Pretty Easy Choice - Blåhaj Lemmy

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/17869503 [https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/17869503] > I know I’m going against the grain here, I’m obviously no Harris lover, but also I’d prefer to be allowed to continue existing. If that’s controversial in leftist spaces then maybe I don’t want to spend any more time in leftist spaces.

“I’m voting for the party that doesn’t actively want to kill me”

“Pfft, classic shitlib take”

I’m tired, boss

I’ve literally had someone ask me what makes me think I deserve to live more than Palestinian kids.

This is where we’re at.

They say as if their position is any better for Palestinians either.
Don’t you see, they have absolve themselves of responsibility by making themselves a bystander. Actually pretty smart. When “they” come for us and start looking at the voters rolls these guys will get a pizza party while the rest of us go to gas chambers.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 18, 1992 | GoComics.com

Calvin: When I grow up, I'm not going to read the newspaper and I'm not going to follow complex issues and I'm not going to vote. That way I can complain that the government doesn't represent me. Then, when everything goes down the tubes, I can say the system doesn't work and justify my further lack of participation. Hobbes: An ingeniously self-fulfilling plan. Calvin: It's a lot more fun to blame things than to fix them.

GoComics
Don’t worry, these are the same people that are going to reclaim the levers of power through force.
The poor man’s version of the rich doomsday ‘I’m gonna be king of my own private island!’ lunatics.
Right, so that’s why we should let the guy who would kill Palestinian kids and trans people win. Equality

I don’t like the idea of claiming a whole group I disagree with is comprised of bots or paid agents trolling to create division, but at this point, the only plausible alternatives to that are either those people are having a severe martyr complex, or just are so overly privileged that they are divorcing themselves from reality and don’t/can’t comprehend the consequences of what they’re advocating, essentially treating this whole thing like a sports game.

Or maybe both, and are trying to throw trans people, black people, women, etc. under the bus to fuel their martyr complex in their stead.

project 2025 was created in 1980 and we’ve already enacted over 75% of it so far.

during that the entire time we managed to thrive despite the considerable impediments and we did it without the democrat’s help. in fact: biden used to be one of our most vocal enemies.

don’t let the propaganda scare you: i was there and lived through it and we did exceptionally well anyways.

It’s unfortunate that there’s a kernel of truth in both! Obviously red guy is bad and if you’re thinking in the medium-term of the next five years (the context of the election) then it really is that simple.

I do want to emphasize though that there is a lot that has to be done outside the ballot box. Even if you just want status quo, a Harris government would need to be badgered heavily to actually pass the sort of legislation needed to mitigate the imminent threat of climate change (in addition to most other policy changes you’d want or need).

Climate Man isn’t going to swoop down from the sky and save the world. Normal people need to see politics as a proactive, regular part of adulting. If you’re planning on voting this year, consider also having the goal of (if able) attending a protest or donating to political organizations you agree with this (or next) year! Lets make government suck less c:

Obviously, the real fight only starts once the election is over. But right now the order of the day has to be defeating Trump because everything and I mean absolutely everything will get a lot worse if he wins. Harris will only implement progressive policies if there is grassroots pressure for her to do so. Trump will send the military to deal with grassroots pressure.

If by grassroots pressure you mean “massive social upheaval and widespread protest and civil unrest” then yeah.

But she’s always going to support the Palestinian genocide. She’s said so herself. There’s no circumstances where she will stop funding and arming the IDF.

The Biden administration has given an ultimatum threatening to stop military aid if aid to northern Gaza doesn’t increase, with a deadline shortly after the election.

They’ve already murdered in large excess of 50 thousand people, likely over a hundred thousand when accounting for missing and undocumented deaths. Nearly a year ago they opened machine gun fire on a crowd of people trying to get flour. It’s been a genocide this entire time. He has not stopped military aid. Kamala herself has literally said,

“I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist militias. My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering,” “When we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah… Iran present, I think that it is without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks,”

She is open about the fact that there do not exist any circumstances where she will stop funding the IDF and the actions of the IDF. Israel has claimed to be “defending itself” for the past year. The Palestinian genocide is what they mean by defending themselves.

