• girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    228
    ·
    9 months ago

    It annoys me to no end that real-life whistleblowers end up in jail, have to emmigrate or die under mysterious circumstances, but fictional whistleblowers are cheered on in theatres and novels.

    It’s like America has a severe case of cognitive dissonance that the world sees, but is happy to stay that way no matter the cost.

        • bamboo@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          32
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          9 months ago

          The middle class is a made up idea to convince part of the working class that they are immune to the problems of the rest of the working class because they’re in a marginally better financial position.

          • Smeagol666@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            15
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            You almost got it. The Totally Fucked class is there to remind the Not Rich class that it could be worse, and that if they rock the boat, they can easily be relegated to the Totally Fucked class if they miss a paycheck or two.

    • ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      9 months ago

      Fictional whistleblowers are cheered on because the public likes whistleblowers and the people making the fiction know that but real whistleblowers are persecuted because the people in power do not represent the public

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        As has been said here before, not many cheered for Chelsea, Snowden, Reality or even Assange.

        We can’t keep blaming the elite who rule us if we’re not willing to put boots on the ground and shut the nation down until politicians do the right thing.

        And it’s not impossible … just look at France to see how it should be done.

        • ComradeSharkfucker@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          There’s a severe lack of political will in the US that I attribute to both isolation and electoralism. Many if not most Americans believe the extent of their political actions should be voting for a president every 4 years and any political organization or movement outside of this typically gets co-opted or rebranded into something useless. America is very good at handling it’s citizens and very good at squashing radical political movements.

          Most people simply don’t care because they don’t truly believe there is anything they can actually do about it. Better to just not worry about it.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      Real life whistleblowers don’t have a full team of Hollywood PR professionals boosting their image.

      The closest we came to a real whistleblower celebrity was Edward Snowden. And when he left Hong Kong for Russia, all the liberals who thought he was a based freedom fighting chad decided oops nah, Big Russia Foreign Agent disregard everything about that PRISM shit.

      • Aleric@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        9 months ago

        I still suspect that change in attitude toward him was at least partially manufactured. The rich absolutely did not want the public lionizing him.

    • kibiz0r@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      If anything, the jester solidifies the king’s power by working for the king as a sort of pressure valve. The king wants some of the discontent of the people to be expressed openly, releasing built-up tension and ensuring that said discontent will not burst in actions that could really undermine his position. The jester is his means of doing that.

      When we, the public, laugh at the king, our laughter is also an expression of his power. He wants us to laugh so as not to act. It is, then, his laughter grafted onto our faces. When we laugh at the king, it is actually the king laughing at us.

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        9 months ago

        The king is still a human being. Refer to historical France and Russia for ways to deal with leaders who don’t listen to the people.