Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.
Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.
What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.
By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.
Same as instance rules, plus:
Hope this is true and not just cope. As the article notes, though there are more marches, the marches are smaller. What that shakes out to in terms of absolute numbers of participants is unclear.
Currently, considering polling numbers, I'm disinclined to believe that public discontent is all that high compared to Trump's first administration, but I hope I'm wrong, and I'm glad that there are orgs paying attention and recording data so we can get a clearer picture.
This is a start, crawling before walking and all that.
I am not at all sure nationally there will ever be more than a small minority of people. Need 1% of active participants from the population and the 'game' changes to the next phase. This is a multiple years effort
Oh yeah, I don't mean to say that these protests aren't vital, regardless of whether they're bigger or smaller than 2017.
They are vital, and not the end product.
Also, this is a nation that is challenged for grassroots and protests.
Some alchemy needs to happen to get different sorts of people involved. Right now, the people doing this are those who still mostly believe that the system can work. I would be surprised if it were more than a handful of real socialists, anarchists, communists and other representatives of the left.
The next important milestone here will be to get people doing stuff who are pretty much convinced the system cannot be changed via normal American protests. And, I am hopeful, but not sure this can happen. Some major stuff has to happen between now and then. And I am not sure of what can or will happen. We have not seen that group out and about since the 1970s
Need 1% of active participants from the population and the 'game' changes to the next phase.
What's the next phase?
This is a multiple years effort
Uh... no? I mean maybe if you fail in your immediate goals but the scenario the American resistance should be aiming for is still a quick and decisive end to all this. By the time multiple years pass you'll be operating under full blown fascism rather than backsliding democracy, and by full blown fascism I mean regime critics will be put in concentration camps.
Well, if one pays attention to exit polls, which is done by asking people outside voting places how they voted, one sees a lot of ballot stuffing in most of the states. Exit polling and the evils of computerized voting, run by the oligarchs themselves, is just not a popular thing to discuss in USA politics. Its not even a thing to discuss today. But it still exists.
So, there is not a political solution here. How can there be when most are reluctant to address one of the root issues and problems in USA politics? What will happen is that the democrats will be allowed, again, to make majorities of both congressional chambers, and there may or may not be even a democratic president right after Trump. However, not enough damage will be rolled back, the wealth disparity will grow even more outrageous, and yet again there will be GOP majorities and presidents doing horrible stuff. Repeat this though the years and things will be horrible.
What most likely will happen is that whatever protest movement exists before the democratic wins, will evaporate after the 2026 wins. The only hope for real change is that these protests are filled with people who understand what is happening, and who can clearly communicate how what and why. This is not certain to happen. Its a long shot. There are many social forces against it.
I am cautiously optimistic because I have no clue what is going on, or what can happen. So, I dare think the normal things that can stop the usually inevitable decline of true reform are currently off the table. But its a race against time between now and November 2026. And honestly, and sadly, the Trump government will have to really overreact to the protests to change the current dynamic.
Just being honest here
So, there is not a political solution here.
I'm not sure about the election fraud stuff, but there is no electoral solution here. The people of America will have to take to the streets and force Trump to back off before anything positive can happen. And by take to the streets I mean something like this, this or this.
What will happen is that the democrats will be allowed, again, to make majorities of both congressional chambers, and there may or may not be even a democratic president right after Trump. However, not enough damage will be rolled back, the wealth disparity will grow even more outrageous, and yet again there will be GOP majorities and presidents doing horrible stuff. Repeat this though the years and things will be horrible.
I doubt it. You might get majorities in the midterms if anything resembling democracy still remains by that point, but America is currently smackdab in the middle of a fascist takeover, and fascists never give up power when they have it. There's talk of a third Trump term already, and there's a nonzero chance that—if democracy even lasts that long, which isn't at all guaranteed—Trump declares a state of emergency in 2027 because the Dem-controlled Congress is stopping him from saving America due to their Soros-funded DEI agenda. This is not the usual regression-stagnation cycle of US politics.
And by take to the streets I mean something like this, this or this.
Yes, that is exactly what has to happen. But it cannot happen yet, the underpinnings is not there yet, and may not be there later either.
but America is currently smackdab in the middle of a fascist takeover
I don't think it is in the middle of a fascist takeover. My observation is that the USA has been and still is controlled by oligarch families (there are many such people, not just those visible in the news). But, among all the powerful families there is something of a tug of war, I think there has been a minor realignment of some? The current situation does allow for nasty things to happen that looks like something new, but Trump, the GOP, the democrats are definitely under the thumb of the oligarchs. This is all very well orchestrated, and has been part of a build up for over a generation.
This is not the usual regression-stagnation cycle of US politics.
I think it is, I have seen these patterns grow like a wave cycle slowly amplifying its height for the last 30 years. I see the same patterns here, just with more drastic results, must like a stormy ocean going over a wave wall, but understanding the weather, and seeing the storm come in. And I think Trump will do what he is told to do, if not, then he dies. The only uncertainty is how much slack he has to act on his own, and if the currently active oligarchs (most are staying out of this mess) are too overconfident.
I guess the way to break the media blackout is to go bigger.