I’m trans too. I am horrifically afraid of what a fascist American government can and would do to us. This entire election cycle has been a literal nightmare. We can’t just pretend reality is different though, we can’t just pretend that the Democratic party have not themselves been active participants in the genocide of a colonized ethnicity in the middle east. It’s depressing but it’s the truth. They’ve blocked the ICJ from taking action, they’ve blocked UN motions to take action, they’ve consistently worked against recognizing the state of Palestine, and they have funded and armed a genocide.

The day after the votes are finished counting, drag is going to become Harris’ sworn enemy. Every day until that happens, drag is going to do everything drag can to help her. It’s not about being right, it’s about doing right.
I hadn’t clocked that drag was using “drag” to refer to drag, and thought drag was saying that drag as a hobby was going to become the sworn enemy of Harris. Was super confused for a minute.
I agree, but my main point is that when I went to vote it took me 11 minutes. 11 minutes to but my voice in the election. And that does not have to be mutually exclusive with political action, I have been involved in action groups (though not as of lately due to me focusing on my studies, but if a Palestine protest starts on my campus you can bet I’ll be joining it), and I’m not making the argument that voting is all you should do. Far from it. But, it is something that is quick and easy to do and if enough people do it, it could prevent a fascist government that makes change far more difficult than it is now.
It’s as if voting wasn’t the one single thing you could do as a citizen.
It IS the only one that can’t be twisted by media interpretation, demonized and attacked with military and police, or straight up ignored.

Well, except for all the ways that voting is broken and doesn’t work. Gerrymandering and the electoral college and what not. And how your options are conservative neoliberal genocide supporter or outright neo fascist.

You couldn’t vote for an actual progressive candidate if you wanted to. The entire American political system is designed to prevent that exact thing from happening.

The larger of a lead someone wins with, the harder it is for those tactics to work. Please everyone, vote.
That’s presuming that Kamala has any interest in changing those things. The progressive wearing down of voting rights has continued mostly unabated for the last 50 years. It’s not like this state of affairs is new or something.
The details of who you vote for are another discussion. I’m simply saying voting is the only thing you can do that is guaranteed to contribute to the direction the government goes in, no matter how small. All other activity is important, but not guaranteed to result in anything.

I dont think voting itself is harmful on it’s own, no. I do understand why Palestinian Americans will not vote for people committing acts of genocide against them. And more to the point, I just recognize that this is a death spiral of western democracy right? The Democratic party is unwilling to do literally anything that would interrupt the neoliberal status quo of America. This aligns them with conservatives. They fight back against workers rights and protect the military industrial complex. The Democratic party has done shockingly little to ever actually fight back against Trumpism and modern fascists in America. They could have done significantly more, but many of those actions would jeaopardize american neoliberalism. It’s their priority to preserve it.

What I’m saying is, even if Kamala wins, we will be back here in 4 more years. Each time losing more ground to fascists because elected officials will do little more than token gestures to stop them. I hope she is elected, and I hope I’m wrong and she does an aboutface and codifies reproduction rights, codifies queer rights, and dismantles the supreme court and the electoral college. Biden could have done these things too.

And does voting stop you doing the other things?
It does if you treat it like the media does, billions of dollars in campaign coverage in the year leading up to election day and then nothing until it’s time to do it all over again.
It a pretty easy and very impactfull thing to do… so go vote first and the do whatever else you are suggesting after.
not voting is a strawman used to manipulate you.
Telling people in danger that their attempts to save themselves are contemptible is nothing but cynical callousness.

It’s children whining about how life is unfair but instead of actually trying to do something about it now, they’d rather feel smugly superior as they do fuckall and “wait for the revolution” or whatever.

Do I believe positive change is quick or easy? Fuck no. It’s hard work and it takes a ton of us working together. I harbor no illusions that my own singular voice will ever matter on a large scale, and I will happily take up my arms to defend the rights of those whose only crime is existing while lgbtq+/poc/whatever, but I’m gonna vote and campaign and everything I can do in the meantime.

Whether we’re headed for a cliff as a species or not is irrelevant, I don’t feel the need to hit the gas or sit back while mocking the people who are trying to stop the bus.

Yeah, people who see the long list of minorities that would be negatively affected by a Trump presidency and insist that there is no difference between the candidates are telling on themselves: Who gets the presidency would make no difference - for them. And they have no empathy for anybody else.
it’s manipulation at best. we’ve enacted 75% of project 2025 so far since 1981 and we thrived without republican or democratic help. in fact, biden used to me one of our most vocal enemies and ran for president and we’re still here.
Very true. Just, the weird thing is I’m not sure if this comment is intended as pro-Harris-vote or pro-Palestine-boycott.

Trans tankies be like:

They sure have a lot more faith in the Democrats’ moral compass than we do.

Do you have more faith in Trump’s?
Trump isn’t going to be president next year, I’m more worried about the Democrats.
Did trump drop out of the race? Because from what I gather it’s still a very close race that can end up being decided by the supreme court.
The fix has been in since Biden dropped out, all that remains is to see what sort of stochastic terrorism his supporters get up to once reality starts settling in.
The US voting system is undemocratic and a huge percentage of the population seems to be out of their mind. Trump winning is still a very real danger.
The only part of that you’re wrong about is the last bit. Trump winning isn’t the danger, the threat is his tantrum after he loses.
Okay, with that confidence I suggest you put a couple of grand against Harris winning.
That doesn’t make any sense.

“Put money against someone winning.” = “Betting that someone will win.”

Or what didn’t make sense?

The part where you said that betting against Harris is the same thing as betting on Harris…
Hey, I didn’t invent that saying, instead blame English for being a silly language 😁
It would be put money on Harris winning.

I’m not blaming English because I can’t find any other examples of people misusing it like that.

Betting against something has never meant a bet that the thing will happen, betting against means that you think the thing won’t happen.

Clearly, if you put your money where your mouth is, there’s a lot of money to be made:

Maybe stop watching so much MSN

I don’t watch TV, and if I had anything to spend I’d have put in my bet the moment Biden dropped out.

You would have made a pretty penny if you bet on Trump in 2016

Electoral betting odds more closely reflect the opinions of capital than voters, precisely because of who has more disposable money to put where their mouth is. In 2016, that was the liberal status quo because it meant business as usual. In 2024, after having a taste of blood in the water from tax cuts and deregulation in Trump’s first term, they want more.

You would have made a pretty penny if you bet on Trump in 2016

My statistics professor did, which is what got me interested in the space. In general, he said, the betting odds are more reflective of reality because the further they are from the truth, the more money to be made by people who can detect that.

So even if the odds are off, the chances of them being off by a significant amount are low.

(And yes, it was unlikely for Trump to win 2016. The fact he did win doesn’t change that fact)

It’s too much of a 2020 flashback, I hope the polling is way off.

Libs: Voting is just the start

Also libs: If you dont blindly support Kamala you’re a Russian bot, also how dare you protest it makes me very uncomfortable. Shut up and let us sign this bipartisan legislation with fascists.

Communists wish they had the power and influence that liberals keep implying that they have.
If you are not voting for Kamala, you are supporting Trump. That logic is pretty easy to follow.
I wish I lived in a world that simple.
Guess I’m a Trump supporter. Kind of weird how we got here, given I’m a center-leftist who supports the Socialist party

You’re trying to explain liberal behavior with logic. That was your first mistake.

“A vote for not Harris is a vote for Trump”, lmao. Absolutely laughable.

As if Dems who have enabled the Overton ratchet for the past 50 years will give a shit about trans folk. Because clearly the current Dem admin has taken so much action against anti-trans violence and discrimination.

The same Dems who are running to the fascists as fast as possible. The same Dems enthusiastically supporting a literal genocide. The same Dems bragging about filling their cabinet with literal republicans. The same Dems who are receiving endorsements from absolute right wing war hawk neoliberal ghouls and bragging about it.

I guess y’all are just going to prove the leftists were correct again.

You know what it’s called when you’re not allowed to vote for anyone but one person?

The liberal mind cannot comprehend this (so they just downvoted you instead)