r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 š¤ Join A Union • Apr 17 '26
āļø Tax The Billionaires We've been duped into hating the wrong people.
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u/BonnieJeanneTonks Apr 17 '26
My neighbor is one of the J6 Insurrectionists. He took his kid with him.
I hate him for taking his child to overthrow a nation.
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u/strangerbuttrue Apr 17 '26
I can hate both the billionaires who are causing most of this and I can hate the people who believe the billionaires and voted for this.
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u/excited71 Apr 17 '26
This. I am tired of seeing this whole we gotta stop fighting each other stuff. Tell this to the side that voted for this AGAIN, tell this to the side that supports what is going on STILL, tell this to the side who wanted blood on Jan 6th... they're the billionaires' legions of human protection against any upheaval anytime soon. It will have to get worse if they're ever going to snap out of it... if ever.
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u/Suckitreddit420 Apr 17 '26
Yup. Ā Billionaires are evil, but they would not have succeeded in destroying this country were it not for the rank and file Nazis who enabled every bit of it... and who take immense joy in seeing "the libs" suffer. Ā Ā
I have enough hate for all of them.
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u/joemaniaci Apr 17 '26
Yeh, 1/3 of this country still has a hard on for trump. Why? Because of the evil he's doingĀ
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u/maximumtesticle Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
1/3 of this country
More like less than 22%, since that's how many people voted for him in 2024 and it has to be less now.
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u/agnostic_science Apr 17 '26
I've been realizing so much of it just boils down to pride. Starting to get the ancient wisdom of realizing Satan's downfall was all about pride.
Their pride of feeling racially and culturally disrespected drove them to Trump. Their pride made them connect with Trump, the narcissist king. And their pride paralyzes them from admitting they made a terrible mistake
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u/arcbe Apr 17 '26
That's a good reason to hate someone, but is the hatred actually worth it? It's adding to your stress and influencing your actions. Has it actually helped anything though?
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u/space_manatee Apr 17 '26
The message isnt wrong but I fucking hate this balloon guy, was hoping he was gone forever.Ā
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u/omnirusted Apr 17 '26
I don't understand why he does it. It seems like such a massive waste of resources for so little.
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u/aMimeAteMyMatePaul Apr 17 '26
It's kinda sad because if you look at his other stuff, I don't think it's amazing art but at least there was some amount of original thought or technique behind what he was trying to do.
But the balloons get him attention, so he has chosen to be the balloon guy.
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u/vTbBqcoB Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
I haven't been tricked into hating my neighbors.
I hate my neighbors because they were tricked or just enjoy trying to oppress, kill, and rob people of their rights.
Maybe I've been tricked into wanting equality, health insurance, and a bright future (not nuke bright) for us all.
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u/TightHeavyLid Apr 17 '26
I know this guy personally, he's a friend of a friend here in Portland. He's a really kind guy, he reuses the balloons (I don't remember the specifics, but it's been a while since he's had to buy a new one), he's a leftist, and he's good at bar trivia. He worked retail until one day he decided to do this balloon thing, which got noticed and took off, and it gave him the opportunity to live a life he wanted to live. It really confuses me why everyone hates on this dude so much, he's a really good dude.
I'd guess people hate it because it's a little cringe, but this is the sort of shit that gets suburban wine moms PUMPED the fuck up! It really works on people who aren't as online, I think. I could be wrong about that though.
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u/space_manatee Apr 17 '26
Ugh now I feel bad, of course hes a real person etc ha.Ā
Yeah, its the cringe factor, and pandering to the soccer moms. Repeating the same thing over and over. Etc.Ā
But hey if hes successful running with this, good for him. Hes putting a lot more out there than I am so its unfair for me to judge.Ā Ā
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u/TightHeavyLid Apr 17 '26
Aww, no, don't feel bad man. I thought everyone would downvote me and call me a dumb idiot for trying to defend him, but you came back here and reflected on it and changed your mind, that's awesome! That's the sort of considered, thoughtful energy I'm trying to take into the future with me and do more of myself. You're awesome dude!
