523
Sorry to be a downer, but this is a really good point. (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 months ago by todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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With this lie escalating to violent threats against the Haitian community, we perhaps need to put a pause on joking about this insidious hoax. They are trying to start a race war, and memes likely aren't helping.

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[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 177 points 2 months ago

The person who kills a Haitian person in Springfield isn't going to do it because we made fun of JD and the orange bad for saying it. They're going to kill them because JD and the orange bad and about a thousand other serious people in their echo-chamber said it.

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 85 points 2 months ago

Right? I don't think satire pointing out how utterly fucking ridiculous the cat eating allegations are is being part of the problem. This almost seems like "won't someone appease the racists by not making fun of them?"

[-] JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

The point of the post is that if Trump had said that he wanted to kill every immigrant at gun point, there wouldn’t be any jokes or memes about it, because it’s a dangerous statement that would be taken seriously by anyone.

By making memes about him saying immigrants are eating dogs and cats, then we are “signaling” that what he said isn’t terrifyingly dangerous, we’re taking it as ridiculous and funny and not to be worried about. And that plays a role in normalizing all the stupid shit he has been saying.

As a disclaimer, Trump is a piece of shit and I am DEFINITELY NOT saying both sides are bad (I fucking hate that argument). But the argument in the post is a valid one. Of course there are also some upsides to the memes. First they are funny but they also cause those words to reach out to more people which hopefully has an effect in terms of voting against him

[-] Clent@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Making fun of what Trump says signals that what he says it stupid and anyone who acts on it is even stupider.

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 43 points 2 months ago

Right, and ridicule is an effective way to shut down fascists. Its why calling them weird is so effective.

In saying that, mocking them does give fuel to the fire. Its a necessary evil.

[-] Geobloke@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Firstly they don't hear your ridicule, but if they do they've been trained to believe that you're punching down on them

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They do, which is why they push back against being called weird.

Also, its about ridicule of the leaders not the followers. The followers then abandon them rather than double down as they dont want to be weird by association.

[-] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 21 points 2 months ago

Yep!

The person who starts a terrorist attack was looking for a reason. And last I checked, jokes aren't what's setting them off.

[-] PugJesus@lemmy.world 100 points 2 months ago

"And when someone is actually killed you're gonna feel real fuckin dumb for joking about it."

Oh, like all the other Trump policies and insanity that have literally got people killed and we joke about?

Fuck's sake. Mockery is the only language these cretins even partially comprehend. We've tried the "They go low, we go high" route. Telling them "P-p-please, you're going to kill minorities talking like this..." just gives these Nazi fucks a hard-on. Only relentless mockery can make them tuck their tails and quiet down for a little bit, reducing the harm their insanity causes.

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

Or the policy where they separated children from their parents and then didn't keep track of who was family of whom, so that it was very hard and sometimes even impossible to reunite the family again in the future. Pure evil.

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

I agree with you, but none of the cat jokes I've seen really struck me as making fun of the Trump supporters/Nazis. They mostly seem to put the immigrants at the butt of the joke.

Maybe I'm just not taking the jokes in the spirit they're intended in. But I don't think that's the case.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Only one I've seen was a mugshot of Alf, and if you're ever seen the show that shit is hilarious.

I don't think he was shown eating a cat on the show, but he talked about eating them, and he was literally a furry alien.

[-] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

Oh, I've seen that one. Honestly probably one of the few good ones I've seen.

Most of what I've seen is stuff that boils down to "This cat/dog defending itself, or scared because it's going to get eaten"

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

Taylor Swift endorsed Harris with a photo of her dinner.

[-] orcrist@lemm.ee 81 points 2 months ago

So we can't point out racism and make jokes about how pathetic these racists are because other racists might get violent?

... I'm not with you on this one. It's a weak stance.

[-] Dkarma@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Sarcasm only works if the person actually understands what sarcasm is.

Most Americans are too stupid to do that when it's spoken much less read.

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah, people are dancing on TikTok to techno remixes of Trump saying that Haitians eat cats and dogs. People are normalizing it because they think it's funny.

No, he's saying racist shit about immigrants. It's worth ridicule, but it's not a joke...

[-] njm1314@lemmy.world 41 points 2 months ago

Glad to see this guy found the real villain in this situation, liberals.

[-] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago

The cat jokes call out the bullshit. Calling out the bullshit is good. Fuck it: here's Alf again.

Alf, a puppet alien, puts his puppet mouth on a live cat

[-] Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Yes the jokes keep his stupidity front and center to remind voters

[-] faltryka@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Honestly this is where my headspace is at. I see all the memes and jokes and they just make me sadder.

