I underestimated how much worse Lemmy would get after Trump victory
I underestimated how much worse Lemmy would get after Trump victory
In hindsight, it was the most predictable thing in the world, yet it still somehow caught me by surprise.
No, I don’t support the guy. I don’t even live in the U.S., and I wouldn’t have voted for him if I did. But I do think the average person who identifies as "on the left," particularly here on Lemmy, doesn’t realize how incredibly toxic the atmosphere becomes for true independents. We’re stuck enduring a firehose of insanity and hatred from both sides.
In my view, one of the main reasons we got Trump in the first place was the identity politics and wokeism on the left. For a while, I thought the pendulum was swinging back toward reason and balance, but now it feels like we’re back where we started. Honestly, I can’t even blame people for voting for him - it’s just a shame that the silent majority has to suffer because of the vocal minority.
Why is it that political discussions seem incapable of being conducted dispassionately? I can’t shake the feeling that this polarization is driving more people to the right, only worsening the issue. Hell, I’m probably going to be labeled a right-winger just for making this post. And then people wonder why the right is gaining popularity. Where else can centrists even go anymore when the left eats its own?
It's hard to take you seriously when you claim to be centrist, but use the term "wokeism". Do you want trans people to apologize for existing?
Trump is an objectively dangerous person, a serial rapist, a severe racist, and a senile compulsive liar. If the Republican candidate had been a normal person, like John McCain or Mitt Romney, then I could understand seeing it as an even match. But Trump has made credible threats to endanger tons of American citizens, has promised to be a dictator, has promised that people won't need to vote any more, and is going to use the presidency to persecute his enemies.
This is me being dispassionate and objective. Trump is the most dangerous threat the US has ever faced.
I don't disagree about anything you just said about Trump.
I will continue to use the term wokesim because it describes a real phenomenom in the world. If you want to paint a false picture of my beliefs to yourself because the use of said word then you're free to do so, but just understand that we probably mostly agree on the vast majority of these issues. However, telling me it's hard to believe I'm centrist is exactly the issue I'm talking about here. That is what makes people like me go 'fuck it then' and vote for the other party.
Do you want trans people to apologize for existing?
Yes absolutely. That perfectly describes my attitude towards trans people. When people like me who are fed up with identity politics complain about it we secretly just mean fuck gay and trans people. Good catch.
That is what you mean though, even if you don't intend it to mean that
Here. Let's break this apart and discover why you sound like a piece of shit.
I will continue to use the term wokesim because it describes a real phenomenom in the world. If you want to paint a false picture of my beliefs
So, you say wokeism is a real thing, and you say that we are misrepresenting your beliefs, but you don't tell us your definition of being woke. What about it do you disagree with and why is it bad? How can we accurately understand your beliefs, if you don't tell us what they are?
Yes absolutely. That perfectly describes my attitude towards trans people.
I'm assuming this is sarcasm, but again it's not very clear. You seem offended that we think you feel this way, but your only response is "yup. I'm an asshole!" Why shouldn't we believe you?
Your entire post is "These assholes won because you guys are also assholes, but I am not an asshole. I believe all the correct things, but I won't tell you what those are."
I'm not saying you have to pick a side and commit to becoming the stereotype, but if you use buzz words like woke, and claim to be against it, you damn well better know what it means before you start throwing it around. So, what is woke, and why do you hate it?
The enlightened centrism is strong in this one
The trouble with being "fed up with identity politics" as you put it in a comment, is that there's a whole group demonizing a portion of the population, and trying to erase that whole concept. It would be like during the civil rights movement saying that you are tired of all the racial politics, and expecting black people to just be satisfied with sitting in the back of the bus. It's ignoring the very real discrimination against a marginalized group.
I'm fed up with identity politics too, but it's more in the way that I'm sick of all the fear being spread about people. Since there's an active movement to suppress or even erase trans people, the right thing to do is actively oppose that movement, not just ignore it because I'm not a part of that group.
Essentially, a fight has already been started. By not taking sides, you are implicitly taking a position of not caring if this group is erased. And that is why this attitude is simplified down to "fuck gay and trans people"
I consider myself a true independent. I've never been in the Democrat party. I just think people deserve to be treated like people, not demonized simply because they live a different way. And I'm willing to stand up for that most basic of decency towards people.
I simply don't agree with the premise, that the goal of the right is to "suppress or even erase trans people." Most people on the right don't even care as long as it's not pushed onto them and taken too far. Supporting gender-affirming surgeries for undocumented immigrants in custody is taking it too far, and if someone questions that, it doesn't mean they're transphobic.
You can say that's not the goal of the right, but it's still an active movement to that end. Personally I think it's just a tool the right is using to gain support by spreading fear about an issue that isn't fully understood. They directly spread propaganda suggesting that trans people are coming for your kids, when most trans people just want to live in the body they choose.
For example why is supporting gender-affirming surgery for any person a bad thing? In reality, nobody is pushing gender reassignment on people who don't want it. Regardless of who they are, their decision to have surgery doesn't harm you.
These are just people who have different emotional or psychological needs than you do, and even if you don't relate to it, that's okay for them to feel that way. Why shouldn't it be supported? What harm are they doing to you by being trans and having gender-affirming treatment of any kind? From that perspective, it's hard to see opposition as anything but being against who these people are as individuals. And that's precisely what transphobia is: opposing it for no reason other than that it's different from what you know.
We should fully support people being or doing what they want, until it becomes a danger for others. And we have seen that anti-trans attitudes have led to trans people being harmed or sometimes killed just because they are trans.
This is similar to how I feel about the situation as a whole. Seeing so many 'fuck it' votes from people who are tired of the fighting and not being heard from either side. It's infuriating but not surprising.
Now I see across several communities is the blame game attacking groups without considering the why in all this.
Whenever I point out the hateful rhetoric, the advocacy for violence or murder, the attacks on anyone trying to make sense of things in a calm and measured way, or the lies spread about the other side (yes, the left does this too), people are quick to respond with whataboutism - pointing out how the right does it too, and supposedly much worse.
Sure, maybe they do. But I don’t spend time in right-wing spaces where I have to deal with it. I’m here on Lemmy, which I’ve been told is supposed to be far better than other social media platforms. I don’t give a damn what it’s like in my neighbor’s house - I don’t live there. I care about what it’s like at home, and right now, it fucking blows.