• Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    America deserves to be recognized as a Third World Country. I say this as an American, it’s deplorable how the citizens are treated.

    • eldain@feddit.nl
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      3 days ago

      The cold war is over, they are called developing countries now. Your point still stands, the US has lots of developing to do, especially on the social/society front.

    • Corgana@startrek.website
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      3 days ago

      To be clear- this is just your personal “vibe” and not an actual fact, because the term “third world country” literally means a country that is not aligned with the US or USSR. If you meant “developing nation” that term also has a definition the US does not meet.

    • LeninOnAPrayer@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Most of the “Democracy” status countries are bull shit anyway. They are heavily weighed on “Economic Freedom” which is a fancy way of saying the freedom for which Imperialist nations corporations are able to exploit third world countries resources.

      Nationalize your oil system and have the profits of it go directly back to your people for the improvement of social programs? Damn, that sounds like Communism!

      Sell oil drilling rights to Shell to “bring jobs” to your country that pay poverty wages, destroy local ecosystems, and extract all your resources with no benefits to the local population? Well, that’s “Economic Freedom” baby!

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    And a few days after that, PragerU releases a video titled “Why democracies will fail eventually”, which tells its viewers that democracy creates “moral decadence”, and now a “strong leader” is needed to fix the issue, who might have told some noble lies like a parent tells their kid the stork brings the children when they’re not ready for reality. And the video ends with a “Roman salute” over “God Bless America”.

    • DancingBear@midwest.social
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      4 days ago

      People tell their kids the stork brings babies because the parent is the one not ready to have the conversation.

      The parent is avoiding their own humiliation. Telling kids how babies are made is not embarassing for kids. Kids have no reason to feel shame or judgement about these kinds of things….

      Just pointing this out to show that the metaphor here is deeply flawed.

        • Generic_Idiot@lemm.ee
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          4 days ago

          Sex, procreation is not a horrible perverted thing. It’s biology, science, and should be explained as soon as they’re curious enough to ask.

        • DancingBear@midwest.social
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          4 days ago

          Knowledge of bodily functions seems to concern you. That is your problem, not the kids.

          It literally matters zero percent if kids know how bodies function.

          The fear and judgement is all in your head lol.

          • histic@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 days ago

            It’s not even the matter of how the body works it can lead to them watching porn and shit early on which isn’t good cause kids are curious and google exists literally speaking from personal experience I was told way to early on by older friends and it lead to shit I don’t need to get into

            • MichaelScotch@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              You need some therapy. Telling kids the truth about how our bodies work early on doesn’t harm them, but maybe your parents not talking to you about it and your older friends having to do it, perhaps in a crude way, is what led to that shit you don’t need to get into.

            • Rainbowsaurus@lemm.ee
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              4 days ago

              That’s the problem. You were told by friends who left you with questions you answered in unsafe ways, not by adults who could answer your questions in an age appropriate way.

              Giving kids age-appropriate sex-ed is a good way to protect them against predators. Many victims don’t even know something wrong has been done to them because people like you are too afraid to give them the barest guidance.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              4 days ago

              Dude, they’ll watch porn either way probably. It’s more likely if you make it taboo that they’ll get into some weird shit. If it’s normalized then it’s not some mysterious thing they need to discover on their own. Your thought process is what leads to kids watching porn too young. They’re going to learn about it, like you did from older friends. If your parents made it normal to discuss maybe you’d be healthier.

            • 3DMVR@lemm.ee
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              3 days ago

              lol I watched porn hella young, I never got a talk, greatful none of my searches at like 10 were connected to an older family member, fbi showing up wouldve been wild

        • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Lots of 3 to 4 year olds are perfectly aware that they have a future sibling brewing in mom’s tummy.

        • KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca
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          4 days ago

          3-4 year olds don’t need to know about birds and the bees

          Why not? It’s interesting and biology is part of the natural world around us.

          Some kids probably won’t care but others will be super interested. Start the conversation and see where it leads.

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…”

    Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947

  • danc4498@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Oh, but were not a democracy, were a constitutional republic hardy har har har har

    • my republican friends.
    • Rusty Shackleford@programming.dev
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      4 days ago

      we’re a constitutional federal republic, with democratically elected representatives, but a plutocracy, in practice

      • me, a political science pedant of highest/worst order
        • Rusty Shackleford@programming.dev
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          3 days ago

          FilthyHookerSpit

          Discount for you, but on one condition:

          You gotta spit on all of my tankie “friends” over at lemmy.ml, hexbear, and lemmygrad and say, “This service was prepaid, and I made a handsome profit, ultimately at your expense and exploitation.”

      • Astra@lemmy.ml
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        4 days ago

        As a political science pedant, can you explain to me the difference between a democracy and a constitutional republic? I tried to Google “constitutional republic” but I just got a Wikipedia page that said they were the same thing.

        Which I guess would fit, since republicans are absolute dumbfucks, but if there’s actually some nuance there, I’m curious to know.

        Thanks!

        • Rusty Shackleford@programming.dev
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          3 days ago

          If the question is “What’s the difference?”, then, as is tradition, we must figuratively clear our throats before such discourse with the well-worn adage, “It depends.”

          As a disclaimer, much of this content was copied from Wikipedia and arranged in a way to support my opinion; none of this should be taken as Gospel. This is not financial advice. And please accept my apologies for the tedious length.

          If we limit our terms’ definitions to their etymological roots, then:

          Democracy

          • The term democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens during classical antiquity. The word comes from dêmos ‘(common) people’ and krátos ‘force/might’.

