this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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[–] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 84 points 1 day ago (6 children)

You could argue that Regan was the spark. 9/11 was the fire. Trump is the ashes.

[–] toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

if it wasn't regan, it was the great depression. if it wasn't the great depression it was the civil war.

we didn't start the fire. it was always burning since the world's been turning.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 18 points 1 day ago

Truth is?

Game's been rigged from the start.

[–] ExtantHuman@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We got the new deal it of the great depression though. It took Republicans many decades of dedication to dismantle what we gained from that.

my post was basically just rhetorical, but you have a great point.. i wonder what "new deal" they'll come up with in the wake of this guy.

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 16 points 1 day ago

It was the stagflation in the seventies. That's when the rich managed to switch the economy ~~back to exploitation mode~~ to neoliberalism, and Reagan was their tool.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 11 points 1 day ago

Or Nixon.

9/11, horrible as it was, just gave them a good reason to put into law some truly undemocratic shit they probably already had waiting in a drawer for a while.

[–] x00z@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Trump is the fallout making us sick.

[–] Akasazh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Either socialism or barbarism

[–] Flemmy@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

An era of oil abuse.

[–] TheFriendlyDickhead@lemm.ee 42 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The day america ended:

picture of Christopher Columbus

[–] throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The day Earth ended: The day when the first Eukaryotic Organism was evolved

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

This is prokaryote erasure

This is more of a political commentary on that fact that when I was politically activated, preteen, its been nothing but down hill.

[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Interesting no one has mentioned the 2000 election shenanigans yet. That was some real stolen election shit

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Florida? Yeah I heard a podcast about this, eerily similar to all that's been happening around the last 2 elections.

[–] Gismonda@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I lived through it - in Florida - and it was every bit as shady and disgusting as you would think, and then some.

Especially that Brooks Brothers Riot of “concerned citizens” who were actually GOP operatives demanding a recount. That fucking sickens me to this day.

(I showed my spouse an article about that a few years ago and he was horrified. He’d had no idea, although I don’t fault him for that since he was on float at the time)

[–] sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago

That's exactly where the timeline jumped the tracks. if Gore's election is properly counted, there's potentially no 9/11, but certainly no Iraq and probably no Afghanistan as we know it. And without Bush and the whiplash against him and those events, there's no Obama. And without the mouth breather whiplash to Obama, there's no Trump.

So yeah, I would say that the republicans fucking around in south Florida is what caused the rift.

[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 29 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I think the dawn of neoliberalism under Reagan and the 2008 crisis are essential. 9/11 was just a great sensation to focus on

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 12 points 1 day ago

9/11 was a catalyst for forces that were already in play.

[–] ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

What does that mean? Without looking it up I would say, "pretty case", so a good example?

Not a bad guess NGL (it's belli as in bellicose, not bella 👍), but no, it means "case for war"/reason for war.

[–] Headofthebored@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I thought we all agreed it was the gorilla.

[–] ignotum@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

That was but a symptom, a healthy society wouldn't have let that happen to our boi Harambe in the first place

[–] wanderwisley@lemm.ee 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think the assassination of JFK was the first kill shot that signal the end of America. Nixon and Regan becoming president was the cancer that inflicted the backbone of the working class. And 9/11 helped kick off anew wave of white hatred that had been boiling since the 90s. And now we are where we are now to the point of no return. I’m 42 years old and have seen and lived through some terrible and crazy times and we are all about to head straight into a country wide car crash and idk what will happen after it or if this country will survive it.

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee 4 points 1 day ago

Let's throw some wild cards to keep your world entertaining

[–] 1SimpleTailor@startrek.website 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

No, it started with Reagan

No, it started with Nixon

No, it started with Prescott Bush

All of history is built on what came before. I think if we really want to get to the root of America's collapse, we have to look way back. Doing so, I can only conclude that the Agricultural Revolution was a mistake.

[–] Brandonazz@lemmy.world 8 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

Also it was because we didn't do reconstruction, which was because the landowners were too strong.

And the landowners were too strong in the 1860s because of compromise in the 18th century, on account of their ancestors being too strong.

Actually, come to think of it, aren't those the same people that elected Nixon, Reagan, and Bush?

Perhaps it's not so much that history repeats itself as that we have had the same intractable problem for hundreds of years: aristocrats.

[–] HasturInYellow@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Feed all oppressors to the Almighty Meat Grinder!

[–] Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

My God damn great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandpa wanted to distill more grain so now here I am, working a god forsaken 9-5 :(

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[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

If we’re being honest with ourselves it goes back much further than that. It has never, at any point, been what it set out to be or what it claimed to be.

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Kinda hinted toward it in another post but its more about my own personal perspective. At a young age my life was mostly devoid of politics and america seemed like an ok place. Since the attack on the twin towers, for me personally, america has only gotten worse. To me, 911 marks the end of america, as an idea.

[–] DrDeadCrash@programming.dev 3 points 21 hours ago

Another American here, I think it's important to be aware that those attacks happened as a direct result of evil -empire level shit the US is responsible for in the 20th century.

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[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I disagree with the last sentence. I think we made an attempt. But everything after WWII has been headed this direction without much checking.

[–] Mallspice@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago

That awkward moment when terrorists win.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Did this attack really cause a change in trajectory though?

I think capitalism has been leading the US down this path since the second world war.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is it a change of trajectory If instead of going down a long slope you turn down a road leading toward the edge of a cliff? Because while I agree about capitalism leading to inevitable horrific consequences there's really no way to argue against 9/11 ushering in an age of utter Horrors when it came to civil rights.

Of course you could also make the argument that the turn towards that Cliff was actually caused by the Supreme Court picking George W bush to be our president.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah that's fair.

These types of events are always used as an excuse to dial up invasive powers of government.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

It didn't change the trajectory, but those attacks were much more effective than even Al Qaeda thought they would be. They provided the excuse the American fascists were looking for to further their own plans without much push back.

[–] prunerye@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 day ago

I'd argue neoconservativism started with WW2, but neoliberalism is probably better tied to Nixon. So I agree, 9/11 was just a continuation of neocon power grabs, but invoking post-WW2 "capitalism" doesn't make much sense to me; the New Deal was comparatively great for workers. Neoconservativism isn't really an economic movement like neoliberalism is.

[–] conicalscientist@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I think it delayed the inevitable. By the 90s, right wing American extremism was on the rise. 9/11 put up a facade of unity (as long as you didn't look middle eastern). The right wing movements went quiet for 15 years. America returned to trajectory in 2016.

[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 8 points 9 hours ago

America ended with Reagan. It only got worse after him. The 1950s/60s were the last period in which America could be considered the greatest country on Earth.

[–] klu9@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago

I don't get it. I just see NYC rolling coal.

[–] rivan@lemm.ee 4 points 22 hours ago

I blame mitochondria

[–] match@pawb.social 2 points 1 day ago

gonna just say fuck it and say it started with the USS Maine sinking itself

[–] neuroneiro@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

The end began with the Lewis Powell Memo in 1971

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