• ashok36@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Fuck this bible thumpin reactionary hillbilly dork.

    “But he goes after both sides!”

    No, He punches down on poor people. Fuck off with that.

    • eric5949@lemmy.cloudaf.site
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      1 year ago

      The name of the song itself is a huuuuuggggge dog whistle, imo. Tells me everything I need to know about the target demographic.

      • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Dude is a full blown nazi, his YouTube channel had (possibly still has) a playlist of videos titled something like “videos to make ya think”, including stuff about the dancing Israelis conspiracy theory.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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          1 year ago

          Anybody who uses that phrase is just so unaware of how they sound. To accuse everybody else of not thinking is just so arrogant. Oh look at me, I’m the one who figured it out, all I had to do was start thinking. No one else is thinking

      • irmoz@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        How is that? I’d honestly like to know. It raises my hackles, but i can’t really explain why.

        “Rich men north of Richmond”… I’m not american, so maybe that’s why i don’t quite get it

        • thallamabond@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Probably has something to do with the Mason Dixon line (civil war border) and Richmond being the northernmost city of the South.

          • matchphoenix@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Richmond was the former capital of the confederacy. The Mason-Dixon line is actually at the Pennsylvania-Maryland/Delaware border.

            North of Richmond is referencing Washington DC which has a large, fairly poor Black population and its suburbs, which are very rich and somewhat liberal.

            • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I think its a bit of a stretch that he’s not just talking about Congress/Senate when referring to rich people in DC. That seems to be the most likely scenario.

              • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Standard rightwingery refers to “them politicians in Washington”. When he tosses in a reference to the capitol of the Confederacy, it’s pretty clear who he’s pandering to.

                • Rambi@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  I think you’re probably right due to the target audience of the song and who originally seeded its success, e.g. Matt Walsh. Although I suppose you can just argue that Richmond just sounds good put next to rich men? Though if they weren’t comfortable with it being associated with the confederacy though they just wouldn’t have used it.

                  If I was to disregard the confederacy association I would say it’s an OK name because if you’re referring to politicians in DC they’re a group that’s worthy of being called out. It would still be stupid though because of course many of their favourite politicians are, you know, politicians and also very rich (like Donald Trump but also many more who were born into great wealth and continued to be wealthy throughout their lives.)

        • eric5949@lemmy.cloudaf.site
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          1 year ago

          Kinda weird when your song talking shit about politicians contains an explicit reference to the folks you’re talking about being north of the capital of the Confederacy.

        • Takatakatakatakatak@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Pretty sure Washington DC is directly North of Richmond. I’m not from USA but that was my natural assumption about who he was talking about just based on geography and the US centre of power.

    • rebul@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper? His song is #1 on iTunes in the US/UK/Australia, #2 in Ireland and Canada. But it certainly couldn’t be because it resonates truth for the masses. No, it is because he is punching down on the poor and you are so smart to have figured it out. The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out. Tool.

      • ssboomman@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Having something resonate with a bunch of people, and saying something true isn’t always the same thing. You can say a bunch of dumb bullshit about society that resonates with people but isn’t really true, just like how he does. You have just fallen for the grift. Get his dick out of your mouth.

        • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Did you know that iTunes play counts are hidden and he has pitiful numbers on Spotify? He’s not popular. He’s being astroturfed by fascist propaganda channels. He’s the Sound of Freedom if it was a backwoods white supremacist hick.

          • Rambi@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Yeah I don’t think many people even use iTunes anymore anyway.

            • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Fox news viewers are more likely to use iTunes because it’s the default app on the most authoritarian platform.

      • Raise_a_glass@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        I’ve been thinking a lot about this song. And it is a real feeling that people have.

        But it is also just whining.

        The way he goes from talking about people without anything to eat and then talks about how someone that poor and fat shouldn’t eat a fudge round just seems to be a confused message.

        Is big government the problem? Or is it lack of corporate regulations that then allow big companies to pay people less than what they need to survive.

        Washington can do things to fix what he is talking about, but I would be shocked if he is interested in any policy that helps poor people or people drowning in student or medical debt.

            • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              And so is the corporate music machine that markets this excuse for a protest song, it’s just another culture war debate masquerading as politics.

        • taigaman@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          I think he’s talking about people that have deliberately gotten themselves so fat that they get a disability check from the government for it. I definitely have a problem with where he’s placing the blame, but he’s talking about what he sees around him.

          I’m from an area similar to him, and the number of people trying to line themselves up for government assistance as their career is substantial. I think it speaks to the hopelessness of the area we live in these days, on top of generational poverty. Things have always been bad around here, but they got a lot worse after mining, and its supporting industries fell apart.

          • Cleverdawny@lemm.eeOP
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            1 year ago

            I doubt there’s more than five people who have deliberately gotten themselves into disability by getting themselves fat. It’s incredibly hard to get onto disability and “I am fat” doesn’t cut it, you have to be able to not move to have even a chance

            • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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              1 year ago

              My mother is clinically diagnosed with a psychological disorder that caused hallucinations, anxiety and delusion. She tried to get disability for 30 years. She never got it even though she was institutionalized multiple times

              • Cleverdawny@lemm.eeOP
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                1 year ago

                Yeah. My brother in law has severe physical and mental disabilities which makes him unable to work at all and he can’t get on. Been trying for a decade and a half. It’s like these people think you can send a letter to the government saying “I am fat and lazy” and you’ll get money.

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            1 year ago

            You said it yourself-- the reason those people need to make weird choices like trying to find any way to qualify for more government assistance is because historically their income came from industries that don’t and can’t exist anymore. They don’t have any other choice. The solution is actually more availability of assistance resources so people from those places can have enough stability to be able to make choices like learning new skills or moving to a new place. Why can’t people like him-- who see this happening to the people around him, his neighbors, his family-- empathize?

          • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            No one has “deliberately” gotten morbidly obese.

            I’m not absolving anyone of all personal responsibility for their body and what they put in it, but you should read about food deserts and similar. Many folks in this country ONLY have access to a McDonald’s and a gas station snack aisle.

      • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Fat shaming, welfare queening, both sidsing, slack jawed backwater hick bullshit. I grew up around dipshits just like him. 1, they’re hypocrites that live off the system and haven’t been able to see their own cock without the assistance of a mirror in 15 years but because they’re white it’s ok. 2, Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more. He doesn’t mean a word of what he’s singing and the people that “resonate” with it don’t either. It’s just 4 minutes of dog-whistling and right wing propaganda.

        • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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          Their “color blindness” and concern trolling falls away behind closed doors. It’s empty platitudes and surface level enlightened centrist garbage and nothing more.

          Color blindness itself is basically a way to decouple yourself from the political economy you are a subject of, which is in no way “color blind” and has more or less created these system of classification. I don’t even subscribe to DiAngelo’s individualist notions of “white fragility,” I think they can even serve to reify the notion of race, but people saying they’re color blind is such a dismissal to address the world around you.

      • Sunforged@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Aw yes because punching down never resonates with the masses. We’ve never elected politicians who distract from real issues by blaming poor people who don’t use them bootstraps…

      • seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        How do you punch down on poor people when you are living in a camper?

        You can totally hate on poor people while being poor yourself. I’ve seen it loads of times. The mentality is “I deserve welfare, but those people don’t! They’re cheating the system!”

        The few negative opinions I have seen about this song have been from people it is calling out.

        Short, fat people?

      • Aaliyah1@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Living in a camper…off the grid on 90 acres of land that he owns and plans to build a farmhouse and raise livestock on. Working class my ass…

        • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          He bought it, yes, but technically the bank owns it yet. IIRC he says he owes $60K on it, and he’s paying it off. Very common practice.

          With this debt, and working a standard job, he doesn’t have the means to raise livestock atm. So yes, he’s planning to, someday.

          • Aaliyah1@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            What does this even prove? If I take out a mortgage to buy a house, the bank “technically owns” my house. Does this make me not middle class?

            • CoffeeJunkie@lemmy.world
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              Well, I don’t really care for the subtle, haughty undertones in your initial statements & acting like he’s some super well-off dude that has no problems. “off the grid on 90 acres that he owns”. He’s working on owning it, he wants to own land…and he’s going about it in a modest way.

