this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
915 points (98.6% liked)

Political Memes

5601 readers
3529 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 39 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 112 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This didn't make sense to my American brain until I realized it was Boris Johnson, so this is a joke for people in advanced nations where medicine is a basic service.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 46 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I mean, we stupid Americans can, like, pretend.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Alwaysnownevernotme 14 points 2 months ago

I love the army of frumpy middle men whose job is to lie to my face and tell me no.

[–] cynar 76 points 2 months ago (5 children)

For those confused, it's a British politician, not American. The tories spent far too long in power trying to cripple the NHS, without being too blatant about it. They wanted to introduce a more American style system. Unfortunately for them, a lot of the NHS staff wouldn't play ball. It's been hell on the actual staff, but the NHS refused to break.

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”

[–] homesweethomeMrL 37 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Fwiw, Americans hate the “American style health care” with a smoldering, intense passion. We are ruled by ignorant clowns and rich bullies.

If only we could get to an NHS style healthcare.

[–] cynar 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's well worth fighting for. We pay less than half what Americans pay for better service.

My daughter was born in an nhs hospital, and had complications, they were in for over a week. The biggest expense was snacks (I might have been a bit stressed and feeling helpless). Even parking was cheap.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. We look at that in wide-eyed wonder. It’s like a dream.

[–] cynar 6 points 2 months ago

It was a dream in the UK too... until it wasn't.

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

Can you tell that to the Americans around me?

[–] homesweethomeMrL 2 points 2 months ago

Sadly, no one can. Propaganda - a giant bus with a lie printed on it, for example - is extremely powerful and effective.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's something they'll be able to tell their children and grandchildren with pride.

I think it's awesome somebody said no. I'm buried to my neck in medical debt and will probably never own a house because of it. Shit I'll probably never get out of low-income housing. Oh well, that's the price I pay for freedom and democracy I guess. /s

[–] n0m4n 1 points 2 months ago

American healthcare is so expensive for those with no or minimal insurance, postpone using hospitals and doctors until a last resort. The predictable result is that when patients finally have to use those services, their problem is often advanced, harder to heal and much more expensive. Our health outcomes are at the bottom of the industrial nations.

[–] Etterra 7 points 2 months ago

To be fair it's an easy mistake to make, our (American) for-profit healthcare industrial complex is a nightmare. One that certain politicians in the UK, Canada, and I'm sure plenty of others would love to emulate so they can get richer - because barely disguised greed knows not race, religion, creed, border, or time.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It’s been hell on the actual staff, but the NHS refused to break.

The NHS has been broken for some time thanks to repeated budget cuts and privatization of core functions.

[–] cynar 6 points 2 months ago

It's been beaten bloody, but is still holding together. It's definitely in crisis though.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is labour fixing it or are they just neoliberal fucks too?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 4 points 2 months ago

Strarmer is extremely Neoliberal and corrupt as hell to boot.

Under Corbyn or Rebecca Long-Bailey maybe you'd get different results. But he's pledged himself to bring Tory policy the Labour government, so that's what Brits are going to get.

[–] CaptPretentious 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

American here. Who or what is (a) torie?

[–] cynar 11 points 2 months ago

The tories are the conservative party. They are our right-wing, mainstream party. Politically, they are closer to the Democrats than republicans, but that's mostly because America is so extreme right wing compared to most of Europe.

A few years ago, they took a lurch to the right, as well as purging a lot of the less extreme and/or intelligent members. Thankfully, they got throughly bitchslaped out of power recently. We are now into the cleanup phase of their damage (including brexit).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

We use "Tory/Tories" like you'd use "Yankee"/"Dixie" or "GOP" - it's a nickname. Like the Democrats, the left-leaning major party (Labour) doesn't have a nickname.

[–] DokPsy 6 points 2 months ago

A member of the conservative party. Their rough equivalent to our Republican party

[–] [email protected] 51 points 2 months ago (4 children)

This is just a shitter version of the joke featuring George Osborne.

[–] dessimbelackis 11 points 2 months ago

It works the same with any conservative politician

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

It is also essentially a variation of Monty python's merchant banker skit. Nothing new under the sun.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Oh yes, so it is! I'd forgotten that particular Python sketch. Thank you!

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

One could conceivably argue that a healthy and resilient workforce can engage in profitable labor, while a sick and fragile workforce gets trapped in cycles of disability and poverty.

[–] T00l_shed 2 points 2 months ago

So, in order to have a replacement workforce without spending money, criminalize birth control and women's access to Healthcare.

2 birds 1 stone

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

(Sorry for a screenshot of a lemmy post.) Just a reminder that the woman who lost to a lettuce thought that cancer patients should all be left to die if they can't go private.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 2 months ago

Oh sir! Allow me to clear this up for you. These peons, these random floor workers don't understand things like money my good sir.

Why it's the Hospital Admininstrators and Insurance companies that get all the money, not the sick people of course! This allows us to inflate the cost of our goods and services on paper, which in turn we can use to lower our taxable corporate income. And don't worry - the insurance team makes certain our customers continue to pay while they are outside of and not using the business operations!

Now we of course don't charge them the "paper prices" because they too need to turn a profit - and no one can actually afford a $10,000 ambulance ride so we can just pretend to argue back and forth while we both write those all off. A delightfully devious scheme I might add my good sir yes yes!

[–] FuglyDuck 20 points 2 months ago

Look. just tell them I get the money. I'll take a small processing fee of like two bucks to buy myself some coffee and send the rest back to the hospital so you can get back to the business of helping people.

if you're wondering what I get out of it... well, besides the coffee.... i get to say I'm some chief-something-or-another-officer of a hospital on my resume, yes? I'm sure that'll be good for a job where I make more in a week or two than I do now in a year. We all win.

[–] Noodle07 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] Capricorn_Geriatric 5 points 2 months ago

In NHS buses plastered with lies.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Not true for private hospital lol. I read the whole thing and thought this is another corporate speech where for-profit hospital deny they're there to get rich.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

To understand how seriously the British take the NHS we did a thing in Scouts where we went around the circle asking the children (aged 10-14) what the liked most and least about Britain. Out of around 20 of the kids, 5-6 said the NHS for what they liked most. The first child to mention the NHS was 11 years old.

The weather was by and far the least liked thing about Britain.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Here's five dollars ..... now go away

[–] PugJesus 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago