this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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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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[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Sweden is a much smaller and far more homogenous country than the US. They didn’t need intersectionality to succeed.

Sweden used to be run by the Social Democrats for decades and they have helped a lot with emancipation from the 1960s onwards. Back then Sweden was even more homogenous.

Swedish culture of lagom är bäst emphasizes harmony instead of confrontation and conflict. Americans are pretty much the opposite of that.

Remember that the US is far more religious. Lots of religious fringe lunatics emigrated to the US from Europe and you can still see the results today.

Currently in the US you have elite white activists preaching long about intersectionality, while alienating the lower working classes, especially whites.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don’t like the term succeed. It’s not a case of once you have it you have it. You have to keep working for it to keep it.

As it stands, we’ve not had a majority-left government in ages, our welfare is being sold off to private interests, and the gaps between classes are widening. The younger generation in particular has been susceptible to the influence of American right-wing media and as such we’re seeing an increased amount of religious extremism and right wing thinking.

Hell, the xenophobic lobbying has lead to the Nazi party having a majority seat in parliament.

Understanding of intersectionality is a useful tool regardless of the size or homogeneity of the population.

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

xenophobic

Nazi

Grew because the population became less homogenous.

Despite that Sweden and the Nordics are still leading in women’s equality. Have they been rolled back in a significant way over the last two decades?

Intersectionality is useful for analysis. As an activist method in practice it leads to alienating white men, oppression Olympics, purity testing, division.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Grew because the population became less homogenous.

I'd argue that it's more complicated than that. It's a factor, but we don't exactly have a great track record of treating non-Swedes that well. We were quite cosy with the German nazis prior to and during WWII, and were enthusiastic about racial biology. Note how poorly we've historically treated the native Sami population.

We also still have a lot of systemic problems with e.g. "women's professions" like nursing, cleaning, etc. not being valued fairly. Women's health problems aren't taken as seriously either.

Further, the right-block are campaigning to restrict rights overall. It's not just the nazis but the Christ-democrats as well. We're talking restricted abortion rights, there's arguments against LGBTQ+ people, and so on.

The homogeneity was a helpful factor in establishing a more egalitarian system, but it's not truly egalitarian, and there are still unequalities endemic in our society.

I admit I have a bit of a knee-jerk reaction whenever Sweden or Scandinavia is mentioned, because we're so often, unfairly, painted as some kind of nigh utopia, where people are equal, education and healthcare is easily accessed, etc. etc. but we have problems. I grew up in poverty, to an abusive single mother. I've seen some low points of Swedish society and I resent people glossing over their existence.

[–] fiat_lux@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for being real about it. As a non-Swedish-speaker living outside Scandinavia, I could only suspect that the frequent lionizing of Scandinavia (and dismissal of counterpoints with the magic word "homogenous") was another flavor of white supremacy. I'm sorry that you're dealing with exactly the same bullshit as many other places though.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, it is a problem.

Like the most recent example I can think of is literally from yesterday. Used to be that healthcare and schooling was generally owned by the state, but over the past few decades with the right-wingers at the helm privatisation has grown and we now have significant problems with private companies exploiting public resources for financial gain.

Thus we have people arguing that we should ban operating a company for profit in the welfare sector. So this Centre party leader demands that welfare should be profitable, while owning several private healthcare companies. That's "jäv", a conflict of interest, but this kind of bullshit is common nowadays.

There are memes about it, every time a person in the Sweden Democrats get caught being a total nazi, there's another "individual rotten egg" because that's literally the entire party.

We've had some great things going for us. We really went all in on workers rights back when the military came in and shot workers demonstrating for their rights., but we've got problems too. The most recent time a eugenics law was abolished here was in 2013.

Chat Control was originally proposed by a Swedish social democrat.

I'm happy to live here, but we're not some utopia.

[–] fiat_lux@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Swap the names and this could have been an article from where I am. I'd give examples but it's a small enough place that I try not to mention it online these days.

The military action against workers doesn't surprise me, but the eugenics sex change law thing was a truly bizarre law to begin with - and 2013 is... quite late. I'm guessing the name "Sweden democrats" is deceptive given that vote.

I’m happy to live here, but we’re not some utopia.

I hear you, I'm in the same situation. And thanks for the links, I've learned a lot more about Sweden than I have in many years!

I hope we both are fortunate enough to make and experience progress again in our lifetimes.

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

If everyone has enough, no one needs to have less to make people feel ok about it...

And if someone only pushes to help some demographics, they're likely being manipulated so people don't unify, or they're just a bigot.

Lots of bigots just don't want to be called Republicans, so they claim not to be but are still incredibly bigotted and only care about a slice or two of humanity, if there's no demographic overlap with themselves, they just don't give a shit.