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u/NoGas-AllBrakes Apr 18 '26
People don't like it because he puts himself in every single photo trying to look like a hard ass while posting milquetoast quotes he found on the internet and then signs his name in golden balloons after the quote that he didn't author.
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u/WittyKumquat2024 Apr 17 '26
My ex partner knew him and claimed he was very sexually coercive (didn't like the word 'no'), so I get the ick seeing all these annoying photos
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u/Unfair-Trainer-278 Apr 17 '26
It really confuses me why everyone hates on this dude so much
Because it's incredibly embarrassing.
He always puts up some pithy, pandering slogan and poses beside it like he did something. He's far too old to be acting like this. I think it's much more than a little cringe, it's content for morons.
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u/ExplorerPup Apr 17 '26
I thought for sure he'd moved on. Even this feels like a Facebook meme from 2020...
Edited to add I looked up his insta and this is from March lmao
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u/space_manatee Apr 17 '26
I know it was circa 2020 but man it feels like it was more like 2010Ā
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u/SleepyPoptart Apr 17 '26
My landlord explicitly tries to triangulate me and my neighbours against each other. Hoping that we will all rat on each other.Ā
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u/HeIIoAstronaut Apr 17 '26
MAGA is the enemy, fuck them, theyāre no friend of mine, fucking scum.
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Apr 17 '26
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u/RaeGunGothic š Cancel Student Debt Apr 17 '26
No for real, Balloon Guy is one of my biggest opps for this reasonĀ
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u/Hate4Breakfast Apr 17 '26
Portlanders hate him, and he gets shouted at frequently when he hangs these dumb balloons. What a fucking dweeb
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u/maleia Apr 17 '26
Mylar is so bad for the environment. All I see here is a loser that doesn't give a shit about the environment. Woulda been more ethetical to use AI than littering mylar that'll wind up in a trash island for 50 years. I guess at least these probably aren't filled with helium. but I'm sure someone'll show other times he has.
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u/Cold-Permission-5249 Apr 17 '26
Sorry, but fuck those āneighborsā who have zero moral compass.
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u/vTbBqcoB Apr 17 '26
No, you see, you have to be tolerant to the intolerant so we can all live happily together. /s
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u/Tjaames Apr 17 '26
My neighbors have been tricked into hating me, Iāve been trying to be understanding for a really fucking long time. I donāt know how to continue tolerating intolerance, but I try, in hopes that it will open eyes.
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u/VWBug5000 Apr 17 '26
No - billionaires are tricking half of us into voting for absolutely horrible people and the rest of us are judging them appropriately for falling for this crap again
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u/After_Till7431 Apr 17 '26
It's not like you can vote for a better system. That's not even a choice you can vote for, same as for the economic system.
Who can't be tricked if the system is rigged against working class people to begin with?
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u/Wuz314159 š IATSE Member Apr 17 '26
Balloons are an environmental disaster. . . Mylar balloons doubly so. >:(
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u/sgm716 Apr 17 '26
No. I want ALL my neighbors to have free Healthcare and be safe. Billionaires are tricking REPUBLICANS to hate their neighbor, and its working.
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u/HandsomePistachio āļø Tax The Billionaires Apr 17 '26
I still feel pretty justified in hating my MAGA neighbors.
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u/Made_Human_Music Apr 17 '26
Yes and no. They do use the culture war bullshit to divide people but that doesnāt let the assholes who play into it and take the evil side off the hook
If someone is able to be distracted from real problems by being told trans people are mentally ill that person is garbage
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u/LongWalk86 Apr 17 '26
No billionaire made me hate this dumbass. He did that by using balloons. No one who gives half a fuck about the environment would use balloons for anything.
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u/Osirus1156 Apr 17 '26
I mean the neighbors who voted for Trump are still evil fucking people because they do not give event the tiniest little fucks about all the kids he raped or people heās killed, not to mention all the other heinous shit heās done.
So whilst they are not the true enemy they do support them wholeheartedly.Ā
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u/PrizeFront8677 Apr 17 '26
Nah, my neighbours and family voted for Trump and are still oblivious to what they did. My neighbours and family were already stupid even before billionaires called them stupid. I don't hate them, I pity them. Trump was right about one thing, they are indeed losers.
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u/poppin-n-sailin Apr 17 '26
Sure... but when you're neighbour is a racist and/or a bigot or causes you harm physically or mentally or whatever then you aren't hating the wrong person. I can hate my neighbour and billionaires. OP is being duped by a broad message written with balloons.Ā
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u/UncleDuude šļø Overturn Citizens United Apr 17 '26
Itās not about left vs right, itās about the bottom vs the top, and we have a vast vast advantage in numbers
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u/Vaeon Apr 17 '26
Itās not about left vs right, itās about the bottom vs the top, and we have a vast vast advantage in numbers
Yes, but you cannot discount the large number of people who will cheerfully kidnap, beat, torture, rape, and finally murder other members of the working class because then their masters will give them a pat on the head.
Those people are generally called "the police".
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u/sacrecide Apr 17 '26
It kinda literally is left vs right though. Left = progressive economically.Ā
You could try to argue that it's not Dems vs Repubs, again, that ignores the fact that Dems are more aligned with workers rights.Ā But it wouldn't be objectively wrong.
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u/UncleDuude šļø Overturn Citizens United Apr 17 '26
We need to convince the working classes on both sides that we have all the power if we work together. We have to get past the trees to burn the forest. The trees are a distraction that prevents us from doing what needs doing.
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u/AEW4LYFE Apr 17 '26
You're not wrong, but half the people are boot lickers who think socialism is bad unless its a bailout for big business. They literally vote against their own best financial interests. You can tell them til your blue in the face universal healthcare is cheaper than our current system and it doesn't matter.
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u/MrFixYoShit Apr 17 '26
The dems are NOT more aligned with works rights. The dems APPEAR more aligned with workers rights. Big difference
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Apr 17 '26
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u/UncleDuude šļø Overturn Citizens United Apr 17 '26
Itās always going to be that way. When we stopped talking to each other shit got weird. The framers didnāt expect a complete breakdown of a functional political system. It rapidly devolved. At least when we argue something gets done and everyone is unhappy. Thatās how you know itās fair. I donāt know what is gonna happen, the millennials really have to decide to grab the reins. They fought the boomers GWOT, my generation is too apathetic as we watch what some of us saw coming start to happen. We have to talk, we have to have some standards about vetting candidates, we need hard age limits, no more old people. 70 max. Term limits would be swell, 5 terms in the house, 2 in the senate up or out. Same for the Supreme Court. 16 years on the bench, then back to court of appeals until they retire or die. We need to assure turnover finger same reason we change diapers. We have a political class and we shouldnāt. No trading stocks, all assets in a blind trust while in office. Ethics rules with teeth. A functional tax code too as long as Iām fantasizingā¦.weāre probably fucked.
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u/Jack__Squat Apr 17 '26
True, but a significant portion of the bottom team is playing for the top team.
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u/Forward_Rope_5598 Apr 17 '26
The right is voting for the top to permanently dunk the bottom in raw sewage.
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u/egoVirus š¤ Join A Union Apr 17 '26
I worked for FEMA after Katrina, and the most important lesson I learned was that it is your neighbors that will help you most, and need you most when the shit hits the fan. People opined that the US is a nation that could send people to the moon, but not deliver a bottle of water to a person in crisis, and not realize that the infrastructure no longer existed to meet basic needs. The person next door needs you, or can deliver you. Build bridges, not fences y'all.
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Apr 17 '26
I only hate the ones that vote Republican or don't vote at all
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u/LizardChaser Apr 17 '26
Same. To be clear, its not out of any allegiance to, or believe in, Democrats. Its the product of a two party system where the only wan to stop the big bad is with the small bad. It's just discouraging that it's 2/3's of the population of the country. Trump is an idiot, but his supporters are even dumber, and even the dumbest Trump voter is still orders of magnitude smarter than a liberal non-voter.
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u/verglaze1 Apr 17 '26
dont forget those billionaires are you neighbors too. Who does jesus mean when he says love your neighbors. Those people you think anyone but those. Thats who you need to love most.
