- cross-posted to:
- usa@midwest.social
- cross-posted to:
- usa@midwest.social
This past year, official social media accounts from the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and other government agencies have adopted a distinct voice online. The posts look like memes, utilizing dramatic AI-generated art, general patriotic slogans, and cinematic language about “defending the homeland” and shaping America’s future.
But if you look closer, a pattern emerges.
Many of these phrases, images, and attached media aren’t just regular social media content. They repurpose language, symbolism, and cultural references with direct connections to neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements. It’s content that experts say is instantly recognizable to those who are in the white supremacist know, but can be largely invisible to everyone else.
There has been not one, but two posts from our government institutions that reuse a phrase ripped straight from William Gayley Simpson’s book Which Way Western Man?. It was published and promoted by the National Alliance—considered one of the “best organized” neo-Nazi groups in the United States. The book is antisemitic, racist, and explicitly states that Adolf Hitler was right.
I’ve been pointing out the nazi parallels for years. People said I was hyperbolizing.
You and me both buddy. It sucks seeing all this shit so plainly unfold, only to have what I thought was normal people not just ignore it, but get angry with me for trying to point it out.
Ran across this lately. I guess you can start calling me Cassandra:
https://newrepublic.com/article/204254/survey-2024-election-cassandras-trump-2025
They don’t want to break out of their little bubble of toxic positivity where everything is fine and you just need to put your nose to the grind and work hard to get ahead and everything will be alright.
They think you’re an asshole for telling them EVERYTHING’S NOT ALRIGHT, and things aren’t going to be alright just because you ignore all the heinous stuff going on.
But they’re like “nah, don’t spoil my vibe.”
This is the hardest part. I am trying to let go of my anger as they slowly start to notice and pretend like either no one could have seen this coming, or they were against it all along.
If one single person in my sphere ever just came to me and said “I guess you were right” that would do so much for my mental health. But I need to get past that, and just be happy they finally are coming around.
I am exceptionally bitter seeing some of my formerly maga associates, getting heaps of praise for waking up while the same assholes praising them, were the ones telling me I’m the crazy one. Clearly still have anger to let go of…
Your anger is justified
Honestly, your quick and clear reply is very cathartic. That’s why I prefer Lemmy to my family :).
Real family is who we choose
“That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”
That whole trilogy is so philosophical and I’m down for it.
People who twist it into some literalist interpretation and say “human minds can’t be uploaded into computer simulations” completely miss the point…
They did mix a lot of different symbology into it, but you are right that people ‘incorrectly’* interpret the meaning.
*There’s something to be said that art is subjective and your interpretation is just as valid of as what the creator intended, but I’m specifically referring to the intended meanings stated by the writers/directors.
I hate that the alt-right claimed the red/blue pill memes.
The symbolism here is describing the process of breaking free of the illusions that you’re suffering under.
The partisans who do things like tying this symbolism to a specific meaning (like ‘anti-/woke means anti/pro-LGBTQ’) is twisting the symbol, intentionally and with intent in some cases, to push a message.
The underlying symbol of red-pill/woke/not illusioned/out of the matrix is simply describing the subjective experience of realizing that you were wrong about reality.
At the current time in history, I think we need a lot of people to understand and internalize this idea and the idea that reality is harder than a comforting fantasy, but worth fighting for.
Exactly. People talk about “simulation theory,” but the truth is that we don’t have to be avatars in a computer program in order for consensus reality to be contrived and dictated from the top down. It’s a really reductive interpretation of the sociopolitical commentary made by the Matrix series.
It’s only a simulation inasmuch as “work hard and achieve the american dream” is a fabrication intended to keep us pacified. Streaming services, social media feeds, drinking culture, all of that has replaced religion as the new “opiate of the masses.” Those are the circuses to go with your bread.
But none of that implies we’re just chips in a circuit board. That’s called “losing the meaning in the symbol.”
