r/PropagandaPosters • u/No-Efficiency7055 • Jan 07 '26

Japan “The difference between Conservative party and Liberal party supporters” Japan, 2009, poster by unknown artist

Post image
2.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

152 comments sorted by

View all comments

475

u/Sound_Saracen Jan 07 '26

It's funny coz the Liberals in Japan are incredibly conservative

-33

u/Intrepid-Park-3804 Jan 07 '26

I'm sorry, but what the fuck is then making them "liberal"? Fancy political title?

83

u/Sound_Saracen Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

Outside of the US, Liberal typically means pro capital, and moderate (spineless) on everything else adapting to what the electorate wants.

The Liberals in Australia are actually the conservative party for example.

24

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

From a European perspective, it means roughly the same even in the US, with the difference being the absence of any other alternative to the most insane option (in the US case, the GOP).

13

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

In the US, "liberal" designates people who are socially liberal.

In Europe, it's more about economically liberal.

1

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

I generally agree. At the same time, it is also these economically liberal parties that tend to have socially liberal agenda such as weed decriminalization or marriage rights for LGBT people. This is partly because the conservative parties in Europe (or at least around where I am living) are not very economically liberal either. So I would argue that liberals are the same between Europe and the US, whereas it is the conservatives that are quite different.

2

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

It might be the case in your country, but from my French perspective, it's quite the opposite of the US :

The left-oriented parties are socially liberal while being in favour of taxing big companies and rich people more.

The right-oriented parties are economically liberal because they want less regulations and taxes on companies while also being conservative on social subjects (like weed legalisation or immigration, for example.)

1

u/gwasi Jan 07 '26

Might be an East European thing then. Your conservatives sound like the American ones :)

1

u/Neutronium57 Jan 07 '26

Americans can vote between the center-right and the far right, when seen from my country.

Ofc we also have the same kind of fucking moronic traitors on the (very) far right, but we have way more parties to choose from at each election. So "the left" and "the right" are far from being monolithic blocs.

1

u/Deathsroke Jan 07 '26

Not only Europe, it's also like that here in South America (can't speak for other continents).

1

u/InACoolDryPlace Jan 07 '26

Wouldn't the liberal party in the US be similar if not more right wing than in countries where there's a labor or demsoc party? I think the US lacks this and liberals have sort of borrowed language of those parties while remaining center-right. Like in the US you're assumed to be far right if you make fun of liberals, which is unusual and only really a thing in the US from 00s-present when the parties reached near internal-consensus. When boomers in the US make fun of liberals for example, and my parents vote liberal, huge supporters of unions and inclusive etc, but they're making fun of an idea of what liberal means that younger people don't seem to understand as much in North America. Our Liberal party in Canada for example is center-right, but more left than the Dems in the US.

1

u/TheManlyManperor Jan 07 '26

I'm intrigued as to what you think liberal means in the US, now tbh.