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Most people care about their own well-being first, yes. Caring about the well-being of groups they are not part of is a luxury for the privileged.

Hating on Republicans won’t overcome this.

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

Hating on Republicans won’t overcome this.

They're the ones distracting everyone with bigotry...

What you're doing is like saying:

Don't blame the arsonist that keeps setting fires, sometimes fire is natural

Fire is an accident sometimes, but there's a large group of people clearly intentionally setting the fire.

Fucking obviously we're going to blame the arsonists, and anyone saying not to...

Well, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why they don't want arsonists blamed.

[–] Samskara@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Republicans have managed to create an identity of unity with MAGA. The opposition has failed to put something meaningful against that. Intersectional activism as practiced emphasizes differences and division.

The arsonists are setting fires to the kindling and abandoned buildings they find. And yes, there are also natural fires.

The situation in the US and European countries is a little different, but has parallels. Let’s go back to Sweden as an example. Post war economy is booming and hires some foreign workers from elsewhere in Europe. Racists get upset a little. Birthrates of ethnic Swedes plummet from the 1970s until today. More immigration is needed for economic reasons. Even more immigration is allowed because of moral reasoning. The society becomes divided, violent crime skyrockets, cultural clashes with new immigrants rise. The newcomers have a very different culture and value than the native Swedes. People desire stability (lagom är best). (far) right promises that. The accelerating change of demographics and populations in Europe inherently lead to instability. This is a huge problem all over Europe and not easy to solve.

If the democratic, liberal, and left forces are unable to improve the situation, people will turn to fascists. Of course capitalism, a growing device between rich and poor, deindustrialization, etc. all accelerate this as well. AI is the next big wave that might cause disruptive change on a scale unseen before. Climate change in the background isn’t doing us any favors either. We live in rapidly changing world. Humans desire stability and safety more they desire universal justice and freedom.

The (intersectional) left tries to create solidarity between very disconnected groups, leading to the unholy alliance of Islamo-gauchism we see in many countries now. For political Islam this is an alliance of convenience with useful idiots. Supporting minorities is all well and good. Dismissing the majority groups out of hand is a recipe for losing elections.

You have to convince the arsonists that fires are also bad for themselves.

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

I'm getting the distinct feeling that you're running this thru a chatbot and don't understand anything it's saying or anyone else is saying...

Like, there's a lot of output but it's all gibberish that doesn't mean anything

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

It's like blaming women for why no one cares about women. It's nonsense.

I think it's also rooted in this idea that if you are the victim, then your opinion is invalid.

I don't know how that became a thing but it is.

"Oh you don't think racism is fair, well that's only because you are black so your opinion doesn't count".

"Oh you want harsher punishment for sex crimes, well that's only because you were a victim, so you are biased and your opinion doesn't count,".

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I always thought it based in Christianity.

"For it was eve that ate the apple an now women must be subservient to men" least that's how I hear it. I heard from a female american colleague that she struggled with male trash telling her to get in kitchen and out of office back in 90s but better in recent years. I heard one older (60s) male coworker write a formal written complaint on that specific woman. Like wtf? That bloke never had time for emails but will complain about the new woman in the office? Now it seems right wing brain rot is making things complicated. I worry for future women.

[–] trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

We have Christians and mysogynist idiots in Europe as well, so I doubt that explains the difference

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I dk murica has mega churches and the like. Its like their whole thing.

[–] jimmy90@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

yeah the evagelicals got killed off by the lutherins (is it?) a while back

thank god (hoho)

[–] realitista@lemmus.org 7 points 2 days ago

As someone who's spent half his life on each continent, there are few religious nuts in Europe that can hold a candle to the crazy of American religious nuts.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well, yeah...

If someone was completely ignorant about how America was first "settled" by religious extremists, that would make sense.

European most extreme zealots who wanted to force everyone to follow their rules were mad they were minorities in Europe, so they all signed up to come to America where they would be a majority and have a shit ton of kids to maintain that majority.

The "idiots" you have in Europe, are the ones not extreme enough to cross an ocean to force their beliefs on people, so fucking obviously the most extreme in Europe won't be as extreme as the ones that left.

Like, logically you should have been able to figure this out.

Just in general tho....

When someone says something you're not aware of, why don't you just ask some fucking questions and then next time it comes up, you won't be ignorant.

Like, that's how this whole "learning" thing works.

What you're doing is just telling everyone you're ignorant, and hoping someone takes a minute to proactively explain things to you.

But it's almost guaranteed you're gonna get belligerent about it and I'm gonna end up blocking you.

