this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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How is kindness a bad thing? I thought that was universally agreed to be a good message to have in a piece of media. I guess the excuse is they don't want media to have messages at all but like, how would you even have a movie where the hero has no values that they stand for?

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Billionaires like Peter Thiel have thought long and hard about why they can’t get everything they want. He has effectively said that his own policies would be so u popular that nobody would ever vote for them, but that he has found the internet to be an effective tool to sway populations.

So what about us makes the world so good that they can’t fulfil their darkest desires? Social cohesion, knowledge and empathy.

What have himself, Muskrat et all have inundated us with over the last few years is their “antidote” to that: stranger danger, disinformation and “empathy is weakness”. It’s the playbook of the billionaire psychopath and people don’t realise they are dancing to their tune.

[–] Unlocking_Freedom@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Their religion / tribal cult only wants to use the United States, forget about "Truth, Justice and the American way", they want US soldiers to pay with their blood.

https://odysee.com/@Brando:c/Secret-Identities---The-Jewish-Origins-of-Your-Favorite-Superheroes-(Pt-1):f

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 hours ago

Nah kindness is Woke

[–] Rookwood@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

I have a theory of society that is 30-30-30 based around a narcissistic spectrum. 30% of the population at any given time is narcissistic to some extent. They are conceited in their interactions with society.

We live in a time of decline. This is creating stress throughout the population. How people react to this stress shows their true character. The narcissistic leaning people, during these times of stress, look for scapegoats. If we just eliminate these types of people, we can go back to the good times. They are the fascists throughout history. When fascism and mindless violence rises during times of decline, it is due to this latent population, which is always there but only activated by the stress of decline.

The other groups are the 30% who are altruistic and cooperative. They interact with society by seeing what can be built by all and the value of different types of people. They have won the day too throughout history, but a society the averts disaster by coming together and rebuilding is just a society that continued to be successful. They are little noted as they do not bring the great calamities and destruction that get written down in the history books.

The final group are the 30% who are ambivalent. They don't engage with politics in a meaningful way and have little willpower. They see life as a fate to be endured. Whichever way the wind blows, they will follow, or at least, endure it.

The balance determines which side wins. It is influenced by the power structures of the day, the zeitgeist and the strength of propaganda and the leaders of each side. It's fairly clear which side is winning now and I don't see the altruistic side coming to save the day any time soon.

Often times, when altruism does prevail, it is because someone with great courage that is a member of the existing power structure leads their cause. There are no such people at this time. Our power structure has explicitly embraced greed and sociopathy for 50 years now. Everyone who is successful now has been a part of that system and is thoroughly corrupted by it.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Good theory but the math is off, 30+30+30 only adds up to 90. What about the other 10%?

[–] Rookwood@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The balance. It ebbs and flows with the cultural landscape of the times. It determines which side prevails.

And just a hunch, I'd say it leans toward the ambivalent center most of the time. But as things get tough, it would become more activated and polarized.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 28 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Cause Americans are obsessed with Rugged Individualism.

If you are in trouble, you don't accept help, much less ask for it. You pull yourself up by your bootstraps and turn your fortunes around with grit and determination using nothing more than the loose change in your pocket.

Thats how anyone that needs help became nothing more than social parasites leeching off the rugged individualistic success of their betters.

Thats why Americans, on the whole, have all but erased empathy and good will towards others.

Its why 1/3rd of the country actively votes for weak, pathetic fascists who poorly playact as strongmen. Its why 1/3rd of the country didnt bother voting, because they have no problem with fasciatic strongmen punishing the weak and the other.

The New Religion of the American Orthodoxy is basically "Fuck you, Got Mine".

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Hyper-individualism is a much more modern idea that may have its roots in our founding but it was exploited by capitalism during the post-war financial boom last century.

Before we had media showing us "how it should be" families lived together throughout their lives, communities helped each other and American towns pulled together and helped each other in a variety of ways. The whole idea of single-family homes was invented by the housing industry to get people to buy three to four times as many homes. To sell this they started leaning harder into the idea that you're the protagonist, you specifically, you are special just for being American, you are special for wanting your own things (that are advertised to you) and so on.

And before industrialized America and throughout the last several hundred MILLENNIA we were a communal species, it's why we have so much contradictory hard-wiring that influences how we feel about our social standing, about other people's feelings towards us, why there are so many people who latch onto authoritarians and fear strangers. These are ideas that run in direct opposition to "rugged individualism" and they are clear signs we're not living the way we've been designed by literally millions of years of evolution.

Capitalism has pried apart the very fabric of our species and weaponized it.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 13 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, it's amazing how many people think admitting to being an asshole is a flex.

[–] Aetherion@lemmy.world 12 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

It seems like Superman is the hero we deserve to fight this fascist trash sitting in the White House and beyond.

We need more of these positive representations, and god I'm so glad that almost every hateful right-winger cannot be creative with something other than hate.

This movie gives me hope, but I cannot speak for you.

[–] eskimofry@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

we all think we deserve superman, but we only deserve freiza.

[–] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I haven't seen the new Superman yet. I'm going on Tuesday cause that's the cheap day where I live. I'm looking forward to it though. I found Captain America 4 cathartic, watching Captain America beat up an angry president. I think Superman will also be cathartic with what's going on in America

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 16 points 12 hours ago

this is what those people want.

1000001742

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 3 points 8 hours ago

Yeah it’s really wild

[–] lIlIllIlIIIllIlIlII@lemmy.zip 13 points 14 hours ago

Kidness is woke. And you know, woke is bad because reasons.

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 99 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

For all the right wingers who think woke, pro immigrant superman is a new concept, reminder that this is a poster from the 1950s

[–] Benedict_Espinosa@europe.pub 6 points 9 hours ago (6 children)

Interestingly enough zero black people depicted, or any other races but white - just one dude with a dark orange complexion like the Mango Mussolini.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 14 points 8 hours ago

from this article:

Another story from 1953 called “People are People” has a Black youngster holding off an escaped lion until Superman can capture the animal. The owner of the circus the lion has escaped from wants to congratulate a white boy for his (nonexistent) heroism until Superman points out that the heroic young man was Black, and that the circus owner only wanted to congratulate the white boy because he was prejudiced.

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[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

Interesting article about the history of 'socialist superman' during the depression and the ideological evolution.

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