              But oh my god , he’s planning to do stuff on that land. Eventually. He plans to build a farmhouse & raise livestock. The sheer audacity of these life goals. That he doesn’t have cash money for, but is working towards.

              Something tells me a house he builds is probably pretty different from a house you would build. It doesn’t have to be some crazy-ass expensive mansion.

              You then casually dismiss this man by saying “working class, my ass”. He’s gone through his past, IIRC a lot of warehouse/industrial work. He dropped out of high school, got his GED. I think that pretty much fits into the definition of working class. It does get a little more hairy when exploring what is middle class, because it does mention “owning land”. Okay. But there’s also emphasis on education & white collar professions…that’s not this guy at all.

              And maybe his dreams of owning land, building a home, and raising livestock are the main cause of his suffering. Life is exponentially harder for him because he is actively striving for life improvement, not living in a tiny box & watching Netflix on the couch.

              I think that’s the main source of his frustration that shines in his song, he’s working hard & then what little he makes is “taxed to no end”. The system makes it so hard for average, ordinary people to get ahead and actually do something of value with their lives.

              • Aaliyah1@lemm.ee
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                Hahaha haughty? “The poor renter looking down on the middle class landowner.” Lol, what the fuck are you talking about.

                Tell me, have you ever lived in a rural area? Or been a farmworker? Because I really honestly can’t tell if I’m dealing with city folk who equate farmer who owns land with farmer who does farm work, or if I’m dealing with middle class folk who don’t understand the privilege of owning property, even if “the bank technically owns it.”

                Something tells me a house he builds is probably pretty different from a house you would build.

                Brave of you to assume I could even consider building a house anywhere, much less buying one.

                And yeah I really don’t give a shit about his past or education. Is Jay-z working class because he grew up in the Marcy projects? Is Richard Branson working class because he left school at 16?

                Life is exponentially harder for him because he is actively striving for life improvement, not living in a tiny box & watching Netflix on the couch.

                This tells me everything I need to know about you. “Average and ordinary” for you and “average and ordinary” for me mean completely different things. Have you ever talked to an actual poor person?

      • Rambi@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Most of the lyrics are benign and he has plenty of musical talent. But the lyrics that comment on politics are just incredibly brain dead, I don’t know what else to tell you. It is proposing welfare recipients as the reason for poverty, but what percentage of tax returns go to welfare? Obviously like, nothing. Additionally his own region of the country has some of the highest rates of welfare recipiency and if that was cut off does he really think that would improve anything?

        I think the reason it leaves so many people with a bad taste in their mouths is because clearly a bait and switch is being performed. The first part draws your attention to the issues the singer is experiencing in his life such as low pay, then in the middle he goes on to talk about the “Rich men North of Richmond-” which if that is in reference to DC politicians then fair enough- in addition to welfare recipients as if those two things are related. He is just running defence for the wealthy by trying to distract people from the problems downstream from general extreme wealth inequality by trying to convince us fat people buying candy is causing everyone’s problems. Not to mention the humour there is in seeing someone that looks pretty severely overweight themselves calling out other fat people (much like how he is an apparent working class man going after over working class people.)

        In my opinion the purpose of the song is just to turn poor people against each other so we won’t get any ideas about taxing the rich or anything like that. This is probably be reason why lovely people like Matt Walsh were early promoters of the song.

      • TrismegistusMx@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If you want the truth instead of the myth being pushed by the fascists who are astroturfing this guy all over social media, you can watch this video. It’s long, but there’s a ton of evidence in the first 10 minutes.

        https://youtu.be/3M6ZjYfp-B8

      • Agent_of_Kayos@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, because a group of people have never rallied up for something they believed is true but isn’t…wait…

  • Zink@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    This song does such a good job with communicating the conservaive trinity:

    • persecution complex
    • mad about things they themselves voted for
    • mad that the other is getting something, which is obviously undeserved
    • AdamHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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      In his interviews he claims he is a centrist but takes issues with teachers turning girls into boys and boys into girls.

          • Liz@midwest.social
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            1 year ago

            It’s not exactly a lyrical masterpiece.

