this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
961 points (98.6% liked)

Microblog Memes

10827 readers
850 users here now

A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

RULES:

  1. Your post must be a screen capture of a microblog-type post that includes the UI of the site it came from, preferably also including the avatar and username of the original poster. Including relevant comments made to the original post is encouraged.
  2. Your post, included comments, or your title/comment should include some kind of commentary or remark on the subject of the screen capture. Your title must include at least one word relevant to your post.
  3. You are encouraged to provide a link back to the source of your screen capture in the body of your post.
  4. Current politics and news are allowed, but discouraged. There MUST be some kind of human commentary/reaction included (either by the original poster or you). Just news articles or headlines will be deleted.
  5. Doctored posts/images and AI are allowed, but discouraged. You MUST indicate this in your post (even if you didn't originally know). If an image is found to be fabricated or edited in any way and it is not properly labeled, it will be deleted.
  6. Absolutely no NSFL content.
  7. Be nice. Don't take anything personally. Take political debates to the appropriate communities. Take personal disagreements & arguments to private messages.
  8. No advertising, brand promotion, or guerrilla marketing.

RELATED COMMUNITIES:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cynar@lemmy.world 64 points 3 days ago (6 children)

In France, the worst they will likely be met with is water cannons, tear gas, and potentially rubber bullets/beanbag rounds.

In America, it's more likely to be automatic assault rifles.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 37 points 3 days ago (2 children)

French cops also shoot people who just drive away.

[–] Pringles@sopuli.xyz 27 points 3 days ago

Sure and that gets a wikipedia page for you to cite. You're not wrong, just heavily downplaying the problem with this whataboutism. It's not about France where this thing is an exception, but about the US where this is becoming the norm.

On 27 June 2023, Nahel Merzouk (25 February 2006 – 27 June 2023),[1] a 17-year-old French youth of Moroccan and Algerian descent,[2] was shot at point-blank range and killed by police officer Florian M., when he did not comply with an order to stop and instead attempted to drive away in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Initial reporting on the incident (informed by police statements) was later contradicted by a video posted online, which led to widespread protests and riots. Symbols of the state such as town halls, schools, police stations, and other buildings were attacked.[3] The Interior Ministry reported that more than 5,000 vehicles had been set on fire, along with 10,000 garbage cans; nearly 1,000 buildings had been burnt, damaged or looted; 250 police stations and gendarmeries had been attacked; and more than 700 police officers had been injured.[4][5]

The killing—condemned by President Emmanuel Macron as "inexplicable" and "inexcusable"[6]—became part of a broader public debate regarding aggressive French law enforcement,[7] racial profiling,[8] immigration,[9] and the stakes of naming the subsequent suburban violence "rioting" rather than "revolts".[10] On 28 June, the president of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, asked deputies "to respect a minute of silence in Nahel's memory".[11][12]

Police kill someone in France:
Massive violent protests, burning police stations and police cars
Incident condemned by government

Police kill someone in the USA:
Nonviolent protests
Government defends the killer

[–] wpb@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

... AND THE HOOOME OF THE BRAAAAAVE

[–] skeezix@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago
[–] Bad@jlai.lu 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I have breathing issues due to being tear gassed too often, my left shoulder suffers from very painful tendinitis that will probably never go away due to being tossed on the ground / beat up, got an acquaintance who lost an eye to a rubber bullet, that's the life of a regular french demonstrator.

You are severely underestimating the violence of french anti-riot policing methods. Those weapons might sound chill due to being labeled "non-lethal", but they're actually quite lethal (people die regularly) and violate the Geneva protocol (tear gas usage is theoretically banned on civilians).

If you believe it's that relaxed, come demonstrate in France, see what it's like to be charged at by 100 dudes in full body armor swinging at you trying to do maximum damage while you're caught in a cloud of toxic gas with nowhere to run. You thought the press could cover your ass by filming the police violence, or that the government would do something about police brutality? Guess what, they target journalists too, and our govt encourages police brutality.

If you're looking for excuses, don't drag us into it. Protesting in France isn't an easy affair, we genuinely put our lives on the line every time we go out there. It's the police that decides how violent protests are, the reason you hear so much about french "riots" is because our police keeps escalating the violence. We have a peaceful nature.

Americans need to shut the fuck up about the rest of the world I swear. You're not that special. 

