comment to make would be “if Republicans actually trained with their guns and the shooter was a better shot, trump would have been dead.”
They’re trapped between breaking the facade of Republicans having all the guns and going to win the civil war because they know their guns, and breaking unquestioning loyalty to dear leader Trump.
Ohh, don’t forget the lazy uneducated immigrants who come and live off welfare while also stealing all the hard working jobs!
Yeah, don’t I know it.
Fucking annoying.
And when you actually point out their contradictions, they start having tantrums like toddlers. Unfortunately these toddlers are adults and as such quite a bit more dangerous than actual toddlers.
The tantrums are just them admitting that they don’t have a real response.
Yeah, yeah it is.
But what do you do when someone in a position of power over you has a tantrum and refuses to use common sense…?
Would you rather fight 1 adult-sized MAGA jerkosaurus or…
WHAT ABOUT THE CLINTONS?!?!
Doublethink is a core feature of fascism.
Not only is cognitive dissonance not a problem, they take pride in believing two mutually exclusive things at the same time. It’s proof to how willing they are to align themselves with the party.
You’re telling me that the GOP really is literally 1984
Orwell went to Spain to fight in the Spanish civil war against fascism.
The book is literally written about fascism.
So… Yep.
1984 world is about a totalitarian socialist country inspired by nazi practice of propaganda. So I would not say just fascism. But fascism is clearly part of the book, the novel also show that this could occurs also in a socialist state.
One of the funny things about the whole MAGA thing is that they’re clamoring for a return to something like the 50s or 60s… but only the shitty parts. These idiots seem to be under the impression that everything will be better once we re-implement institutionalized racism and sexism, but ignore the fact that the “better times” they want to bring back ALSO included like a 90% tax rate for the wealthy, and pensions for, like, literally everyone (or more accurately, every white male). But of course, that’s communist talk, and we can’t have that!
i mean, id be happy returning to subsidizing education, space exploration, and taxing the rich 84%+
You’ve got my vote. Not this election though, I need my vote to go somewhere else this time.
Those were the positive things that white middle class people had access to. I would love those things to come back, but for everyone.
These idiots seem to be under the impression that everything will be better once we re-implement institutionalized racism and sexism
I’m slowly getting convinced that they would enjoy that reality more, that’s how much of a sadist some can be.
One of the funny things about the whole MAGA thing is that they’re clamoring for a return to something like the 50s or 60s… but *only
[So the exact opposite of the people in this skit?] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc6VP7Qp-Y8)
This one is easy to explain away… If you’re ranking countries on greatness, then you put America at the top. But then unfortunate things happen, like minority presidents and gay marriage and solar panels, so that makes America not quite as great, but still far better than everyone else. But if we could roll back the clock, maybe to some time before women’s suffrage and the civil rights movement, that would make America return to the extra high standard that it’s capable of achieving.
I think an important related aspect is that the ‘unfortunate things’ that happen make it only “not quite as great” but are definitely destined to make it “the worst”. That way there’s a sense of urgency that you wouldn’t otherwise get from just “not quite as awesome as it could be, but still the best”
Your observation is astute. I kinda want to make red hats that just say COGNITIVE DISSONANCE on them
I kinda want to make red hats that just say COGNITIVE DISSONANCE on them
That would be way more apt and it would calm down my inner autist screaming at the paradox.
This is a really good idea though. And would kinda reclaim red hats.
I mean… It’s not great. But the reasons the MAGA people think it’s not great and the actual reason it isn’t great are mutually exclusive.
Casting themselves as victims is a critical part of the movement. What makes me sad is that many of them are victims, but of their own leaders. Progressive policies would actually make life better for the majority of them.
Progressive policies would actually make life better for the majority of them.
Which is probably why the right is so against education as well.
“America was great once… before the libruls took it over! Things were so much better when I was young… not like this weird shit now around me… it’s not ME who’s grown older…! …it is YOU who’ve gone weird! Why should I change! I refuse to change! That would require… making an effort! I refuse to change! Damn libruls! Damn libruuuuulssss…!!!”
Well if you think about the wording of it, then yes.
But fortunately for the far right, MAGA people aren’t burdened with such troubles.
Instead they get to think about how great it would be without blacks or Hispanics or Jews or women’s rights or gays or trans people or any of the myriad of other things whose mere existence sends them into a purple faced rage on a daily basis. And if you fit into one of those categories, then you just think “well surely they don’t mean me, I’m one of the good ones” while ignoring the last century of evidence until it’s way too late.
You are literally nine or ten years late.
They want America to be more racist, sexist, and or transphobic
I’d say that’s a pretty definite “and”, no need for the “or”.
Not every bigot fits every box though!
There’s a lot of diversity of hate.
(Paraphrasing an old comment from the Bad Site)
“Make America Great” would be a fine, if bland slogan. Everybody wants that. It’s not controversial, but also not distinctive in any way.
“Make America Greater than Ever” would be better. The implication being that we can do better, and be better. But they intentionally went with something else.
It seems to me, and as you have identified, that the “Again” is the key part of the phrase that drives the whole narrative. Here’s the kicker: by nearly every objective measure, the country is safer, richer, more equal, and has a better overall quality of life today than at any point in history[1]. The only thing that has significantly declined over the last 40-50 years is “the percentage of total societal influence held by straight white men.”
“Again” is the dog-whistle of misogyny, racism, and homophobia, wrapped up in the plausible deniability of nostalgia for an objectively worse time.
[1] There may be some room for disagreements here, primarily because of the first Trump administration and the pandemic years causing some backsliding, but this was especially true in 2016 when the slogan first really appeared, which is when it should be judged.
They actually took it from Reagan. But you could still maintain the same arguments, even though the times were a bit different. The “Again” is always a bit of a questionable part. “Make America Better” isn’t as aggressive in the goal, but it’s more honest and broad in who and what it’s referring to. I’d rather have some solid ideas than a slogan, any day.
I think MAGA is an unspoken admission that there are a lot of easily swayed people in this country that have been failed by the existing system.
Even if deep down they know it is all BS they can’t allow themselves to acknowledge it because that would mean having to face the reality that they don’t have much of a future to look forward to for various reasons.
A lot of people can’t take that mentally and keep going day to day, so they just go along with the crazy because it seems easier to go with the delusion.
You got it man.
Admitting that their whole identities were built around bullshit is just too much.
I genuinely believe that for people like that, MDMA (or other serotonergic substance) assisted therapy would help people like that a great deal. These are the “powertools” of psychology currently, and I genuinely think they’re necessary for people like that.
Sometimes — albeit rarely — you see ex-maga people or ex-some other right wing lunatic people who have genuinely come to their senses, but they are exceedingly rare.
I think MAGA is an unspoken admission that there are a lot of easily swayed people in this country that have been failed by the existing system.
From what I recall there were not an insignificant amount of Bernie to Trump voters. Sick of the current system and looking for a charismatic outsider that wanted to fight for them.
Yes… that’s exactly what it means. America is in bad shape domestically and internationally.
It’s a dog whistle for “Make slavery legal again” and “Woman into the kitchen”
