On social media, the upcoming generation is expressing more European solidarity than the continent has seen in decades.
A futuristic EU soldier stands guard, laser blaster at the ready. European fighter jets zoom through the sky over thumping Eurodance beats. An imaginary map shows a vastly enlarged EU, swallowing everything from Greenland to the Caucasus.
Welcome to the wild world of pro-Europe online propaganda, where the EU isn’t a fractious club of 27 countries but a juiced-up superpower on par with China or the United States, only wiser and more cultured.
This type of content, which re-imagines the EU as a pan-European empire, a European Federation or the United States of Europe — take your pick — has flooded social media platforms over the past two years, garnering billions of views collectively on X, TikTok and Instagram as the EU has reeled from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a U.S.-EU trade deal decried as “humiliation” for Brussels in many parts of Europe.
The ultra wealthy don’t have billions just sitting in their bank accounts. That much wealth is largely tied up in the unrealized gains of non-liquid assets (stocks, real estate, etc.).
So it’s basically imaginary wealth, but unfortunately banks will loan them money based on the imaginary wealth.
Then they shouldn’t mind if we take their “non-existent” money, and redistribute it to their victims.