this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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lol those are some pretty bizarre examples of empathy. Whoever drew this is living in la-la land. delulu
I'm aware that the role of the US on the international stage is often not that of the good guys, but I'm not sure how you could argue that USAID and taking care of injured veterans are not examples of empathy.
Keep in mind that there are voters in the US who think that we should take care of our veterans, but somehow agree with Musk when he says empathy is bad. I think it's important to show those people some examples of empathy that they would support.
The left in the US is broadly so "america bad" that they've thrown away their only shred of actual political capital, nationalism, which can well be expressed through desire to actually make America less bad and have a country worth having pride in.
I know we're pretty far from a country that anyone with half a brain can feel pride in, but our bigger problem is that the bulk of the population has less than half a brain so we need to work within their worldviews.
As long as the left can't stop lecturing and shaming, we're going to keep losing ground to people who know how to validate and appease liberal sensibilities.
edit: cry harder, you threw away the flag and America's actual political capital: the midwit working class liberal masses, they look at you burning the flag that keeps them comfortable, then look at the right-wing nutfucks praying to the flag that keeps them comfortable and says "Hmn, I think I know who has my back." You have legitimate reasons to hate America, but as Americans we have the responsibility to figure out how to push the country towards a better future. We haven't done that in a remotely intelligent way. Again, look at what the current state of things are. We are fighting for a country nobody believes we even want. What power is there in that? You kids need to understand power on a much more practical and realistic level.
imagine looking at all the shit your country has done (way before trump too) and blaming the left for it
you can't make this shit up
If you take that kind of persecution complex away from this conversation instead of realizing that we need to rethink our approach and work on finding actual political power, you do deserve all the blame.
well maybe I have a persecution complex because my country was literally mentioned by your orange ass after Venezuela's invasion
but thanks for blaming me a mexican living next to the new nazis I guess it is pretty spot on for a US citizen to assume what everyone else needs to do
This aimed at Liberal America, they eat this kind of thing up and we have to stop cringing every time someone says "America not that bad" and lecturing people. They have a vision for what they want America to be, and for them dismembered veterans getting basic medical care is more good than bad. I won't try to make it make sense because it requires dumbing down. Which is something we also have to learn to do.
Nationalism moves nations, it's pure political capital, it's why Trump won and is now ruining our world, because he has the support of fucking armed nationalists.
You don't have to understand or like the theme, but if it moves median, tuned-out people against people like Rogan and Musk, on their own level, it will only help. They sure as shit don't care about social issues, most people don't, and the sooner we understand that, the sooner we can start actually shaping a world that respects social issues.
They'll ramp up their cringy "good guy USA, remember when we were amazing examples of empathy and world aid?" material.
Their current events have made their image even worse, but their entire culture is based around this illusion of being a shield for the world, so they'll ramp up cringe production to try and save it.
Who is the "they" here who are doing this? The author of the cartoon who is making a blatant anti-Rogan, anti-Musk message? I feel we've crossed some wires if we think getting median-voting, semi-patriotic liberals to reject authoritarian propaganda is more harmful than good.
Edit: the difference between people like MAGA and people who want a better world and equality and empathy, is that MAGA rejects nuance and smarter, less comfortable perspectives of the world, including the capacity to shift perspectives to people you don't relate with. What are YOU guys avoiding looking at in your daily rage-fueled scrolling? What nuance and perspective are you denying because it makes you uncomfortable? We can be the adults in the room and understand a thing without subscribing to a thing.
There are multiple victims of war pictured here and the comic doesn't seem to notice or care why that is. It celebrates it even, as empathy, which is such a crushing example of how warped perspectives can become.
Yah this is the general perception of Liberal America, and really the liberal populations of many countries who are just raised on propaganda and don't really think systemically. IE: the bulk of all people.
This comic SHOULD be a window into how the average, median voter thinks and feels about the country, if we understood and accepted this common perception instead of cringing at it we could make a lot better progress in actually getting people to recognize the problems with the military and the state, but for most people this is patriotism and they don't think "america bad" every time they see a soldier missing a limb.
A comic like this does more net good than all the lecturing and guilting people for being involved in a corrupt system, and I still don't know who the "They" are.
How is it a net good if the average person is just going to see it and reinforce their views?
Because the punchline, not the content before it. It's telling the average American with an ambivalent at worst view of the US international presence and military (and there are a LOT of military families in the US, we need to understand this to move politics) will see a cartoon like this and it will plant an idea in their head that we can't trust the shit the Joe Rogan promotes and that Elon Musk is just bad. This is what we want, this about the most we can fucking hope for in the US, the average American has no clue what's going on.
I beg people to actually read the 2024 exit polling, I promise you, no matter how bad you think the situation is, it's worse.
Right but maybe if we want to shit on Elon Musk and Joe Rogan we can do so by showing actual examples of empathy rather than glorifying something evil and unempathetic.
Sure, I'd be fine with that, it would be great, but it would be preaching to the choir. The people who would nod in agreement on that message will be people who already know that Musk and Rogan are pieces of shit who should be questioned. My point here is that this connects with the people who don't see it that way, and that's important for power. There are several million military families, and far more adjacent and extended members who have a favorable image of the US military.
The left broadly needs to start thinking in terms of power and politics, we're too hung up on trying to get everything perfect instead of capitalizing and leveraging the actual sources of power, such as liberal, uninvolved, uninformed America.
I feel like being against US imperialism is a higher concern than Musk saying "empathy is weakness"
I fully agree, but that US imperialism is powered by tens of millions of people who listen to Rogan and Musk every day and think the US military are like the badass heroes in the Transformers movies. We don't make traction telling them "ARMY BAD" we make traction telling them to stop believing what they see. Carts and horses.
Probably in this context: the ruling class.
The lack of class awareness here in the comic being why the use of cultural hegemony is lost.
This comic is pure unapologetic propaganda and paints your military as smiling aid giving friends.
Fuck off.
The results of people like Musk and Rogan influencing people to let a fascist dictatorship take control of that same military is going to be a lot fucking worse for you.
Get fucking smarter.
Are you slow? Do you think I'm defending Musk and Rogan?
I'm saying your military - and your country - is a piece of shit force of evil in this world, and has always been, regardless of your idiot in chief. Any comic painting it as smiling empathetic friends is propaganda.
I can't be any more clear than this.
And I'm saying view it through the lens of the average American liberal who wants their military to be this image, this is what they think it is, this is what they want it to be, and forces like Musk and Rogan are trying to influence them away from this.
You are in your rights to hate the US military, many of us with any shred of understanding about the world do, but this comic is a window into American minds at large, and needs to be understood as a piece representing the average American starting to turn on the current narrative that would see you, and your country, wherever you are, harmed far worse than anything we've done before.
No. And that's exactly the problem.
You think fostering this narrative over your military is safer/better than the alternative, but it is under this malicious narrative that you're happily delivering aid that you've invaded and sabotaged a lot of countries, all with thunderous applause from your own populace.
BOTH of these narratives harm my country and many others. Both of them. Do not attempt to take a moral high ground because your version of your military is got sunshine and rainbows. It's the same fucking deal regardless of the democrat or republican in power, one party is just much more open about it than the other.
You are 100% on the road to becoming your country's version of MAGA. Congratulations, nuance is for losers, right? As long as you think it's a fight over "moral fucking high ground" you're going to be blind to more intelligent political analysis and you will get led around by your sensitive feelings. There is no moral high ground, only people with agendas and outcomes. I say again, get smarter. You're not invulnerable to the same forces that you despise. The more you think you are, the more vulnerable you are. I'm done. Won't see the reply.
You couldn't answer a single point raised lol