Political Memes

I mean, while she absolutely does not look great, this is also the expected condition for a ship that's been at sea for 200+ days without even a port call. Saltwater is hell on metal, and paint can only do so much for so long.

I want to be clear about something before anyone interprets this as me defending Trump: I am not a Trump supporter. I consider him one of the worst presidents in U.S. history, and I have very little interest in defending either him or his political agenda.

That is precisely why I have a problem with memes like this being presented as factual arguments.

The USS Abraham Lincoln really did return to port after an extraordinarily long deployment. The photograph is real, and the ship genuinely looks rough after spending months at sea. But using that photograph as evidence that Trump somehow left the U.S. military looking like this is misleading. The Lincoln had just completed a 286 day deployment, including roughly 208 consecutive days at sea and about 200 days in a combat zone. That is actually a far more legitimate thing to criticize. Keeping a carrier and its crew deployed for that length of time raises serious questions about operational tempo, maintenance, readiness, crew fatigue, and the strain being placed on the Navy. Those are substantive criticisms that deserve discussion.

Instead, we get this stupid little meme that takes a completely legitimate photograph, strips away all of its context, and presents it as though it is evidence of something it does not actually demonstrate. That is intentionally misleading the people who see it, and then encouraging them to repeat the misinformation because it supports an agenda.

That's the problem I keep seeing on Lemmy: a legitimate political point gets wrapped in misinformation because the misinformation makes the meme more effective. People then repeat it because it supports a conclusion they already agree with.

I don't think that's acceptable simply because the target is Trump.

One of the things that infuriates me about Trump and his political movement is their willingness to manipulate facts, exploit outrage, selectively present information, and construct narratives that are technically based on something real while being fundamentally misleading. We shouldn't respond to that by adopting the same tactics.

If we believe our position is actually stronger, then we should be able to make the argument honestly.

You can criticize Trump's claims about "rebuilding the military." You can criticize defense spending, procurement failures, maintenance problems, military readiness, the defense industrial complex, or the extraordinary deployment demands being placed on the Navy. There are plenty of legitimate arguments to make.

We don't need to manufacture evidence to make those arguments.

If our standard becomes "misinformation is acceptable when it hurts the people we dislike," then we've abandoned the very standard we're supposedly defending. Worse, we've made ourselves vulnerable to exactly the same rhetorical tactics when they're used against us.

Being better than Trump and his political movement means more than disagreeing with them. It means refusing to become comfortable with the methods we condemn when they're politically convenient.

Not the most ragged lookin' ship I've ever seen, but for a representative of the world's most expensive Navy she's looking absolutely shabby.

That's speed rust

so, i can’t impress upon everyone the toll the ocean has on ships. the ocean seems to make it its mission to sink every vessel in it, one steel layer at a time. and paint only lasts so long.

when in a deployment, the scraping and repainting maintenance is not able to be done. and this is a standard result of a ship being out. other then paint discoloration, i don’t see anything wrong with it.

Rid hard, put away wet.

Going to need some Rust-eze on that

We don’t get to make fun of the Admiral Kuznetsov ever again

Asked my dad about this, because he was in the navy a long time, and it's normal, and the ship is sitting high, indicating light load, which makes sense because of the deployment circumstances.

Had to think of this:

She just needs a lick of paint is all.

I mean, sure, but...

Is it really that surprising that a passenger aboard an ocean liner would have a better experience than a sailor aboard a warship?

wow, maybe the military need more money to fix up their stuff. the only cause of this could be lack of funding, right? right?

I think rust is like ablative armor

This reminds me of Asimov's Prelude to Foundation and the signs of the fall of Trantor

A shining representation of what the US is like right now. A festering pit.

How to ragebait the right: "look at all those torpedo marks at the water line! They must have some thick hulls, bless." 100s of comments on Tiktok news channels.

Same channel: "that ship is about to experience chlamydia and herpes, better stock up on penicillin and valtrex" (upon landing on a sex capital of the world).....nothing. zero comments.

Turd Boat soon will be making another run.

The Turd Boat promises something for everyone.

Set a course for adventure,

Your mind on a new war crime.

Welcome aboard! It’s Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurds!

I can smell this picture