Rubber bullets banned in many countries, people lose eyes to them in France

Tear gas long term health effects

Casualties from the yellow vest protests

Police violence on journalists

This documentary's trailer should tell you enough about our riot police situation

[–] Soulg@ani.social 1 points 2 days ago

You're not special either. Plenty of people here going through the exact same shit you did yet nobody gives a shit and has to just keep piling on like idiots

[–] cynar@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm UK based btw. I had my tangles with the police at protests in my younger days. It's intimidating, even when nominally peaceful. I have a lot of respect for those of you willing to face off against the nastier crowd control methods.

It's worth noting that there is still a huge difference between what you dealt/deal with and shoot-to-kill military weapons fire.

If I thought it would help, I would (unhappily) deal with tear gas etc. I'm too old, with too much to lose to risk rubber bullets etc, but respect those that would. VERY few people would face gunfire without the ability to fire back. The American Left is not at the point where they are willing to escalate to that point.

[–] Bad@jlai.lu 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well if it's strictly about guns, then the american left has a point to prove about the second amendment.

Is it only there to help school shooters, or is it about well regulated militias opposing tyranny?

Waiting and watching.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Their biggest problem is media capture. With the loss of twitter to Musk, there's no large scale organisation path that hasn't been captured.

As the phrase goes. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 12 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You say that like you can’t get your own automatic assault rifles in America.

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

Not as easily as modifying a semi automatic.

[–] butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You can't. I feel like you don't know what an automatic rifle or an assault rifle is.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You can, they just cost like $10k-$50k (if you want one legally).

Otherwise, crime gonna crime.

[–] butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Lol yeah that's true. I'm just assuming they didn't mean that only eccentric rich people can get automatic assault rifles, whatever that contradiction in terms means.

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 0 points 3 days ago

I definitely am not talking only about eccentric rich people, you are correct.

[–] Einskjaldi@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Modifying them is trivially easy, so any can be full auto, but burst fire is superior anyway. Full auto is only for psychological coolness.

[–] butwhyishischinabook@piefed.social 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Oh for sure, I call it "a great way to turn a lot of money into a lot of noise" lol. It's pretty useless outside of specific military applications.

[–] rockstarmode@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (4 children)

automatic assault rifles

This is redundant, by definition all assault rifles have auto or burst fire modes. Anyone (including lawmakers) in the US who claims otherwise is incorrect.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm not American. I'm only aware of them in passing. It's not the sort of thing we learn about in school, over here.

[–] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I learned about this stuff from video games. The MA5B is full auto.

[–] MBech@feddit.dk 4 points 3 days ago

You may be right, I don't know shit about guns, but relying on information from a video game is not the smartest. The person deciding on what mechanics the different guns have, may not know anything about the topic.

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Burst fire is not available on civilian models out of the box in the US

[–] rockstarmode@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Those are not assault weapons. Any legislator who says so is wrong.

If they want to ban weapons, fine, but use the correct terminology.

[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah that's not true. Semiautomatic assault rifles are very common in the US, more available by far than full auto.

Assault rifles have select fire, by definition.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

What about burst fire?

[–] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

French cops: using less lethals according to the manual.

'Merica cops: point blank, headshots (unless you're preggers), gas the kids

[–] stormdelay@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

If you think french cops follow the manual I have a bridge to sell you

[–] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

checks the Internet search engine

American police are significantly more lethal, with fatal shooting rates in 2019 being 22 times higher (3.1 per million) than in France (0.14 per million).

... ... I dunno, that feels like a pretty significant difference

[–] stormdelay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

That still doesn't mean french cops are not also dangerous during protests. I'm not trying to say they're more dangerous than your brown shirts, I'm saying that protesting also isn't risk free in France, and claiming that french cops follow the rules is simply incorrect.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

When you look at the damage French protests cause vs the violence they incite in cops, it's relatively safe compared to the violence us cops perpetrate in retribution to completely peaceful protests in the us, or even just violence top bystanders in the US. Add in that French protests actually accomplish something and the risk benefit calculations are so totally different.

[–] Damage@feddit.it -1 points 3 days ago

Protests are famously attractive for the kind of person who enjoys hurting others, on both sides. Difference is that only one side can hurt others while being protected by the system.

[–] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

They're all full of stories and excuses because none of them can figure out how to do anything beyond going out for a walk every couple months.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It occurs to me, pregnant women who want abortions in states where it is illegal should just go to a protest…

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 days ago

I get what you're saying, but if you ask me, being murdered by a fascist is a rather drastic method of abortion..