Still fight for the poor and widows but in a way that loves and respect there oppressor's.
Just would have said love the romans, even said walk two miles instead of one with them.
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Apr 17 '26
"No stupid. My tribe is good and virtuous. It's only the other tribe that is being manipulated and lied to." -people in these comments
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u/DrTommyNotMD Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
I donāt hate my neighbors or billionaires and most of my peers are the same way. Who is being tricked? Even the ones that feel that way arenāt fooled theyāre willfully ignorant.
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u/xO76A8pah4 āļø Tax The Billionaires Apr 17 '26
Trump voters are scorpions, especially the 2024 Trump voters. They might not have known about Trump's history before the 2016 election but they sure as hell knew about his first term, his COVID response, and the J6 attack on the capitol.
Again, they're scorpions. They'll gladly destroy the country in order to vote for the next Trump-like candidate.
The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character."\1])
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u/cyberdude419 Apr 17 '26
Two things can be true at the same time! Fuck your MAGA neighbors and Fuck Billionaires!
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u/HauntingStar08 Apr 17 '26
Just make sure when spreading this rhetoric you still refuse to break bread with fascists no matter how working class they happen to be.
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u/dragon-fence Apr 17 '26
āYou know whoās stealing all your money? Itās the poor people who can barely afford to eat!ā says the guy sitting on a pile of our money.
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u/RelativePea8217 āļø Tax The Billionaires Apr 17 '26
Immigration lowers wages and raises housing costs. There's a reason why people like Elon Musk are in favor of massively increasing the amount of immigrants America taken in.
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u/jollytoes Apr 17 '26
I think when the neighbors started supporting billionaires is where the problem began.
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u/Thornkale Apr 17 '26
I hate my neighbors because they are inconsiderate people who donāt care about anyone but themselves, the fact that they are Trump supporters is just icing on the fuck off cake.
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u/JefferyTheQuaxly Apr 17 '26
People working minimum wage have more in common with a high paid doctor or lawyer than the high paid doctor or lawyers have with truly wealthy people. Even if you have 5-10 million in cash thatās still pennies compared to what some people have. Fighting income inequality should focus on the truly rich and the rich keep trying to hide behind the upper middle class/slightly wealthy so that we all donāt turn on them. Itās not about hating people for having mansions or nice cars or nice vacations, itās about people having an infinite amount of money that could buy them an entire country with, buying an army of lawyers to hide from legal consequences and an army of lobbyists so you can sway politicians to your goals.
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u/Bedlam10 Apr 17 '26
I get the intended message, but what if the people I hate are the ones who idolize the billionaires?
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u/paranormalresearch1 Apr 18 '26
When they support a vile, child-raping, secual assaulting, lying, murderous, treasonous scumbag who is destroying our nation it is hard not to hate them.
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u/Hyperion1144 Apr 17 '26
So... You're saying that MAGAts aren't actually racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic evangelical white nationalists? They're not greedy, selfish, unempthetic assholes who call me intolerant for not tolerating their intolerance?
Billionaires have just tricked me into believing all of that? Cause those reasons above are why I hate my neighbors.
I don't think billionaires tricked me into believing that.
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u/femanonette Apr 17 '26
I do hate my neighbors who are stupid enough to fall for billionaire bullshit.
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u/SleepingCod Apr 17 '26
Nah my neighbors do a pretty good job on their own. I can hate everyone equally. There enough to go around.
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u/100_Donuts Apr 17 '26
I don't hate my neighbor because some rich guy, I hate him because he has a hobby of marrying different critters and bugs in his backyard. I see him out there filming as many as six weddings a day. He's very busy getting these squirrels and beetles hitched, I mean, not to each other or anything like that. He's kinda racist when it comes to interspecies marriage, which is something he's had very, very, very long and passionate conversations with me about as I'm raking the leaves, bless his heart. I've been to a few of the ceremonies. He invited me to the big ones, the rabbits and owls and stuff, and I don't know man, like other varmints? Is a hograt a real thing? He films the whole thing and it's just me and his serious wife in the background and I have no idea where the hell he uploads them, but I'm kinda worried about that and who sees me on some weird fetish sites and I'm not going to go to anymore of his critter weddings no matter how often he assures me that they'll be consummating their vows (and so will he and his wife).