[–] trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And of course there haven't been any changes in european idiocy in the two hundred years since that happened. There also haven't been any Americans coming back to return their brand of idiocy, which is why the are no mornings or scientologists in Europe right?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 0 points 2 days ago

But it’s almost guaranteed you’re gonna get belligerent about it and I’m gonna end up blocking you.

Whoop, there it is.

I'd say have a nice life, but you know...

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Most people form their opinions first then make up a reason for having them that is usually not true but is the most socially acceptable reason.

The Bible is full of stories that are vague and can be interpreted however you like to support any point.

Like how the angel Gabriel that came to Mary asked her for her consent to carry Jesus. Which supports pro choice.

The true reason for misogyny is the same reason for racism.

People in power benefit from it.

And it allows the majority to feel superior over another class , keeping them more docile against the rulling class.

And when the bottom people get hostile, then it's just fighting between these two groups.

Again it keeps the ruling party safe. The plebs will just fight with each other.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That Might be the legit root cause of a chunk of things sadly.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

There is a fair bit of psychology research on this topic.

Generally we don't know why we make the choices we do. And we make up something plausible.

I can't think of the two main researchers who headed this, but I do know them. Im sure it will come to me later. I'll post a reply with a link. I know there is a wiki on their work too.

Before them there was this famous study, I believe it was in Germany in like the 60s.

They showed women 4 pairs of panty hose. And asked the women to pick the best ones. Like a product comparison.

Except all 4 pairs were identicle.

Most women choose the pair they handled first.

When asked why the pair they picked was superior. The women said this pair was better because it had more elastic. Was thicker. Better quality. Etc.

But that wasn't true.

They picked it because it was the first pair they were exposed to.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 1 points 10 hours ago

That sounds like Madness but it does remind me of documentary with those washermachine ball craze back when I was a child. Several humans said it improves their clothes and listed reason for it but the reality is it did nothing. Then they all backtracked when given evidence of no functional improvement. I always thought this had to be fake. But I guess humans truly can be like that. God i hope I dont do it myself.

[–] JustJack23@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What do you mean by "lack of intersectionality"

[–] TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Initially, I thought you just need to do more geometry math problems to get enough intersections. Turns out, this type of intersectionality exists too.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 5 points 2 days ago

Well, then, why isn't Kentucky more feminist? It's about as homogenous as Sweden.

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

Jerry Falwell is specifically why. And I hope he is burning in hell.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Feminism has also been branded a dirty word here. I barely know any men who will say they are even if they actually support feminism ideals.

It's a bad word like communism. And tied to homophobia and masculinity.

"Only gay men are feminist."

[–] WGKKWGKF@lemmy.world -3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

US feminism is mostly centering on the issues of white, middle-class women, failing to fully integrate the needs of women of color, marginalized, or lower-income women. This lack of a unified approach leads to fragmented advocacy and fragmented outcomes, rather than a broad movement.

Also 53% of white women vote for trump compared to 7% of black women who voted for trump. This showed that they gave more priority to racial identify over collective welfare of all women in usa .

White feminist often ignore of won't acknowledge that in usa —specifically land ownership and early capital accumulation were built upon the exploitation of Native American and African people.

The systematic removal of Native Americans from their land provided massive amounts of property that was subsequently passed down through generations of white families, serving as a primary source of generational wealth which black women or native American women doesn't have.

The wealth generated by the labor of enslaved African people in agriculture and other industries directly enriched white slaveholders and, by extension, their present generation . Jim crows law curbed wealth generation for black women compared to white women

Wealth disparity between Black and white women in the USA is severe, with white households holding nearly 10 times the median net worth of Black households, or approximately 15 cents for every dollar. Black women face lower income, less intergenerational wealth, lower homeownership rates, and higher debt, often keeping them in lower-wage service jobs without benefits.

white feminists often ignore these issues Best example would be :-1)DEI

Despite DEI mostly benefitted white women , most of the white feminist organisation ignored whether black women benefitted or not .they doesn't cared about native American or black women . They often fail to view things from racial angle by focusing just on gender angle

2)Most of the educational scholarships are benefitted by white women over native American ,black women

Whereas in

Nordic feminism is embedded within a strong, universal welfare state that prioritizes collectivism over individualism. Their approach addresses inequality by providing universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, and high-quality education, which inherently benefits marginalized groups.

Nordic feminists despite america feminists supported and worked for the the welfare of minorities like Sami people and supported affirmative actions for Sami women..

Unlike Scandinavia where conditions of minority women are getting better , in usa wealth disparity is widening everyday

[–] JustJack23@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 days ago

I wouldn't frame it as lack of intersectionality.

More like lack of class consciousness.