Opinion | Despite Everything, Bernie Sanders Still Believes
www.nytimes.com
The senator from Vermont explains why the left still has a fighting chance.

“Sometimes people say, you know, you’re 78, all that stuff, and you’ve been doing this for a long time — But should I be quitting now? When you look out and you talk to these beautiful, beautiful young people who want to move this country forward in such a decent, humane way, it really does inspire me. And to the degree that I have gotten those folks involved in the political process, yeah, I am very proud of that. I don’t know that I’ve ever done anything in my life more important than that.”

    • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      that may not be the best thing to start out with

      If it's a common part of regular discussion in leftist spaces you don't need to start out with it -- someone wanders in and hears/reads it.

        • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I'm not saying "don't tell people leftist states do a lot of good things, actually." I'm saying that if you combine something that radical with blunt shitting on the most popular politician in the country, that's going to be too much for some people who are otherwise ready to consider more radical ideas. And there's no reason to do the latter, so why do it? It can only hurt us, especially considering so many people find this place and others like it because they like what Bernie has to say and then start digging deeper.

            • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
              ·
              4 years ago

              Bernie has also participated in it. Voting for three wars is three too many. There are also limits to electoralism which has to be talked about when there is a discussion on Bernie.

              These are all legitimate criticisms that should absolutely be discussed, but note the difference between this, stuff like "he seems like a decent guy but he deserves criticism," and some of the comments that pop up that make you think he might as well have been in the Bush Administration. There's a way to criticize while being respectful of the good things a person has done, but we're not great at that yet.

              Newly-radicalizing folks who wander in here aren't going to be turned off by "he's a decent guy who did some good things, but he's not a saint and here are the receipts." They might get turned off if they see a bunch of "fuck this guy and the horse he rode in on, he's dead to me" takes. That just lacks perspective, and it's going to be extra jarring right next to a thread about how North Korea might be good, actually. People take time to change their opinions and deprogram the propaganda they've internalized -- too hard of a sell can cause them to tune out.