Ask Lemmy

I think if everyone was generally more aware of the details of everyone else’s political beliefs, we’d collectively be much less fucked than we are today.

If you’re engaging online at all, or donating to any politicians, the authorities are already aware of your politics.

Depends on the implementation for me. I’m in the southern US. If it just says ‘socialist,’ I’m probably fucked. But if it actually shows policies I support, like ‘everyone is entitled to own the output of their own labor,’ then most people would probably agree with me. People are propagandized against the socialist/communist label, but most of them agree with the policies.

I'm deep in Trump country. I wouldn't even feel safe putting a Republicans Against Trump sign outside my house.

as an anarchist I wouldn't do well anywhere

I'm living on the outskirts of a rural town. People have trump flags flying on my street. I'd be totally fucked.

Why does everybody think that so many people will just straight up murder everybody who doesn't share their politics?

If everyone's political beliefs were something you could see, I actually think it would create more peace. How many people go along with a more extreme take only because they are afraid to be ostracized from their community? Odds are folks would look around and see that the world is more shades of gray than what social media tries to mold us into.

I had someone tell me I was brainwashed because I have a degree in political science. I was taken aback, but then decided to ask myself if I was. I mean, what's the difference between being educated and being brainwashed? Is it the conclusion that you come to? Is it some physically measurable thing?

Some good questions to ask is "is the information I'm getting geared to make me feel a certain way or to inform me about something?" "Am I learning in a setting where I am afraid that to have a dissenting opinion would get me kicked out of my community?" "Are certain ideas immediately ruled out as false without further discussion?"

At least in my degree, I felt that there were a plethora of opinions in my classroom discussions, and when we approached different lenses, we made sure to have a thorough understanding of them, as best we could. I can think of only one philosophy that an international relations teacher ruled off outright, and that was "ancient hatreds theory". Even then we spent several classes taking it apart and why it is a poor tool to view conflicts.

That said, I would say I was brainwashed after college when I spent more time on Facebook, reddit, and Instagram. With the perpetual rage machine at my fingertips, I was afraid that if I disagreed I would be flamed and cancelled from groups that I loved. I am very wary of getting information from the socials since things are so over simplified and there is little to no welcomed critical discussion. It's just a yelling pit with people further entrenched in their beliefs.

People will squint at me trying to figure me out a lot. My political beliefs are all over the place. My goal is clear (an egalitarian society that rewards hard work, but ensures a comfortable life for everyone, globally).
But I have absolutely no idea what policies would achieve that.
I'm just sure as shit neither Capitalism nor a state-controlled economy would. Probably leaning towards Anarchism.

If authorities could see my beliefs, they could lock me up, cause they're actually illegal.

A citizen of the world; A left leaning, anarcho syndicalist and when I’m feeling moderate, a democratic socialist. People would think the same thing they already think about me: that I’m a person that is fed up with fascist boot lickers on both “sides” of the rapidly rightward shifting Overton window.

Trans in Ohio? I'm dead

I can't drive anywhere. There are way too many people in a 1km radius too see past the cloud of floating tags. I just really hope closing my eyes turns the effect off so I can try to get some sleep.

Hmm. You remember how congress used to round up suspected communists?

Not very. I'm pretty mild in my ideologies as far as scandinavia goes. Once traveling to the US again my presence would probably make Joseph McCarthy rise from his grave, though.

As a something-between-liberal-and-leftist-with-a-hint-of-arm-yourself-to-fight-the-increasingly-popular-Nazis (is there a word for this?) in the middle of the cousin-fuckingly deep south... yeah I probably wouldn't even survive the trip home from work.

I’m in Oklahoma. Considering this question makes me nervous.

I'm white, I'm male, I'm straight, cis-gendered, and middle-class. My neighbours aren't going to bother me. And if they also become aware of what "anarcho-communism" means in the process, they wouldn't even blink.

Thr police might not appreciate my thoughts on them, but I think they'd suddenly have way less public support in this scenario, so meh.

I give it 48 hours before I'm a corpse.

Ohio. In a region with a high percentage of trump supporting retired military (how tf that is even a demographic is beyond understanding)

Oh, everybody can already see that. I'm a man in my 30s and I still wear my punk vest everywhere. My feelings on cops, Nazis, and fascists are made pretty clear on it, while anyone who recognizes basic anarchist emblems will see those too. It doesn't do a perfect 1:1 job of communicating my beliefs, but I'm more open and specific with what I believe than any coward in a red hat

Not fucked at all. I agree with my beliefs, and I'm tired of being misunderstood. Having them be visible would be vindicating. I just want to be friends with everyone at the end of the day.

Not very. Most people around here are able to coexist despite having different views.

Completely, because without privacy you'd be functionally guaranteed a civil war.

Reality is nuanced; labels aren't.

I'd say pretty fucked because people with suppressed bigotry who didn't publicly express those views due to shame, societal expectations etc now have an easy way to find each other as well as their enemies. They'll also have no more reason to try to hide their intentions. And unfortunately I feel like there might be more of those people than people willing to stand against them.

I'm fine. I live in Canada, and I'm not a fascist, Nazi, (colour) supremacist, or anything.

I just lean to the left and appreciate public/social services; which is slightly "communist" but not "authoritarian Nazi" Communist. No no, you should be free to live how you want, work in whatever field you want, eat the food you like, love who you wanna love, and live how and where you want to live. I'm just in favor of things like, not bankrupting someone because they got pneumonia and had to go to the hospital for a day; also fire departments, schools, employment insurance (social/government), streets and roads, parks, sidewalks, community centers.... You know, stuff that everyone owns, but nobody "owns"? Stuff we all can use without having to pay for it.

I'm also in favor of UBI, but I realize that UBI may not happen anytime soon, maybe not in my lifetime. I hope it happens eventually (or at do away with fiat currency), for the good of the people, but I recognize the fight is difficult to win.

Probably dead. On the other hand, it'd be easier to tell who I'm safe around.

I'm already pretty loud about my political views. At worst, I would probably get pretty irate seeing just how many fascists exist around me, tho.

I wish everyone could see and understand what I believe. I think it would make it so much easier to talk to people.

Florida here. Had a Bernie bumper sticker from the early days of his campaign til the end of Trump's admin. Only ever incited two interactions, both were physical threats.

So, it probably wouldn't go well.

Every little detail would probably cause some issues. Someone walking around here “advertising” racism would have some real problems as where I live is very mixed. There are probably a lot of people riding the edge of violence for a multitude of reasons, assumed rage over politics-based slights absolutely being one of them. I don’t think I’d have too many personal problems, considering my “hard-left” leanings revolve around trying to make lives better for everyone.

Might help if you got within a km of a politician, you could tell pretty quick how full of shit they were. There’d be some serious upheaval, I think.

Low to moderate. Lower than it would be if I wasn't a white male, because is the world we live in.