edit: GUYS fuck stalin and fuck tankies, period. i understand that this community is more sensitive than most to pro-stalinist vibes, and i apologize for unintentionally twinging that nerve, but you need stop calling each other (and me) slurs
good heavens, happy new year, fuck incarceration and murder in all forms
(mods pls also do your job and help with the slurs thing)
edit2: big thank u 2 da mods for helping with the slurs thing u guys rock 😎 💕
My favorite jokes is the “Look how bad it is in North Korea/Russia/China…” Then the ol “sike that’s America”.
My second favorite thing is all the whataboutism replies because butthurt folks don’t like reality. Rather than address the problem, they’d rather go into finger pointing.
I think it’s because the meme itself is the wrong way to try to make that argument. Instead of just saying “the US has 22% of the world’s aggregate prisoner population and that’s a problem”, it’s making that argument by directly comparing it to a MUCH WORSE regime for that exact violation of rights.
The whataboutisms tend to be bristling at the bad comparisons more than a direct refutation of the underlying point being made. I think complaining about the whataboutisms misses the point of those replies, which is valid.
As the other poster said, why not compare with Scandinavian countries that genuinely do have better justice systems rather than comparing with USSR or CCP which have much worse justice systems?
i think sometimes it’s worth critiquing memes for the rhetorical impact rather than raw arguing power
if you wanted a watertight meme that perfectly describes your argument, you’re right, this isn’t it.
but if you want an emotionally jarring meme that encourages debate and spreads awareness of the disturbing nature of american justice, i’d say this has acheived that goal looking at these comments :)
i’m still working this position as a shitposter but i’d say this is at least an A- tier meme in that a) it’s factual (not outright false), and b) it encourages active discussion and awareness of issues in the comments.
This would have been a good point if lemmy wasn’t packed with idiots praising USSR as heaven on Earth.
point taken, you changed my perspective 😅 have a great rest of your day
To be fair, it’s been a lot better lately. Not sure if defederations happened or they just became less brazen when they saw most people don’t care for their bullshit. Probably both.
I hate the US as much as the next person but the meme itself is basically whataboutism.
It’s always “if you don’t like it, go live in Somalia” and never “if you don’t like it, go live in Denmark”. It’s saying “it could be worse” instead of “it could be better”.
Pretty much. “Could be worse” is for when you’re recovering from the flu, not the “There is 1.2 million people in prison right now”.
this is such a beautiful way to put it, thank you
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I just want to know the story behind your username. Did a tuber betray you somehow?