I would really rather that these were actual examples, and not conspiracy theories. We all have our own unsubstantiated ideas about what shadowy no-gooders are doing, but I’d rather hear about things that are actually happening.
The entire conservative party
Not sure what country you’re taking about, but I agree. Great example(s).
The council of nicea verifiably, empirically did NOT collect the gospels to make the new testament as we know it. The gospels were already being bound together, seen as a whole, etc before the council, and after the council there was still a bunch of what’s now considered apocrypha.
I came into the comment section hoping for interesting things, but knowing it would be almost all political. Why do I keep doing this to myself, I know better.
I get you, but when the topic is propaganda, politics is inevitable
A bird for your troubles
What were they expecting 😭😭 what even is a non-political “big lie”? That the earth is round or something???
There’s the TVTropes page someone linked, which has a bunch of stuff everyone believes because they became common audio/visual shorthand in TV and movies.
The earth isn’t round, it’s an oblate spheroid
;PSpheroids are round, that’s what makes them sphereoidal.
No, spheres are round, a spheroid is just mostly round.
Most lies of that nature are political.
Colloquially spread lies at a large social level are political by nature as they have their intent set by an antagonist intent to be history revisionist.
Grow up lmao
Everything is political lmao
I came into the comment section hoping for interesting things, but knowing it would be almost all important. Why do I keep doing this to myself, I know better.
“we are free”
deleted by creator
It’s wild how unburdened they are by having to conform to observable reality, they can just go nuts and say whatever. Jewish space lasers? Fuck it, why not, throw some alien clones in there too
“Owning a car = freedom”
“You need a big truck/SUV to haul things” (it’s just a coincidence that people drove much smaller cars before a multibillion dollar deluge of advertising)
“It’s consumers’ responsibility to reduce plastic pollution by recycling, and recycling is effective” (whoever came up with this one belongs in the PR scumfuck hall of fame)
https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-recycling-backfired It’s not that it is useless, it’ just not the solution
“Owning a car = freedom”
Unfortunately in a country that is so hostile to public transit or even pedestrian infrastructure that it’s nearly impossible to live, work or function without a car unless you’re lucky enough to live in a dense urban community, I can see how people might believe this.
“You need a big truck/SUV to haul things” (it’s just a coincidence that people drove much smaller cars before a multibillion dollar deluge of advertising)
What are you even talking about here lmao
There’s a TVTropes page for things like this, of course.
The wage price spiral.
A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink.
“I have to admit, I’m always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.
“Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best but truly, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”
The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused… There’s no propaganda in America.”
…in Ba Sing Se
In the old age homes of Virginia and Maryland.
“Democrats are liberal/progressive”
In reality, they’re pretty conservative.
They are still liberal though but not progressives. Liberalism isn’t necessarily a left wing ideology.
Liberal economic theories beleive the free market is the best solution generally, but allow the free market to be intervened in or even entirely supplanted in cases of market failure or where significant social problems arise from private ownership. There is a lot of debate inside liberalism as to when a market has failed, or when a social issue requires intervention, which is why sometimes you will see centrist liberals and left liberals arguing. Just look at Canada with our Liberal Party, its a big tent party with a small social democrat rump(since most social Dems are NDP), a larger social liberal / left liberal group, as well as some centrist and “blue liberals” (these would be right liberals, who are harder to convince about market failures).
Liberalism can be progressive, especially when the main thrust of a liberal party is left liberal or social liberal. Some Liberal parties are progressive sometimes, then more centrist at others as members and the membership changes over the years (or often on the strength and leanings of their leader). All still liberalism.
Liberalism isn’t necessarily a left wing ideology.
It’s an inherently right wing ideology lol. They’re just conservatives that want/like to think they’re progressive.
A lot of leftists (and I hardly ever saw it before coming on Lemmy) use ‘Liberal’ to mean Classic or Neo Liberal - basically a synonym of capitalist… That’s not at all what it means in American politics, where it means the opposite of Conservative. If we used that definition, Conservatives would be called Liberals as well as Liberals being Liberals, which obviously makes no sense for US lingo. However, they both are Liberals in the neo/classic sense as most US Liberals aren’t calling for communism.
The conservatives are only liberal in the economic sense. They are the party of book banning, anti-abortion and anti-lgbtq. Liberalism is also about human rights and freedoms. But just because you think gays should be allowed to marry and acces to have an abortion should be a right that doesn’t put you left on the political spectrum or even make you a progressive. Since that is pretty much a centrist political position in the rest of the world. Most Democrats are liberal in the economic sense but also in the human liberty sense. But only a few Democrats in the house and senate can be truly called progressives. Since most Democrats are fine with the status quo and aren’t pushing society forward. They are just fighting of the attacks of the GOP
This sort of confusion is why I think we need to always define economic and social political positions separately rather than lump them together.
You’d need more than two parties for that.
Good
Right, I agree. The progressive side of the US is not fairly represented by Democrats nationally.
That’s not at all what it means in American politics
Two two red scares and a cold war created an Orwellian memory hole such that Americans don’t even have the words anymore. It’s double-plus ungood.
