put all of your election posting here so it doesn't bother anyone else!
from @CoolerOpposide@hexbear.net:
For Agitprop purposes, I’m asking comrades to help aggregate any and all effortpost responses, critiques, or general thoughts that you have seen or written pertaining to yesterday’s U.S. election that you think have standalone value for discussion either online or IRL.
I made a post for that purpose here, and ideally it can be used not only for general discussion, but as a reference for well thought out responses in discussions about the election to save all of us some brainpower.
No shitposts please, as we’d like to highlight some comrades’ actual effort in constructing responses or analysis, but humor is 100% welcome to help make your point!
Ameri-brains bros and sis, can you explain the mind of the dem voter who supports arms embargo (allegedly 60 % of dems or thereabouts), and then goes punch in for kopmala in california or new york?
Even taking labor aristocracy mindspace, I don’t understand it, there is no (not 0.001, just flat 0) chance your vote changes anything, or any restrictions on women/lgbt/drugs/homeless will come because of your vote, so like, what gives?
The 99% Hitler joke is not a joke for many people
But it doesn’t matter, throwing away your vote to vote bloo in california is absolutely meaningless, so again what gives? I understand you go vote local or ballot measures, you want arms embargo, and then (….) ✅ kopmala it is. I just struggle with that (….) thought process
There's also the false logic of "if my vote doesn't go to someone who wins then it's wasted."
Yeah, IDK either and I'm fucking surrounded by them in "ultra-progressive" Northern California. Best I get is "We HAVE TO make sure Trump loses!" even when confronted about the electoral college.
Politics are a religion for people in those deep blue/red states. My family in New York showed local polling stations with crowds of people waiting to vote. This is in Upstate New York, not even New York City where the real decision is made. I remember people getting vote-shamed for voting Nader at the time when New York went predictably blue as always.
The fear mongering from the media has worked on a lot of people and they legit think Trump will install a dictatorship and tear down every social service out there. That, and people really don’t know how the electoral system works and think every third-party voter is responsible for the loss. A shocking number have no idea how the electoral college works.
Our local org brought in a guy at the annual dinner who tried shaming us all to vote for Joe Biden. Absolute fucking miss of a public speaker booking, it was so embarrassing listening to this guy when we all know even sleepy Joe could win NY by 10 points.
A 2020 Gallup survey found that around half of American adults read at or below a sixth grade (11 or 12 year old) level.
America makes a lot more sense once you realize it's average adult is about as intelligent as an early teenager and much less receptive to learning.
What Mr. piss said, genocide is just another item on a laundry list of topics and priorities for them. These aren’t genuine either but purely PR wishlists used for rhetorical purposes. Since there’s little to no utility in rhetorically talking about the genocide (since it’s democrats who are culpable) it’s something they won’t even talk about openly until they are in the wilderness
Supporting an arms embargo, for a lot of them, is like their 30th most important issue and it isn’t any level of meaningful support or interest. It's the equivalent of them saying they're okay with not having lettuce on their hamburger. It's inconsequential to them and their daily life and reality that people are being slaughtered in the middle east. What matters is their personal action of supporting the good guy versus the bad guy or getting the policies that they care about acted upon by politicians.
We (mostly the USAmeicans on this website) need to remember that we are the abnormal ones for having some of these positions and caring about them in the imperial core. The average person doesn't know what dollar hegemony or the Balfour declaration are and they don't care.
But it’s again, literally vibes of voting good guy, it doesn’t influence policies in any way in solid blue state, you can still vote whatever, free mushrooms ballot measures, and your local piggy for sheriff. Like in what way vibes are comparable to showing some harmless disagreement?
It's like that clip from the show mythbusters: I reject your reality and substitute my own. They do think it matters in their reality.
A lot of people will not know about or understand the electoral college because it's a stupid institution and easy to forget. A lot of people will think they still need to vote because it is a civic duty to vote because a lot of Iraqis died so that we could get our freedoms back from Saddam Hussein. And a lot of people will see their vote as a moral action to show support for their side regardless.
They have a different reality and the motivations for their actions need to be understood on the terms of their reality and not ours. It's also beneficial to understand how their reality is formed but that's a different conversation. It's especially beneficial to understand their reality if you're having a real conversation and trying to convince someone and change their mind.