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Don't go red! (lemmy.world)
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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 53 points 3 months ago

“THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.”

― Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

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[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 34 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Actually we just won an election

Ok that's just an outright fucking lie.

The Bolsheviks didn't start "winning" elections until they'd already forced everyone into supporting them, the 1917 election featured the Bolsheviks being blown out of the goddamned water by the SRs, and getting tailed pretty hard by the Ukrainian Regional Socialist Party

All this comic does is bend history into absolute knots to try and sell an image of what a democratic revolution would look like, but the tone and telling it represents is blatantly revisionist to a fucking maddening degree.

[-] toastus@feddit.org 31 points 2 months ago

What are you talking about?

This strip is not even about the actual Bolsheviks.
Everything the "Bolsheviks" say is boilerplate stuff a modern democrat (or any reasonable person for that matter) would want.

The whole joke is that the republicans frame super normal stuff as communism.

Did you really not get that?

[-] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"All this comic does is bend history into absolute knots to try and sell an image of what a democratic revolution would look like, but the tone and telling it represents is blatantly revisionist to a fucking maddening degree."

I'd say that's what they're talking about.

And I agree with them, imo this comic is absolutely not working for getting the intended message across.

Edit for clarification: i realized during first reading that the devil's advocate in the comic was meant to represent USA republicans, but I still think that the comic doesn't work.

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[-] problematicPanther@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

not about the 1917 revolution. kinda like how MASH wasn't about the korean war.

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[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 months ago

This thread has been a lesson in how many ways people can find to miss the joke. The cartoon isn't that subtle, surely?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

I really thought the joke was obvious. Apparently not.

[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago

Maybe if you aren't familiar with US politics? Even then, the last panel should clue you in.

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[-] ogler@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 2 months ago

look, I read the Economist every time I'm at my dentist's office, so I'm obviously a little bit ahead of the curve in terms of political literacy, but I'm not sure I understand what this comic is trying to say, given that the events it depicts did not literally happen. could someone explain what this comic means? it would be a great help.

unrelatedly, but just as urgently, is there anyone who is an expert in going to the bathroom? I got to the part where my pants are fully pulled down around my ankles, but I'm not sure how to sit if I have to make both doodie and weewee. I'm guessing I face the tank? thanks in advance.

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[-] Neon@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

I mean I get it, but it still feels very disrespectful towards all the eastern europeans killed by bolshevism

[-] Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

In my opinion that is the second layer to this comic. Bolsheviks were pretty autocratic and tyrannical, so comparing their deeds towards left leaning politics today is disrespectful to the real victims.

[-] Neon@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago

yeah, I know, I get it. Consciously, I absolutely get it. But subconsciously...

It still somehow strikes the wrong tone in my opinion. I don't know how one could do it better, I just know that it irks me the wrong way.

[-] toofpic@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

You're not saving anyone, and victims of bolshevism are not victims of this comic. Please stop making problems up.

[-] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 3 months ago

My take for the comic is that voting for those "communists" will not change anything, and capitalism will still eat us alive.

There has to be some option that is not Bolshevik dictatorship or capitalism with some virtue signaling dressing.

[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 months ago

There has to be some option that is not Bolshevik dictatorship or capitalism with some virtue signaling dressing.

Knocks on your front door Hello, do you have a few minutes to talk about Anarcho-Communism?

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

THE VERY DEFINITION OF COMMUNISM

[-] vga@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The metaphor is a bit weird. It's almost as if they're dogwhistling about the horrors of the actual Russian revolution and system.

But I guess what they're actually trying to say is that calling democrats communists is just stupid and wrong. Which yeah, it totally is.

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

I'm having nightmares every day about the poor billionaires having to pay something slightly more close to their fair share in taxes! When will this horror end?

[-] riodoro1@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Yeah, the bolsheviks would just have shot them. The whole family. Yes, kids too. Probably they would have raped them before and/or after. Then set the house on fire.

[-] simplejack@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago
[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago

Presumably the joke is that the propaganda was written by the billionaires to make you scared enough to vote for them. But since they were writing propaganda anyway, might as well try to convince everyone they are handsome at the same time!

[-] toofpic@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

Damn, this post is like a zoo for people not understanding irony and sarcasm

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

The number of people trying to explain that the Bolsheviks weren't actually like that depress me. Why are they in a political memes community if they don't know that Trump and Musk are accusing Democrats of being communists based on their pretty milquetoast policies?

[-] Rolando@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

The number of people trying to explain that the Bolsheviks weren’t actually like that depress me.

I suspect that most Americans don't really know who the Bolsheviks were, and only have some vague idea of what Communism is. Even on Lemmy.

[-] toofpic@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

And that USSR never got to Communism, it was a socialist state with plan economy, that promised people that "one day we'll be able to move away from this imperfect system to some real cool utopian stuff, we just have to work hard for 20 more years". And it was 20 more years each year until USSR fell apart. So, nobody ever lived in a true communist state.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

I think if it had been placed in America it would have been better received. People don't expect to have a serious conversation about critical reading skills in a meme community. They're used to one liners and moving on.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

But placing it in America ruins the joke. The whole point is that it was absolutely nothing like that.

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[-] toofpic@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

You won't be able to save people who are unable to draw parallels between a hypothetical and a real situation, even when they are given a dozen hints.

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[-] simplejack@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Nah, I got it. I just wanted to double dip with the “Trump ugly” jokes.

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[-] tilefan@lemm.ee 7 points 3 months ago

I don't think that's how it went

[-] WorkIsSlow@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago
[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

That's a pretty big reach for most people though. To realize that the depiction is of what Trump says is communism and not actually Russian communism. Most people are going to regard this as communist propaganda attempting to cover for Stalin. (They won't even know Lenin was in charge in 1917) And they will disregard it completely.

[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 16 points 3 months ago

They explain the joke in the last panel.

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this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
365 points (87.9% liked)

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