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

There are way too many jokes and way too little counter-narratives to this racist hoax.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 51 points 2 months ago

The jokes are the counter narrative by showing how fucking stupid the racism is.

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 19 points 2 months ago

There's both humor and serious responses to this, both doing the same job of saying it's stupid lies. The alternative is to ignore it, which means it only circulates in the circles where it's meant to drum up real action instead of just a meme. Do you have another solution instead of countering it with how ridiculous it is?

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

What possible counter narrative could you have to "those people over there are eating cats!" that hasn't been said?

Its flagrantly wrong at a factual level, incredibly racist in a predictable way, and utterly stupid. All three of these points have been argued and repeated and made national headlines over and over again, counter to the evil things that are being said by the racists in the GOP.

What else is there? What "counter narrative" is missing?

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee -2 points 2 months ago

The right wing is trying to start a race war in Ohio, and people are posting pictures and videos of themselves pretending to cook and eat their pets, and remixing Trump's racist statements into songs.

People need to stop blasting Trump's own bigotry like it's a meme, and start defending Haitian immigrants from hate and violence. Nazi groups are Marching on Springfield already.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Mocking fascists is wildly effective. They have to portray themselves as strong and serious to make headway. Their rhethoric is immune to facts as its based on feeling, a sense of being virtuous and powerful. Kneecapping that "vibe" completely unarms them.

It's why calling them "weird" was so effective. It rattles their core image, and reframes their message from "we are powerful warriors fighting evil" to "we are strange mothefuckers saying and doing weird ass things all day long."

You don't beat fascists with facts because none of them care about facts. You break their rhetoric with mockery or death.

For those not swept up in his movement, the facts and clear defense of the Haitian immigrants that is occurring are the best tools, and they are being used.

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

Weird take, but you do you, boo.

[-] Agrivar@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

and WAY too many of the "jokes" are just context-free memes that are only satirical if you ALREADY KNOW the fucking allegations are false! it's 2024, we should know better.

[-] orcrist@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

Define "counter-narrative". It's what you wanted, right? But you didn't. Instead you're blaming is for mocking absurd racist claims because ... checks notes ... other racists might or might not get violent.

And look, I've already read a handful of articles on the hoax just from whatever shows up in my subscriptions here or on RSS or whatever. People are addressing it head-on. That is happening, even if you don't see it. So, do you have any data to back up your claim.

[-] abs_mess@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

RFK jr in shambles

[-] moon@lemmy.cafe 24 points 2 months ago

Did this person just now realize that people were dying because of these actions the entire time?

[-] Naich@lemmings.world 19 points 2 months ago

Reducto ad absurdum is a valid, logical argument.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

Trump has already gotten millions of Americans killed..

[-] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Rookie number. I hear some other presidents got 10-15% of their country killed off.

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

You know, some of the best scholars are saying, and believe me folks, these people are saying, our numbers should be better folks, people are telling me, people are honestly saying to me that our numbers should be better, and I mean we have the, you know, we have the concept of a plan with the best people on it to get those numbers better folks.

[-] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Shout out to any one or two in oarticular?

[-] VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

This might upset people but when we joke about things I think a lot of times we normalize it. We do it as a means of coping with the insanity in front of us but in turn we often deescalate the overall seriousness of the issue. I don't think this is particularly good for voter turnout. I feel like this was partly how Trump managed to win the presidency in 2016. People memed and laughed about the idea of it occurring, didn't take it seriously and well it happened.

I apologize for being a stick in the mud, it's not my intention to be the meme police or take away your joy but I agree with the sentiment that we shouldn't trivialize what's at stake by laughing it off.

[-] Facebones@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago

Also, how extremists shouting the quiet part out loud is just assimilated now into the liberals sense of "status quo," so they just leave them to their fascism and bigotry then go off on you instead for "rocking the boat" when you point out the racist call for violence is bad.

Yes, I'm tired of hearing it too, that's WHY IM TRYING TO GET YOU TO GIVE A SHIT AND TELL THEM TO FUCK OFF WITH ME

[-] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 months ago

I haven't seen anyone making "cat jokes."

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 2 months ago

I've been making cat jokes. Taylor Swift's endorsement of Harris was accompanied by a photo of her with her dinner.

I fundamentally disagree with OP on this. Ignore it, and the Republicans become the only ones talking about it. They aren't saying it's bullshit. We can't control the message without talking about it; the best way to defuse it is to use it to attack dementia don and the Couchfucker in Chief.

this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
523 points (93.1% liked)

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