this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
494 points (97.9% liked)

News

23864 readers
5340 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

In his farewell speech, President Joe Biden warned of a growing "oligarchy" in the U.S., where extreme wealth and power threaten democracy.

Comparing modern elites to 19th-century robber barons, he called for reforms to hold the wealthy accountable, as done in the past.

Biden also criticized a "tech-industrial complex" concentrating power and spreading disinformation, weakening democracy.

His remarks sparked a surge in Google searches for "oligarchy."

The speech comes amid rising concerns about policies favoring billionaires, like Trump’s tax cuts and potential cuts to social safety programs.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] makyo 40 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] makyo 83 points 6 hours ago (4 children)

Just to add, this proves:

  1. that Americans in general aren't following along on their own
  2. that Biden could have influenced the discourse and been a force for good IF HE HAD BEEN COMMUNICATING LIKE THIS ALL ALONG. Unfortuntately they decided to 'show not tell' and let Trumpism fill the communication void with their lying bullshit for four years. Joe's biggest failure and one we shouldn't forgive him for.
[–] apex32 23 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Americans in general aren't following along on their own

This was also shown on election day when people googled "did Joe Biden drop out". Many voters had no idea Kamala Harris was even running for president.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/search-interest-did-joe-biden-211913111.html

[–] WhoIsTheDrizzle 19 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I get a lot of folks are busy, working two jobs, dealing with childcare and healthcare and whatnot, but how deep do you have to bury your head in the sand to be so unaware or disconnected from an American Presidential election? It's unfathomable to me.

[–] ByteJunk 9 points 3 hours ago

Holy F*CK. I live in another continent altogether, and couldn't filter out the American elections spam even if tried (and oh did I try....)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago

They're broke and desperate. Also, racist and sexist.

[–] Ensign_Crab 11 points 5 hours ago

His handlers didn't want him appearing in public. But that's where the bully pulpit is,

[–] glimse 10 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

I swear he could have been communicating like this all along and it wouldn't have mattered. The average person tuned out election coverage completely and even if they didn't, the news would have hardly covered it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

The average person in the US was too busy trying to figure out how to get a 500 dollar paycheck to cover 300 in groceries, 200 in rent, 100 for electric, and 200 for gas to get to work. While also paying 300 for baby formula.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 27 minutes ago (1 children)

Anyone who is only making $500 a paycheck needs to look for a new job, that's just self owning themselves.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 minutes ago

That's just reality for a ton of Americans. Where do you suggest they get these new jobs, since most pay about the same? Or should they just get multiple jobs? Because that sounds like a great way to keep more Americans uninterested in politics...

[–] glimse 3 points 2 hours ago

Yeah, exactly. When your life is on fire, putting out the flames is a lot more pressing than finding who started it.

[–] makyo 11 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

You could sure be right. I am convinced it would have made a difference though. The thing that really infuriates me though is that they barely tried.

[–] glimse 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

The thing that infuriates me is that the only two people allowed to run on the Democrat side were people Democrat voters didn't really want to vote for. I'm sooooo tired of voting for "at least they're not [other candidates]"

(Don't get the wrong idea, I sure as hell voted anyway)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Apparently they heard him this time. It would be interesting to know why they paid attention now.

[–] glimse 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Coverage. A lot more coverage. Farewell speeches happen once every 4 years so it's much more novel than the constant campaign trail news (which was largely dominated by whatever distraction the other side was cooking up)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

Exactly. The media runs the country. Murdoch runs the media.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 hours ago

Moral victories rather than actual victories to stop or slow this down was their focus. And it still is.