And besides, “life is just a computer simulation” is just the cyberpunk/transhumanist rendition of the “life is just a dream” that’s been floating around for as long as humans have been thinking about the nature of reality, whether you ask Zhuang Zhou, Patanjali, or Terence McKenna.
You’re just as likely to be a disembodied spirit floating in the void as you are to be a computer chip, but all of that is beside the point that consensus reality is being curated for you by states and corporate interests.
Well said
We aren’t copying the Nazis. The Nazis were copying us.
No such thing as an original idea, we’re iterative. Humans are monkey see, monkey do, even with bigotry.
Now they’re still denying it and snickering in front of our faces that they’re so clever.
At least their buffoonery is finally on full-display. Only the true believers could still follow them now.
(I’ve been saying that way too long and yet…)
Yup. Way too many true believers. Don the con really does have some mutant power when it comes to twisting the minds at the bottom of a normal distribution.
Before the election I was saying the Dems needed someone charismatic to go up against him. People told me “He’s not charismatic though.” But that was missing the point.
Do I personally find him to be charismatic? No, of course not. But he has some strange hold on so many people’s minds, and that’s the literal definition of charisma. Whether you’re charmed by him or not doesn’t change the fact that he has a personality cult.
Part of the issue is that for all it’s evil, the nazi government was a functional government. Look at all it got done. So any functional government will have parallels. So we need to focus more on the paralells in intentions that are not common to most functional governments.
Edit: For the slow people in the back… The nazi government managed to invade and conquer all (or nearly all) of mainland europe. If you have ever worked at a large company and seen how poorly company initiatives are organized, you know the nazis were well organized. The methods they used were effective, and have significant overlap with any government that can get things done. Which is why I am saying, focus on the evil intentions, instead of the methods.
That’s not even true though, “the trains were always on time in nazi germany” is a false statement. It’s simply an emanation of nazi propaganda that bled into mainstream culture after operation paperclip.
Actual nazi germany was run by corrupt sycophants incapable of getting anything done besides massacres, abductions, and genocide.
Your last line was my point. Accomplishing the evils it accomplished is not a trivial thing to do. Those things took a lot coordination. So it was good at getting things done.
You said
Yeah no, functioning governments that don’t coordinate every mechanism of the state towards oppressing, ethnic cleansing, and aggressive imperialism, don’t have parallels worth mentioning.
That sounds dangerously close to “the ends justify the means.” Are you saying that if a state has “good” intentions, then they’d be justified in borrowing the nazi’s methods? Because that sounds an awful lot like what you’re saying.
You seem to be assuming a lot about my intentions.
That said. Let’s take the indocturnation of the populace as an example. Just about all functioning governments do it. Some do it with the aim of making thier citizens happy, healthy, and productive. So do it to further exploit the people. The nazis did it to build a war machine. But the tool is the manipulation of the education system.
So if you say to me… the government is manipulating the education system, and so did the nazis. It’s not that much of an insult. If you say the government is manipulating the education system to build up a population they can call on to follow orders no matter how evil those orders are… now you are saying something very significant.
This administration is not only using the same tools the nazis did, but their intentions are very similar. The second half is a much more meaningful statement. And I am saying we should focus on their evil intentions instead of just dogwhistling. A lot of people don’t see the intended goals of this administrations actions, and they need help to see it, and hopefully join the fight. Many who are already in the fight, will fight harder when they understand more of the goals.
The general strike in Minneapolis was a possible turning point. It could have spread and snowballed. But it didn’t. Too many people just don’t see the goals of this administration. Too many people have become desensitized to the word Nazi. We need to counter the administrations propoganda with things more than just name calling.
The trains line was about fascist Italy. And was also bullshit.
Like what? What was accomplished under Nazi Germany that couldn’t have been done under other governments?
Well, it controlled all of mainland Europe for one thing. That’s no small thing.
Napoleon already did it
So did a number of other European empires.
Yes, and they were obviously functional too. So sounds like you at least agree on that point now. Probably the least relevant thing I said of course.