***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[mplsdunk]

You don’t want him mad if you know what’s good for your couch.

 

[elpablo21]

The echo chamber boomin‘

 

[Methodical Management]

All those opposed to American Apartheid have, ipso facto, opted into a diverse coalition. Good faith participation thus requires us to, at minimum, 1) fight for one another and 2) tolerate some degree of compromise for the sake of progress rather than pulling apart at the seams, acceding to "divide and conquer" strategies so often stoked by Astroturfed agitprop.

I don't think there's adequate respect for the toll it takes on the most vulnerable members of a coalition to mollify the least vulnerable, to keep them sufficiently motivated.

That the least vulnerable members of a coalition can, at any point, take their ball and go home the instant they don't get their way is, itself, a compound accretion of privilege - an ever-present implicit threat that is perpetually weaponized to center their desires as the linchpin to democracy itself, a la Joe Manchin.

It's past time to hold a mirror up to this, so that anyone who threatens to engage in an act of privileged nihilism must first recognize that the principle they're acting in service to is not ideological integrity, but vain self-centeredness.



As in every election in American history, there were no perfect candidates in 2020. Bernie had his flaws, too. He's previously opposed reparations for slavery and gun control legislation, for example. In each election, we have the opportunity, if not the obligation, to do the best we can for each other and for the future.

Electoral politics are not, and have never been, the be-all, end-all solution to society's problems. Direct action and private organizations, such as NGOs, have essential roles to play as well. Yet there is literally nothing to be gained through political forfeit.


It is a real slap in the face to turn your back on all those who stood in line for hours, besieged by voter intimidation and deadly pandemic, to support a compromise that would likely benefit you more than they and say that the ten minutes it would likely take you to return the favor moving forward is no longer personally worthwhile.



As this has become something of a theme, I'll close with a couple of excerpts from related discussions:

The infamous robber baron J.P. Morgan once said, "A man always has two reasons for the things he does. A good one and a real one."

Refusing to vote (or, even more destructively, voting for the opposition) as a way of "forcing" the Democratic Party to field more progressive candidates is one of the worst "good reasons" to rationalize a selfish act I've ever heard.

Political parties don't choose their candidates: voters do. If you stay home, your inaction doesn't cause a progressive hero to materialize from the ether. If you want a progressive Democrat, register as a Democrat and vote in every single primary election you can.

Centering on White men, and pandering to White fragility through "race neutrality" isn't building a diverse coalition at the necessary scale - it's attracting a lot of sophomoric White guys all too eager to imitate their favorite trite anti-hero and weaponize their privileged, nihilistic apathy whenever they don't get their way.

White Socialism tells a Black trans woman, "what's best for me is best for everyone." If you're a White cisgender man, your liberation would arrive as a natural consequence of hers. The inverse is not true.

White Socialism pitches itself to people of color, especially Black Americans, through an argument no more nuanced and no less offensive than Trump's infamously racist 2016 appeal: "You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed -- what the hell do you have to lose?" What if you're not poor, and you are well educated, and you are gainfully employed - in contradiction of the racist stereotype? Is there any more condescending follow-up to that than, "you've been duped into voting against your own interests, I know what's best for you"?

White Socialists will ask you to subordinate your liberation behind theirs, because the one form of oppression with which they are most familiar and (not coincidentally) the only one they are capable of experiencing just happens to be the ur-inequality from which all other injustices are descended.

These are people who act as though they've never been part of a coalition before, and don't know how to be present within anything that they can't commandeer and/or colonize.

They give up nothing. They demand everything. You will compromise. You will wait. You will sacrifice. They will get everything they seek, and they will get it now, or they will walk away and actively hope for your situation to grow more dire so as to supply you with a stronger impetus to carry them in the next cycle.

"Relieve us of our only burden," they implore. "That will take the pressure off so we can come back later for the rest of you." This is a con. It is a grift. It is a hollow, selfish parody of the basic fairness they claim to stand for.

If you want meaningful change, White Socialism is your enemy, too.

Only an intersectional movement will succeed.

 

[aepps20]

Love da libs crying in here about soy lattes and Veg wraps being too spicy.

 

[dinyc3st]

I had 3 choices, trump, Kanye or Biden. That’s damn near forced.

If pick your poison was a group.

 

[Nike Jordan]

Remember Bloomberg?

 

[aepps20]

Remember Bloomberg?

My candidate

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

Remember Bloomberg?

Don’t remind me. That would’ve been a disaster

 

[Methodical Management]

I'm tired of trying to convince a white person to put their feelings aside and care about the material conditions of people he swears he cares about

Love da libs crying in here about soy lattes and Veg wraps being too spicy.

Soy?!

Oat milk.

 

[whywesteppin]

 

[IATT]

I'm tired of trying to convince a white person to put their feelings aside and care about the material conditions of people he swears he cares about

this, all of this

i know you know I ain’t American.. but what is happening in America is going screw all of us and well I’m just 50 miles south and we depend on American tourist and general investment

but it’s exhausting seeing people like Caitlyn Jenner looking for sympathy when convenient and lacking any bit of empathy when it comes to others who have suffered and are suffering ESPECIALLY when she has legit black grandchildren

my father literally had piss and shh thrown at him way back when, when they were fighting for the rights of people down here.. and now I see the shh happening in the world and you have people you know should know better and yet here we are

this isn’t you taking something away from a child out of their best interest or even trying to quell an overzealous/inexperienced teen..

you have legit adults who have to be well aware where all of this is going and theyre right there with some Duracells at the ready or passive as hell

having actually read the Bible, I’m starting to feel exactly how I do about those loons and the larger ramifications on the world

a part of me wants to see when they have to meet whoever they perceive to be their maker and finally really deal with the legit cruelty of their actions

 

[elpablo21]

I need to start the 2nd season asap. Catch that scene. Come back, Unrep and rep again

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

I need to start the 2nd season asap. Catch that scene. Come back, Unrep and rep again

 

[IATT]

 

[elpablo21]

 

[aepps20]

Dude, you know what

No one forced you to do ****. There was a primary too.

I'm sorry I ever tried with you, do whatever the **** you want going forward

I'm tired of trying to convince a white person to put their feelings aside and care about the material conditions of people he swears he cares about

Do whatever the **** you feel like, stay your *** at home if you want, I really don't give a **** anymore

I'm tired of trying to convince you that Zelle has a problem and it ain't da alcohol but his liberal conjecture and innuendo.

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

Disgusting

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[gry60]

Why does she look like she's mummifying?

 

[gry60]

What is it going to take to make Democrats understand this isn't a fringe view on the right?

 

[Mark Antony]

"She's a globalist! ... Free the Uyghurs"

Crazy how folks with legit mental issues tend to get drawn into the right wing stuff.

 

[IATT]

What is it going to take to make Democrats understand this isn't a fringe view on the right?

2 years from now?

as I said above, hope Hillary and hunter getting ready for those public hearings

how many times biden going get impeached?

 

[IATT]