          • In a direct democracy, the people have the direct authority to deliberate and decide legislation. In a representative democracy, the people choose governing officials through elections to do so. The definition of “the people” and the ways authority is shared among them or delegated by them have changed over time and at varying rates in different countries.

          Republic

          • The term originates from the Latin translation of Greek word politeia. Cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia into Latin as res publica, and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic (or similar terms in various European languages). The term can literally be translated as ‘public matter’. It was used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, even during the period of the Roman Empire. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and it does not necessarily imply any specific type of regime as the modern word republic sometimes does.

          • A republic, based on the Latin phrase res publica (‘public affair’ or ‘people’s affair’), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people) through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a republic is most often a single sovereign state, subnational state entities that have governments that are republican in nature may be referred to as republics.

          • Representation in a republic may or may not be freely elected by the general citizenry. In many historical republics, representation has been based on personal status and the role of elections has been limited. This remains true today; among the 159 states that use republic in their official names as of 2017, and other states formally constituted as republics, are states that narrowly constrain both the right of representation and the process of election.

          • The term developed its modern meaning in reference to the constitution of the ancient Roman Republic, lasting from the overthrow of the kings in 509 BC to the establishment of the Empire in 27 BC. This constitution was characterized by a Senate composed of wealthy aristocrats wielding significant influence; several popular assemblies of all free citizens, possessing the power to elect magistrates from the populace and pass laws; and a series of magistracies with varying types of civil and political authority.

          Plutocracy

          • A plutocracy (from Ancient Greek πλοῦτος (ploûtos) ‘wealth’ and κράτος (krátos) ‘power’) or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established political philosophy.

          • Some modern historians, politicians, and economists argue that the U.S. was effectively plutocratic for at least part of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era periods between the end of the Civil War until the beginning of the Great Depression.

          • President Theodore Roosevelt became known as the “trust-buster” for his aggressive use of antitrust law, through which he managed to break up such major combinations as the largest railroad and Standard Oil, the largest oil company. According to historian David Burton, “When it came to domestic political concerns, TR’s bête noire was the plutocracy.” In his autobiographical account of taking on monopolistic corporations as president, Roosevelt recounted:

          …we had come to the stage where for our people what was needed was a real democracy; and of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of a plutocracy.

          On paper, we (the U.S.) are a not a direct democracy, though we do vote directly about some issues via referendums; our constitution codifies the extents and limitations of legislation, enforcement, and jurisprudence of our laws and our rights as citizens.

          We directly elect representatives to carry out the business of governance from local, state, to the federal level as our country’s political union is a federation of States that simultaneously retain their autonomy via the parameters outlined within the constitution and cede ultimate authority of jurisprudence to our bicameral national assembly (in our case, Congress) and Supreme Court.

          In practice, due to regulatory capture, political expedience and corruption, and the realities of our global economic expansion, our country is effectively ruled by 2 factions of a political class of wealth that use faux-populism to maintain their power and influence.

      • Deathray5@lemmynsfw.com
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        3 days ago

        “me, a political science pedant of highest/worst order”

        Yo you single

        spoiler

        Sorry just funiest response I could think of

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      4 days ago

      constitutional republic

      So we’re going to follow the constitution?

      ohh

      It’s like talking to MAGA about Christianity So you’re going to follow the bible?

      ohh

      • ObtuseDoorFrame@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        I wish I could award this comment. It follows my occasional and unfulfilling conversations with Republicans extremely closely. If the conversation doesn’t end with wanting to pull my hair out and put my head through the nearest available drywall, did I really talk to Republican?

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          Oh don’t worry, they’re going to try to change the constitution to match the worldview they like.

    • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Oh, we are? Is that why everyone other than hetero white males is getting mentions removed or protections gutted and/or removed? What part of the constitution that provides rights to all Americans is in play when this is happening? Go ahead, I’ll wait…

      That would be my response.

      • danc4498@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        My response is to click that “unfriend” button and never see them on social media again.

        • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          That works as well. I was going to delete my Facebook but decided posting things supporting minorities and other groups while being an annoyance to the right was more important.

    • ksigley@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      Having a for-profit prison system was a bad choice.

      Who could have seen it coming ?

      • Ilixtze@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        And a pay to win political candidate system, and a heavily monetized educational system. Who is surprised about the decline of the man who steps on his dick and machineguns his own foot?

    • CalipherJones@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Land of the free founded on slaves. America really is just a big pile of hypocrisy under the hood of vain surface level patriotism.

  • kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    4 days ago

    The US is one of the most watered down democracies, even for a liberal democracy (which is severely watered down). Its a system where the needs of the many are filtered through the needs of the few. We dont need to “fix” liberal democracy, we need workers democracy (syndicalism).

      • tomi000@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I think what they mean is, in theory in Democracy the majority decides about political actions by electing their representatives who in turn act on their behalf. In the US this is heavily manipulated by e.g. only giving a very limited number of choices which dont represent most peoples opinions. Not everyones opinion is worth the same, you buy influence with money.

  • teri@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 days ago

    “Could lose”? We are long past this point. When you can chose between two parties and they try to manipulate the election as hard as they can, then that’s a zombie democracy at best. And now? The president stands above the law. He can fire people illegally. He can disable law enforcement. Democracy in the US is gone. Hopefully only temporarily. Now it’s up to people to act, take their rogue government down and repair what can be repaired.

  • liverbe@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    “You’ve only been a democracy for only 50 years. Not unless you don’t count black people… you are nearly as mature democracy as Botswana.” - Lukas Matsson (Swedish guy) on Succession