Democrats are liberals. Republicans are too. Both of them are reactionary.
That’s only true if you use the international definition of “liberal”. In America, “liberal” means “left wing”. And we’re talking about American politics.
In America, “liberal” means “left wing”.
No it doesn’t. Widespread ignorance does not change objective reality. This sort of thinking is Hyperliberalism. Just because most Americans are politically illiterate doesn’t mean the definition is changed. 40% Americans also believe the entire universe is only 6000 years old.
If you ask an american political scientist to define “liberal” they will tell you the “international” definition. If you allow technical and scientific terms to be subjected to “language just evolves” you end up with a Tower of Babble type situation where different groups of people are unable to communicate with one another despite using the same language and society collapses.
If you ignore the actual usage of words then you’re speaking your own language and talking only with your own in-group bubble.
This was not a conversation about the political science term “liberal”. It is about lies told to everyone. We’re obviously discussing common usage.
We’re obviously discussing common usage.
Saying something is obvious doesn’t make it true. The only noun you use in your first comment is “Democrats” so how is this not a discussion about politics? I am having a discussion about politics and I’m going to do my best to use political terminology in its established scientific meaning not a niche dialect that you believe is “common use.”
The world is much bigger than the USA. Americans only make up 15% of the English speaking world. What you call “common use” is just “ignorant and wrong” to the rest of us.
Socially left, but not communist
By any civilized standard democrat politicians are far right extremists (a few token exceptions are closer to right or even center-right on some points, but they have little effect on the whole). Republicans are outright deranged lunatics, mixed with a worryingly increasing percentage of fascists.
The Overton Window
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
A concept where political discourse is slowly shifted to one side or another over time. For example conservatism.
Politics are talked about the right who move even further right, the centralists are moved to old right and the leftists are moved to the center … the old leftists are now seen as extreme and unacceptable while the far right are also unacceptable but gain some ground … everyone shifts one step to the right and now everything is more conservative.
The right shift is what is happening now … but it can happen and shift towards the left as well.
Off the top of my head:
- That little triangle embossed on your plastic container says it has been / can be recycled.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled
https://www.earthday.org/plastic-recycling-is-a-lie/
-Anything involving babies and incubators is immediately suspect. (Or babies and bayonets, for that matter).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony-And this one is pure conspiracy, and I know it’s not what you asked for… but it’s ridiculous and 'tis the season. My mother in law is convinced that the lyrics to “Oh Christmas Tree” (O Tannenbaum) were changed by people who wanted to erase the true and original lyrics. By who? Big Tree financiers? Communists who are stealing Christmas and replacing it with trees?
Anyway…
The original lyrics, according to this conspiracy, praise God and never mention trees at all. It’s completely ridiculous and always ends with the whole family singing along with the “true lyrics” from a badly photocopied paper that she hands out. I hope this doesn’t come up again this year because it really makes me want to fight. Which would make me the bad person, because who initiates fights on Christmas? The next couple of days are going to be tough.
I imagine either the “Oh God-mass God!” Version of the song either is the first version she learned whilst very young or she was taught this “fact” by someone who she trusts unquestioningly. It’s very hard to convince people to reasses beliefs they’ve taken on in that way. Maybe you could give up that dream and work on gently leading her to a compromise of doing a verse of each?
Wait, the lyrics of a song with a title that literally translates to “Oh, Christmas tree” originally had absolutely nothing to do with trees*?? I’d ask how she wraps her mind around that dichotomy, but I know people who believe in conspiracies do not need proof nor logic to believe.
Good luck. I’ll be entertaining my Trumpster QMIL, so I’ll be fighting along with you to control myself.
“Q” MIL?
Yep. She believes it all.
Now I’m really curious. Can you post those supposedly original lyrics?
Sorry for the late response - I just got back from travelling to meet that side of the family. But unfortunately, I don’t remember the lyrics. She introduced it a long time ago and she stopped being MC of Christmas a few years back. We didn’t get to enjoy it this year.
I just made this up on the spot, but it was in this spirit
Oh God above, sweet lord of mine
How much you love your children.
Oh God above, sweet lord of mine
How much you love your children.You sacrificed, your one true son
to save us earthbound sinners here…--and so on –
Rejoice, repent! We praise your name…
That’s hilarious, since the sources on Wikipedia say that the original lyrics were about a tree, with no relation to Christmas.
and many translated version never mention Christmas, like the Dutch and French versions.
Minor correction: the French version (Mon beau sapin) definitely mentions Christmas. The line “Toi que Noël planta chez nous” appears twice, translating to “You (the tree) that Christmas planted in our home”.
- That little triangle embossed on your plastic container says it has been / can be recycled.
Capitalist realism
Removed by mod
That the 2020 election was stolen.
I don’t know … all of it 🤷
Seriously, our world and reality are complex enough that we make up ideas and theories that are useful but likely untrue in some way that isn’t negligible. But so in need of useful operating theories are we that we peddle and believe them.
Constantly questioning everything is way too tiring for a species that’s still very much in the survival mode or stage of evolution.
“All models are wrong, some are useful.”