            Rich Men North of Richmond Lyrics

            [Verse 1]
            I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
            Overtime hours for bullshit pay
            So I can sit out here and waste my life away
            Drag back home and drown my troubles away

            [Pre-Chorus]
            It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
            For people like me and people like you
            Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
            But it is, oh, it is

            [Chorus]
            Livin’ in the new world
            With an old soul
            These rich men north of Richmond
            Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
            Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
            And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
            'Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
            'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

            [Verse 2]
            I wish politicians would look out for miners
            And not just minors on an island somewhere
            Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat
            And the obese milkin’ welfare

            [Verse 3]
            Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds
            Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds
            Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground
            ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down

            [Pre-Chorus]
            Lord, it’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to
            For people like me and people like you
            Wish I could just wake up and it not be true
            But it is, oh, it is

            [Chorus]
            Livin’ in the new world
            With an old soul
            These rich men north of Richmond
            Lord knows they all just wanna have total control
            Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do
            And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do
            'Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end
            'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

            [Outro]
            I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
            Overtime hours for bullshit pay

            • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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              These lyrics reflect completely legitimate working class anxieties but supports the system that perpetuates them. “Taxed to no end,” the corporate tax rate has been brought down by lobbying for decades. The obese focus is on one hand legit since eating like shit is cheap, but it has blinders on about why that is, since it’s not convenient to their point.

              These parts are all completely legit, although the lyrics are pretty bad. The same things have been said by much better voices in much better ways.

              I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day

              Overtime hours for bullshit pay

              So I can sit out here and waste my life away

              Drag back home and drown my troubles away

              Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground

              ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down

              Overall it’s a great example of politics in America right now and how the working class is exploited by the right wing, as well as how liberal media, in the mainstream “dialogue,” fails to address the working class anxieties and instead focuses on the “controversy” of the song. The coverage isn’t really about the lyrics, it’s about the way people are interpreting them politically, and it all favors and perpetuates the exact same system.

              • Liz@midwest.social
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                1 year ago

                Yeah, I totally agree with everything you said. The anxieties felt by people on the far right are real, they’ve just got a skewed perception of the cause of their problems.

              • cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works
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                So persecuted that a bunch of rich guys put their thumbs on the scale and ascended his music to the charts because they agreed with the message. The Rich Men North of Richmond want total control, no not the ones I agree with, the other ones.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    That’s because a lot of Americans are under the impression that poor people are poor because they’re lazy, and not because they’re victims of oppression. They even cling to this absurd belief when they themselves are the victims of similar oppression. Must be lead in the water or something…

    • Bizarroland@kbin.social
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      And unfortunately he’s also a pretty damn good singer.

      Like my hackles were up the whole time I was listening to the song because I knew this is some sort of like Republican redneck protest song against the liberals, but at the same time I had to admit the guy can fucking sing and it was a good song.

      We really need to step up our protest song game.

      • bmoney@lemmy.world
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        You need to get out there and look.

        Lots of revolutionary music being made, just not made by industry plants and boosted by bullshit

        Tho he is a good singer, the song was basic

        • Scooter411@lemmy.ml
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          I love AJJ, they are a mainstay on my playlists. Their songs are good to great in the lyrics department. But musically they’re not super amazing. Their lead singer also has not a great singing voice. I don’t think any of their songs could be called “catchy” - and none of them are going to get the attention this guy’s song did, and a big part of that is their songs aren’t as good - again, simply from a music standpoint.

      • baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
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        Yeah that first verse about how we struggle, etc. I was very interested. Then look out for miners, not minors…oook easy dunk, we can all get behind protecting kids. Then the welfare thing. Oh it’s republican talking points not a new uprising of classic country like Cash

  • Transcriptionist@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Image Transcription:

    Picture of Oliver Anthony singing with the caption above: “When the government gives more of your tax money to corporations but you’re mad someone used EBT to buy snacks”

    [I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please message and let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for images for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]

  • eatmyass [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Someone here mentioned this dude lives in a camper as somehow proof of his working class bona fides. Yeah…he lives on 90 acres of land that he wants to build a farm on and raise livestock. Doesn’t exactly scream “working class.”

