I resist therefore I am

is a in many cases a definition of leftists approach to life.

But what do these people know?

What do they want???

what do you want as a leftist???

to resist?

Can that be enough?

I argue it cannot be enough!

If it's the only thing that defines you then you are no better then your oppressor.

All you seek is to remain hidden in the collective.

All you seek is being allowed to keep following you

#leftwing #leftists #notenough

The #TrolleyProblem is not abstract. There is absolutely an IRL version of it: #voting.

So, every couple years #leftists argue about whether or not to vote for the lesser of two evils.

They have a lever ( #vote ), and if they pull the lever then fewer people die. If they do nothing, more people die.

There are two basic moral foundations for this decision:
- Deontological: actions are morally good or bad, not consequences.
- Utilitarian: outcomes determine the moral value of actions.

I'm not going to get into the pros and cons of each. Instead, I'm going to address the psychological aspect of it.

People who align to Deontological ethics (which is a significant, if not outright majority, of those on the #left) view things in terms of purity and taint.

The action affects the moral weight of the person. So the person is viewed as a good or bad person depending upon whether their actions and behaviors are judged as morally righteous by the standards of their political alignment.

People who align to Utilitarian ethics don't give a shit about any of that. Furthermore they consider _not acting_ to be a morally culpable choice. There is no difference between the original position of the lever.

Now, there are some who would argue for not voting for a utilitarian reason. The argument is basically that not voting forces the parties to court your vote, and thus moving them closer to your position.

I don't think this is true in modern democracies, because politicians already do not support policies that the vast majority of their voters support.

But, I will grant it. If you are to take this to be the case, then here is your cost function:

sum(t=0, T-1, discount(t, (harm_worse(t)-harm_lesser(t))) < (p x sum(t=T, infinity, discount(t, (harm_lesser(t)-harm_better(t))))

This is basically saying that you have to be willing to pay the harm caused the the worse evil as the price for the gains after your inflection point.

Which, points to the deontological argument in favor of voting for the lesser evil: you are buying a good future by paying with lives and bodies that (likely) are not your own. You are throwing someone under the bus for your moral purity.

Personally?
I personally think that the only reason evil is allowed to exist in our world at all is because good people are so afraid of "being bad" that they constantly abdicate the reins of power to evil people. Those #evil people exploit it.

Edit: This post was inspired by a conversation here: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116644205722247047

If you aren't already following @mekkaokereke, I do recommend his feed.

This is why I keep saying leftists are toxic pro #Fascist #MAGA #Nazi propagandists. Prominent #leftists influencers comments sections are full of these kinds of people.

Now this person is trying to provide cover for the #Nazis by claiming Obama started the Nazi movement. These guys are all Nazi collaborators!

#AOC #BernieSanders #Trump #GOP #Democrats #democratic #DNC #WorkingClass #Mamdani

This is why I keep saying leftists are toxic pro #MAGA propagandists. Prominent #leftists influencers comments sections are full of these kinds of people.

This person is indifferent to what #ICE is doing, they don't care in the least bit about the concentration camps. They don't care about the 14 million people projected to die because of Trump's U.S. Aid cuts, they simply care about their political ideology.

#AOC #BernieSanders #Trump #GOP #Democrats #democratic #DNC #WorkingClass

The #leftists are always telling me how the #Democrats aren't popular with voters. You mean the 77 million crayon eaters that voted for #Trump or the 90 million who stayed home? I know 75 million of us knew the assignment.

The #Democratic party has never been more popular with me, as the only non #fascist non #Nazi party in the country there isn't a scale big enough to measure how much I love that F'ing party!!!

#AOC #BernieSanders #Trump #DNC #Mamdani #KamalaHarris #eattherich #WorkingClass