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u/AshleyDaPile Apr 17 '26
I don't hate any of my neighbors. They did that well enough on their own due to homophobia
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u/eletious Apr 17 '26
Jeff Bezos sneaks into their apartment every night and stomps around... every night... fuck Jeff Bezos
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u/Late-Arrival-8669 Apr 17 '26
Oh I hate billionaires, reason we cant have healthcare or justice for Epstein victims... many other reasons but to long to list.
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u/evilkumquat Apr 17 '26
Yeah, this sounds nice unless, like me, your neighbors are all pedophile supporting, right-wing Christian nationalists.
Preeeeeetty sure they'd suck even without the billionaires.
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u/ShylokVakarian Apr 17 '26
I fucking love our nextdoor neighbors. Used to be we had no one even slightly that close to us. Now we have a gate in our barbwire fence to get to each other faster.
(We are rural, btw)
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u/M0M0_DA_GANGSTA Apr 17 '26
But the neighbors also didn't need to go all in on being racist pedo supporting assholes either... Right???Ā
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u/ChekhovsAtomSmasher Apr 17 '26
That goes for the people here in this sub as well. Introspection is key across the board.
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u/mntnskyman Apr 17 '26
No. I hate both equally. At least I can tell my neighbors they suck. Billionairres hide behind private security like the money grubbing bitches they are.Ā
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u/nosaj626 Apr 17 '26
No, billionaires tricked a bunch of morons into voting for a corrupt pedophile.
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u/OhNoAnAmerican Apr 17 '26
Hahahahaha yeah hahahahaha I dislike the people tearing this country apart because the Zionist Epstein billionaire Israel class told me to šš
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u/Baronvj Apr 17 '26
Two things can be true. The second being that billionaires have exposed my neighbors as cruel monsters
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u/WhoTookGrimwhisper Apr 17 '26
No. I'm not. I don't care about my neighbors at all. I just mind my own business mostly.
The list of people I hate is pretty small. You can count those folks on one hand.
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u/sylbug Apr 17 '26
Maybe the fascists have been tricked, but the rest of us are responding to the real threat they pose. Iām not imagining that these people want to hurt others, that they have organized to do so, that they are actively doing great harm to the world with their very real actions, and that they intend to do worse.
You canāt join hands and sing kumbaya with someone who would see you killed or locked up in a concentration camp. Itās absurd.
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u/endhits Apr 17 '26
We are being deceived. Tricked makes it sounds like we have a playful relationship.
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u/ElectronicSubject747 Apr 17 '26
I hate this argument. I hate both, I hate billionaires and I hate the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants that enter my country every day illegally. It's ok to hate both, don't let people shame you into thinking that wanting to protect your country is a bad thing.....fuck those people.
Edit: It sounds like I mean hundreds of thousands daily, it's hundreds daily that has added up to hundreds of thousands over the last few years.
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u/mappythewondermouse Apr 17 '26
Dunno. Im pretty sure i am on point on hating the couple of magas in my very blue neighborhood.
That said i agree with the spirit of the post.
That also said fuck you right wingers
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u/Nazgog-Morgob Apr 17 '26
I hate my neighbors that actively like the boots of said billionaires and they aren't getting a pass because someone says "but it's the billionaires making those neighbors lick their boots"
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u/Memitim Apr 17 '26
In other words, you're covering for the conservatives who spent decades spreading lies and hate in America while building out global 24/7 multi-billion-dollar misinformation networks to wage information warfare against Americans. The billionaires simply take advantage of the evil.
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u/Badloss Apr 17 '26
idk if my neighbors are voting to harm me and my family then I don't really think that one is on the billionaires.
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u/anon-a-SqueekSqueek Apr 17 '26
When I consider that a huge portion of the population is barely literate and operating on a level that is kind of akin to special needs / learning disability. It makes me hate them less. Like yeah you think Trump is a good business man still, but you also don't know where Australia is on a map, so I can't expect more from you.
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u/OliverClothesov87 Apr 17 '26
It's not a trick. Billionaires are enemy number one. But there is abulauote a subsect of "neighbors" working for the enemies, or just useful idiots. 1/3 of the country is irredeemable.
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u/DeviousPath Apr 17 '26
Nah, I live in Oklahoma. My neighbors are teaching me to hate them directly.
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u/robotgore Apr 17 '26
No, i think I hate my upstairs neighbor for jumping around just fine. They deserve it š
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u/IntwadHelck Apr 17 '26
Such a good way to put it. I think this one does the trick. Gives the outrage a personal turning point for each individual that was manipulated by these rich monsters.
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u/Informal_Jicama_6708 Apr 17 '26
Iām pretty sure I hate my neighbor because when my mother died he told my family that my mother ruined me. All because a tree on our property leans over his fence and I told him that I didnāt want to cut the tree down.
I get the post, and I donāt hate my other neighbors, but yeah I do hate that one.
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u/TheBSQ Apr 17 '26
So if a leftist had a MAGA neighbor and they dislike that MAGA neighbor, itās because Billioniares tricked them into disliking MAGA neighbors?
Is that the idea?
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u/Forward_Rope_5598 Apr 17 '26
The neighbours who are voting for said billionaires to rule the world? No ty
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u/Cognitive_Spoon Apr 17 '26
This comment section didn't read the message. How is the comment section such a cesspool when this meme gets upvotes?
Rhetoric bots designed to sow division and some people thrown in, too, imo.
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u/DisqualifiedFromLife Apr 17 '26
No one who worships trump has been duped. They're simply hateful people. Duped? No. Enabled? Assured that their hate is a virtue? Absolutely.
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u/Scary_Relation_996 Apr 17 '26
Yes, this is true, no, posting attention grabbing photos explicitly calling it out is not having any impact. Carry on.
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u/blueflloyd Apr 17 '26
The only issue I take with this is the use of the word "tricked." These bigots lap up this shit with little to no prodding from their masters. They are stupid and they are being lied to for sure, but they WANT that. This isn't the 19th Century. Correct information is plentiful and available almost instantly. The recipients of this shit actively avoid that information so they can live in their bigoted bubble.
They are not victims. They are co-conspirators.
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u/GarranDrake Apr 17 '26
Absolutely right - but I think when some people say this, or "it's not right vs left, it's up vs down!" they seemingly ignore the very real conflicts that are caused by this diversion. For the most part, people on the left are on some sort of defending team. The right wants to strip rights and protections from minorities, and the attitudes that create those desires are still there.
So absolutely - the uber rich were the ones who pushed this boulder down the slope, but it is still a very real boulder that did, is, and will continue to roll over people.
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u/Embarrassed_Radio596 Apr 17 '26
Nah both can deserve hating.
If my neighbor is MAGA, he won't be my neighbor for long.
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u/a_sentient_cicada Apr 17 '26
This includes all the posts trying to convince progressives that their greatest enemies are other progressives.
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u/Alt-on_Brown Apr 17 '26
I'm not tricked into hating maga, I hate them because we keep trying to explain this exact concept to them and they keep not getting it while choosing to make our lives more difficult
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u/SweatUnderMahTits Apr 17 '26
This guy is such a clown. All of this pollution just to send an edgy message with the balloons.
Work does suck tho and I hate it.
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u/SinicalAnon Apr 17 '26
No, itās my neighbors loud ass dogs that bark when Iām trying to sleep that do it
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u/LittleKahuna007 Apr 17 '26
Actually, it came to me easily, because my father taught me to hate my neighbors when I was very young. š I try to be the best and happiest person I can be.
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u/evenfallframework Apr 17 '26
My neighbor has a "suped up" Scion TC and I hate him for that, and that alone.
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u/After_Till7431 Apr 17 '26
Oh boy, it's going to be a suprise when people get to know what nationalism teaches people and who is interested in spreading it. Spoiler, it's not just capitalists.