    Not that it matters. He could’ve written this song sitting down at the bottom of a mine at the end of his shift right before he was diagnosed with black lung and it still would’ve been a shitty racist song.

    Also has anyone looked into how this shit got so popular? At least Jason Aldean is a known guy so it makes sense that song got popular, but with all the talk of industry plants this Oliver Anthony guy feels extremely sus. Especially for some nobody living off the grid somewhere in the middle of Virginia

    • GreenMario@lemm.ee
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      Absolutely a plant. Nashville has been an arm of conservative propaganda since at least 9/11.

    • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      Yeah…he lives on 90 acres of land that he wants to build a farm on and raise livestock. Doesn’t exactly scream “working class.”

      I mean props to them for using the well documented “equating farmer (owns land) with farmer (does farm work)”, it does usually trick people

      • eatmyass [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        not only this, but I think most of the people moved by this song are middle class anyway, and they don’t view owning property as any sort of privilege. I’ve already gotten one guy going “well actually the bank technically owns it and he’s paying it off.” Like bruh, have you ever talked to an actual poor person?

          • huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            nah, i hear if you tell them you’ve never worked a day in your life and plan to suck the teat of the state forever, they’ll just give you a -1000% loan with a one cent down payment

            and then you can just get your 90 acres.

            remember, it’s the homeless who are the real landlords.

  • JoYo@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I was at guitar center shopping for a nylon classical and this kid was singing that Oliver guy’s one song in the acoustic room.

    When he finished I told him that song is about me.

    He also played wonder wall, no joke, 10 times.

  • kingshrubb@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Anyone have the numbers of social welfare spending vs corporate welfare spending for a recent year? Say 2020-2022? I can’t find it.

    • Luccus@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I’m too lazy to look up the numbers, but I think the premise of this argument is rather weak.

      Money spend on social welfare, vastly improves poor people’s lives. When you spend it on corporate welfare, the money tends to go into the pockets of people who are already pretty comfortable.

      This is a simplification of a multifaceted issue, but by and large I think this holds a lot more water than just comparing numbers.

      Also: There was a pandemic in the time period given, so there might be some selection bias.

      • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Means testing is something that wastes a lot of public welfare funds and is usually a tool utilized by those who want to cut programs as an example of welfares inability to work. If we got rid of means testing then corporate welfare would be shown for how truly useless it is. I’m not arguing with you or anything, just adding some more detail to the topic

    • Cleverdawny@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      It depends on what exactly you consider social welfare and corporate welfare. There’s all sorts of ways to split the data.

    • Loom In Essence@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Let’s be more specific and find out how much public money was spent on sugarry snacks for fat people, which is his ridiculous complaint. I’ll assume we’re not psychopaths who are generally against a social safety net.

  • TeenieBopper@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I legit actually like country music. Country music and punk rock. Both of them are just three chords and the truth

    And man, when this song started, dude came in hot. I loved it. And then he went flying right off the rails.

    • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Exactly what I thought, the first verse and most of the chorus is legit working class anxiety. The rest is blaming other victims of the system, and while it references “rich men,” it contains no criticism of their wealth, the reference to taxes is more the opposite.

    • constantokra@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      A friend sent it to me, and at first I was hopeful… then I was like ‘hmm… strange choice of wording’ then I was like ‘oh, that was deliberate’ as it started to sound more like propaganda and less like a legitimate statement.

      • theangryseal@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I can’t tell you how many people walked into my store at the height of that shit and said, “Well, I got the wuflu. It ain’t nothin’. Just a dang cold.”

        Or, “shew buddy, China bug is about to wipe me out buddy. I ain’t never been so sick in my life. cough cough cough Whatchu wearing’ ‘at democrat rag for? You can still smell a fart cain’t yuh?”

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    1 year ago

    id be willing to wager a $20 he used A.I. software and tweaked it for these lyrics. everyone commenting has been skirting, what i think, to be just a new trend in bait music.

    The song is bad yet just cognitive enough to cause a stir.

  • MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I likes the song when I saw it on Tik Tok. Now I’m getting videos for right wing politics. I just thought it sounded good. Had no idea that it would become a nazi war cry.