Post by @rysiek@mstdn.social

Sisyphe Heureux

@sisypheheureux@nerdculture.de · 6 days ago

@rysiek I blame social media and the stupid algorithm

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

@sisypheheureux oh that definitely had a large role in this, sure. But check out the rest of my microthread.

Zło To

@mattesilver@101010.pl · 6 days ago

@rysiek cóż, "liberalna" lewica właśnie nam wprowadza totalną inwigilację oraz bezkarną przestępczość ze strony imigrantów, więc co się dziwić że jest reakcja.

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

@mattesilver aha, wyjaśnij proszę tę "bezkarną przestępczość ze strony migrantów", słucham uprzejmie.

ohir

@ohir@social.vivaldi.net · 6 days ago

@rysiek
> Nearly a quarter of voters in Europe now back far-right parties

ONLY a quarter.

> Obviously authoritarian right does not have any real solutions

The one they have is about to trump anything else, and unfortunately is much real. They own the ears and eyes of, I think, some 90% of the general population. Through the Internet they now own, through the old media they owned.

> Instead of making concessions ...
> 1/2/3
Wrong order. Should be 3/2/1.

We need FDRoosevelt taxes asap. The rest will follow. For those schooled in recent 4 decades: FDR base tax was 95%. 95 cent of every dollar NOT spent on the infrastructure was to be claimed by the state, and poured into the infrastructure.

:))

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

Whenever you hear a center or left party talking how they need to drift to the right to "get the undecided voters", know that this is only enabling the far-right.

If anyone is an "undecided" voter – meaning, potentially considers voting for the far-right – why on Earth would they ever vote for the milktoast centrist fake, instead of the real fascist deal?

It allows the far-right to move the Overton window ever more right.

This is not how you defeat authoritarianism:
https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/how-not-to-defeat-authoritarianism/

Kaye

@kaye@cathode.church · 6 days ago

@rysiek "Let's meet in the middle," says the unjust man.

You take a step towards him. He takes a step back.

"Let's meet in the middle," says the unjust man.

Andreea

@diemkay@hachyderm.io · 6 days ago

@rysiek Yes to all this! In my experience most people want to be reasonable and polite because their education and upbringing dictates so, and they are conflict-averse.

They vote with people who look and resemble them and have the milquetoast takes because they "don't want to rush to conclusions" or destabilize the status quo.

There are charitable explanations for this behavior but what they don't understand is that some people desire the cruelty.

They explain it away as 'the views of a few' and 'things we shouldn't give much attention to'.

After Renee Good was murdered by ICE, a New York Times/Siena poll found that 26% of voters overall said ICE’s tactics were "about right" and 11% said they had not gone far enough. That percentage, extended to a general population, should terrify anyone.

This year was a radicalization for me.

I'm not sure if any amount of sustained organizing is going to remove the need to engage in conflict. Conflict not to change minds, but to protect ourselves against those whose minds are firmly made up, into a cruel direction.

Krzysztof Sakrejda

@wronglang@bayes.club · 6 days ago

Krzysztof Sakrejda

@wronglang@bayes.club · 6 days ago

Andreea

@diemkay@hachyderm.io · 6 days ago

Andreea

@diemkay@hachyderm.io · 6 days ago

1 more replies

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

@diemkay highly recommended read on the issue of how many people vote for horrible things:
https://theauthoritarians.org/

Also, it is a genuinely well written, fun book.

Andreea

@diemkay@hachyderm.io · 6 days ago

@rysiek Thank you kindly, I will definitely investigate!

I found a different but related book earlier this year via some Mastodon thread I don't have handy now - mostly about how there’s an undercurrent in people who revel in abuses of power and will always want their slice of it.

The book was Alberto Toscano's 'Late Fascism', who claims fascism is a foundational aspect of capitalism that existed alongside and within the previously liberal institutions and societies. He points to the existence of seeds of fascism in people, ready to surface when the tides of history change.

Definitely gave me food for thought. My home country (Romania) also has its history of totalitarian authoritarianism, and echoes of it are still present today in how young people understand, and relate to power, looking for strongmen and paternal figures.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot · 6 days ago

@rysiek Thank you kindly, I will definitely investigate!

I found a different but related book earlier this year via some Mastodon thread I don't have handy now - mostly about how there’s an undercurrent in people who revel in abuses of power and will always want their slice of it.

The book was Alberto Toscano's 'Late Fascism', who claims fascism is a foundational aspect of capitalism that existed alongside and within the previously liberal institutions and societies. He points to the existence of seeds of fascism in people, ready to surface when the tides of history change.

Definitely gave me food for thought. My home country (Romania) also has its history of totalitarian authoritarianism, and echoes of it are still present today in how young people understand, and relate to power, looking for strongmen and paternal figures.

1 more replies

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

Instead of making concessions on human rights (including trans rights), immigration and refugees, and sprinkling it with vague promises about how AI will change everything, etc., centre and left parties should maybe actually get serious about:

1. Solving the housing crisis (which is basically everywhere now).

2. Healthcare.

3. Taxing the rich.

You know, things that are actually making people miserable and angry! And incidentally, things that keep polling high on voters' priority lists.

sleet01

@sleet01@fosstodon.org · 6 days ago

@rysiek Cue "You guys have centre and left parties?" face...

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

@sleet01 ish.

datarama

@datarama@hachyderm.io · 6 days ago

@rysiek In the last Danish elections, the two nominally centre-left parties both campaigned on introducing an assets tax, where large capital holdings would be taxed further. This was explicitly messaged as beginning to tackle rising inequality, and was generally positively received by voters.

But since neither the left or right bloc was able to form a majority alone, they had to get the Moderate Party on board. Who demanded that the assets tax was scrapped. And the two centre-left parties folded almost immediately.

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦

@rysiek@mstdn.social · 6 days ago

@datarama yeah, that's always a risk. But gotta start somewhere.

I called out Labour here because they had all the chance to actually *do* stuff. Instead Starmer just squandered it by never having even a bit of a spine.